Motorola Inc.'s Worldwide Information Network Services group confirmed the Defense Information Systems Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense awarded it a three-year contract valued at up to $219 million for the purchase of Iridium phones, pagers and airtime.Under the contract, Motorola will provide...
Early cellular carriers did it. Early paging carriers did it. Mobile data carriers are doing it now, and according to analyst Tim O'Neil of SoundView Technology Group Inc., Iridium L.L.C. should do it as well.That is-subsidize handsets to promote network usage. It's a standard...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Iridium Brasil reports it has 1,000 subscribers and that next month it will reduce the cost of its Motorola satellite handset to make the service more attractive to potential subscribers, said Pedro Schvinger, sales manager for Iridium's Brazilian operation, at the Telexpo...
Globalstar L.P. announced it successfully launched an additional four low-earth-orbit satellites on a Soyuz-Ikar rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Globalstar now has 16 satellites in orbit. The total constellation will consist of 48 satellites, as well as four spares. The company hopes...
HANNOVER, Germany-Iridium L.L.C. announced at the CeBIT show it entered into a joint marketing agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.Under the agreement, the two companies will promote each other's products and services. Starwood hotels includes the Luxury Collection, W Hotels, Westin Hotels...
WASHINGTON-Just when it appeared the United States and China were on the verge of a major trade agreement promising huge wireless export opportunities and Chinese membership in the World Trade Organization, a high-tech espionage controversy has erupted that throws both would-be breakthroughs into doubt...
INDIANAPOLIS-Inadequate product supply in the Asia-Pacific region, price instability and the devaluation of the Brazilian real will cause Brightpoint Inc.'s quarterly and annual net income to fall below expectations, said the company.The company anticipates revenue for the first quarter, ended March 31, will be...
WASHINGTON-The fallout over alleged technology transfers, increasingly testing the mettle of fledgling mobile satellite firms, has prompted new bills to aid the U.S. space launch industry and to ban satellite exports to China altogether.Sens. John Breaux (D-La.) and Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), chairman of the...
Based on first-quarter operating results projections, Iridium L.L.C. likely will fall short of the revenue and subscriber addition targets stipulated in its bank loan agreements, and the company said it expects to modify its future milestones to avoid defaulting on its bank covenants.While quarterly...
WESTPORT, Conn.-Proximus, a Belgian cellular company owned by Belgacom Mobile and AirTouch Belgium, has become a roaming partner of Iridium L.L.C., according to an announcement by Belgacom North America.
CANNES, France-Motorola Inc. added to the proliferation of so-called world phones last week at the GSM World Conference with a series of announcements introducing a new line of mobile phones designed for global roaming.The first handset is a tri-band phone that can function on...
The RCR research and editorial staffs have compiled this list of mobile satellite carriers based on interviews with industry contacts. The list is arranged alphabetically because most companies are not yet offering service and therefore cannot be ranked by subscriber numbers.Many of the companies...
Safco Technologies Inc. announced the completion of TEC Cellular's integration into the company. TEC Cellular's products, services and training now will be sold under the Safco brand. Safco acquired TEC Cellular in April, 1997.Anne Sleater, the AT&T Wireless Services Inc. employee wounded Jan. 14...
Despite a five-week service launch delay and continued handset production problems, Iridium L.L.C. finished the fourth quarter with results that beat analysts expectations.The quarter, ended Dec. 31, marked the long-awaited launch of the company's 66 low-earth orbit satellite global phone and paging system and...
Paging Network Inc. announced it is offering the Iridium World Page Service commercially in the United States as the country's exclusive paging carrier offering Iridium service.The paging portion of Iridium's 66 low-earth-orbit satellite system was activated in November, after which PageNet began beta testing...
Geoworks Corp. and APiON Ltd. announced they successfully completed interoperability tests of their products based on the Wireless Application Protocol. The testing process lasted several months and involved Geoworks' new Premion Interface+ graphical user interface and APiON's WAP gateway system to allow Premion-enabled handsets...
After the embarrassing $1 license sales in the Wireless Communication Service auction two years ago and the C-block personal communications services bankruptcies, some began to question whether spectrum still had value.Others suggest the real question is whether spectrum management-which seems to have been abandoned...
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint PCS announced it has entered an agreement with Iridium North America to be the exclusive provider of Iridium satellite voice services among cellular and personal communications services providers in Sprint's service area.Although Iridium roaming partners such as AT&T Wireless Services Inc....
Motorola Inc. said it expects to meet Wall Street's earnings expectations for the first quarter, though it remains cautious in light of last week's currency devaluation in Brazil and the semiconductor industry's recovery.Analysts say Motorola is cutting operating costs more than expected, while its...
WASHINGTON-Iridium World Communications Ltd., which is listed on Nasdaq, announced Jan. 4 it plans an add-on public offering of 7.5 million shares of its Class A common stock.Iridium World is the public investment vehicle for Iridium L.L.C., which launched commercial satellite telephony and paging...
WASHINGTON-Iridium L.L.C. gave itself an early Christmas present on Dec. 23 when it announced it was buying Claircom Communications Group Inc. from AT&T Corp. and Rogers Cantel for $65 million in cash and debt.Seattle-based Claircom is the second largest provider in the United States...
Will '99 be the year wireless becomes airborne?Iridium, hoping to further entice business travelers to trust and use the Iridium name, spent $65 million in December to buy Claircom Communications Group Inc. from AT&T Corp. and Rogers Cantel.Claircom is the second-largest provider in the...
LONDON-The Middle East wireless sector continues to show positive signs, with several major contracts awarded and plenty of healthy GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) activity over the past year. In addition, carriers have begun to sign on with new mobile satellite services (MSS)...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Competition in the South African wireless telecommunications sector is likely to be fierce this year, with two new cellular operators scheduled to enter the arena. This will delve a blow to existing operators MTN and Vodacom, which have had exclusive preserve of...
