Sprint Corp. announced its deal to gain ownership and management control of Sprint PCS, its wireless venture with Tele-Communications Inc., Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc.The Kansas City, Mo.-based long-distance carrier will issue shares of a new common stock that tracks Sprint's wireless operations...
Motorola Inc.'s shares settled Thursday after jumping more than $4 Wednesday amidst rumors Siemens AG was considering buying the telecommunications giant.Motorola shares closed Thursday at $58.25, down $1.13. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday was in the $58 range.Analysts have noted Motorola...
NEW YORK-Targeting the growing wireless device marketplace, Ultralife Batteries Inc., Newark, N.J., and Lithium Technology Corp., Plymouth Meeting, Pa., are gearing up for commercial production of rechargeable batteries using next-generation, solid state, lithium polymer technology.Both companies promised their products will be cost-competitive, in addition...
Pricing has stabilized in the majority of U.S. markets, say analysts.While the name of the game last summer was to get the phone in the hand of the user with price offerings like $50 for 1,000 minutes per month, carriers this year are likely...
Sygnet Wireless Inc. said it is exploring strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of the company, and has retained Lehman Brothers Inc. as its financial adviser. The company said the decision comes after the increasing pace of consolidation in the cellular industry. Several second-tier...
ARGENTINAU.S.-based DSC Communications Corp. announced it signed an agreement with Movicom to deliver and deploy its CTC421 Intelligent Digital Trunk Optimizer for expanding the carrier's network capacity.BOLIVIASR Telecom Inc. of Canada has been awarded contracts valued at about US$12 million by Entel S.A. and...
Personal communications services provider Omnipoint Corp. last week became one of the first C-block licensees to select options from the Federal Communications Commission's license rules.Omnipoint said it elected to return portions of its spectrum in a move it expects will reduce debt and accrued...
NEW YORK-Consorcio Ecuatoriano de Telecommunicaciones S.A., Ecuador's largest cellular carrier, announced last week it had scrapped plans to go public.Instead, the Quito-based company said it will seek to meet its capital requirements "through an alternative financing strategy in the high-yield (debt) and private-equity markets...
WASHINGTON-Unless it receives as-yet-undefined "higher and better alternatives" from potential buyers who would like to purchase the Dallas and Chicago C-block licenses from bankrupt Pocket Communications Inc., a group of Pocket's creditors may end up with those properties, with Pocket's remaining 41 licenses returning...
WASHINGTON-Despite recent Federal Communications Commission allusions to a prompt public notice detailing changes to its C-block personal communications services financial restructuring order, such a notice probably will not be released for weeks-perhaps months-and the election date for any of its options won't be until...
DENVER, United States-Market strategy has taken on a new meaning for wireless carriers in the Asia-Pacific, which are picking themselves up, dusting themselves off and looking around to see if the region's economic storm has left them shipwrecked or simply thrown off course a...
In the summer of 1989, one of my favorite bands, the B-52s, released an album with the big hit-tune "Roam," in which singer Kate Pierson encouraged listeners to "roam around the world." Well, it took me nine years, Kate, but I finally took you...
NEW YORK-AT&T Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings announcement last week was notable both for what the company said about its recent past and about its plans for the near future.The country's largest telecommunications carrier, working to streamline operations in the highly competitive marketplace, reported surprisingly strong...
Telecommunications Techniques Corp. and Clear Communications Corp. formed an alliance to jointly market customer network management, intelligent surveillance and testing solutions for competitive access providers and wireless communications providers. TTC's test and measurement capabilities will be combined with Clear's expertise in customer network management...
New York investment banker Lehman Brothers Inc. filed a class action lawsuit against ProNet Inc. in Supreme Court for the state of New York, seeking participation in ProNet's proposed settlements with shareholders.ProNet, some of its officers and directors, and underwriters-including Lehman Brothers-in a secondary...
NEW YORK-Despite economies inherent in population density for the wireless telecommunications industry, rural cellular carriers are sitting pretty during the advent of personal communications services competition."If you take all of the C to F (block) winners, except maybe for some of the 10 megahertz...
NEW YORK-"The C-block is obviously dead, and we are waiting for the final nail to be put in the coffin-not because they overpaid or are late, but because the FCC debt is worth more than the value of the spectrum."That is the view of...
Timing, surprise and troop strength.These are the tools used by military leaders worldwide to fight a war, and the same methods should be expected from personal communications services carriers in their bloody battle for market share.First, you must know when to invade. Now is...
NEW YORK-International Telecommunication Data Systems, which provides billing and information management services to wireless, satellite and wireline telecommunications companies, plans an add-on stock sale of 2.1 million shares.ITDS, based in Stamford, Conn., went public in late October. Its stock, which is listed on Nasdaq,...
NEW YORK-Through its trustee, TCI Group, Tele-Communications Inc. sold $300 million March 11 of capital securities, a debt issue with a final maturity date of 2027.Proceeds of the sale are intended for use in repurchasing over time the company's outstanding publicly traded debt and...
WASHINGTON-According to company spokeswoman Jennifer Walsh, NextWave Telecom Inc. plans to amend its current S-1 filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission soon to get its stalled initial public offering off the ground. On Jan. 20, news agency Reuters America Inc. quoted a source...
Olivetti SpA is seeking to sell part of its stake in Omnitel Pronto Italia, Italy's privately owned Global System for Mobile communications cellular carrier that is experiencing rapid subscriber growth rates.Omnitel Pronto Italia said Olivetti has been negotiating with Mannesmann AG of Germany to...
NEW YORK-Teletrac Inc., which uses a paging-based system to locate stolen vehicles, is poised for a fall foray geared to consumers and companies in six metropolitan markets on the West Coast, in the South, the Southwest and the Midwest.Until January, Teletrac was AirTouch Teletrac,...
Paging Partners Corp. is investigating strategic options for "enhancing shareholder value," which smells of more consolidation in the paging industry.Laidlaw & Co. of New York has been hired as an adviser to the company. Options being considered include selling the company, bringing in a...