The Intelligent Transportation Society of America's board of directors adopted a proposal to restructure the company's board, committees and councils. The restructure calls for a two-year transition from a board of 42 voting members to a board of 18 voting members; the creation of...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-After having invested around US$600 million in Latin America, the major share of Comsat International has changed hands.World Data Consortium, the investment fund with headquarters in Washington, concluded the acquisition of the telecommunications company and now controls 81 percent of the stock....
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Comsat International and Metrored this week joined the Argentine exodus that is shaking the Latin American telecommunications market. The trend began when Impsat was transferred to its creditors, continued with the loss of Verizon's majority control in CTI and Nextel Communications' in...
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (BPPN) decided to sell the assets of Pacific Satellite Nusantara (PSN) and its subsidiary Asian Cellular Satellite (ACeS) to AAA Securities for US$206 million. The two companies entered BPPN because they cannot fulfill their obligations to creditors.The U.S. NASDAQ...
REDWOOD CITY, California, United States—The board of directors for privately held wireless Web site enabler 2Roam voted to shut down the company and sell off its assets."We are working with customers to assist them in transitioning their services and are seeking a buyer(s) for...
BELLEVUE, Washington, United States—Teledesic said it has selected Alenia Spazio and Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems as the two finalists to build Teledesic's satellite communications network.Teledesic will select one prime contractor and finalize the contract in the next two months.
A patent dispute is heating things up between three companies that provide solutions for controlling RF interference.ISCO International Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Conductus Inc. and Superconductor Technologies Inc. for infringing on its patent for cryoelectronically cooled receiver front end (CRFE) for mobile...
GroupServeGroupServe announced Tom Stroup, president, will also take on the role of chief executive officer. Stroup's first task as CEO will be to oversee the commercial product launch of GroupPort. Stroup will also oversee the company's business development, strategic alliance and product development efforts....
Telcom GlobalChris Carter was appointed Telcom Global Solutions Inc.'s senior director for engineering services. In his new position, Carter will be responsible for planning and managing the company's global resource pool. Carter has more than seven years of experience in wireless network design and...
BETHESDA, Md.-Satellite communications provider Comsat Mobile Communications joined the prepaid bandwagon with the launch of its new Prepaid Calling Card Service for satellite calls, which the company said will make card use easier and reduce customer costs.The company's new system features six-second decrement billing-aimed...
BETHESDA, Md.-Comsat Mobile Communications said it launched direct Internet access for mobile satellite users.Customers connect directly to the Internet and e-mail, eliminating the need for an Internet service provider. Direct Internet access is free to CMC customers using Comsat A, B, M, Mini-M and...
MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill.-Illinois Superconductor Corp. will acquire Lockheed Martin Canada's Adaptive Notch Filtering Business Unit, which will involve the acquisition of 2.5 million shares of common stock.Illinois Superconductor said the Adaptive Notch Filtering unit developed a technology designed to monitor and suppress sources of...
U.S.-based Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications (LMGT) and Orbicom, a South African-based subsidiary of Johnnic, at the end of October signed a memorandum of understanding to focus on satellite telecommunications and information services targeted at selected African markets and provide cost-effective solutions for corporations and...
NEW YORK-New Skies Satellites N.V., a commercial spinoff of Intelsat, became a publicly traded company Oct. 4 when it sold 28.5 million American Depositary Shares priced at $9 each.The offering, lead-managed by Goldman Sachs & Co., went to market only three weeks after filing...
NEW YORK-Asia Cellular Satellite System, Jakarta, Indonesia, announced the commercial debut Sept. 27 of its dual-mode satellite and GSM 900 voice, fax, Internet, paging and data communications.The carrier said it is marketing the service under the brand name BYRU, a derivation of the Indonesian...
WASHINGTON-If Al Gore becomes the next president of the United States, as polls increasingly are suggesting, Big Telecom could gain unprecedented access to the White House and have extraordinary influence on high-tech policy for the next four years.It's not that Big Telecom is any...
Crown Castle International Corp. closed concurrent public offerings of common stock and convertible preferred stock and received gross proceeds of approximately $758.9 million, the company said. Crown Castle received $356.4 million from the common stock offering and $402.5 million from the preferred stock offering....
NEW YORK-If Richard Levine has his way, everyone could revert to seven-digit local calling simplicity, even amid the expanding complexity of wired and wireless telecommunications.Levine, a research alumnus of Bell Labs and Nortel Networks, is director of Beta Scientific Laboratory Inc., Richardson, Texas. He...
Chase Manhattan Bank filed papers in the U.S. District Court in Delaware June 9 alleging 17 members of Iridium L.L.C. have not met any reserve capital call obligations that secure the $800 million loan Chase made to the now-bankrupt satellite company's subsidiary, Iridium Operating...
WASHINGTON-A major satellite export reform bill passed by the GOP-led Congress two years ago has blown up in the face of lawmakers at a time when Republicans and Democrats are frantically scrambling to champion the high-tech agenda.Since March 1999, when satellite export oversight was...
The GOP-led Congress thought it had the answer. Responding with indignant outrage to alleged technology transfers from U.S. satellite firms to China and Russia in recent years, Republicans passed legislation that shifted high-tech export oversight from the Commerce Department back to the State Department...
WASHINGTON-The State Department last week charged Lockheed Martin Corp., a top space-based wireless system vendor and integrator, with numerous violations of U.S. export control law by giving a Chinese-controlled firm technological assistance in 1994 before the launch of a rocket carrying a telecom satellite.The...
The United States and European Union negotiated a compromise on data privacy that could pave the way for a final deal this summer. An agreement on data privacy is key to future transatlantic business, including that involving wireless telecom trade.Scott Cleland, a telecom analyst...
PHOENIX, United States-Some observers have compared the broadband wireless industry to a hockey game: lots of skating around, many dramatic clashes, but not much scoring.Still, like a hockey game, broadband wireless attracts plenty of fans. Interest is downright rabid among telecom carriers, equipment vendors and...
