NEW YORK-Moody's Investors Service Inc. announced Dec. 1 it upgraded to A1 from B1 its rating on $400 million in convertible subordinated notes issued by DSC Communications Corp.Moody's said it based its upgrade on the decision by Alcatel S.A., Paris, to guarantee the DSC...
Moody's Investors Service Inc. said it assigned a B2 rating to Orbital Sciences Corp.'s $100 million of 5-percent subordinated notes, due 2002.The company said the ratings reflect risks inherent in the satellite industry and also risks from investments in start-up satellite service providers. Moody's...
NEW YORK-CellStar Corp., Carrollton, Texas, announced a significant slide in net income for the third quarter ended Aug. 31, to $2.4 million from $16.2 million posted during the same period a year ago.However, the wireless handset distributor reported a revenue increase of 13.5 percent,...
NEW YORK-Moody's Investors Service Inc. lowered its speculative grade ratings Sept. 10 on $1.2 billion in outstanding Millicom International Cellular S.A. debt by one notch, to Caa1 from B3."The rating's downgrade is prompted by concern that MIC's revenues and operating cash flow are...
NEW YORK-Moody's Investors Service, London, announced it has placed the long-term ratings of about $4 billion of Cable & Wireless plc debt under review for possible downgrade because of the carrier's business exposure in Hong Kong.The rating agency said it is reviewing concurrently for...
News that Globalstar L.L.P. lost 12 satellites late last week in a failed rocket launch left mobile satellite service investors uneasy. An announcement from Iridium L.L.C. indicating it plans to postpone commercial service because of technical delays didn't help investors' confidence either.The glitches are...
NEW YORK-As mergers among telecommunications giants tear around the track at breathtaking speed, it may seem that domestic deregulation, intended to promote competition, has instead achieved consolidation.However, a glance in the rear-view mirror reveals a bevy of new competitive wireline local and interexchange carriers...
NEW YORK-Moody's Investors Service has assigned a speculative grade rating of B2 to a proposed $1.21 billion in secured credit facilities that will be used to fund Centennial Cellular Corp.'s buyout and recapitalization by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and Blackstone Capital Partners.The new...
Arch Communications Group Inc. lowered its cash interest expenses by $4.55 million a year following a series of interest rate swaps in connection with a $100 million 14-percent senior notes offering. The company lowered the interest rate on the senior notes from 14 percent...
NEW YORK-Celumovil S.A., Bogota, Colombia, plans to raise $680 million by a private debt sale and a revolving bank loan to refinance outstanding debt and fund capital expenses and customer-acquisition costs.Bavaria, a diversified Colombian industrial conglomerate, owns 86 percent of Celumovil. AT&T Corp. has...
NEW YORK-After a six-month review, Moody's Investors Service July 22 confirmed the investment-grade rating of Baa1 on about $280 million in dollar-denominated debt issued by Seoul-based SK Telecom Co. Ltd., South Korea's largest wireless carrier.However, the rating agency also characterized as "negative" the rating...
NEW YORK-Except for Geotek Communications Inc., wireless telephony companies here and abroad were conspicuous by their absence from the growing number of bond defaults that Moody's Investors Service, New York, reported July 20.Some 54 companies, 21 of them domestic, defaulted on $8.19 billion in...
NEW YORK-AirTouch Communications Inc., San Francisco, plans the public sale of about $721 million in notes denominated in German marks in order to retire bank debt and commercial paper.Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's Corp., both in New York, accorded the proposed issue...
NEW YORK-Consorcio Ecuatoriano de Telecommunicaciones S.A., Ecuador's largest cellular carrier, "may not be able to maintain access to sufficient capital to fully execute its business plans," Moody's Investors Service said.Doing business as Conecel, the Quito-based wireless services company offers analog and digital cellular service...
The sinking ship that is Geotek Communications Inc. wallowed deeper into troubled waters last week when the company filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while its captain and founder, Yaron Eitan, stepped down as chief executive officer and resigned from the company's...
Stet Hallas Telecommunications S.A., Greece, went public 3 June through an equity offering by a holding company. Stet Hallas is 20-percent owned by Bell Atlantic Corp. of the United States.Telecom Finland officially has changed its name to Sonera.Telstra of Australia announced it will take...
Arch Communications Group Inc. announced a major restructuring plan for its U.S. business units-which includes cutting about 10 percent of its 2,800-strong work force-and initiated a new capital structure plan aimed at strengthening the company's financial flexibility for future growth.The work-force reduction is a...
While the growth of the communications industry has created a great demand for test equipment, the changes to that industry have forced test-equipment manufacturers to reinvent themselves so they can meet that demand."Our expectation (is) that strong worldwide demand for wireless and wireline telecommunications...
Brightpoint Inc. announced it extended for three years its agreement with Esat Digifone, a Global System for Mobile communications operator based in Dublin, Ireland. Brightpoint supplies Esat fulfillment and distribution services and wireless handsets and accessories from its new Dublin facility, said the company.The...
NEW YORK-American Cellular Corp. and its subsidiary, American Wireless, received a low, speculative grade rating of Caa1 from Moody's Investors Service on $1.285 billion in debt financing they plan to buy PriCellular Corp.The $1.4 billion acquisition, expected to close in June, will be paid...
NEW YORK-Telecommunications Techniques Corp., which produces testing equipment for wireless and wireline networks, has obtained a $370 million bank credit facility and hopes to raise an additional $275 million from a privately placed debt issue.TTC is a subsidiary of Dynatech Corp., Burlington, Mass. Dynatech...
Cincinnati Bell Inc. said it will separate its billing and customer-management businesses into a new subsidiary and then spin it off in a tax-free distribution to Cincinnati Bell shareholders after taking the company public in May.The company also announced John T. LaMacchia, Cincinnati Bell's...
NEW YORK-Triton PCS Inc., a startup Time Division Multiple Access carrier based in Malvern, Pa., was expected to sell privately late last week its first debt issue, which comprises $300 million in senior subordinated discount notes due 2008.AT&T Wireless Services Inc. contributed 20 megahertz...
NEW YORK-Aliant Communications Inc. said it will use part of the proceeds of a recently completed public debt issue to pay for its purchase of a 50-percent stake in Omaha Cellular General Partnership, which it will then own completely.Aliant, formerly known as Lincoln Telecommunications...
