In a surprise ending, six groups walked away with Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Germany at a total cost of $45.85 billion, the largest amount raised yet in a third-generation spectrum auction, hitting the ceiling of most analyst predictions.Each of the winners-Deutsche Telekom...
A long list of investors led by J.P. Morgan Capital Corp., FirstCall Telephone Corp. and the management team from former operator Triton Cellular Partners have formed a new wireless carrier.BGV PCS Acquisition Co. L.L.C. has acquired PCS licenses in Chicago and Cincinnati from Verizon...
AustriaAustrian mobile operator Mobilkom Austria launched wireless packet data service using a GPRS core network infrastructure solution provided by Nortel Networks through its local distributor, Austria Telecommunication GmbH. Nortel said the GPRS core network is the first in commercial service to support interoperability with...
HELSINKI, Finland-The Finnish government said it is in negotiations to sell its 52.9-percent stake in Sonera, the former state telecom monopoly, which operates the country's largest mobile-phone network.Speculation has circulated for months that Sonera must take a partner to compete in the increasingly competitive...
Bids in the German auction of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses have jumped substantially during week two, with the total bid amount standing at around $22 billion at the end of nine days and 115 rounds. The price tag thus far is nearly 65...
Alcatel supplied European wireless operators France Telecom Mobiles, Mobistar and Dutchtone a solution that will allow their customers to continue making or receiving calls on their prepaid mobile phones when they are traveling abroad. Alcatel said the services are delivered using its intelligent network...
VoiceStream Wireless Corp. last week reiterated its confidence in its merger with German operator Deutsche Telekom as both companies' stock values dropped since the merger announcement.By press time, the deal was valued at about $45.3 billion, or $171 per VoiceStream share, compared with $50.7...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-Western Wireless Corp. has taken a stake in Minnesota operator HickoryTech Corp., according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.The rural carrier bought 936,110 shares, or 6.78 percent, of HickoryTech's outstanding common stock, spending $13.8 million in working capital.In its filings, Western said it...
ISTANBUL, Turkey-Turkish GSM operator Telsim launched a commercial General Packet Radio Service network, four months after successfully completing technology trials.Motorola Inc.'s Network Solution Sector, along with Cisco Systems Inc., supplied the GPRS network core with a previously announced, end-to-end solutions contract valued at around...
The Personal Communications Industry Association made another move designed to evolve the association into one that serves the global mobile Internet market.PCIA last week announced the PCIA Global Initiative, a new PCIA division designed to provide consumer and market data for the mobile Internet...
MILAN, Italy-Italian communications group Tiscali is said to be looking for a partner for its consortium to bid for a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System license in Italy later this year. Deutsche Telekom AG and Hutchison Whampoa were cited in international press reports as possible...
Just yesterday, it seems wireless carriers and resellers were at legal odds in front of the Federal Communications Commission.Resellers fought for mandatory access to carriers' networks, while carriers battled that effort, coming up with a concession that would end mandatory reselling two years from...
The speculation started in late June. Analysts began questioning whether the mobile-handset market was going soft.Their suspicions appeared justified when the world's largest handset vendor, Nokia Corp., said third-quarter results would be lower because of the Finnish company's timing of new product introductions. Investors...
NEW YORK-The Legislature of Suffolk County, N.Y., has scheduled a public hearing today on a bill to ban handheld wireless phone use by anyone, except emergency services workers, driving on all public streets within the large and populous jurisdiction.The law was introduced by Jon...
NEW YORK-Global System for Mobile communications operator NetCom AB offered $3.1 billion for the total issued share capital of Societe Europeenne de Communication.The offer values each SEC B share at $6.80, a 22.3-percent premium against the closing price of SEC's B shares on the...
MOSCOW-CDMA technology has been battling for a spot in Russia's mobile market for two years, but it lost the war as Communications Minister Leonid Reiman, an opponent of the technology, retained his post in the new government formed after President Vladimir Putin took office...
WirelessNorthPersonal communications services carrier WirelessNorth named David Charles president of the company. Charles served as director of operations with Montana Power Co., where he was responsible for 120 employees serving 110,000 electric and natural gas customers in the Missoula division, covering Western Montana. In...
TOKYO-Japanese wireless operator NTT DoCoMo selected NEC Corp. to supply an experimental, next-generation Internet Protocol core network system for use in mobile communications and to develop application services.NEC said it would supply its most advanced switching router and other converged open network architecture-based products...
The upcoming U.S. spectrum auctions present some interesting times for the wireless industry.Auctions in the past were more predictable, primarily reserved for veteran executives experienced in running wireless networks.Today, the story is much different. Wireless has caught the attention of many powerful and nontraditional...
SBC Wireless Inc. said it plans to roll out wireless Internet services by the fourth quarter and named InfoSpace Inc. as the underlying platform provider for the service. SBC carriers Ameritech Cellular, Pacific Bell Wireless, Nevada Bell Wireless, Cellular One and SNET all will...
ChinaChinese Internet portal Sohu.com said its content will be expanded to mobile networks in several Chinese provinces. The content, including news, stock quotes, travel information and weather data, is used today by operators in nine provinces. China has experienced only lackluster wireless Internet use,...
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-Versatel Telecom International N.V. said it ceased bidding in the Dutch Universal Mobile Telecommunications System auction, ending the award process of five licenses. The bids at the end of 305 rounds totaled about $2.5 billion, much less than original estimates.The U.K. government...
Deutsche Telekom AG executives found themselves justifying the price the German company paid for Voice-Stream Wireless Corp. as it detailed the new deal to analysts last week."The price is fair," said Kai-Uwe Ricke, chief executive officer of T-Mobil International, DT's mobile carrier arm. "Traditional...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said it will offer two-way short messaging service later this year, giving the carrier a more seamless data offering with its affiliates.AT&T Wireless offers SMS service today and relaunched its PocketNet service, based on Cellular Digital Packet Data service, earlier...
