Tired of listening to the same dry quarterly conference calls? Try listening to Bob Price, chief executive officer of rural cellular operator Price Communications Corp. He's sure to add some color to your life.Last week, the fiery CEO hammered a stock downgrade from Dillon...
Powertel Inc.'s stock tumbled nearly $12 last week after VoiceStream Wireless Corp. Chief Executive Officer John Stanton said his company has no immediate plans to acquire any more GSM operators in the United States.Powertel's stock had been riding in the $68 range on merger...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said capacity problems and handset shortages constrained the company's ability to add subscribers in the third quarter.The nation's largest wireless operator added 269,000 subscribers in the third quarter, down 17.4 percent from the previous year and down significantly from 473,000...
HungaryMotorola Inc. said it is providing Hungarian mobile operator Westel 900 its Mobile Internet Exchange communications platform. The trial is Hungary's first deployment of the Wireless Application Protocol. It will allow mobile users to access Internet content via Internet portals such as Yahoo! and...
OSLO-Newly merged Telenor and Telia agreed to acquire a 30-percent stake in DiGi Swisscom Berhad, a Malaysian telecommunications group that operates a Global System for Mobile communications 1800 MHz network, said Telenor. The investment is valued at approximately $207 million.Under terms of the agreement,...
MUNICH-Siemens AG announced it won a contract to provide Global System for Mobile communications 900 MHz infrastructure equipment to Medi Telecom, the second GSM operator in Morocco. The contract is valued at more than US$100 million.Medi Telecom, which received its license in August, is...
Nextel Communications Inc. announced customer additions of 458,000 in the third quarter, ending the three-month period with 4.05 million customers."The third quarter was our best ever, with both domestic and international operations setting new records and reaching new milestones," said Nextel President and Chief...
There was a time, not so long ago, when reasonably priced voice service with decent coverage delighted most wireless subscribers. But subscribers soon were demanding the same features-like voice mail, caller ID and three-way calling-offered on wireline phones.These features, previously known as enhanced services,...
Mannesmann AG, parent of Germany's top mobile communications company, confirmed last week it made a bid to buy U.K. mobile carrier Orange plc, which Orange's largest shareholder accepted.The bid values Orange, the United Kingdom's third-largest mobile operator, at about $32 billion.Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa,...
The wireless industry is waiting to see how many customers are attracted to Sprint PCS Group's wireless Internet services, but they will have to wait at least another quarter.Sprint PCS, which launched nationwide wireless Web service in late September, said it's too early to...
Nuevo Grupo Iusacell S.A. de C.V. seems to be making moves to establish a nationwide wireless presence in Mexico.Bell Atlantic Global Wireless Inc. confirmed it is in discussions regarding a combination or alliance that would involve Iusacell, in which Bell Atlantic has a 47-percent...
GENEVA-The GSM Association announced it plans to establish a roaming forum to address roaming issues among wireless protocols. Approval of the World Roaming Forum will be discussed at a GSM Association meeting in Montreal next week, said Michael Stocks, chairman of the association, at...
GENEVA-Sonera, the Finnish telecommunications operator, announced it plans to enter the wireless portal business. The company said it initially will focus its efforts on Western Europe and the United States, competing head to head with U.S. firms such as Phone.com.Called Sonera Zed, the service...
Nordic Mobile Telephone 450 MHz operators can choose to deploy Global System for Mobile communications or Code Division Multiple Access technology as the NMT MOU voted to give NMT 450 operators a choice in migrating to digital technology.Terrestrial trunked radio, another digital technology operators...
ScandinaviaAs expected, the European Commission approved the merger of Telia of Sweden and Telenor of Norway. To secure the approval, the two companies have consented to sell their cable TV operations and eliminate overlapping activities in Sweden, Norway and Ireland. The merger will create...
Wireless Application Protocol pioneer Phone.com Inc. introduced a WAP 1.1 compliant UP.Link Server, and announced a major strategic agreement with Motorola Inc. for both its server and microbrowser products.Release 4 of the UP.Link Server is fully WAP 1.1 compliant, the company said. Previous UP.Link...
PolandL.M. Ericsson said it signed an $80 million contract with Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa to expand its Global System for Mobile communications network in Poland. Ericsson will deliver base stations, base station controllers, Mini-Link microwave transport solutions and services, as well as mobile switching centers...
Now that small and rural cellular operators have become an integral piece of large operators' nationwide calling plans and consumers demand more advanced services, many small carriers could feel pressure to move to third-generation-type technologies faster than anticipated.Smaller carriers in recent years haven't found...
MCI WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp. last week agreed to a definitive merger agreement that will combine the second- and third-largest U.S. long-distance carriers and give MCI WorldCom a much-needed nationwide wireless presence.According to the agreement, each share of Sprint will be exchanged for...
Rural cellular operators are reaping generous roaming revenues from nationwide operators. As such, larger players have become willing to pay top dollar to acquire these companies and eliminate the high roaming fees they pay to them.
AT&T Corp. and rural cellular operator Dobson Communications Corp.,...
Got a scandal? You a friend of Gore? Who ya gonna call? Stan Brand, of course. Stan the Man is the go-to guy for Dems in decline. Brand helped Tennessee developer Franklin Haney escape unscathed from the FCC-Portals probe. Now Brand is trying to...
Lucent Technologies Inc. will be noticeably absent when the Personal Communications Industry Association kicks off its 2000 showcase next September in Chicago.The infrastructure vendor has told PCIA it plans to stop exhibiting at its future shows in North America, opting instead to invest its...
The Federal Communications Commission once again must address rules surrounding the now-defunct pioneer's preference process, a program riddled with controversy throughout this decade.Omnipoint Corp. and VoiceStream Wireless Corp. last week filed an opposition to Qualcomm Inc.'s petition that the FCC deny the carrier's request...
BANGALORE, India-Finally, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has received the Telecom Commission's OK to offer cellular services in 17 cities across the country. With Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL)-an offshoot of DoT- slated to offer services in the two major metros-New Delhi and Mumbai-the combined...
