See page 7 for the results of Ireland and Italy's recent tenders.Austria granted 900 MHz GSM licenses to Mobilcom, max.mobile and Connect Austria, a consortium including Tele Danmark.Recently formed Belgian wireless communications company KPN Orange Belgium N.V. was awarded the third license to build...
WASHINGTON-Brazilian Minister of Communications Luis Carlos Mendonca de Barros set the minimum price for the 12 Telebras system holding companies of US$11.7 billion for the 18.2-percent stake owned by the government. He expects the eight cellular companies to draw a high premium, up to...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The debate of issuing a third or fourth cellular license in South Africa is gaining momentum, with the industry pressuring the government to speed up the tendering process before the existing operators become so powerful they would eliminate any other competitor."We recommend...
BEIJING-China Telecom is still very much a monopoly carrier in China, but change is on the horizon.By year-end, the new Ministry of Information Industry will have concluded its massive restructuring and finally may be ready to accept a sweeping new telecom law restricting its...
MELBOURNE, Australia-Seven of the nine bidders won lots in Australia's PCS (Personal Communications Services) spectrum auction, which raised almost A$350 million (US$218.5 million) for the federal government. Four winners-AAPT Wireless, Hutchison Telephone, OzPhone and Catapult Communications-were first-time entrants into the Australian wireless market.The auction,...
WASHINGTON-They announced it, delayed it, set deadlines and then extended them-each one of these at least once and often amid accusations of scandal and preferential treatment. Currently, the tender process for two 1.9 GHz PCS (Personal Communications Services) licenses to serve a 100-kilometer area...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-High on the agenda of issues raised by African ministers at Africa Telecom '98 held here in May was using satellite technology for boosting African economies and low telephone-penetration rates.Africa presents an ideal candidate for Mobile Satellite Services (MSS). The continent is...
CHINAL.M. Ericsson signed a $50 million framework agreement to expand capacity on SmarTone's Global System for Mobile communications network in Hong Kong during the next year. SmarTone acquired an 1800 MHz license when it bought the original holder, P Plus, said Ericsson.Glenayre and the...
SPOKANE, Wash.-Star Data Service, a joint venture between Itron Inc. and UK Data Collection Services Ltd., was approved as a meter data management agent in California.MDMA approval is required to serve customers in California's unbundled metering services market.The approval allows SDS to read meters,...
SINGAPORE-The International Telecommunication Union has some difficult work ahead of it to harmonize the various third-generation proposals standards bodies around the world will submit by tomorrow.While most of the world's standards bodies and individual groups of companies diligently tried to hammer out the differences...
MCI Communications Corp. apparently is selling cellular service to residential customers once again after customer service representatives had told potential customers MCI wasn't taking on new cellular subscribers after June 1.Kelly Seacrist, an MCI spokeswoman, said the company, which resells cellular service nationwide, never...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson was selected by Srinivas Cellcom Ltd., a Global System for Mobile communications operator in India, to build the largest mobile network ever to be rolled out in India, Ericsson said. The value of the contract was not disclosed.The new GSM network...
PeruPageMart Wireless Inc. teamed with Peruvian paging carrier Uniworld S.A., to make Peru the first South American market to join PageMart's network. Service is expected to begin by the fourth quarter. In the past year, PageMart's network was expanded into Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Costa...
LONDON-Recently formed Belgian wireless communications company KPN Orange Belgium NV was awarded the third license to build and operate an 1800 MHz Global System for Mobile communications network in Belgium.The new company will pay a $225.3 million license fee to the Belgian government and...
Enhanced specialized mobile radio operator Nextel Communications Inc. is offering landline long-distance service to its existing customers in several markets.The nationwide carrier, which targets work groups because of its product's instant-conferencing feature, has been calling Nextel customers to convince them to use long-distance service...
The Italian government named the Wind consortium the winning bidder for the country's third mobile phone license, bringing to a close a tender process that began in the fall of 1996.The Ministry of Communications made the announcement June 10, the day its adviser, Italian...
MADRID-Spain's incumbent mobile phone operators Telefonica and Airtel could have some competition soon, as the country prepares to award a third license this month.Involved in the auction is the mobile arm of the Spanish fixed-line operator Retevision, called Retevision Movil-owned in part by Telecom...
NEW YORK-Telesystem International Wireless Inc., Montreal, scaled back but proceeded June 9 with its first stock sale in the United States.The carrier sold 6.75 million subordinated voting shares, down from the 8 million originally planned. The stock, which now trades on the Nasdaq National...
The Italian government said it plans to award the license for a third mobile phone service later this month.A spokeswoman for the communication regulatory agency said it expects to finish assessing the three bids by June 10 and likely name a winner by June...
PRINCETON, N.J.-Intek Global Corp. announced it acquired privately held Mobile Data Solutions Inc., the operator of Data Express, in a move that added automatic vehicle-location to its list of services and data applications.Specific terms of the all-stock transaction were not disclosed.Intek said it expects...
Conxus Communications Inc. said it completed a $100 million convertible senior subordinated note offering. Conxus plans to use proceeds from the private placement to fund network buildout, operating expenses, working capital requirements and general corporate purposes. Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. was the sole...
WASHINGTON-While lawmakers and industry executives toiled last week through the minutia of competing third-generation wireless technologies, Qualcomm Inc. was laying the foundation to parlay an esoteric standards dispute into a major trade debate that would pit the United States against Europe in the not-too-distant...
Cable & Wireless Communications plc confirmed the company is in negotiations with four mobile telecommunications operators in the United Kingdom for the possible sale of its mobile services division.The company is talking with Vodafone Group plc, Orange plc, Cellnet (owned by British Telecommunications plc...
BURLINGTON, Mass.-KPN Telecom, a national telecommunications operator in the Netherlands, formerly named PTT Telecom, said it selected software and services from Lightbridge Inc. in a proactive initiative to help the company target its marketing efforts and enhance customer satisfaction.IBM Global Services provided implementation and...
