NEW YORK-The United States, where high-yield bond issuance originated, for many years has been the hotbed of this important kind of financing, even for telecommunications and other corporate issuers outside its borders.During the first five months of this year, however, Western Europe burst into...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Contrary to most industry predictions, Meteor Mobile Communications has secured the third mobile license in the Republic of Ireland.Orange plc of the United Kingdom strongly was fancied to secure the country's first combined GSM 900 license.The Meteor consortium is 60-percent owned by U.S.-based...
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...
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...
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...
WASHINGTON-Iridium L.L.C. announced it has signed distribution agreements with 209 regional wireless service providers and roaming partners across the globe.The distribution agreements bring Iridium access to 72 million wireless subscribers, a population of 3.4 billion people, representing 60 percent of the world's population and...
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...
BOULDER, Colo.-If Boulder, Colo., had experienced flooding last week, SCC Communications Corp. and U S West Communications Inc. might have been able to help the city notify residents that they needed to evacuate.But the city had sunny skies last Wednesday when it held its...
NEW YORK-Orange plc outshined the other major mobile network providers in the United Kingdom, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 1998 U.K. Mobile Customer Satisfaction Study.Orange's overall satisfaction rankings were fueled by top scores in key areas, including corporate capabilities, call quality and...
ChinaL.M. Ericsson signed four Global System for Mobile communications contracts in China, which the company values at a total of $756 million. Ericsson will expand existing GSM networks in Shandong, Liaoning and Heilongjiang. The fourth contract calls for the company to provide a new...
Croatia has announced a tender to construct and operate a nationwide GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network. Bids were due 15 April.A consortium led by ABN Amro Bank N.V. and N.M. Rothschild & Sons has been appointed to advise the Estonian government in...
Switzerland last week awarded national licenses to two of five rival consortia-diAx mobile and Orange Communications SA-to operate wireless networks in competition with the country's single operator, Swisscom.The winning consortia beat out Unilimitel, which partnered Deutsche Telekom with France Telecom; Fortel SA, a venture...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. experienced higher revenues and net income in all its business units during the first quarter ended March 31, reporting a slight overall revenue increase, from $2.7 billion in 1997 to $2.72 billion in the recent quarter.First-quarter revenues at Nokia Telecommunications were...
LONDON-The United Kingdom's Office of Telecommunications announced it has ended its restrictions on how mobile phone operators may market and distribute airtime and products.The new regulation, which will go into effect after a year-long transition period, will give Orange, One2One and two other smaller...
LONFON-Orange plc, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Orange Communications Ltd., said it submitted a bid for the third mobile phone license in the Republic of Ireland.The United Kingdom-based operator is not in partnership with any other companies at this stage in its pursuit of...
British Aerospace plc, one of Europe's largest defense contractors, sold a 16.11-percent stake in U.K. personal communications network operator Orange plc to SBC Warburg Dillon Reed for about $1.3 billion, announced the company.British Aerospace, which originally acquired the Orange stake for about $92.1 million,...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Iridium L.L.C. has 75 percent of its planned satellite constellation deployed after it successfully launched two more satellites into orbit, bringing the total number of operational satellites to 51, said Iridium.The two satellites were launched on a Chinese Long March 2C/SD rocket from...
The differences between paging resellers and carriers is perhaps most evident when looking at what happens to paging resellers that offer customers prepaid multiyear or lifetime contracts.The plan seems fairly simple at first-rather than signing customers to monthly service plans and collecting small checks...
LEXINGTON, Mass.-Wildfire Communications Inc. announced that Century Telephone Enterprises Inc. will begin consumer trials of its Network Wildfire service with residential, business and wireless customers in Louisiana and Wisconsin.Century will be the first carrier to install the Wildfire service using Compaq Corp.'s ProLiant servers...
Sprint PCS of Southern California donated $30,000 to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation for its annual Toys for Tots holiday charity campaign. In addition to the cash contribution, more than 1,000 toys were gathered during the month of December at Sprint PCS' California...
While it may feel cathartic at times, screaming at your computer monitor in blind rage rarely does much in terms of actual productivity. The problem is the silly thing simply can't hear you.Intent on creating a more effective means of verbal communication between the...
An attorney who filed a class-action lawsuit against reseller Econopage Inc. announced he will amend that suit to include claims against paging carriers Paging Network Inc. and PageMart Wireless Inc.Econopage is the now-defunct San Jose, Calif.-based reseller that abruptly closed its doors after carriers...
The Dutch government most likely will auction two mobile phone licenses in the spring, rather than the end of this year, because the European Commission blocked the government's plan to charge existing mobile phone operators for their licenses.The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation...
Following intense negotiations with the United Kingdom's mobile phone operators, the country's telecommunications regulator extended to Jan. 1, 1999, its number portability requirement for the mobile phone industry.In August, the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) announced U.K. mobile phone operators would be required to offer...
