Beating other U.S. personal communications services carriers to the punch, Western Wireless Corp. announced Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications Ltd.'s intention to invest about $248 million in its Global System for Mobile communications PCS business.HTL, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. that holds a 49-percent...
LONDON-U.K. operator Orange Personal Communications Services Ltd. launched Global System for Mobile communications roaming in Canada through an agreement with Microcell Connexions Inc.The Canada deal brings to 38 the number of countries where Orange has international roaming agreements. The company said it hopes to...
BRISTOL, England-Orange plc is introducing a number of communications services packages that address multiple user groups.The new services, which will be available within the next month, include simultaneous voice and text messaging with a number of users, conference calling and sharing of call plans,...
TORONTO-Microcell Telecommunications Inc. signed a handful of new roaming agreements with European operators, and announced its Fido personal communications services network will be active in Toronto starting next week.Microcell Connexions Inc., the network subsidiary of Microcell Telecommunications, signed roaming agreements with Global System for...
After network difficulties hampered Sprint Spectrum L.P.'s projected launch of "15 to 20 markets" by the end of 1996, the company last week finally launched its premiere New York market.Another key market, Dallas, launched May 15.The company had hoped to launch several Code Division...
Poland has opened a tender for a Digital Cellular System 1800 MHz license. Interested companies are expected to submit offers by mid-July.Sources in Poland report that Minister of Telecommunications Andrzej Zielinski expects the DCS 1800 personal communications services operator to start commercial services by...
SAN FRANCISCO-Pacific Bell Mobile Services established four new regional headquarters in California to manage the company's personal communications services markets.The new headquarters are located in San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego.The office in the San Francisco Bay area will be headed by...
A class action lawsuit charging Los Angeles cellular carriers with price fixing is set to go to trial July 7 in Orange County Superior Court, nearly four years after it was filed.Arthur Garabedian, who sells cellular phones and service for cellular resellers and agents...
BellSouth Mobility plans to begin consumer trials of Wildfire Communications Inc.'s Network Wildfire in the company's Atlanta cellular market.Network Wildfire is the company's network-based electronic assistant. Earlier this year, Pacific Bell Mobile Services and Orange plc, a PCS operator in the United Kingdom, each...
SAN DIEGO-Sprint Spectrum L.P. began personal communications services in Orange County, Calif., the company's second market in Southern California.In conjunction with the launch, Sprint is offering four new rate plans that offer a range of monthly service charges from $30 to $60 per month...
Arch Communications Group Inc. introduced its new national brand name, Arch Paging, created to unify the company's many acquired operations and punctuate its position as a national player in the paging market.On May 1, the Westborough, Mass., company will start using the Arch name...
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-The state of Florida along with Motorola Inc. announced 12 more counties will be added to the state's trunked two-way radio communications network operating at 800 MHz.The system currently is operational in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and the Florida Keys. The expansion includes Florida's...
ENGLAND-Orange plc said it had 894,000 subscribers on its wireless network at the end of March, representing an increase of 109,000 during the first quarter.The company's churn rate for the past twelve months was 19.1 percent, a figure the company said was in line...
The involvement of Tele-Communications Inc. in Sprint Spectrum L.P. is in a holding pattern, possibly awaiting stronger financial times for TCI.TCI shareholders voted overwhelmingly last month to create two new series of Telephony Group tracking stocks. Series A Telephony Group Common Stock contains TCI's...
Greece's government telephone provider said it has collected bids from more than 15 equipment manufacturers for mobile phone equipment, and has narrowed its search for non-Greek partners to three companies, which includes a U.S. company.The Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, OTE, continues its push to become...
SAN FRANCISCO-Market segmentation and minimizing costs are critical success factors for wireless operators, and as countering forces, these topics were hot conversation at this year's Wireless '97 conference. Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association President Tom Wheeler hatched dialogue among four of the industry's carrier heads...
LONDON-Orange plc signed a contract with Inference Corp. for its customer service software.Inference's case-based reasoning (CBR) products will assist staff in responding to customers' inquiries on the phone, said Inference. CBR gives staff of all levels access to specialist knowledge and guides them to...
Telephone and Data Systems Inc. elected George W. Off to its board of directors. He replaces Robert J. Collins who retired Jan. 7. Off will become chairman of the company's stock option compensation committee and its audit committee. Off is president, chief executive officer...
Aerial Communications Inc. appointed John Foster and Thomas Wilson Jr. to its board of directors. Foster and Wilson both will serve on Aerial's audit committee and on its stock option compensation committee. Foster is president and founder of Vedra International Associates. Before founding Vedra,...
SAN DIEGO-Pacific Bell Mobile Services Inc. is in the final stages of testing its ability to transmit data over the Global System for Mobile communications network.Pac Bell Mobile is scheduled to launch full commercial GSM service in Las Vegas and Orange County to business...
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Co. introduced SmartDigital service using Time Division Multiple Access Interim Standard 136 technology.SmartDigital provides customers with telephone, answering machine and short messaging capability. As part of the launch, LA Cellular is offering customers a rate plan with...
LONDON-Orange plc of Great Britain has introduced integrated services dispatch network technology on its personal communications 1800 MHz network.Called ISDN Access, the service allows Orange's fax and data customers to link to computers and other services when they are out in the field.ISDN Access...
Picture this. Down at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla., the space shuttle Columbia sits on the launch pad. The astronauts have run tests for months in preparation for the big day. Now they are strapped into their seats in the command...
