NEW YORK-Following Cingular Wireless L.L.C.'s announced acquisition of wireless rival AT&T Wireless Services Inc. earlier this week, Fitch Ratings placed Cingular and well as its parent companies SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. on Rating Watch Negative and AWS' on Rating Watch Positive.Fitch explained...
NEW YORK-Following a long weekend of intense bidding, Cingular Wireless L.L.C. acquired rival AT&T Wireless Services Inc. for $41 billion. Cingular said it expects the deal, which has to be approved by federal regulatory authorities and AWS shareholders, to close by the end of...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc.'s clouded future began to clear last week as suitors looking to acquire the world's ninth-largest wireless carrier were expected to place their final bids by AWS' self-mandated Feb. 13 deadline. Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Vodafone Group plc rose to the...
Telecommunications bundling has made a strong comeback over the past year, with nearly all of the country's regional providers offering some form of packaged deal to customers. Those bundles usually include a wireless link either through a direct subsidiary as is the case with...
As the list of potential suitors became clearer last week, AT&T Wireless Services Inc.'s management took control of the situation by announcing a mid-February deadlines for potential buyers to submit acquisition proposals. The carrier also said it plans to make a decision about its...
NEW YORK-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is one step closer to making a formal bid for AT&T Wireless Services Inc. as the Wall Street Journal reported Cingular's parent companies SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. have granted their wireless subsidiary approval to place a bid ahead...
NEW YORK-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. has reportedly set a Feb. 13 deadline for companies interested in submitting bids to acquire the nation's third-largest wireless carrier, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company expects to have until Feb. 29 to...
NTT DoCoMo Inc., which owns a 16-percent stake in AT&T Wireless Services Inc., said it has agreed to a temporary waiver of its consultation rights under its investor agreement in the U.S.-based carrier to be notified of and receive information regarding any proposed transaction...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc.'s future as well as the future plans of its suppliers and employees were put on hold last week as the carrier announced its board of directors had decided "to explore the company's strategic alternatives," which most industry observers equated to...
WASHINGTON-While technology is seemingly off the political radar screen this election year, some candidates are pushing agendas that could indirectly impact industry and possibly even a blockbuster AT&T Wireless Services Inc. deal. The dynamics change in an election year, especially one in which the...
WASHINGTON-California Public Utilities Commission member Susan Kennedy has decided not to offer a competing bill of rights for telecom consumers-one that exempts mobile-phone carriers from new rules-during Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's review of existing state regulations."We will not put out an alternate during the governor's...
The rumor mill kicked into high gear last week with published reports claiming a handful of domestic and international wireless carriers are targeting AT&T Wireless Services Inc. as a possible merger partner.The reports began with claims that Cingular Wireless L.L.C. had rekindled its often-rumored...
WASHINGTON-FCC Chairman Michael Powell refused to say on Wednesday whether the Federal Communications Commission would allow Cingular Wireless L.L.C. to buy AT&T Wireless Services Inc. as has been widely rumored."I have a very strong policy. I don't endorse or reject mergers that I have...
Wireless stocks posted strong gains in early Wednesday trading following renewed rumors of a possible merger between Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and an upgrade of the wireless sector from neutral to positive by Lehman Brothers.The latest merger rumor between Cingular...
NEW YORK-Cingular Wireless L.L.C.'s parent companies SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. are reportedly looking at an initial public offering for their wireless division sometime next year to help fund expansion plans that could include a merger with industry rival AT&T Wireless Services Inc.,...
NEW YORK-Verizon Communications Inc. said it expects to record an after-tax fourth-quarter charge of approximately $2.8 billion related to a voluntary separation plan under which 21,260 employees left the company's payroll this quarter. Verizon, which is the majority owner of Verizon Wireless, added that...
NEW YORK-SBC Communications Inc. told investors at the Lehman Brothers Fifth Annual Telecom, Trends & Technology Conference that it plans to reduce its workforce by 3,000 to 4,000 employees during the current fourth quarter as part of an ongoing staff reduction program through both...
WASHINGTON-Wireless carriers that receive universal-service support should submit to auditing to ensure that the subsidies they receive are being used to upgrade and improve networks in rural America, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein told reporters following his speech Thursday at the 21st Annual Institute on...
WASHINGTON-Wireless has always been regulated at the state level, so that sector should not be used as evidence of no state regulation, said James Bradford Ramsay, general counsel of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, after Dorothy Atwood, senior vice president for federal...
SAN ANTONIO-In a letter to Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell, Cingular Wireless L.L.C. parent company SBC Communications Inc. said it is ready to implement wireless local number portability through its entire 13-state service area today regardless if customers live within the top 100...
With the blessing of its parent companies SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp., Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is reportedly set to acquire one of its competitors as early as next year, according to a Business Week report.The report cited unnamed company officials who said the...
Wireless carriers continued their push for more research on whether tower facilities kill large numbers of birds, while environmental groups shook their collective finger at the government, alleging the Federal Communications Commission is breaking the law in comments filed with the agency on the...
Just what are Craig McCaw and Nextel Communications Inc. up to, separately or together? Is there a grand plan waiting to be hatched or just some heady hedges that may-or may not-lead to something big? There's enough of a history there to make recent...
WASHINGTON-The House of Representatives last week passed the E911 Implementation Act of 2003 by voice vote. "While most state governments tax cell-phone users for upgrades and implementation of enhanced 911 services, that money often has been diverted for other uses. The E911 bill gives...
