Finnish minister of communications Matti Aura resigned following the dismissal of Pekka Vennamo, chief executive of Sonera. Vennamo was fired by the Sonera board on 4 January for failing to disclose the sale of 5,300 Sonera shares to members of his family.Sonera's initial public...
LONDON-The Baltic region covers an area of 174,000 square kilometers, with approximately 8 million people generating US$13 billion in gross domestic product (GDP). But while Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania may seem similar countries to an outside eye, in reality they boast quite different cultures,...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-As Africa enters the threshold of the African Renaissance and progresses toward privatizing and liberalizing its telecommunications sectors, powerful alliances are being forged in the wireless arena."The rapid privatization of the telecommunications sector in east African countries and southern Africa is attracting...
Telephone and Data Systems Inc. said Friday it would pursue a spinoff of its personal communications services business Aerial Communications Inc., a segment that has been a continual drag on its cash flow and earnings.TDS opted to withdraw its offers to exchange tracking stocks...
SINGAPOREMotorola Inc.'s Cellular Infrastructure Group signed a contract valued at $23 million to upgrade M1's digital wireless telephone network in Singapore. In addition to its SC 4852 base transceiver station, Motorola CIG will install two new base station types into M1's network, its SC...
NEW YORK-Venture capital-backed investments in the third quarter of 1998 reached an all-time high of $3.77 billion, a nose ahead of the $3.73 billion record set during the second quarter of last year.In all sectors, these investments rose by 29 percent from the $2.92...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Cellular penetration rates now exceed 50 percent in Finland. But real penetration rates are much higher if you ignore the very old and the very young. Pretty well every Finn who can walk and talk now has a mobile phone.Amongst Finnish youth,...
The incorrect ownership structure of Hungary's Pannon GSM was printed in the July-August issue. The correct ownership structure is KPN Telecom B.V. (26.79%), Telenor Invest A/S (23.43%), Sonera Holding N.V. (20.90%), MediaTel Holding Rt. (15.18%), Tele Danmark A/S (3.87%), PTT Telecom Netherland Hung ria...
NEW YORK-The government of Finland plans to sell a 20-percent stake in Sonera Ltd. through an initial public offering of stock Nov. 17 that it hopes will raise between $1 billion and $1.8 billion.Sonera, formerly called Telecom Finland, derives nearly half of its revenues...
The 15th Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union kicks off today in Minneapolis, a meeting whose focus on internal governance and strategic planning could be overshadowed by an item likely not to appear on the official agenda: third-generation wireless technology. The meeting lasts from...
JapanA large Japanese carrier in the Asia-Pacific region selected Brite Voice Systems to provide voice-activated dialing services to its markets throughout Japan, said Brite. The company values the contract at $15 million. The carrier, supporting more than 8 million wireless subscribers, plans to implement...
What does the acronym MoU mean? MoU stands for Memorandum of Understanding, of course-as in the GSM MoU Association. Any European cellular operator could tell you that. Except today, some cellular operators may give a different explanation. MoU stands for Minutes of Use, they...
COPENHAGEN, Denmark-Danish telecommunications services group Tele Danmark A/S announced it sold for about US$160 million approximately 70 percent of its 23.2-percent interest in Hungarian cellular operator Pannon GSM Tavkozlesi Rt.The Pannon shares were acquired by three co-owners of the company: PTT Telecom of the Netherlands;...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The licensing of two additional cellular carriers in South Africa will represent the biggest opportunity for black empowerment in Africa-and for some, the last chance to become involved in the vibrant telecommunications market here.When the Department of Communications issues tender invitations later...
Across most of the world's regions, carriers and analysts are claiming prepaid cellular a resounding success. Along with calling party pays, it is considered one of the leading contributors to current subscriber growth.Some carriers now are getting more than half of new subscribers through...
