OSLO, Norway-The Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications announced the winners of the country's four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses, which were awarded through a beauty contest. The license winners are Broadband Mobile, an Enitel ASA and Sonera Corp. consortium; incumbent operator NetCom GSM,...
PORTLAND, Ore.-Sonera Corp. announced it will invest $68 million to purchase one-fourth of Metro One Telecommunications.The deal gives Metro One enough capital to pay down about $35 million in debt, which will save the company about $4 million in interest savings from annual pretax...
LONDON-Moody's Investors Service changed its rating outlook of Sonera from stable to negative. Sonera follows several other European operators in being downgraded for their high debt.Moody's said the change in rating outlook reflects its increasing concern regarding the uncertainty surrounding Sonera's ability to reduce...
BELFAST, United Kingdom-With a mobile penetration of just 1.4 percent, less than that of many third-world countries, the Russian mobile segment appears to offer little excitement. At closer glance, however, most factors that contribute to investor satisfaction are securely in place.The country's hot spots...
The controversy surrounding European third-generation (3G) spectrum auctions reached a new peak with Dutch and Italian competition authorities launching investigations in early November into possible collusion between rival bidders. These moves put further pressure on the European Community (EC) to instigate a pan-European probe...
ROME-The results of the Italian third-generation license auction are unfortunate for the Italian government and British Telecommunications plc, while most opportune for the five companies that have unofficially won licenses at prices much lower than anticipated.After just two days of bidding among six mobile...
ROME-The Italian auction for five Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses began last Thursday. Italy is Europe's largest cell-phone market, with six groups participating in the auction process, which is expected to raise around $21 billion.The German UMTS auction, which ended in August, drew nearly...
LISBON, Portugal-Portugal's three wireless incumbent operators and fixed-line telecom provider Oni are among the companies submitting proposals for one of four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses to be awarded later this year in the country. Portugal is awarding the licenses through a "beauty contest,"...
Being the new kid on the block is always a challenge. Besides trying to keep your own sense of identity, there is the pressure of trying to fit in to an unnatural surrounding that may or may not receive you graciously.A few years ago,...
ALEXANDRIA, Va.-After spending the spring revamping his organization and moving it in a new direction with a new show, Jay Kitchen, president of the Personal Communications Industry Association, is upbeat about PCIA Global Xchange, which begins tomorrow in Chicago.In preparation for the show, RCR...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. and Sonera completed tests of roaming capabilities for Internet Protocol traffic between GPRS networks.The tests involved GRX, a centralized IP routing network for interconnecting GPRS networks, and were executed by combining Sonera's GPRS system and Nokia's packet core network by a...
Until you have actually bought a good or service using a mobile device, it is difficult to comprehend the sheer power of the phone as an electronic wallet. In Europe, recent initiatives by innovative carriers such as Sonera allow users to buy candy, to...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Networks and Sonera zed have teamed together to develop platforms for mobile value-added services, working together in systems integration and sales and marketing efforts worldwide.The agreement has the companies committing staff and resources to develop a new architecture and applications for mobile...
FranceFrance released details of its plan to award four 3G wireless phone licenses based on a beauty contest. Bidders, given a 31 January, 2001, deadline to submit proposals, will be judged on the strength of their business plans, before being selected to pay US$4.5...
NEW YORK-In November and December, Sonera zed U.S. Inc. "will dip its big toe into the waters of mobile commerce to see if they're warm," and it plans user trials by next spring, said J. Paul Hughes, vice president of business development."There are a...
NEW YORK-The number of licenses awarded, not the prices paid for them, likely will lead Standard & Poor's Corp. to downgrade the debt ratings of many winning bidders in Germany's recent third-generation wireless auctions."The total paid, 50.5 billion euros ($45.85 billion), conforms to our...
OSLO, Norway-Seven groups plan to participate in Norway's selective tender or "beauty contest" process to award four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses. The licenses will be awarded by the end of October.Incumbents NetCom ASA and Telenor AS applied to participate in the UMTS license...
In a surprise ending, six groups walked away with Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Germany at a total cost of $45.85 billion, the largest amount raised yet in a third-generation spectrum auction, hitting the ceiling of most analyst predictions.Each of the winners-Deutsche Telekom...
NEW YORK-Merger prospects tend to have a significant impact on a company's share price, although the degree of that influence can be difficult to precisely identify.The second-largest domestic personal communications services carrier, VoiceStream Wireless Corp., saw its stock price rise by less than $5,...
HELSINKI, Finland-The Finnish government said it is in negotiations to sell its 52.9-percent stake in Sonera, the former state telecom monopoly, which operates the country's largest mobile-phone network.Speculation has circulated for months that Sonera must take a partner to compete in the increasingly competitive...
The Personal Communications Industry Association made another move designed to evolve the association into one that serves the global mobile Internet market.PCIA last week announced the PCIA Global Initiative, a new PCIA division designed to provide consumer and market data for the mobile Internet...
MAINZ, Germany-Bidding for 12 blocks of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System spectrum picked up speed last week with the total bid amount nearing $4 billion. The amount is still substantially less than projections that the auction will bring in around $32 billion for the German...
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-Versatel Telecom International N.V. said it ceased bidding in the Dutch Universal Mobile Telecommunications System auction, ending the award process of five licenses. The bids at the end of 305 rounds totaled about $2.5 billion, much less than original estimates.The U.K. government...
