Several global telecommunications players announced alliances or considerations for mergers during the last few weeks.AT&T and British Telecom announced a strategic alliance designed to create seamless mobile communications services worldwide.AT&T's and BT's new alliance, named Advance, will provide a new mobile global account services...
Convinced that wireless growth was significantly outpacing its own estimates, Lehman Brothers Inc. last week dramatically upped its long-term forecast for the wireless industry and upgraded a number of wireless stocks."I think of the analogy of an earthquake where pressure builds up on either...
NEW YORK-North American telecommunications carriers rank below manufacturing, consumer products and financial services companies in their adoption of Internet-enabled enterprises, concluded a recent report of American Management Systems, Fairfax, Va."eCommerce in the Telecommunications Industry: Trends and Innovations" is a study based on AMS' evaluation of...
HELSINKI-Finnish operator Sonera said its High Speed Circuit Switched Data network would be ready to begin offering services to data customers today.Handsets for the networks are not yet available, but expected to be delivered later this year. Depending on delivery schedules, the carrier could...
The Wireless Application Protocol made strides in Sweden, Germany and Finland last week, adding to its gaining momentum in Europe.In Germany, Nokia Corp. and Deutsche Bank have agreed to develop new mobile banking services based on the WAP that will allow users to conduct...
More than 660,000 U.S. and Canadian customers subscribed to GSM wireless service in the second quarter of 1999, according to the North American GSM Alliance. This brings the total number of GSM customers in North America to 4.2 million.CanadaBell Canada announced plans to purchase...
Finnish operator Sonera Ltd. agreed to purchase 9.1 percent of GSM operator Powertel Inc. last week, giving Powertel a financial partner to pursue strategic acquisitions.Sonera will acquire 100,000 Powertel shares from Ericsson Inc. for $122.7 million, throwing another player into the Global System for...
HELSINKI-Finnish telecommunications operator Sonera posted profits before taxes and extraordinary items of $238.9 million (EUR224 million), a 19-percent increase over the same period in 1998. Its earnings per share were 25 cents, up from 20 cents per share for the first half of last...
NEW YORK-Citigroup and Sonera Ltd. announced last week they are taking an undisclosed ownership stake in 724 Solutions, a Canadian software company that is hardly a household name but could hold the key to global mobile banking.Juha Snellman, director of sales and marketing for...
The economy is rolling along, wireless subscriber additions are climbing and merger and acquisition activity is heating up.This is good news for the personal communications services industry, which last year found itself suffering from tight financing and a general underperformance in small capitalized stocks....
Poor financial results continue to plague personal communications services operator Aerial Communications Inc., and its spinoff from parent company, Telephone and Data Systems Inc., is moving slower than anticipated. Analysts believe TDS may be better off selling the company.Aerial Communications Inc. added just 15,000...
AlcatelAustria. With Tele.ring for its new GSM 1800 network.Value: US$298 millionEricssonBrazil. With Telecom Italia Mobile to expand its TDMA network.Value: US$100 millionChina. With China Telecom (Hong Kong) Ltd. for GSM equipment to expand its network in Guangdong province.Value: US$290 millionFinland. With Sonera for a GPRS system.Value: UndisclosedJapan. With...
NEW YORK-Turkcell, the largest Global System for Mobile Communications operator in Turkey, said June 8 it has asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to go public later this year in the United States."We have just applied for an to the...
As Telephone and Data Systems Inc. pursues a spinoff of personal communications services operator Aerial Communications Inc., it is dealing with sticky issues involving Sonera Ltd.'s investment in Aerial.Aerial announced last week Finland-based Sonera's right of first negotiation to acquire the company terminated after...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The potential bidders for the third cellular license in South Africa are determined to break the existing Vodacom-MTN duopoly. "We will be competing head-on with MTN and Vodacom for a slice of the lucrative market, believed to be worth R10 billion (US$2...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The trunked radio industry in South Africa is about to experience a revolutionary change with the introduction of new technologies and standards. An entirely new market is being unlocked, and old markets are about to be reshuffled to allow for a more...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-If an Olympic games in cellular communications were ever staged, there is little doubt who would head the medals table. Finland would take gold in almost every event. The Finns take great pride in being first.Finland has been at the forefront of...
The Finnish government moved swiftly to award four third-generation mobile phone licenses. All four companies plan to use the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's chosen 3G standard, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.Industry group The UMTS Forum announced the Ministry of Transport and Communications' decision, saying...
Helsinki-based Sonera Group plc, Finland's largest telecommunications carrier, plans a $1.1 billion issue of medium term notes to help finance its expansion plans.The partially privatized carrier, owned 78 percent by the government of Finland, has a 68-percent share of the domestic wireless market through...
U.S. Global System for Mobile communications carriers took a financial beating in 1998, but analysts expect 1999 to look brighter for these carriers as they look to butter up their bottom lines and find strategic partners.Tight financing, high churn levels and a general under-performance...
CANNES, France-CNN Interactive last week announced at the GSM World Congress its CNN Mobile service, a mobile telephone news and information service using a platform it co-developed with Nokia Oy. The service will allow consumers to get text-based CNN news on their handsets, and...
As the end of the millennium approaches, it is worth pondering whether the recent bout of mergers and acquisitions are precedents to some colossal event of biblical proportions or merely defensive strategies of companies safeguarding themselves against falling commodity prices, uncertain technological change, increased...
NEW YORK-Responding to a crescendo of allegations of improper inside dealing related to Sonera's November initial public offering, the board of directors of the Finnish telecommunications carrier last week fired its chief executive, Pekka Vennamo.Later the same day, Patti Aura, Finland's Minister of Transport...
The State Department late last month urged the European Commission to allow U.S. third-generation wireless equipment and service providers a fair opportunity to compete in Europe.In a letter sent to EC Commissioner Martin Bangemann Dec. 19, the United States expressed concern Europe may be...
