AirNetUnited States. With MBO for a GPRS system.Value: UndisclosedAlcatelGambia. With Gamtel for a turnkey GSM network to be installed in the greater Banjul area.Value: UndisclosedPortugal. With TMN for a high speed mobile data service on its GPRS commercial network.Value: UndisclosedPortugal. With TMN for UMTS technology in the...
STAMFORD, Conn.-SmartServ Online Inc. and Swisscom announced they are concluding definitive agreements to allow Swisscom to license SmartServ's Web and wireless application technology.The technology will allow Swisscom to offer services such as wireless application development, systems integration and hosting."SmartServ will be among the first...
BIENNE, Switzerland-Two of the five companies left to bid in a Swiss third-generation license auction merged, causing the Swiss government to postpone the auction of four licenses. Four companies are left in a race for just four licenses."Virtually all candidates have undergone major changes...
London-based mobile phone giant Vodafone Group plc reported strong interim results for the six months ended Sept. 30, including a 55-percent increase in proportionate customer additions compared with the same period last year, bringing the company's proportionate customer base to 65.5 million subscribers.Proportionate earnings...
LONDON-Vodafone Group plc and France Telecom's Orange both acquired stakes in the Swiss wireless market ahead of the country's Universal Mobile Telecommunications System auction, set to begin next week.Vodafone Group acquired 25 percent of the equity of Swisscom Mobile for $2.6 billion from Swisscom....
BERNE, Switzerland-Only five bidders will compete for four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Switzerland, as three contenders dropped out late last week, down from an original 10 interested companies.The licenses could bring a much lower amount than originally anticipated, with only one more...
ZURICH, Switzerland-Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone Group are competing to buy a minority stake in Swisscom's wireless operations, according to international press reports. The Swiss company has been has reportedly been seeking a partner for its mobile operations.Swisscom owns 75 percent of German mobile reseller...
BERNE, Switzerland-Swisscom said it plans to reorganize the company's corporate structure, transforming the Swiss telecom company into a group of operationally independent companies by the end of 2001.As part of the restructuring Swisscom said it plans to sell its stake in foreign fixed-line units...
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...
BIEL, Switzerland-Ten companies submitted applications to bid for four third-generation licenses in Switzerland in November. Switzerland's Federal Office of Communications will decide by the end of August which of the applicants can participate in the auction.The regulator said a candidate must prove that granting...
BERN, Switzerland-Swisscom said it is considering spinning off its mobile division to fund Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses and networks.The operator said it has about 2.5 million mobile customers. Swisscom will retain a share majority if it floats Swisscom Mobile."The high costs of a...
Although some rumblings continue over Geoworks Corp.'s licensing program for Wireless Application Protocol technology, WAP-related announcements continued making news at last week's GSM World Congress in Cannes.Phone.com Inc. announced it formed a WAP interoperability testing lab, a software upgrade preview center and the latest...
AlcatelCameroon. With Societe Camerounaise de Mobiles (SCM) for a GSM network for the area between the cities of Yaounde, Douala and Bafoussam.Value: US$21.15 millionChina. With Post and Telecommunications Administration of Hubei province for DECT wireless local loop systems.Value: US$20 millionMozambique. With Telecomunicacoes Moeis de Mocambique for...
Finland. Sonera began offering High Speed Circuit Switched Data services to its data customers 6 September, but without available handsets. Sonera said it wanted to be ready when handsets are available later this year.France. At Telecom '99 in Geneva, Alcatel, French carrier SFR/Cegetel, Phone.com...
OSLO-Newly merged Telenor and Telia agreed to acquire a 30-percent stake in DiGi Swisscom Berhad, a Malaysian telecommunications group that operates a Global System for Mobile communications 1800 MHz network, said Telenor. The investment is valued at approximately $207 million.Under terms of the agreement,...
BERN, Switzerland-Swisscom took a significant step in becoming a major service provider in Europe by acquiring a 58-percent stake in Germany's No. 3 mobile communications provider, Debitel AG, for $1.62 billion, said Swisscom.The previous majority shareholders-Debis and Metro-each will reduce their share to 10...
WASHINGTON-Swisscom, Switzerland's primary telephone company, is marketing its international prepaid roaming solution to service providers in North America. The service is based on the company's subscriber identity module card application platform.Gordon Taylor, director, mobile, for Swisscom North America, said the prepaid solution handles call...
BelgiumKPN Orange launched GSM 1800 service in early April as the third mobile operator in Belgium.IrelandEsat Telecom Group confirmed it accepted an offer to acquire a pro rata share of 9 percent of Ireland's GSM operator Esat Digifone for US$57 million from International Investment...
Cellular towers ruining AmericaTo the Editor: I have two comments regarding your antenna-siting article. (Antenna siting is hot topic for NACo Crowd, March 8.)First, it is my understanding that all calls from cellular phones travel along landline phone wires to the next cell site.Second, having...
ATLANTA-LHS Group Inc. launched its new customer-care and billing software, "Targys-the millennium series," for the global telecommunications industry.Targys easily can be integrated with other software, regardless of hardware and operating systems, and is equipped with Internet functionality for remote sites, as well as customer...
CANNES, France-Nextel Communications Inc. last week announced plans at the GSM World Congress to establish roaming between its iDEN-based networks and Global System for Mobile communications systems in Europe and Asia.The company is working with Motorola Inc. as it develops an integrated Digital Enhanced...
NEW YORK-Swisscom A.G., Switzerland's government-owned telecommunications carrier, went public Oct. 5, raising about $5.5 billion in a 22 million-share offering of stock priced at $251 each.The Swiss government had hoped to raise as much as $6.6 billion by selling 34.5 percent of its stake...
NEW YORK-The share price for Swisscom's partial privatization initial public offering was expected to be set during the week of Oct. 4.The Swiss government hopes to raise as much as $6.6 billion by selling off a 34.5 percent stake in the state-owned wireless and...
OXFORD, England-More than a million mobile phone users in Switzerland are under surveillance.Swisscom secretly is storing historical data that can track the movements of its subscribers' mobile terminals.These revelations of wireless snooping were made earlier this year by the Swiss Sunday newspaper Sonntags Zeitung....
