After resisting a hostile takeover attempt by Vodafone AirTouch plc for more than two months, Germany's Mannesmann AG last week agreed to a revised friendly offer just days shy of the Feb. 7 deadline for Mannesmann shareholders to vote on the hostile bid.Mannesmann's supervisory...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-One year after the privatization of A-band cellular operators in Brazil and just shortly following the auctions that defined the B-band operators, the Brazilian wireless market is going through a period of consolidation. At this point, it is already possible to identify...
Roberto Colaninno, chairman and chief executive of Telecom Italia, formally abandoned the financial restructuring plan he announced in September. The boards of Olivetti and Tecnost agreed to scrap the plan, which included the transfer of Telecom Italia's 60-percent controlling stake in Telecom Italia Mobile...
ROME-Telecom Italia's restructuring plan, announced in September, may have to be reconsidered, according to press reports. The plan included the transfer of Telecom Italia's 60-percent controlling stake in Telecom Italia Mobile to Tecnost, the holding company used to acquire control of Telecom Italia.Financial advisers...
After scoring an agreement with Vodafone AirTouch plc to deploy its location-based technology in the carrier's U.K. network, Cambridge Positioning Systems is ready to push its product in the United States."We have not done a lot of marketing in the United States on purpose,"...
GreecePanafon and France Telecom announced recently they are holding discussions regarding a possible offering or an issue of an exchangeable bond by France Telecom of all or part of its remaining 20-percent equity stake in Panafon. France Telecom sold a 15-percent stake in November...
Mannesmann AG, parent of Germany's top mobile communications company, confirmed last week it made a bid to buy U.K. mobile carrier Orange plc, which Orange's largest shareholder accepted.The bid values Orange, the United Kingdom's third-largest mobile operator, at about $32 billion.Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa,...
The worldwide wireless industry is expected to pass a significant milestone sometime during 2000.With total mobile subscribers at the end of last year of about 315 million and a growth rate of nearly 8 percent this year, mobile subscribers are expected to surpass the...
The worldwide wireless industry is expected to pass a significant milestone sometime during 2000.With total mobile subscribers at the end of last year of about 315 million and a growth rate of nearly 8 percent this year, mobile subscribers are expected to surpass the...
Deutsche Telekom AG has about $18 billion at its disposal after its $11-billion secondary offering last week, and speculation is running high about what acquisitions it will make in Europe and the United States."I will not name names today," Ron Sommer, chief executive of...
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...
LONDON-The main trends in the Middle East wireless industry for the current year were highlighted back in March with calls from senior industry professionals for greater private-sector participation and the introduction of competition in this steadily expanding market.Speaking at the plenary session of the...
NEW YORK-"We are our own unit, and we do not think our way of running the business will be affected by the merger," Massimo Arciulo, director of strategic and financial analysis for Telecom Italia Mobile, said last week of his company's merger plans.Germany's Deutsche...
As Telecom Italia Spa shareholders prepare to vote April 16 on the company's proposed new corporate plan, Olivetti Spa outlined its own plans for the company should its hostile takeover bid of Telecom Italia succeed.According to reports from the Italian news agency Agenzia Giornalistica...
DENVER-Telecom Italia Spa has received permission from its board of directors to merge with its mobile phone operator subsidiary, Telecom Italia Mobile, as a defensive measure against a hostile takeover bid from rival Olivetti Spa, according to Italian news agencies.Telecom Italia owns 60 percent...
Italy-the location of some of Shakespeare's finest plays-last week became the setting for the largest telecom drama to occur in European history.The players: Olivetti Spa-A smaller operator that just two years ago was on the verge of bankruptcy. It enters the scene today as an...
The International Telecommunication Union has yet to decide on the air interface for third-generation mobile phone technology, but many vendors are pushing ahead anyway with GSM-based wideband CDMA technology.The Geneva-based international standards body is mulling through 15 different proposals, the majority based on CDMA...
Prepaid services continue to advance in the United States and overseas as the market moves increasingly away from the credit-challenged and more toward individuals and companies that see prepaid as a way to manage costs.According to a report published by Baskerville Communications, the global...
Sweden-based L.M. Ericsson said it has found no reason to believe the current W-CDMA 3G standard chosen by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute would infringe on any valid intellectual property rights claimed by Qualcomm Inc.In fact, CEO Sven-Christer Nilsson's comments to the Japanese press...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Following a long series of regulatory battles, Telecom Italia (TI) finally closed down after just a few months of operation its FIDO cordless terminal mobility service.Designed to offer local mobility to fixed network subscribers, FIDO was based on DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless...
The Italian government named the Wind consortium the winning bidder for the country's third mobile phone license, bringing to a close a tender process that began in the fall of 1996.The Ministry of Communications made the announcement June 10, the day its adviser, Italian...
After years of delays and controversy, the Italian Ministry of Communications began accepting bids for the country's third mobile phone license last week.The ministry set an April 15 deadline for interested parties to apply to participate in the auction for the DCS 1800 MHz...
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute cast a preliminary vote last week in Madrid, Spain, in favor of a Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access third-generation technology proposal backed by Nokia Corp. and L.M. Ericsson.The W-CDMA proposal allows for migration from Global System for Mobile communications networks...
Italy's award of a third mobile phone tender has hit another snag. The country's Post and Telecommunications Ministry delayed once again the long-awaited process until February due to an October dispute in the government over budget issues.Italy's telecom ministry plans to tender an 1800...
