HELSINKI, Finland-Telenor's dream of creating a Scandinavian telecom giant through a merger with Sweden's Telia and Finland's Sonera is very much "a live aspiration," Norway's Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik told a meeting of government officials in Oslo on 8 July. The admission came...
OSLO, Norway-Telenor acquired an additional 16.5 percent of Kyivstar GSM from Sputnik Funds for $66.46 million, the Norwegian operator said. The acquisition, made under a pre-existing option arrangement, gives Telenor a majority stake of 61.9 percent. Telenor said Kyivstar is the Ukraine's largest mobile...
HELSINKI, Finland-BellSouth has rejected a US$650 million cash offer from the Norwegian state-controlled Telenor to acquire the U.S. corporation's 46.5-percent equity interest in Sonofon, Denmark's second-largest mobile telephone operator. BellSouth is clearly holding out for a better price for its shares. Sonofon reported revenues...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Russian Communications Minister Leonid Reiman played down fears of already operating foreign investors on the Russian telecom market, saying their equities will not be restricted after the country joins the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, he said foreign telecom operators that decide to...
DUBLIN, Ireland—Some trends are beginning to emerge in the European multimedia messaging service (MMS) market following the launch of services by several operators. However, there is still a distinct split between those charging per message and operators adopting volume pricing models similar to those...
BERNE, Switzerland—Swisscom Mobile said it will begin offering multimedia messaging services on June 3, following MMS launches from Telecom Italia Mobile and Vodafone Telecel in Portugal last week.Swisscom Mobile will provide the service free during its launch phase until the end of September. Beginning...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Looking to build on the runaway success of short message service (SMS), two more European mobile operators have joined in the rush to be among the first to launch multimedia messaging services (MMS). Vodafone Telecel in Portugal and Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM)...
HELSINKI, Finland—Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), the Italian mobile operator, has met its May deadline for the launch of multimedia messaging services (MMS) over its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network in Italy. Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia are the main infrastructure suppliers for TIM's...
MOSCOW—The Norwegian Telenor is going to sell two of its Russian subsidiaries, and the second-biggest Russian carrier Vimpelcom, in which Telenor holds a major stake, is the most likely buyer.Telenor is planning to sell its 49-percent stakes in Extel from the Baltic enclave of...
ROME—The market for messaging services continues to lead the development of the worldwide wireless data industry, as shown by several news announcements.First, the GSM Association released figures showing the massive and continuing success of short message services throughout the world. According to the group,...
GENEVA—General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) roaming exchanges (GRX) are rapidly emerging as a profitable new service niche in Europe and around the world, as mobile operators get serious about GPRS and struggle to come to grips with the complex roaming and billing issues surrounding...
HELSINKI, Finland—Norwegian telecom operator Telenor's competitors in Scandinavia are puzzled by the Oslo-based operator's decision to price at the high end for multimedia messaging services (MMS). Telenor intends to charge MMS users a price of US$1.40 to send images and pictures via their cell...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Nordic telecom operators Telia AB and Sonera Corp. announced plans to merge through an all-stock transaction, creating a combined company with 2001 revenues of $7.9 billion.Sonera shareholders will receive 1.5144 Telia shares in exchange for each Sonera share, offering a premium of 15.8...
HELSINKI, Finland—The Danish government has requested a meeting with SBC Communications to discuss the U.S. telecom company's immediate future plans for its 42-percent equity in the Danish telecom company TDC.The invitation to talks has emerged following a confirmation by TDC's board that SBC intends...
OSLO, Norway—Telenor said its Malaysian subsidiary DiGi.Com entered into three joint venture agreements with Technology Resources Industries (TRI), which owns Malaysian mobile operator Celcom, the country's second-largest operator. The companies will submit a joint bid for third-generation (3G) services in Malaysia.Malaysia is expected to...
OSLO, Norway—TSI Telecom Services and Telenor Global Services have formed a common peering point called GPRX Roaming Exchange for roaming between their networks using Amsterdam Internet Exchange."It greatly simplifies global roaming from both a technical and business perspective and gives subscribers seamless wireless access...
OSLO, Norway—Telenor announced it completed the acquisition of Comsat Mobile Communications, making Comsat the new U.S. subsidiary of Telenor under the name Telenor Satellite Services.The final purchase price is yet to be determined.All of Comsat's operations, including employees and two earth station facilities in...
HELSINKI, Finland—Tele2, the Swedish mobile telecom headquartered in Stockholm, has reinforced its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) strategy in Europe through the launch of MVNO services in the Netherlands. Tele2 is purchasing network capacity from the Dutch mobile operator Telfort, which is a subsidiary...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Allgon said Norway's Telenor selected it as the exclusive supplier of GSM and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) repeaters. Allgon will supply standard and compact repeaters and associated fiber-optic coverage for GSM 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and UMTS networks.
OSLO, Norway—Norway's Telenor Mobile said it will open its third-generation (3G) network on 1 December according to its license conditions. The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System network (UMTS) will initially cover central areas of Oslo.Telenor will be the first European operator to officially launch a...
OSLO, Norway—Norway's Telenor Mobile said it will open its third-generation network on Dec. 1 according to its license conditions. The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System network will initially cover central areas of Oslo.Telenor will be the first European operator to officially launch a 3G network,...
OSLO, Norway—Norway's Telenor Mobile signed a final agreement to acquire 100 percent of Hungarian mobile-phone operator Pannon GSM for about US$905 million. Finland's Sonera and the Netherlands' KPN, two debt-laden companies, are selling their stakes, along with Denmark's Tele Danmark Communications (TDC).The agreement was...
LUXEMBOURG—Millicom International Cellular (MIC) confirmed it is in talks with Tele2 regarding the possible sale of MIC's Russian cellular assets to Tele2."It is no secret that our Scandinavian competitors have made clear their intentions to develop mobile businesses in Russia to leverage on the...
HELSINKI, Finland-Scandinavia has long been the most fertile and concentrated spawning ground for technology innovation in Europe. The torchbearers for this culture have been led by global names such as Nokia, Ericsson, Benefon and Europolitan.In 1985, Nokia's main claim to fame was as one...
