The cornerstone of any wireless carrier's business is its customers, and while campaigns to acquire more of them are constantly in development, plenty happens behind the scenes to keep customers-and revenues-coming in.HNC Software Inc. in San Diego is part of that behind-the-scenes environment. Founded...
WirelessNorthPersonal communications services carrier WirelessNorth named David Charles president of the company. Charles served as director of operations with Montana Power Co., where he was responsible for 120 employees serving 110,000 electric and natural gas customers in the Missoula division, covering Western Montana. In...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Swedish telecommunications operator Telia reported it acquired more than 51 percent of Norwegian mobile operator Netcom ASA for $2.5 billion.Telia said the acquisition will strengthen its competitiveness in the Nordic region, with the combined company controlling about 28 percent of the Nordic mobile...
OSLO, Norway-Norway's Telenor entered an agreement to acquire 53.5 percent of the shares in Sonofon, the second-largest mobile operator in Denmark, from GN Great Nordic for about $1.7 billion. Telenor also will assume Great Nordic's loan to Sonofon amounting to about $70.6 million.BellSouth Corp....
KPN Telecom is said to be in discussions with Spain's Telefonica regarding a possible US$54 billion merger. At press time, international reports said the companies had agreed in principle to a deal that would evenly split control of the two entities. Such a merger...
KPN Telecom is said to be in discussions with Spain's Telefonica regarding a possible US$54 billion merger. At press time, international reports said the companies had agreed in principle to a deal that would evenly split control of the two entities. Such a merger...
FinlandPriority Wireless, a unit of United Pan-Europe Communications, said it won a license to implement a wireless local loop system in Finland. The 26 GHz license covers the nine most populous areas of Finland, including Helsinki. Priority Wireless plans to begin rolling out the...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-The Swedish government plans to sell about 30 percent of Telia, the state-owned telecommunications company, by this summer, according to international press reports. Reports value Telia at about $46.5 billion.The initial public offering follows Telia's collapsed merger with Norway's Telenor late last year....
After one week and 16 rounds of bidding, incumbent operator Orange plc led all third-generation license bids in the United Kingdom with a $632.9 million bid for License B. The auction for five licenses, which is expected to last another one to five weeks,...
Motorola and Psion agreed to build products, expected to be released in the first half of 2001, using a new platform from Symbian. Symbian announced a wireless computing platform for handsets and other devices. Quartz is a reference design for pen-based wireless devices. It...
DUBLIN, Ireland-The news that Mannesmann has conceded defeat in its battle with Vodafone AirTouch merely underlines the momentum behind consolidation in the European mobile communications industry. However, few observers appear concerned at the concentration of market power in the hands of a relatively small...
The inexorable drive toward consolidation in the European telecommunications industry has moved a stage further with the $2.5 billion acquisition by British Telecom plc of Esat Telecom, Ireland's second-largest telco and shareholder in Esat Digifone, Ireland's second mobile operator.The bid from BT was warmly...
LONDON-The successful market entry of new players in Western Europe caused cellular prices to drop 15 percent to 25 percent last year. However, in the duopoly markets of Ireland and Norway, prices barely moved, according to "European Cellular Pricing Strategies," a new study conducted...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Esat Telecom continued its defense against a hostile takeover attempt by Telenor Ireland AB. The company posted its second defense document on its Web site, urging shareholders to reject the offer."The Esat board, having considered Telenor's new offer of $85 per ADS (American...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-While the use of mobile communications in Europe continues to grow beyond everyone's wildest expectations, the latest bid of $140 billion by Vodafone AirTouch plc for the Mannesmann empire has caused many a jaw to drop in stunned amazement.This record-breaking bid has...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Ireland's Esat Telecom said it is in talks with third parties about a competing takeover bid to counter a $1.9 billion hostile takeover attempt by Norway's Telenor AS. The potential bidders were not identified.Telenor, Norway's state-owned telecom operator, said last week it is...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Sweden's Telia said Unisource NV agreed to sell its German wireless reseller, D Plus, to Mobilcom AG. Telia owns one-third of Unisource.Mobilcom will acquire all shares of D Plus for $284.8 million.D Plus is the sixth and final Unisource subsidiary to be sold...
OSLO, Norway-The $47 billion merger between Norway's Telenor and Sweden's Telia has been canceled. Neither the governments nor the two state telecom companies will claim any compensation from the dissolution."I strongly regret that it was not possible to carry out a successful merger between...
NEW YORK-Newtel AB, formed by the merger of Sweden's Telia AB and Norway's Telenor AS, announced Dec. 7 it will not sweeten its hostile cash bid of $1.59 billion to take over Esat Telecom Group plc, Ireland's second-largest telecommunications carrier.Already a 49.5-percent owner of...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Newtel AB, the newly formed company resulting from the merger of Telia AB of Sweden and Telenor AS of Norway, has launched a hostile bid for Ireland's Esat Telecom, offering $1.59 billion in cash.Telenor already owns 49.5 percent of Esat's Global System for...
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands-KPN Telecom of the Netherlands and Telia of Sweden announced they will sell their stakes in Eircom, the Irish telecom operator that owns Eircell, Ireland's largest wireless operator. The decision follows the European Commission's requirement that the combined Telia/Telenor group divest...
Latin AmericaMillicom International Cellular S.A. said MIC Latin America recently commenced offering dial-up Internet and e-mail services to its mobile telephony customers in Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Paraguay. "In Colombia and Guatemala, we have already secured market shares for dial-up Internet access...
United KingdomBritish Telecommunications plc is close to a deal with Viag, the German utility, that would give it access to the Austrian telecom market and more control in Switzerland, the Financial Times reported. BT will take a 50-percent stake in a new holding company,...
NEW YORK-The astounding success of NTT DoCoMo's mobile Internet access service is a resounding note of affirmation to proponents of wireless Web services, said Crispin K. Vicars at the Yankee Group's conference Nov. 8.By the end of September, DoCoMo's wireless Internet service had 1.7...
