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...
NEW DELHI, India—The Bharti Group has bought more than a 26-percent stake from Telia AB in Bharti Mobile, which operates cellular services in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab circles.The deal was stuck by Bharti Televentures, which is the holding company for Bharti Mobile and...
TEL AVIV, Israel—Ceragon Networks Ltd. has added a fixed wireless SONET/SDH system with a built-in add-drop-multiplexer for cellular metropolitan infrastructure networks to its FibeAir product family.According to Ceragon, SONET/SDH networking equipment can offer carriers advantages as cellular subscriber numbers increase and next-generation services are...
HELSINKI, Finland—Nordic telecom companies Sonera, Telia and TDC have confirmed their interest in bidding for a 25-percent equity holding in Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC), the Ukraine's largest mobile-phone operator. Other interested parties include Deutsche Telekom, a shareholder in UMC.The Ukraine government is planning to...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Sweden's Telia said it was not granted a stay of execution for telecom regulator National Post and Telecom Agency's (PTS) order to reduce Telia's GSM interconnection charges from 1.18 kronors (US$0.11) to 0.92 kronors (US$0.09).Telia had appealed PTS' decreased interconnection order and requested...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Sweden's Telia said it was not granted a stay of execution for telecom regulator National Post and Telecom Agency's (PTS) order to reduce Telia's GSM interconnection charges from about 11 cents to 9 cents.Telia had appealed PTS' decreased interconnection order and requested a...
HELSINKI, Finland—Telia Mobile, the Nordic region's biggest mobile operator, is moving to strengthen its position through acquisitions. The company is soon expected to bid for Sonera's mobile telephone business in all Nordic and Baltic states, excluding Finland. Telia Mobile has a strong presence in...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Ericsson has won a contract to deliver wireless broadband access network for Telia Group company, Skanova."We have chosen the supplier that has the best combination of technical performance, quality, first-class support and development competence," said Ove Alm, marketing director at Skanova.
ST. LOUIS, United States—Telia Mobile Denmark will use billing system provider Amdocs' Ensemble product for its convergent customer care and billing system, the companies announced.The billing platform combines voice, data and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) services and allows Telia Mobile to support both...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—In an effort to stimulate the use of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)-based services, Telia Mobile has become the first cell-phone operator to offer GPRS roaming throughout the Nordic countries. The company said its subscribers would be able to use the services...
HELSINKI, Finland—Skanova, the wholesale division of the Swedish state telecom Telia, signed a letter of understanding to sell network capacity to Svenska UMTS-net, a company that is building a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) system for Telia and the Sweden-based European mobile telephone operator...
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands-KPN Mobile began tests of i-mode-like services with a small group of users on Dec. 20. The carrier said it will commercially launch the service in the second quarter of 2002. NEC will supply the first i-mode handsets to KPN users....
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Swedish wireless carrier Telia Mobile announced it will offer a wireless Internet service much like NTT DoCoMo's wildly popular i-mode service.Telia's service, dubbed PocketMode, features an open interface for content providers, allowing them to offer their services directly to users instead of forming...
HELSINKI, Finland—Finnish mobile operators, headed by the Swedish telecom company Telia Mobile, are exploring collaboration in constructing licensed third-generation (3G) networks. Telia is hoping to reach an accommodation with fellow license holders that would reduce the total cost of establishing 3G infrastructure by up...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Swedish wireless carrier Telia Mobile announced it will offer a wireless Internet service much like NTT DoCoMo's wildly popular i-mode service.Telia's service, dubbed PocketMode, features an open interface for content providers, allowing them to offer their services directly to users instead of forming...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Sweden's largest cell-phone operator Telia has decided to share a percentage of the revenues generated by content services with the developers. The new approach for the company is based on Telia offering the content developers a "direct channel" to its 3 million...
STOCKHOLM—The Post and Telecom Agency in Sweden said it awarded wireless broadband licenses to four Swedish-based telecommunications companies, including Telia AB, Europolitan Holdings AB, Telenordia AB unit Telenordia Access and Quadracom Wireless.Swedish broadband company Utfors AB, which had also applied, was not awarded a...
HELSINKI, Finland—PTS, Sweden's telecom regulatory organization, has warned telecom companies that secured third-generation (3G) network licenses that they risk losing these licenses in the event that they stall development plans any further. Twelve months after PTL allocated four 3G licenses, licensees have only applied...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Telia announced a new initiative to offer an open interface to content providers for mobile Internet services. The initiative is based on a mobile service platform by BlueFactory and includes billing.Telia said it will introduce a new payment model for content providers along...
HELSINKI, Finland—A sectoral report by Nordea, the largest commercial bank in the Nordic countries and Baltic-rim region, has concluded that Swedish investment in third-generation (3G) cell-phone networks will not take place until 2003 "at the very earliest" and possibly not until 2004. Telecom operators,...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Swedish cell-phone operator Telia plans to offer consumers a free three-month trial of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) in an attempt to reverse the ongoing negative image that the mobile Internet continues to attract. The company will be the first in Sweden...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Flextronics announced it will acquire 91 percent of The Orbiant Group from Telia and integrate it with Flextronics Network Services, which offers network installation and commissioning services worldwide."The sale of Orbiant is an important part of Telia's long-term and deliberate ambition to streamline...
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...
