MADRID, Spain-Vodafone AirTouch plc and British Telecommunications plc are negotiating a resolution to their battle for control of Airtel, Spain's second-largest mobile provider. The negotiations could lead to an amicable BT exit from Airtel.In addition, Vodafone plans to use Airtel to expand its wireless...
NEW YORK-In a Valentine's Day announcement, Teligent Inc., a point-to-multipoint carrier based in Vienna, Va., and Mannesmann Arcor AG & Co., said they had partnered to provide fixed wireless voice and data communications in Germany.Mannesmann AG, which recently agreed to merge with Vodafone AirTouch...
LONDON-The U.K. government said it qualified all 13 applicants for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses to bid in a March auction."I am delighted that we have been able to qualify all the applicants and that we are on track for the auction beginning in...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-As President Clinton stated in his Economic Forum speech, "The United States is unambiguously committed to open markets and trade as the best engine we know of to lift living standards, reduce environmental destruction and build shared prosperity."Space station technology was spawned...
The Federal Communications Commission approved the merger of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and Omnipoint Corp. last week and noted the Department of Justice and the FBI delayed its decision, a problem that may grow as U.S. operators hook up with international carriers.The DOJ and the...
DUSSELDORF, Germany-In line with its recent agreement with Vodafone AirTouch plc, Mannesmann AG said it will accelerate the initial public offering of its automotive and engineering division "during the upcoming weeks" under a new name.The company announced it would spin off the division last...
Crown Castle InternationalCrown Castle International Corp. announced Michael G. Ramke has been named vice president of business development for the United States and Philip M. Kelley has been named vice president of business development internationally. Ramke served as vice president since April 1998 and...
ESPOO, Finland-Vodafone New Zealand agreed to trial Nokia's General Packet Radio Service core network solution and Wireless Application Protocol platform.Nokia said it will deliver its Internet Protocol core network infrastructure, including the company's Serving GPRS Support Node, Gateway GPRS Support Node, Charging Gateway, and...
Rumors of a merger between Telecom Italia Mobile and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobil wireless network emerged again last week, with the Italian press reporting such a move is being considered by Telecom Italia's chief executive officer.Ever since Deutsche Telekom lost its takeover bid for Telecom...
In an unprecedented move to bring the Internet to mobile phone users, AOL Europe announced last week it entered into agreements with Nokia Corp. and L.M. Ericsson to develop and trial its "AOL Anywhere" mobile service based on the Wireless Application Protocol.The deal marks...
While Vodafone AirTouch plc last week advanced its merger with Germany's Mannesmann AG, the company indicated it may look to fill in its footprint with smaller acquisitions.In particular, the company has been closing in on a bid for a stake in Spain's second-largest mobile...
BellSouth Corp. said last week it could issue a tracking stock for its highly successful Latin American operations by late April or early May, a move that will allow investors to more accurately value the company's international assets.BellSouth's Latin American business consists of properties...
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...
NEW YORK-Extraterrestrial wireless received good news when Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. sold a $245 million secondary stock offering Jan. 26.In preparation for Globalstar Telecommunications' secondary offering last week, Bernard L. Schwartz, chairman and chief executive officer, took an unusual step the prior weekend to test...
BOSTON-American Tower Corp. is having a busy start to the new millennium, announcing a new merger and adding more towers to its portfolio.The merger, with Galaxy Engineering Services, will provide American Tower with a global turnkey provider of engineering consulting services."We view Galaxy as...
CANNES, France-Several well-known firms in the Internet and wireless industries have come together to form the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum with the intent to accelerate the deployment of open, Internet-based standards for mobile wireless devices.The group said it hopes to provide a venue for...
NEW YORK-Bell Atlantic Corp., GTE Corp. and Alltel Corp. signed an agreement last week to exchange wireless interests in 13 states, eliminating the overlapping cellular properties that would result from the combination of Bell Atlantic and Vodafone AirTouch plc, announced Sept. 21, the companies...
LONDON-Vodafone AirTouch plc announced it will not trade its single-A credit ratings for Mannesmann AG control by offering downgrade protection on some outstanding debt.The company said it added covenants and events of default attached to the upcoming global bond issue to debt securities issued...
SYDNEY, Australia-After four rounds and two days of bidding for Australia's 1800 MHz wireless phone licenses, the total of standing high bids was $64.4 million. The licenses will provide extra network capacity in the country's five largest cities.According to the Australian Communications Authority, the...
LONDON-Vodafone AirTouch plc is prepared to increase its bid for Mannesmann AG if the German company agrees to discuss a deal, according to international reports.Chris Gent, the U.K. group's chief executive, was quoted as saying Vodafone AirTouch also is willing to make concessions on...
NEW YORK-Communications companies dominated merger and acquisition activity in 1999, accounting for $304.8 billion in transactions and 21.5 percent of the dollar amount of deals whose dollar values were disclosed.The communications sector also moved up a notch to first place from its 1998 ranking,...
New sales records of all kinds were set during last year's fourth quarter, reinforcing the importance of the last three months of the year for the wireless industry."In the cellular market, the battle for market share is won and lost in the fourth quarter,...
LONDON-The Radicchio initiative announced 16 new companies have joined the group, which hopes to set a Public Key Infrastructure standard for secure e-commerce transactions over wireless networks.The new members include security notables like Baltimore Technologies Inc., Entrust Technologies and VeriSign Inc. Other members include...
The Operators Harmonization Group maintains its informal status as members continue to discuss the possibility of becoming an official group.OHG, which began work more than a year ago as a loosely tied group of four operators trying to end the world's heated battle over...
