Close below the surface of the third-generation mobile-phone spectrum debate is a technology war, the kind of feud industry thought was behind it and wanted to avoid as it tries to present a unified front in the campaign to wrestle away frequencies from the...
NEW YORK-In a preview of its second-quarter corporate debt outlook, to be published July 27, Standard & Poor's Corp. said "the large loss announced in June by Nortel Networks Corp. and the downgrade of Lucent Technologies Inc. ... to high-yield" status created a broad...
NEW YORK-TrinTel Communications Inc., an Irving, Texas, builder, owner and operator of wireless communications towers, has secured $50 million in new private equity investment, the company said June 25.Austin Ventures, which led the initial venture-capital financing for TrinTel in 1999, joined the latest round...
As the Virgin Mobile rumor factory continues to pump out news stories, Sprint PCS finally brought some substance to the situation. The wireless carrier issued a brief, two-sentence release confirming that the two companies were in discussions, but that no definitive agreement had been...
Deutsche Telekom's recent acquisition of U.S.-based GSM operator VoiceStream Wireless Corp. again showed the ever-shrinking nature of the wireless industry. Including United Kingdom-based Vodafone Group plc's partial ownership stake in Verizon Wireless and Japan's NTT DoCoMo's interest in AT&T Wireless Services Inc., international telecommunications...
WASHINGTON-It is a little hard to tell-and opinions differ-but it appears a bill to give the Federal Communications Commission additional authority to fine local exchange carriers for not opening up their markets to competition could impact wireless carriers just as the industry faces impending...
Some of the world's largest wireless vendors are working to bypass carrier interoperability issues by supporting a standard they say will let users send advanced short message service messages back and forth between phones, regardless of the network."This is a way to help carriers...
Trying to pin down Nextel Communications Inc. into a specific category is not an easy chore. By definition, Nextel is a specialized mobile radio operator, yet most analysts compare it with the other nationwide carriers when looking at its quarterly results and spectrum holdings.When...
After nearly a year of wrangling, Deutsche Telekom's acquisition of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and Powertel Inc. closed last week. Both VoiceStream and Powertel will become wholly owned subsidiaries of Deutsche Telekom, and will become the first trans-Atlantic wireless company using GSM technology.VoiceStream shareholders who...
Major carriers are using third-party hosting services to gauge consumer activities to arrive at pricing models for m-commerce services.The operators, which include AT&T Wireless Services Group, Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless, Alltel Corp. and VoiceStream Wireless Corp., have been using Openwave's Mobile Access Gateway to...
WASHINGTON-Cingular Wireless Inc. plans to file a waiver from the enhanced 911 Phase II rules, probably within the next two weeks, said Brian Fontes, Cingular vice president for federal relations, confirming hints made last month by Stephen Carter, Cingular's chief executive officer.Cingular chose the...
Rural Cellular Corp. reigned supreme during the first quarter of this year, according to Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown's recent metric ranking of 22 U.S. wireless operators. The report ranked each operator on five metrics included in their first-quarter financial results, including penetration gain, average...
WASHINGTON-The new Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to change the tone of telecom policy debate in Congress, but is unlikely to immediately have a major legislative impact. That may well change in time, however.With Democrats assuming control of the Senate for the first time since...
Motorola Inc. marked its Smart Networks Developers Forum in New Orleans last week with partnerships and new product initiatives.Far away in Oman, the company signed a $5.2 million contract to expand a GSM digital cellular system in the country.Under the deal which takes off...
As the news swirls around Wall Street, analysts think a possible merger between Alcatel Alsthom of France and Lucent Technologies Inc. may not only be the biggest acquisition of a U.S. telecom company, it could also generate an investigation as to whether such an...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-Deutsche Telekom AG, VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and Powertel Inc. said they expect their pending merger to close on May 31.The companies also announced May 23 as the deadline for both the election by VoiceStream stockholders for the type of merger consideration they will...
HELSINKI, Finland-European wireless operator Sonera Corp. sold 17.4 percent of its interest in VoiceStream Wireless Corp. to Germany's Deutsche Telekom for approximately $319 million.Sonera said it would use the proceeds from the sale to reduce its debt. Sonera also said it plans to sell...
Wireless operators continued to post stronger-than-expected first-quarter results, showing wireless carriers are weathering fairly well the general economic downturn.The largest carrier reporting results last week was VoiceStream Wireless Corp., which posted a first-quarter loss in line with analysts' expectations but surprised many with its...
Dear Editor,We first want to thank reporter Heather Forsgren Weaver for attending our press conference in Washington D.C. As you know, we believe strongly in Project LOCATE's mission and the importance of deploying Phase II technology. It is heartening to see the rest of...
WASHINGTON-Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), angered by the Federal Communications Communication's approval of the VoiceStream Wireless Corp.-Deutsche Telekom AG merger last week, said he will introduce legislation that would force the German government to drastically reduce its stake in DT by year's end and ban...
A number of wireless carriers released surprising first-quarter financial results last week showing stronger than expected customer additions despite continued uncertainty in the U.S. economy. "In fact, based on the results in so far, net additions are tracking 5-percent below , better than our...
Players throughout the wireless industry are waiting for the Federal Communication Commission to determine the fate of the current spectrum-cap rules.If the caps are kept in place-an idea favored by most of the small wireless operators-the wireless industry landscape is expected to remain the...
WASHINGTON-In a development with national implications for a wireless industry increasingly hit with complaints about service quality and billing problems, a California telecom regulator last week suggested the state Public Utilities Commission may consider approving a new policy before year's end that would allow...
The federal government recently has been looking at freeing up spectrum in the 1710-1850 MHz band, currently being used by the Department of Defense, and the 2500-2690 MHz band, which is occupied by a variety of tenants including religious, educational and fixed wireless Internet...
