NEW YORK-Telecommunications reflected the dramatic drop in the number and size of mergers and acquisitions involving U.S. companies last quarter, Los Angeles-based Mergerstat reported.Across industry sectors, these transactions numbered 1,954, down from 2,539 during the year-ago quarter. Communications companies announced 86 combinations this spring,...
WASHINGTON-Despite fierce lobbying by Western Wireless Corp. and the Oglala Sioux Indian Tribe, a decision from the Federal Communications Commission to award Western Wireless eligible telecommunications carrier status in time to allow Western to continue building out its network on the Pine Ridge Indian...
TERRY, Mont.-Western Wireless Corp. took a substantial step towards third-generation technology by launching 1xRTT high-speed wireless data service in rural Terry, Mont., last week.Western Wireless, which normally operates under the Cellular One name, said that upon availability of 1x handsets, theirs will be the...
While large wireless operators are more than happy to discuss their plans for next-generation wireless services, some of the small- to mid-sized carriers seem to have let the idea of high-speed networks fall through the cracks of providing services to their customers. Even though...
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...
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission appeared before the House Appropriations commerce, justice, state and the judiciary subcommittee last week to ask for $248.5 million for fiscal year 2002. While Michael K. Powell did not ask for an increase in federal appropriations, he...
LONDON-Vodafone Group said it agreed to sell its 100-percent equity stake in Austrian telecommunications company tele.ring for an undisclosed amount to U.S.-based Western Wireless International. Vodafone said the value of the net assets being disposed represents less than 1 percent of Vodafone's net assets.The...
WASHINGTON-Wireless telecommunications is an alternative to wireline telephone service but the wireline trade association believes states-which generally do not regulate wireless service-should still decide whether wireless carriers are eligible to receive universal-service subsidies."We are not opposed to wireless carriers getting universal service. What we...
WASHINGTON-The chairmen of the Senate communications subcommittee and the Federal Communications Commission are slated to begin briefing Senate staffers about spectrum policy and how it should not be used to make up revenues, said Mike Rawson, telecommunications aide to Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), chairman...
DENVER, United States-Bolivian personal communications services operator Nuevatel will likely be the first operator in the Americas to launch General Packet Radio Service.The Andean nation of Bolivia, which usually takes a backseat to markets such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico in terms of wireless...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-The arrival of a third cellular telephony operator will provide the conditions for the Bolivian market to acquire more cellular than fixed telephony users during the first half of this year. Currently, there are 500,000 cellular telephony and 570,000 fixed telephony clients.New...
In the first step of his reform of the Federal Communications Commission, Chairman Michael K. Powell last week named Mary Beth Richards as special counsel in charge of FCC reform efforts. "I am committed to making the FCC more efficient, more decisive, and more...
A variety of wireless operators released fourth quarter results last week, including national carrier VoiceStream Wireless Corp., regional operator Western Wireless Corp. and flat rate, local calling provider Leap Wireless International Inc.VoiceStreamVoiceStream, which is in the midst of a takeover by Germany's Deutsche Telekom,...
NEW YORK-Borrowing the vernacular of a traffic engineer, a financier compared the current capital market conditions for telecommunications companies to rush-hour congestion, but observed that the tie-up looks like it is slowly beginning to clear.Investors still are sorting out a host of concerns that...
BulgariaOte Telecom won Bulgaria's third mobile-phone license for US$135 million, beating out Telecom Italia Mobile through an auction. Ote plans to partner with Bulgarian Telecommunications Co. (BTC), the country's fixed-line provider, to build out the GSM network.FranceMartin Bouygues, chairman of Bouygues Telecom, called on...
Lawyers for AT&T Corp. rang in the new year with a class-action lawsuit brought against it and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. by New York City area customers, and a federal magistrate's ruling that a dispute with wireless operator Cellular One Group over the use...
Freedom Wireless Inc., Las Vegas, has been granted an additional patent, entitled "Security Cellular Telecommunication System," covering 59 claims directed at methods for completing inbound and outbound prepaid wireless calls.The new patent, which the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved last month, is a...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission, in separate rulings, last week said Western Wireless Corp. and Verizon Wireless can receive universal-service funds to help them provide wireless telco service in Wyoming and Delaware.The decisions represent major victories for the wireless industry in terms of regulatory precedent...
From left FCC Commissioner Susan Ness, FCC Chairman William Kennard and FCC Commissioner Michael Powell look on as Mikel Thomsen, president and chief operating officer of Western Wireless Corp., and Garry Janis, tribal council member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, sign the Tate Woglaka...
OSLO, Norway-The Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications announced the winners of the country's four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses, which were awarded through a beauty contest. The license winners are Broadband Mobile, an Enitel ASA and Sonera Corp. consortium; incumbent operator NetCom GSM,...
WASHINGTON-CellularOne Group, one of the nation's top mobile-phone service brands, has created a firestorm of controversy by refusing to pull a TV commercial that has offended opponents of capital punishment.The national Cellular One ad shows a prison guard getting a call and chatting with...
NEW YORK-Centennial Communications Corp. closed the sale of its Southwest properties to Western Wireless Corp. for $202.5 million in cash.The properties include areas around Yuma, Ariz., and Imperial, Calif., and cover about 311,000 people.Waller Capital Corp. served as financial adviser to Centennial.
The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, Motorola Inc. and others convinced the Illinois Supreme Court to stay the publication in USA Today last week of a notice of class-action litigation alleging privacy violations in connection with an epidemiology study funded by the wireless industry....
AfricaStratos Global completed its Mount Kilimanjaro educational expedition using its remote communications network. Stratos provided the expedition team with an Inmarsat-M4 terminal, allowing the team to send and receive voice, high-speed data, video conferencing and Web streaming communication services throughout the journey. While the...
