WASHINGTON-MCI Communications Corp. reported a net loss of $391 million, or 56 cents per share, for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with net income of $303 million, or 44 cents per share, for the corresponding quarter the year before.MCI attributed the loss...
Ameritel Communications Inc., a wireless reseller owned by USCI Inc., has quickly and quietly become a weighty presence in the resale industry. The company, which began last year with fewer than 1,000 subscribers, now estimates it supports about 40,000.At the end of the third...
NEW YORK-Comsat Corp. has filed a breach of contract lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Maryland against IDB Mobile Communications Inc. seeking to collect at least $5 million for satellite services it said it provided to IDB in 1997."IDB freely entered into a...
WASHINGTON-NAACP President Kweisi Mfume last week predicted "widespread boycotts" of major wireless firms that are found to have poor records of hiring and promoting African Americans.The Economic Reciprocity Initiative, which also covers wireline carriers and eventually could encompass the entire telecom industry, follows the...
NEW YORK-Allen B. Salmasi, chairman and chief executive officer of NextWave Telecom Inc., went to Wall Street on Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday to seek support for use of tax certificates to encourage minority business ownership of radio-frequency licenses.The occasion for Salmasi's presentation was...
WASHINGTON-Wireline telecommunications carriers are gearing up to offer two phases of number portability this year, after successfully winning a time extension from the Federal Communications Commission. Some in the wireless industry would like the same to happen.Wireless number portability is scheduled to begin June...
NEW YORK-WorldCom Inc.'s early October offer of $35.28 billion for MCI Communications Corp. was by far the single largest merger of any kind announced not only during the fourth quarter of 1997 but also for the entire year.The WorldCom-MCI pairing accounted for nearly two-thirds...
MCI Telecommunications, the communications services unit of MCI Communications Corp., has indicated some of its wireless employees in the Dallas/Fort Worth area may soon be looking for new jobs.In a letter obtained by RCR written to Dallas-area wireless companies, the wireless reseller giant announced...
Reps. Tom Bliley (R-Va.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) apparently have had it with rope-a-dope delays by Franklin L. Haney. Haney, as you may recall, is the Tennessee investor-developer and pal of Al Gore who is suspected of paying $1 million to Peter Knight, another...
Nearly one year after British Telecommunications plc and MCI Communications Corp. announced plans to merge, MCI last week terminated the agreement and accepted a $37 billion stock offer to merge with WorldCom Inc.The agreement, which is subject to approvals from the Federal Communications Commission,...
WASHINGTON-In his first press briefing last Thursday, new Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Powell admitted that a stack of trade and consumer newspapers prepared him for his congressional hearings on communications issues, as well as a pile of FCC briefing books.But his experience at the...
NEW YORK-The huge outflows of capital from mutual funds that followed the late October drop in equities markets involved "primarily profit takers, who will be back in a few months," said Martin Fridson, chief high-yield strategist for Merrill Lynch & Co.During the weeks of...
AT&T Corp.'s board of directors unanimously elected C. Michael Armstrong chairman and chief executive officer of the company, effective Nov. 1.AT&T was widely viewed to be under pressure to partner with someone after its nearest rival in the long-distance arena, MCI Communications Corp., became...
MCI Communications Corp., which last week found itself with a third suitor in GTE Corp., may finally have an opportunity to enter the wireless arena in more than a reseller role.GTE, which owns cellular licenses in several metropolitan statistical areas, last week made a...
WASHINGTON-Wireless resellers have interconnection rights that have been ignored by carriers and federal regulators said an industry coalition, including surprise MCI Communications Corp. suitor WorldCom Inc., in a brief filed in federal appeals court.The Federal Communications Commission "has inexplicably refused to acknowledge the right...
JACKSON, Miss.-The Federal Communications Commission extended the timetable for public comment on WorldCom's application to establish a voting trust in connection with the company's bid to acquire MCI Communications Corp.A voting trust would permit the WorldCom offer to be consummated prior to receiving final...
WorldCom Inc.'s surprise bid to acquire MCI Communications Corp. has touched off speculation of other possible mergers, including widely reported talks between AT&T Corp. and GTE Corp.Neither GTE nor AT&T would comment on the speculation, but several analysts said the two companies have at...
WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee members sternly advised Federal Communications Commission chairman nominee William Kennard to rethink agency positions on federal pre-emption and wireless universal service funding and to stop dragging its feet on little low-earth orbit satellite licensing.But despite sharp criticism of the FCC's handling...
WorldCom Inc. last week made an unsolicited offer to merge with MCI Communications Corp. in a deal that would eclipse British Telecommunications plc's planned acquisition of MCI, which has been in the works for nearly a year.If approved, the deal would put the WorldCom-MCI...
Telemac appointed Peter McCracken chief executive officer, with responsibility for overseeing the development of innovative software technology and formulating strategic alliances with wireless industry leaders. Previously, McCracken was president and CEO of VentureLine Database Corp., an Internet/intranet database company he founded.Dr. Ronald C. Maehl...
FRANKFURT, Germany-WorldCom Inc.'s wholly owned German operating company signed an agreement to interconnect its public network with that of Deutsche Telekom.The agreement, which includes all technical, operational and commercial implementation, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The plan has...
NEW YORK-Barely finished with its acquisition of Pacific Telesis Group, SBC Communications Corp. is widely rumored to be exploring merger possibilities with AT&T Corp.Ruthlyn Newell, a spokesman for AT&T, headquartered in New York, declined to comment, citing company policy on "rumors or speculation about...
When billionaire John Kluge of Metromedia International Group Inc. sold his company's film and television properties last month, he said the transaction would allow Metromedia to focus on its new mobile phone and paging ventures in Eastern Europe and the Far East.This will be...
NEW YORK- The media and telecommunications industry was pronounced "generally healthy" by a panel of Wall Street officials discussing new equity and debt issues at an Institute for International Research conference, Jan. 29.The clean bill of health isn't without qualification, however."Certain sectors have fallen...
