BOSTON, United States—South Africa’s biggest cell-phone operator Vodacom may soon enter the Zambian cellular market by operating the fourth cellular network in the country. Official authorization has been granted for the license, but the final decision rests on the approval of shareholders. Vodacom is 50 percent owned by the parastatal Telkom, with U.K.-based Vodafone Group [...]

LONDON—Moody’s Investor Service downgraded its credit rating on Deutsche Telekom and its VoiceStream Wireless Corp. subsidiary citing doubt DT would achieve its previous forecast of net debt of $43.5 billion by the end of this year and expected high capital expenditure requirements for VoiceStream over the next few years. Moody’s also changed its outlook to [...]

LONDON—Although global computer chip sales are down sharply form a year ago, year-on-year comparisons are improving, according to World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, commenting on numbers recently released by the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) and the European Electronic component Manufacturers’ Association (EECA). For example, although this February’s sales were 35.3 percent lower than last February’s, [...]

NEW YORK—Wingcast L.L.C. will be the exclusive provider of telematics services for the model-year 2003 Infiniti G35 sedan, G35 coupe, M45 and Q45, the company announced. Wingcast and Infiniti will provide features such as automatic airbag deployment notification, stolen vehicle tracking, hands-free voice activated dialing, call forwarding, voice mail, weather information and location-based navigation services. [...]

NEW YORK—i3Mobile Inc., a Stamford, Conn., provider of premium wireless content, hired the Draftworldwide advertising agency to promote its new Pronto service offering voice-activated information retrieval over a variety of mobile phones and calling plans. Round-the-clock, Pronto subscribers will be able to ask for and receive a variety of information, including stock quotes, weather reports, [...]

STOCKHOLM—Siemens Mobile Acceleration announced it has invested in Swedish start-up Mediabricks AB, which provides a platform that enables mobile operators and service providers to offer interactive broadcasting applications to Java-enabled devices. In return for the investment, Siemens will hold a minority stake in the new company.

BURNABY, British Columbia—Telus Ventures announced it has invested $3 million in Telica Inc., provider of softswitch-based voice and data infrastructure products. “This investment gives Telus access to Telica’s best-of-breed technology as we prepare to evolve our network infrastructure to increase efficiency and capability,” said Mark Schnarr, Telus’ executive vice president and president of Telus Ventures.

NEW YORK—Attempting to decrease its exposure to Argentina’s financial troubles, Verizon Communications transferred 5.5 million shares in wireless communications company CTI Holdings S.A. to a newly created trust for CTI employees. The trust will distribute the shares to a program to be developed by CTI to give employees an equity-based stake in the company and [...]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Alltel Corp. filed a shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission enabling the company to offer up to $5 billion in the aggregate of debt securities, common stock, preferred stock, forward purchase contracts, warrants, depositary shares and equity units. Net proceeds from any offering will be used to finance pending acquisition [...]

COUDERSPORT, Pa.—Adelphia Business Solutions Inc., the largest holder of 31 GHz local multipoint distribution services spectrum in the United States, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. ABS said the financial restructuring was the most viable alternative given its capital requirements and debt service obligations. [...]