1997

MONTREAL-Bell Canada International Inc. announced that its Taiwanese consortium, KG Telecom, launched personal communications services in the northern region of Taiwan. KG Telecom is the first company to meet the commissioning standards set by DGT, the country’s regulatory body, and …

Qualcomm Inc. field technician Richard Bliss, who had been detained in Rostov, Russia, since his arrest Nov. 25 for spying, reportedly was released to return to the United States Dec. 23 following an agreement between his company, Russian security services …

21st Century Telesis Inc. said it is making a significant step toward becoming the first U.S. wireless carrier to commercially deploy Personal Access Communications System technology. Costa-Mesa, Calif.-based 21st Century, which holds C-, D- and F-block personal communications services licenses …

SAN FRANCISCO-The California Public Utilities Commission recently approved an $800,000 settlement between its Consumer Services Division and GTE Mobilnet Inc. to end its investigation into GTE’s compliance with CPUC rules governing cell sites. GTE Mobilnet will pay $800,000 to the …

WILMINGTON, MASS.-INFONXX, an enhanced directory assistance service provider, deployed Priority Call Management’s Oryx platform in a dozen sites nationwide, supporting three call centers. INFONXX offers a range of operator assisted information services to wireless phone users, including 411Plus, which provides …

MONROE, La.-Century Telephone Enterprises Inc. said it completed its acquisition of Pacific Telecom, the largest in its history, and another acquisition of additional ownership interests in a limited partnership that operates Wisconsin Rural Service Area 8. Pacific Telecom’s parent company, …

WASHINGTON-The government is expected to begin collecting subsidies from all eligible telecommunications providers this week for the universal service fund. The Federal Communications Commission recently adopted an order outlining the amount of money it plans to raise during the first …

NEW YORK-Compania de Telecomunicaciones de Chile S.A., a multiservice telecommunications company, announced it will purchase from VTR S.A. the 45-percent stake it doesn’t already own in Startel S.A., the leading mobile telecommunications carrier in Chile. CTC, in which Spain’s national …

DALLAS-In response to a recent study finding that nearly half of potential wireless users want to purchase phones from more familiar retail outlets, Southwestern Bell has introduced a complete wireless phone package, called Go-Kit. Go-Kits include a Motorola Profile 300 …

FREEHOLD, N.J.-Paging Partners Corp. entered its first mass marketing venture through a reseller distribution agreement with P.C. Richard & Son, a northeast electronics and appliance chain. Paging Partners said it will be the retailer’s sole paging provider. P.C. Richard & …

My New Year’s resolution is the same every year: find some way to stay in this business and make more money. However, this time, I think I’ve got a plan that will work (for the money part). After reading a …

CARROLLTON, Texas-CellStar Corp. recently announced the expansion of its prepaid operations with the completion of an equity investment in Topp Telecom Inc. Topp’s prepaid phones, TracFone, are available in more than 5,000 retail locations throughout the United States, including more …

CEDAR KNOLLS, N.J.-Omnipoint last week announced the availability of the Nokia 9000i Communicator in its retail stores. The digital handset allows users to browse the Internet and access corporate and public databases, and send and receive faxes, e-mail, short text …

NEW YORK-Bundling of multiple prepaid wireless and wireline services is about to get easier and cheaper for small and large carriers, according to InterVoice Inc., Dallas. InterVoice, which produces the Network Services Platform called NSP-5000, announced earlier this month that …

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.-California Microwave Inc. has agreed to sell its Satellite Transmission Systems division to L-3 Communications Corp. for $27 million in cash, the company announced. California Microwave decided to sell its Microwave Networks and Satellite Transmission Systems divisions last …

FORT WORTH, Texas-Conxus Communications Inc. rolled out its Pocketalk narrowband personal communications service in Miami, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last week. Conxus’ south Florida network uses Motorola Inc.’s InFLEXion voice messaging protocol.

The Asia-Pacific market will by far be the world’s largest regional wireless telephony market by 2002, said a new study released by The Strategis Group in Washington, D.C. The firm predicts, based on examinations of 23 Asia-Pacific countries, that the …

GREENSBORO, N.C.-Vanguard Cellular Systems Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire all of the assets of NationPage for $28.1 million cash. NationPage is a regional paging provider with operations primarily in Pennsylvania and upstate New York. The company estimates it …

NEW YORK-Intek Diversified Corp., a Princeton, N.J.-based wireless carrier and equipment manufacturer, announced Dec. 22 the terms of an agreement to issue a new class of preferred stock to Securicor Communications Ltd., its majority shareholder. Under the agreement, scheduled to …

GERMANTOWN, Md.-Dynatech Corp. said it intends to implement a $900 million recapitalization plan. Under the plan, public shareholders of Dynatech will receive $49 per share, which consists of $47.75 per share in cash, and a 5.3-percent fully diluted continuing equity …

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa-Inet Inc. announced that Frontier Advanced Service Technologies selected the Inet GeoProbe system to monitor and troubleshoot its Signaling System 7 network from a centralized operations center. The GeoProbe system supports a variety of surveillance and performance monitoring …

Theory works so much better than reality. President Clinton proclaims a grand plan to make sure that American school children, as well as libraries and rural hospitals, have access to the Internet. Who would be against that? But collecting universal …

NEW YORK-Twenty years ago, her parents-both civil servants-gave Rosanne M. Cahn, chief economist of equities for Credit Suisse First Boston, New York, a cartoon she said aptly describes her profession. It reads: “What we did is plug in all the …

FORT WORTH, Texas-Uniden America Corp. promoted Al Silverberg from vice president of sales to president of the company. As president, he will oversee the company’s business in North, Central and South America. Silverberg has been with Uniden for 15 years, …

Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Infrastructure Group won a supply agreement from Sweden’s Comviq to install a Digital Cellular System at 1800 MHz, which will be used to enhance coverage and capacity on Comviq’s Global System for Mobile communications 900 MHz network …