German cellular service provider T-Mobil awarded a contract to Lucent Technologies Inc. to expand T-Mobil’s Global System for Mobile communications network. Lucent values the agreement at more than $30 million. T-Mobil’s D-1 network currently serves 2.5 million subscribers. According to the contract, Lucent will supply and install its BTS-2000 radio base stations and its Compact BTS-2000/2C base transceiver station.
Millicom International Cellular S.A. said it signed agreements with Motorola Inc. and Soyuzkontrakt to purchase the companies’ 60.6 percent combined equity stake in St. Petersburg Telecom. Millicom will become the new operator of St. Petersburg Telecom, which operates an Advanced Mobile Phone Service cellular telephone system in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city with a population of 4.5 million people.
Omnitel Pronto Italia, Italy’s first private Global System for Mobile communications operator, signed on its 1 millionth subscriber last month. “The signing of our millionth customer after just 17 months of commercial service confirms that Omnitel is among the fastest growing cellular start-ups in the world,” said Silvio Scaglia, Omnitel’s chief executive officer. Omnitel’s cellular infrastructure also continues to grow. As of May 15, the company’s network covered 63 percent of the Italian territory, equivalent to 89 percent of the population.
Glenayre Technologies Inc. agreed to build a high-speed paging network in Guangdong province of China for Radio Administrative Committee of China. Glenayre values the contract at $5.1 million. Glenayre also agreed to expand two provincewide POCSAG networks to provide roaming capability and increased capacity, the company said. The agreement calls for Glenayre to install its protocol-independent infrastructure including GL3000 wireless messaging switches, GL-C2000 controllers, GL5352 UHF transmitters and GL-E55 and GL-T86 VHF transmitters and advanced networking equipment.
Tellabs won a contract to supply its MartisDXX managed access and transport network system to Libancell, the Lebanese Global System for Mobile communications operator. The system provides a wide range of end-user services including leased line, local area network interconnect, public switched telephone network, Integrated Services Digital Network, private branch exchange and mobile services.
InterDigital Communications Corp. signed a contract with Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications to provide its UltraPhone Time Division Multiple Access digital wireless local loop system and equipment for the Union of Mynamar. InterDigital values the agreement at $250 million. The agreement calls for a joint venture to be established in Myanmar between InterDigital and MPT to locally manufacture the systems and equipment.
