2001

LONDON—Equipment vendor Marconi posted a US$7.4 billion pre-tax loss in its first-half report, attributing the results to a flagging market and the uncertainties created by the 11 September attacks in the United States. The company has embarked on cost cutting, …

LONDON—The Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) announced it is planning a domestic initial public offering (IPO) early next year. Indications are that it will involve around 10 percent of the company. The long-awaited sale will be aimed at Saudi investors and …

LAS VEGAS, United States—Nokia and Sony announced they are developing an open and common middleware platform with the intent of achieving interoperability between mobile handsets and consumer devices, and between their respective service platforms. The companies said the aim of …

TORONTO—Microcell Telecommunications plans to raise C$250 million (US$150 million) of its C$350 million (US$220 million) in financing needs through an equity offering. But Deutsche Telecom, a 15-percent owner of Microcell, is noticeably absent as a participant in the C$250 million …

ATHENS, Greece—Greek company Ote Telecoms won a license to operate a second mobile network in Macedonia. The 22-year license price was US$25 million. Local company Link Telecom originally offered US$80 million for the license, but then failed to provide a …

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Agilent Technologies says it will cut another 4,000 jobs, making the total job reductions 8,000 since August, representing 19 percent of its work force. The test-and-measurement equipment vendor, which met market estimates in its fourth-quarter reports, said the …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Coinciding with its Telecom Africa 2001 event this week in Johannesburg, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) released a report detailing the state of telecommunications in Africa. The report claims that “within a few years, the majority of Africa …

BELLEVUE, Washington, United States—VoiceStream Wireless officially unveiled its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)-enabled iStream wireless data network nationwide. VoiceStream said the service, which has been advertised on the carrier’s Web site for some time, can be added to current calling …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Cell C, the third cellular license operator in South Africa, plans to officially go live on Saturday, 17 November. The operator announced at Telecom Africa 2001 this week that it will initially offer a prepaid package, Easy Chat, …

TOKYO—KDDI, the second-largest mobile operator in Japan, announced it will launch location services using the global positioning system (GPS) satellite system and motion picture services with 64 kilobits per second (kbps) data speeds in early December. KDDI is losing market …

LONDON—The London-based Investors International consortium has been named the preferred bidder for a 51-percent stake in Nigeria’s state-run Nitel. The consortium is backed by Portugal Telecom, Nortel and KPN. According to government officials, the consortium put in a bid of …

BELLEVUE, Washington, United States—VoiceStream Wireless said it will acquire the majority of bankrupt MobileStar Network’s equipment and contracts for an undisclosed sum. The deal was reached last week and must still be approved by a bankruptcy court. MobileStar, which provided …

MIAMI, United States—Brightstar announced its third-quarter revenues show it remains the market share leader in Latin American wireless outsourcing. The company’s US$161.5 million in revenues was well above competitors CellStar’s and Brightpoint’s respective US$69.5 and US$33.7 million third-quarter revenues. “We …

WOODBURY, N.Y.—Comverse has been chosen to provide its unified messaging solution to Portugal’s Vodafone, a mobile operator that has 2.6 million cellular customers and holds 35 percent of the market share in the country. Comverse’s solution gives consumers a “one-stop” …

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Mirapoint announced China Telecom purchased the company’s messaging products and will offer the services to customers in the Guangxi province. The announcement comes just weeks after Mirapoint released new versions of its messaging products.

ATLANTA—EMS Technologies Inc. is providing Atlanta’s Henry Medical Center with Mobile Clinical Workstations, patient care carts that allow hospitals to use wireless applications at the patient point of care. “Utilizing the Mobile Clinical Workstation, nurses can input their nursing notes, …

FRANKFURT, Germany—Siemens AG reported a fourth-quarter loss of $968 million, although it exceeded analysts’ estimates. However, the company which attributes its loss to the down market in telecom equipment, said it posted a profit of $1.84 billion for the full …

BEDMINSTER, N.J.—Verizon Wireless unveiled www.vtext.com, a short text messaging Web site designed to help customers send text messages to individuals and groups and set up information alerts. The service works with the carrier’s Mobile Messenger text messaging service, allowing the …

ATLANTA-AirGate PCS Inc. reported $62.2 million in total revenue for its fourth fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $16.6 million last year. While revenues increased, net loss dropped from $29.1 million, or $2.30 per share, to $25 million, or …

ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless announced its Be Sensible partnership with theater exhibition company Loews Cineplex Entertainment encouraging wireless courtesy in movie theaters. As part of the deal, Cingular produced a 15-second on-screen movie trailer designed to run before each feature presentation on …

SAN DIEGO-Microsoft Corp. selected Silicon Wave Inc. to provide Bluetooth solutions for its Windows CE .NET operating system. Silicon Wave said its solution will allow original equipment manufacturers to produce personal digital assistants, mobile phones and cable set-top boxes that …

LONDON—British Telecommunications plc received final court approval for its demerger of the mmO2 business. The demerger will create two new holding companies—one for the BT Group businesses and one for the mmO2 mobile businesses. BT said the listing of the …

TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo Inc. reported it will launch a video-clip distribution service over its FOMA third-generation network November 19. The carrier said the I-motion service will allow users to obtain video content from sites accessed via its official I-mode portal with …

SAN FRANCISCO—Long-distance, credit card and online services company Working Assets has chosen Sentori Inc. to provide its new wireless billing solution, Sentori 3G, which will be hosted by billing and revenue assurance company EUR Systems. “Working Assets is constantly looking …

SAN DIEGO—Leap Wireless International Inc. won the “Most Innovative Wireless Service” award from Andrew Seybold’s Outlook 4Mobility during the organization’s 11th Annual Wireless Dinner in Las Vegas.