BellSouth

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-In spite of the economic crisis that has ravaged the region, BellSouth’s net profits in Latin America reached US$18 million in the first six months of this year compared with a US$70 million loss in the same period …

NEW YORK-Deutsche Telekom AG has proposed merging its VoiceStream Wireless Corp. operations with Cingular Wireless L.L.C., which is owned by BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc., according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper said unnamed sources …

SAN ANTONIO, Texas-SBC Communications Inc. sold a $1 billion issue of 10-year senior unsecured notes Aug. 14 that the company will use primarily to repay outstanding commercial paper, which is debt that matures in less than one year. Deutsche Bank …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Mobile operator Smartcom PCS, owned by Endesa of Spain, sued BellSouth through the Chilean government’s Antimonopoly Resolution Commission on the grounds of disloyal competition. This suit is based on BellSouth now offering a plan for users of mobiles …

HELSINKI, Finland-BellSouth has rejected a US$650 million cash offer from the Norwegian state-controlled Telenor to acquire the U.S. corporation’s 46.5-percent equity interest in Sonofon, Denmark’s second-largest mobile telephone operator. BellSouth is clearly holding out for a better price for its …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-The Telecommunications Council of Ecuador called to tender on 17 July an auction to assign three wireless local loop (WLL) frequencies from 3.4 to 3.6 GHz, while the Subsecretariat of Telecommunications of Chile called to tender on 18 …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—The Supreme Court of Chile has resolved to exclude Smartcom, owned by Endesa of Spain, from the 30 megahertz personal communications services (PCS) auction after two years of administrative and judicial conflict. Therefore, only two companies, Telef

CALGARY, Alberta—Wireless Matrix Corp. said it has received an order from Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) for 2,400 mobile base station units to be used in deployment of SAIC’s FleetOptimizer solution with BellSouth. SAIC’s FleetOptimizer system uses the Internet to …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—The numbers of cellular phones in Colombia will have 10 digits as of 1 June in accordance with new Ministry of Communications regulations. Therefore, three digits will be added to the 3.55 million cellular phones serviced by Comcel …

SAN ANTONIO—SBC Communications Inc. said it will begin offering stand alone Cingular Wireless options and discounted service packages as part of its communications and entertainment service portfolio. The Cingular service options will initially be available in the SBC Ameritech states …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—U.K.-based company Logica has just inaugurated its new office for South America in Buenos Aires, with the aim to promote its applications for mobile services. “Operators are increasingly outsourcing these services because they are very expensive and are …

CARACAS, Venezuela—Telcel BellSouth has signed a contract to allow Lucent Technologies Inc. to build its wireless network based on cdma2000 technology. Lucent will upgrade the carrier’s CDMA base stations with cdma2000 1x channel cards and software, supply 1x EV-DO equipment …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—BellSouth introduced the first integrated mobile Internet service in Per

CARACAS, Venezuela—Lucent Technologies and Telcel BellSouth announced a three-year agreement to continue building a cdma2000 network in Venezuela. The initial deployment of 1x equipment has begun in Caracas and will expand to other areas of the country. Lucent said it …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Telef

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Cellular clients in Colombia increased by 10 percent during this year’s first quarter, amounting to 3.55 million subscribers, according to official information released by the Ministry of Communications. Comcel, majority owned by Am

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—The decrease in cellular users in Argentina has generated a new strategy for operators, consisting of the sale of used terminals with lower costs than new ones. During the last four months, the value of new terminals has …

By Alejandro Alfie BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—As the economic crisis in Argentina continues, the impact is being felt throughout South America’s mobile industry. “The situation in Argentina has dramatically affected the mobile penetration in the country,” said Leslie Arathoon, Latin America …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Since early April, 1 million Telef

SANTO DOMINO, Dominican Republic—Telecom company Tricom said it launched digital trunking services in Panama. The iDEN network is targeted at the corporate market and builds on the company’s long-term plans to build a pan-regional Central American digital trunking network. Tricom …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—BellSouth doubled the quantity of users during the last six months in Ecuador, which caused a 40-percent increase in phone traffic and the saturation of its network. Consequently, the company decided to suspend the incorporation of new users …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—The Colombian government passed a decree authorizing the auction of three regional licenses for personal communications services (PCS) on the C band of 1900 MHz, during which it is expecting to raise more than US$1 billion. The Colombian …

ATLANTA, United States—BellSouth announced it sold its entire stake, or 234.7 million shares, in Dutch telecommunications provider Royal KPN. The sale will give the company an after-tax gain of US$850 million during the first quarter. BellSouth and KPN in January …

ATLANTA—BellSouth Corp. announced it sold its entire stake, or 234.7 million shares, in Dutch telecommunications provider Royal KPN. The sale will give the company an after-tax gain of $850 million during the first quarter. BellSouth and KPN in January restructured …

NEW YORK—Celerica Inc., a start-up wireless infrastructure provider based in Morristown, N.J., said it has commenced a beta trial of its technology for rapid cell site deployment with Cellcom, a BellSouth Corp. subsidiary that is Israel’s second-largest mobile carrier. The …