BellSouth

WASHINGTON-An uncertain wireless industry realignment could be in store as a result of Justice Department’s rejection last week of the WorldCom Inc.-Sprint Corp. merger and new legislation forbidding foreign government ownership of U.S. telecommunications firms. “Instead of two wireless players …

NEW YORK-SBC Wireless hopes to take a bite out of the Big Apple as one part of a territorial and services expansion plan accompanying combining its wireless operations with those of BellSouth Corp. With the closing of the joint venture …

The Federal Communications Commission received comments from wireless operators over its tentative decision to allow large carriers to bid in the re-auction of C- and F-block personal communications services spectrum. Most large carriers, however, feel the potential rules severely limit …

Alcatel. Benin. With Office des Postes et Telecommunications (OPT) for a GSM network, along with fiber-optic and switching equipment. Value: US$32.8 million Kenya. With KenCell for a 50,000-subscriber capacity GSM network. Value: Undisclosed Morocco. With Maroc Telecom for mobile switching …

Argentina Millicom International Cellular (MIC) launched phase one of it service rollout in the Buenos Aires area. Millicom Argentina also will provide wireless Internet services to the country’s most populated cities-Cordoba, Vendozo, Rosario and Tucuman-during 2000. Teligent and Telcom Ventures …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-For Movicom BellSouth and CTI M

PARIS-SnapTrack Inc. said an international consortium of Global System for Mobile communications wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers are preparing to evaluate SnapTrack’s Wireless Assisted Global Positioning System technology, which provides services such as location-based billing, mobile directory and roadside assistance …

WASHINGTON-A Federal Communications Commission decision last week that is largely favorable to the paging industry has led one local telephone company to threaten to sue. “Requiring local service providers to provide free facilities to paging companies, in addition to making …

AT&T Wireless Group announced it entered agreements with Verizon Wireless to acquire wireless systems in San Diego, San Francisco and Houston for approximately $3.3 billion. “This is a critical move that gives us three systems … which cover a population …

DALLAS-BellSouth Mobility DCS signed Nortel Networks Corp. to a three-year, $200 million equipment and services agreement to expand its Global System for Mobile communications network in the southeastern United States. Nortel said it would deploy its S8000 GSM base transceiver …

ATLANTA-After first entering the Colombian wireless market just last month and in line with its aggressive Latin American expansion strategy, BellSouth Corp. announced it increased its stake in operator Celumovil. As part of the deal, Celumovil will purchase Colombian wireless …

OpenGrid Wireless Internet solutions provider OpenGrid Inc. appointed Gary Rhea to the position of chief financial officer. Rhea will oversee the company’s financial activities, including treasury, accounting, business planning and investor relations. Rhea was CFO for Versant Corp., a provider …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-BellSouth Mobility said it plans to deploy up to 56 Ericsson Datacom Inc. AXC 627 Tigris Access Servers in 28 of its mobile switching centers. The servers, part of Ericsson’s Integrated Access System wireless solution, will complement an ongoing …

WASHINGTON-The Communications Workers of America will make unionization of wireless workers a priority when negotiations begin in two weeks on a new collective bargaining agreement with Bell Atlantic Corp., a strategy by organized labor that appears designed to take advantage …

NEW YORK-WebLink Wireless Inc., Dallas, will target teen-agers and twenty-somethings with a two-way messaging and e-mail service it plans to debut this summer. Subscribers who sign a year-long service contract for $15 monthly will receive an $80 rebate on the …

OmniSky OmniSky Corp., a provider of wireless Internet services for handheld computing devices, named five new people to its executive management team. Lawrence Winkler is the company’s new senior vice president and chief financial officer and will oversee accounting and …

IPmobile Wireless communications infrastructure company IPmobile Inc. hired Louis Wooldridge as its vice president of sales in Asia, and Chuck Derrick as its vice president of product development. Wooldridge will spearhead the company’s initiative to secure and capitalize on the …

LONDON-France Telecom is expected to make a $45 billion cash and stock bid for Orange plc early next week, according to international press reports. The French telecom company is reported to have secured a $29.7 billion bank loan to acquire …

Whatever you do, don’t tell John Beletic he’s running a paging network. “We spend $580 million building a two-way messaging network and $90 million on the one-way paging network and people are still calling us a paging carrier,” said the …

ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. will acquire a 33.8-percent stake in Celumovil SA, a wireless communications provider in eastern and Atlantic regions of Colombia, for $295 million. Celumovil’s coverage area in Colombia includes approximately 26 million people, including the cities of Bogota, Baranquilla …

WASHINGTON-The wireless industry received a stinging rebuke Thursday about its lack of action on a Federal Communications Commission item that could increase the amount of money wireless customers pay into the universal-service fund. “I have been shocked at how timid …

Anticipating substantial future growth in the mobile and wireless computing industries, Sybase Inc. launched a new subsidiary to provide mobile business-to-business services and support. Sybase created iAnywhere Solutions Inc. to help the company pursue new strategic alliances, investment strategies and …

SAO PAULO, Brazil-BellSouth Corp. said it acquired 16.5 percent of the total capital of Brazilian cellular operator Tele Centro Oeste Cellular for $229 million, bringing the number of its Brazilian wireless investments to three. Through a two-phase acquisition, BellSouth first …

ATLANTA-BellSouth Mobility introduced “BellSouth Rollover,” a new calling plan that will let customers keep their unused monthly minutes. “When a customer buys a package of minutes one month, they shouldn’t have to worry about losing unused minutes the next,” said …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo Inc. announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with KPN Telecom, acquiring 15 percent of the voting rights in a newly formed holding company called KPN Mobile N.V. for about $4.5 billion. The announcement follows KPN’s failed merger …