British Telecommunications

New app stores and smartphone platforms are dominating the news out of Mobile World Congress this week, but it’s a quiet little mobile marketing initiative U.S. carriers will be monitoring closely in coming weeks.Europe’s GSM Association is leading a group …

Dave Dorman, a former AT&T chief executive and currently on Motorola Inc.’s board of directors, has gotten the nod to become the board’s next chairman. Dorman has served on the board since 2006. Dorman assumes his new position May 5, …

For years, the nation’s two largest wireless carriers, Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Verizon Wireless, have focused on their network’s reach and reliability in marketing strategies and their business models. But now that both carriers are going to use Qualcomm Inc.’s …

LONDON, England—Britain’s Office of Communications has announced the winners of 6.6 megahertz of technology-neutral spectrum to be used for low-power GSM wireless services such as private networks. The Wireless Telegraphy licenses cover spectrum in the 1781.7-1785 MHz and 1876.7-1880 MHz …

BANGALORE, India—Subex Systems Ltd., a telecom software products developer, announced it’s buying British revenue-assurance developer Azure Solutions Ltd. for $140 million. The companies said they will operate as Subex Azure Systems Ltd. and plan to offer fraud management and revenue-assurance …

BARCELONA, Spain-The evolution toward convergence could make for some strange bedfellows. The 3GSM World Congress was named for third-generation cellular services, but it was the alphabet soup of other technologies that garnered much of the attention at last week’s show. …

Virgin Mobile Holdings plc is set to be one of the first European operators to launch mobile TV services using a dedicated mobile TV network. The company, which operates a number of mobile virtual operator services around the world, laid …

Ratification is looming for a WiMAX specification standard, and trials, products and opinions are rampant. The worldwide WiMAX market is expected to reach $3.5 billion and account for 4 percent of all broadband usage by 2010, according to a new …

GERMANY BenQ Corp. completed its takeover of Siemens AG’s mobile-phone business, and the combined entity began operations Oct. 1. BenQ Mobile comprises 7,000 employees, a 5.2-percent worldwide mobile-phone market share and $6.7 billion in combined revenues last year. Clemens J. …

RICHARDSON, Texas-Navini Networks Inc. said it’s working with British Telecommunications plc on mobile WiMAX trials for the U.K. market and expects the trials to continue into the first quarter of 2006. “This is an opportunity for BT to explore the …

LONDON-British Telecom plc launched its BT Fusion fixed-mobile convergence service offering, which uses Bluetooth technology to switch seamlessly between the company’s wide-area wireless network and its in-home BT Broadband service. The service, which was originally knows as Bluephone, relies on …

Following news that it was not selected as a preferred supplier for British Telecom’s huge 21st Century Network project, U.K. equipment vendor Marconi Corp. said it will lay off workers, refocus its business and continue to examine its strategic alternatives. …

LONDON-Following news that it was not selected as a preferred supplier for British Telecom’s huge 21st Century Network project, U.K. equipment vendor Marconi Corp. said it will lay off workers, refocus its business and continue to examine its strategic alternatives. …

LONDON-BT, the leading U.K. fixed-line carrier, said it selected eight telecom equipment suppliers for its next-generation network that will see phones that work over both fixed and mobile networks, among other services. The network is called 21st Century Network or …

LONDON-U.K. fixed-line carrier British Telecommunications plc launched a mobile virtual network operator service for the corporate market, dumping its former wireless subsidiary MmO2 for rival carrier Vodafone U.K. as the wireless service supplier. BT Mobile, which has plans for a …

Nortel Networks Ltd. said it has completed the scheduled transfer of certain optical design operations and related assets in Ottawa and Monkstown, Northern Ireland, to Flextronics. The transfer was part of a larger transaction announced earlier this year. The remainder …

LONDON-Revenue assurance company Azure Solutions said it has acquired Connexn Technologies. The combined companies will operate under the Azure name. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. All existing customer and partner agreements will be honored, and Azure said …

TORONTO-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. neglected to sell its 34-percent stake in Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. by Sunday night’s deadline. AWS earlier declined to accept a $1.15 billion bid from the Canadian wireless company’s parent Rogers Communications Inc. for the stake. …

LONDON-British Telecommunications plc said it will expand its Wi-Fi network to 500 U.K. McDonald’s restaurants during the next few months. Plans call for BT Openzone access points to be installed in McDonald’s flagship and drive-through restaurants by the end of …

London Following its launch of an MVNO service in the United Kingdom promoted through a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, British Telecommunications Inc. launched a new service, BTringtones.com, on its public Internet kiosks. The new service offers ring tones, as well as …

OTTAWA-In tune with its “Business Without Borders” vision, Nortel Networks Ltd. said it plans to trial its public wireless local area networks architecture with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and British Telecom plc. Nortel said it will reduce the costs …

HOUSTON-Crown Castle International Corp. announced it has completed an amended $1.6 billion credit facility and made certain changes to its capital structure. “This leverage-neutral transaction simplifies our capital structure and provides our restricted borrowing group access to the operating cash …