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AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said it will offer two-way short messaging service later this year, giving the carrier a more seamless data offering with its affiliates. AT&T Wireless offers SMS service today and relaunched its PocketNet service, based on Cellular …

WARSAW, Poland-The Minister of the Polish State Treasury closed an agreement with a France Telecom consortium to sell a 35-percent stake in Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. for $4.23 billion. According to the agreement, France Telecom’s Cogecom subsidiary will take 25 percent …

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-KPN, the former telecommunications monopoly in the Netherlands, plans to offer a new issue of shares to the public this year. The Dutch government currently holds a 43.5-percent stake, which will be reduced through the sale, in KPN. …

France Brightpoint Inc. subsidiary Brightpoint France SARL, entered an agreement with Motorola S.A. France, a subsidiary of Motorola Inc., to distribute Motorola wireless communications handsets in France. Financial terms of the agreement were not released. Italy Nokia announced it will …

FRANKFURT, Germany-Deutsche Telekom said it signed an agreement to sell its 24.5-percent stake in Wind, its joint venture in Italy. Enel and France Telecom will purchase the stake for about $2.5 billion. After the transaction, Enel’s stake in Wind will …

BOGOTA, Colombia-Celumovil BellSouth acquired 100 percent of the shares of Cocelco, a wireless provider in Colombia, through a purchase on the Bogota stock exchange. BellSouth said the transaction creates the first nationwide mobile cellular operator in Colombia. Completion of BellSouth’s …

MADRID, Spain-Telefonica Moviles and Terra Networks set up Terra Mobile, a new company charged with developing and operating the Telefonica group’s global mobile Internet portal. Telefonica Moviles will control 51 percent of the new company, with Terra Networks controlling the …

The Third Generation Partnership Project, a standards body initially established by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to work on W-CDMA technology, last week agreed to include standards work on GSM technology as well. The organizational partners, which consist of standards-development …

LISBON, Portugal-Brazilian wireless operator Telesp Celular, a subsidiary of Portuguese communications provider Portugal Telecom, entered an agreement with Centrais Telefonicas de Ribeirao Preto S.A. to acquire Ceterp Celular, the Band A cellular operator in northwestern Sao Paulo state. The agreement …

MINNEAPOLIS-Broadband network equipment supplier ADC Telecommunications Inc. and Australian pay television operator Austar United Communications announced a strategic program to develop and deploy a multichannel multipoint distribution service broadband wireless system. The deployment, planned for later this year, will include …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. signed an agreement to supply Austrian Global System for Mobile communications operator One a core Nokia General Packet Radio Service network. One is currently using a Nokia supplied pre-commercial GPRS system to test new and existing applications.

BOCA RATON, Fla.-SBA Communications Corp., an independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure, reported an increase in its tower portfolio by 309 towers to 1,660 total towers during the company’s second quarter. SBA noted that of the 309 towers …

LONDON-U.K. wireless operator Orange plc announced a $752 million wireless Internet strategy, including numerous acquisitions, investments, partnerships and content agreements. Dubbed OrangeWorld, the initiative aims to take “wirefree communications beyond two-dimensional voice and data and into intelligent interactive response to …

KANSAS CITY-Sprint PCS and Mexican operator Pegaso PCS appointed Bernie Bianchino chief executive officer of Pegaso. Bianchino was formerly the chief business development officer for Sprint PCS. Sprint PCS invested $200 million into Pegaso earlier this year. Its investment includes …

BOSTON-Western Wireless Corp. and Nortel Networks will conduct a rural fixed wireless access trial using cdma2000 third-generation digital radio technology. The trial, scheduled to take place in Minnesota and South Dakota, is expected to accelerate commercialization of wireless enhanced voice …

It’s been a wild roller-coaster ride for Qualcomm Inc.’s stock this year. The former Wall Street angel is fighting a public-relations battle that says a move to wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology is a move away from Qualcomm. Such …

Let the bidding frenzy begin. Possibilities are blowing open now that Sprint Corp. and WorldCom Inc. ended their $115 billion merger plans and reports of suitors for VoiceStream Wireless Corp. circulated last week. Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG and a partnership …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. was selected by four European mobile operators to provide General Packet Radio Service core network infrastructure solutions to their existing Global System for Mobile communications networks. Nokia will integrate its GPRS solution into the existing GSM networks …

The Netherlands opened its auction for five third-generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications Services mobile-phone licenses Thursday, and immediately two of the eight bidding companies bowed out. Hutchison 3G Netherlands and Nogenta Swedish Acquisitions withdrew from the auction just as it was …

SWINDON, United Kingdom-Lucent Technologies Inc. completed network enhancements enabling German mobile operator T-Mobil to deploy a commercial mobile Internet service based on General Packet Radio Service. With the introduction of GPRS to its network, T-Mobile customers will be able to …

NEW YORK-Telstra Corp., Australia’s dominant telecommunications provider, “hates to be considered an incumbent because we transitioned to a New Age company years ago,” said Philip Wise, managing director of its Mobile Consumer Division. To provide a full suite of services, …

MINNEAPOLIS-ADC Telecommunications Inc. will provide its Metrica/NPR network performance solution to Chilean personal communications services operator Smartcom. According to ADC, the software will manage performance statistics collected from Smartcom’s PCS network, providing daily, weekly and monthly reports on traffic and …

WASHINGTON-The joint venture between BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc. to create the sixth nationwide wireless carrier hit a speed bump in its cruise for approval last month when a small Michigan cellular operator objected. Thumb Cellular L.P. filed papers …

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.-Motorola Inc.’s Network Solutions Sector said Japanese cellular operator Tu-Ka Cellular Tokyo Inc. awarded it a $170 million contract to expand the existing personal digital cellular system in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Network commercial service will become operational …

China Motorola Inc.’s Network Solutions Sector signed two contracts to provide its Global System for Mobile communications network infrastructure in China. The first contract, with Tianjin Mobile Communications Corp., calls for Motorola to install a GSM 1800 network by the …