BROWSING: Sonera

WASHINGTON-An official bid for VoiceStream Wireless Corp. has reportedly emerged.According to press reports, Deutsche Telekom AG has offered more than $50 billion for the GSM operator. The Wall Street Journal said Friday both companies' boards plan to consider the deal during the weekend, which...

MexicoFour Mexican wireless telephone operators-Baja Cellular, Movitel, Norcel and Cedetel-signed a $66 million expansion contract with Motorola Inc. to provide an end-to-end Code Division Multiple Access network solution. The contract calls for $46 million in infrastructure expansion, including SC4812T base transceiver stations, controllers and...

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The Personal Communications Industry Association reported that Christopher Galvin, chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Inc., will be the opening keynote speaker at PCIA's GlobalXChange."As one of our longstanding industry leaders and supporters, Mr. Galvin has a unique vantage point from which...

LONDON-Sonera Zed Ltd. has agreed with Unilever and Hewlett-Packard Co. to test new mobile marketing solutions beginning in Finland this summer."Mobile marketing is one of the areas in which Zed wants to be a forerunner and develop new, advanced solutions," explained Juha Varelius, president...

DUBLIN, Ireland-Trunked radio may be dismissed by some as the poor relation of GSM and an irrelevance in the world of multibillion pound Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) license bids, but it has carved a niche in the communications world, and at least one...

HELSINKI, Finland-Finnish mobile operator Sonera said it has had discussions with several companies regarding a merger and serious talks are expected by the end of the year, according to international press reports.Speculation centered around possible deals with Telefonica, France Telecom, KPN Telecom and Vodafone...

BIEL, Switzerland-Ten companies submitted applications to bid for four third-generation licenses in Switzerland in November. Switzerland's Federal Office of Communications will decide by the end of August which of the applicants can participate in the auction.The regulator said a candidate must prove that granting...

NICE, France-Nokia Networks and Sonera reported plans to develop intelligent network diagnosing applications on the Nokia ServiceWatch platform designed to provide greater visibility for network operations, reducing the time needed to detect potential problems and raising quality of service."We are pleased to be working...

WEST POINT, Ga.-Powertel Inc. announced two strategic investments as part of a plan to manage DigiPH PCS properties.The carrier said it will purchase a 49.9-percent equity interest in Eliska Wireless Ventures I Inc., an entity in which Eliska Wireless Investors I L.P. and Sonera...

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 the United Kingdom's third-largest...

HELSINKI, Finland-A unit of Finish operator Sonera reportedly was awarded the third Global System for Mobile communications license in the Moscow metropolitan area for $25 million. Sonic Duo, held 35 percent by Sonera and 65 percent by Central Telegraph Mobile, won the license without...

BERLIN-A consortium comprised of Telefonica, Orange and Sonera will join U.S.-based MCI WorldCom and 10 other groups in bidding for third-generation licenses in Germany. The auction is set to begin in early July.The German regulator will sell 12 frequencies of radio spectrum to support...

Personal communications services operator Powertel Inc. reached positive operating cash flow in the first quarter and added a company-record 110,000 subscribers.The Southeast PCS company, which analysts suspect soon may be gobbled up by VoiceStream Wireless Corp., said its growth in prepaid customers helped propel...

MADRID, Spain-Telefonica reported reaching an agreement with Orange plc and Sonera Corp. to apply for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service license in Germany through a consortium in which Telefonica InterContinental S.A. will hold a 40-percent stake, with Orange and Sonera sharing the remaining 60...

A consortium comprised of Telefonica, Orange and Sonera will join U.S.-based MCI WorldCom and 10 other groups in bidding for third-generation (3G) licenses in Germany. The auction is set to begin in early July.The German regulator will sell 12 frequencies of radio spectrum to...

ISTANBUL, Turkey-All four consortia vying for Turkey's fourth Global System for Mobile communications license withdrew from the auction without bidding. A company owned by Telecom Italia and Turkey's Isbank grabbed the third license for US$2.52 billion last week.The third license bid was nearly double...

Bidders in the U.K. third-generation license auction appeared to exceed their budgets last week. Bidding for the five licenses totaled an eye-popping $35 billion, and the auction will linger on into this week.The auction seems eerily reminiscent of the U.S. personal communications services C-block...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson agreed to sell its 25-percent share in Across Wireless to Sonera SmartTrust Ltd., with plans to invest in the upcoming initial public offering of Sonera's common stock.Ericsson noted that it would invest an amount equal to 50 percent of its consideration...

NEW YORK-VoiceStream Wireless Corp. is prepared to wage war on two fronts in the battle of the titans for transnational control of wireless telecommunications, John Stanton, VoiceStream's chairman and chief executive officer said.Although focused on expanding its domestic footprint through acquisitions of carriers and...

NEW YORK-To simulate third-generation wireless before its deployment, Finland's Sonera has just embarked on a new program, Sonera Mspace, said Kaj-Erik Relander, the company's executive vice president.In partnership with content, service and technology providers, Mspace will conduct in Finland "real life trials with consumers...

Looking to join the wireless portal game, Internet infrastructure software firm Inktomi Corp. inked several deals last week with industry players in an effort to collect all the pieces necessary to build wireless portals for carriers and others.Inktomi provides Internet backbone technology like traffic...

LOS ANGELES-Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc., a provider of infrastructure-independent contact center solutions, plans to extend its customer interaction capabilities to mobile users and is currently conducting pilot projects with three European customers to offer online support using Internet-enabled wireless devices.Scandinavia-based Leonia Bank, MeritaNordbanken and...

ANKARA, Turkey-The Turkish government announced the time frame for auctioning two new wireless telephone licenses. The tender for two Global System for Mobile communications licenses is scheduled for March, Reuters reported. Each is expected to bring $650 million.The government also plans in April to...

SAN DIEGO, Calif.-PacketVideo said Finland's Sonera Corp. will conduct field trials of its wireless multimedia services this summer.PacketVideo's MPEG-4 compliant software-based encoding, decoding and transmission-management products enable wireless carriers to deliver a variety of content and media applications-not just data-to mobile devices, according to...