Telenor

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 …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Russian Communications Minister Leonid Reiman played down fears of already operating foreign investors on the Russian telecom market, saying their equities will not be restricted after the country joins …

DUBLIN, Ireland—Some trends are beginning to emerge in the European multimedia messaging service (MMS) market following the launch of services by several operators. However, there is still a distinct split …

BERNE, Switzerland—Swisscom Mobile said it will begin offering multimedia messaging services on June 3, following MMS launches from Telecom Italia Mobile and Vodafone Telecel in Portugal last week. Swisscom Mobile …

OXFORD, United Kingdom—Looking to build on the runaway success of short message service (SMS), two more European mobile operators have joined in the rush to be among the first to …

HELSINKI, Finland—Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), the Italian mobile operator, has met its May deadline for the launch of multimedia messaging services (MMS) over its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network …

MOSCOW—The Norwegian Telenor is going to sell two of its Russian subsidiaries, and the second-biggest Russian carrier Vimpelcom, in which Telenor holds a major stake, is the most likely buyer. …

GENEVA—General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) roaming exchanges (GRX) are rapidly emerging as a profitable new service niche in Europe and around the world, as mobile operators get serious about GPRS …

ROME—The market for messaging services continues to lead the development of the worldwide wireless data industry, as shown by several news announcements. First, the GSM Association released figures showing the …

HELSINKI, Finland—Norwegian telecom operator Telenor’s competitors in Scandinavia are puzzled by the Oslo-based operator’s decision to price at the high end for multimedia messaging services (MMS). Telenor intends to charge …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Nordic telecom operators Telia AB and Sonera Corp. announced plans to merge through an all-stock transaction, creating a combined company with 2001 revenues of $7.9 billion. Sonera shareholders will …

HELSINKI, Finland—The Danish government has requested a meeting with SBC Communications to discuss the U.S. telecom company’s immediate future plans for its 42-percent equity in the Danish telecom company TDC. …

OSLO, Norway—Telenor said its Malaysian subsidiary DiGi.Com entered into three joint venture agreements with Technology Resources Industries (TRI), which owns Malaysian mobile operator Celcom, the country’s second-largest operator. The companies …

OSLO, Norway—TSI Telecom Services and Telenor Global Services have formed a common peering point called GPRX Roaming Exchange for roaming between their networks using Amsterdam Internet Exchange. “It greatly simplifies …

OSLO, Norway—Telenor announced it completed the acquisition of Comsat Mobile Communications, making Comsat the new U.S. subsidiary of Telenor under the name Telenor Satellite Services. The final purchase price is …

HELSINKI, Finland—Tele2, the Swedish mobile telecom headquartered in Stockholm, has reinforced its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) strategy in Europe through the launch of MVNO services in the Netherlands. Tele2 …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Allgon said Norway’s Telenor selected it as the exclusive supplier of GSM and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) repeaters. Allgon will supply standard and compact repeaters and associated fiber-optic …

OSLO, Norway—Norway’s Telenor Mobile said it will open its third-generation (3G) network on 1 December according to its license conditions. The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System network (UMTS) will initially cover …

OSLO, Norway—Norway’s Telenor Mobile said it will open its third-generation network on Dec. 1 according to its license conditions. The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System network will initially cover central areas …

OSLO, Norway—Norway’s Telenor Mobile signed a final agreement to acquire 100 percent of Hungarian mobile-phone operator Pannon GSM for about US$905 million. Finland’s Sonera and the Netherlands’ KPN, two debt-laden …

LUXEMBOURG—Millicom International Cellular (MIC) confirmed it is in talks with Tele2 regarding the possible sale of MIC’s Russian cellular assets to Tele2. “It is no secret that our Scandinavian competitors …

HELSINKI, Finland-Scandinavia has long been the most fertile and concentrated spawning ground for technology innovation in Europe. The torchbearers for this culture have been led by global names such as …

HELSINKI, Finland-For a market with a well-deserved reputation as the most dynamic and innovative of Europe’s telecom sectors, one could easily think that traditional Scandinavian confidence is in a state …

OSLO, Norway—Telenor Mobile said it began several location-based short message service (SMS) services through an agreement with Pocket IT. Positioning data from Telenor Mobile’s network will be combined with map …

OSLO, Norway—Telenor Mobile launched an accelerator that it said will make surfing the Internet faster when using a portable PC, personal digital assistant (PDA) and mobile phone. The speed will …