Vodafone

LONDON-Vodafone Group plc and China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd. announced a strategic alliance agreement that provides for close cooperation in many areas. The two companies first partnered last October. The agreement does not include a further equity interest by Vodafone, …

LONDON-As speculated earlier this week, Vodafone Group plc said it agreed to acquire AT&T’s Corp.’s 10-percent economic interest in Japan Telecom Co. for $1.35 billion in cash. Following the completion of the transaction, Vodafone will hold 25 percent of Japan …

GENEVA-Despite a subdued initial public offering (IPO) that saw the company reap a modest US$9 per share-near the bottom end of an already hastily reduced US$8.7 to US$10 range-the future is looking good for Orange, the former U.K. operator that …

DUBLIN, Ireland-Having paid so much for their licenses, prospective third-generation (3G) mobile operators in Germany, as in other European countries, have been working hard to convince the financial markets and the rest of the industry that they will make a …

Microsoft Corp. threw its rather large hat in the wireless arena at last week’s 3GSM World Congress, announcing plans to launch software aimed at multimedia-enabled phones that leverage its Windows-based software. Microsoft said the smart phone platform, code named “Stinger,” …

NTT DoCoMo, announced that it set the public offering prices for new shares at $17,500 per share for 400,000 shares. If the additional 60,000 shares are issued at the same price, the issue amount will total $8.1 billion, the firm …

According to recent reports, wireless gaming is spreading nearly as fast as computer viruses pretending to be pictures of tennis stars. By 2005, more than 200 million wireless phone users in the United States and Europe, 80 percent of all …

LONDON-Vodafone plc denied reports that it plans to delay its planned flotation of U.S. joint venture Verizon Wireless, saying it is simply waiting for market conditions to improve. The Times of London reported Vodafone is planning a delay from its …

NEW YORK-Borrowing the vernacular of a traffic engineer, a financier compared the current capital market conditions for telecommunications companies to rush-hour congestion, but observed that the tie-up looks like it is slowly beginning to clear. Investors still are sorting out …

KARLSKRONA, Sweden-Europolitan and Hi3G, two companies granted Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Sweden last year, agreed to jointly build part of their UMTS infrastructure. The companies will form a common entity designated to build and provide UMTS infrastructure, mainly …

PARIS-Austrian mobile operator Tele.ring launched GPRS services networkwide, according to Alcatel, which supplied the equipment. Tele.ring is owned 100 percent by Vodafone Group plc. Tele.ring is the first Austrian operator to launch GPRS services, Alcatel said.

Wireless service providers offering analog phone service to their subscribers are forced to walk a fine line between alienating established customers who rely on analog service and the increased profitability possible from value-added services offered on digital networks. As carriers …

Most analysts expected the Federal Communications Commission’s auction of 422 personal communications services licenses to finish up late last week. Instead, there were 37 eligible bidders placing 27 new high bids on licenses during round 70 of the auction. The …

MELBOURNE, Australia-In a part of the world that still relies on word of mouth as a means to keep in touch, cellular communications-both digital and analog-is continuing to spread through the Pacific Islands as greater numbers of people in the …

Bulgaria Ote Telecom won Bulgaria’s third mobile-phone license for US$135 million, beating out Telecom Italia Mobile through an auction. Ote plans to partner with Bulgarian Telecommunications Co. (BTC), the country’s fixed-line provider, to build out the GSM network. France Martin …

DUBLIN, Ireland-When companies with international aspirations make their cases for being allowed to own mobile networks across a number of countries, one argument put forward is that pan-European operators will hasten the standardization and even reduction of roaming call charges. …

PARIS-France Telecom announced plans to float up to 15 percent of its mobile subsidiary, Orange SA, in an effort to reduce its debt. The float will take place by the end of January on the Paris and London stock exchanges. …

MEXICO CITY-U.K.-based Vodafone Group purchased a 34.5-percent stake in Iusacell, Mexico’s second-largest mobile operator, in an effort to expand into the Latin American wireless market, according to international press reports. The US$973.4 million purchase was made from Grupo Peralta, the …

LONDON-Hutchison Whampoa plc is selling $2.5 billion in exchangeable notes, which can be converted for part of its 3.47-percent stake in Vodafone Group plc, according to international press reports. Vodafone’s share price slipped on the news. Hutchison obtained a 5.2-percent …

TOKYO-KDDI, the sole cdmaOne operator in Japan, has been expanding its international roaming services, fully using its universally standardized cdmaOne technology. In January, KDDI launched international roaming services in Canada in cooperation with Telus Mobility, a major Canadian carrier. Canada …

The millennium is off to a good start for Vodafone Group. The U.K.-based carrier began 2000 with a hostile takeover of Mannesmann, parent of its rival Orange, and continued with a spending spree for third-generation (3G) licenses across Europe. The …

MELBOURNE, Australia-The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) will hold the keenly awaited auction of third-generation (3G) spectrum in the 2 GHz radio-frequency band in early March. The new 3G mobile services are expected to combine popular communications forms, such as mobile …

WASHINGTON-Baltimore superlawyer Peter Angelos confirmed he may take over mobile phone-cancer litigation in Maryland that was dealt a major legal setback recently, but he distanced himself from press reports last week that said his law firm intended to file lawsuits …

At the end of each year, the RCR Wireless News editorial staff looks back on the new events that made RCR headlines and decides which were the most significant, industry-impacting stories of the past 12 months. Here are our picks …

LISBON, Portugal-Portugal’s Institute for Communications of Portugal awarded four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses. The license winners are the country’s three incumbent mobile carriers-TMN, owned by Portugal Telecom; Telecel, majority owned by Vodafone Group plc; and Optimus, in which France …