Vodafone

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Orascom Telecom (OT) is emerging as the winning titan in the conquest of cellular operations in Africa and the Middle East. With GSM cellular licenses firmly secured in the last few weeks in the Cameroon and Niger, Orascom …

Hong Kong Hong Kong’s Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) will use a “hybrid” method-a prequalification followed by an auction-to allocate four third-generation (3G) mobile services licenses early next year. New market entrants must compete with Hong Kong’s six incumbent …

ROME-The results of the Italian third-generation license auction are unfortunate for the Italian government and British Telecommunications plc, while most opportune for the five companies that have unofficially won licenses at prices much lower than anticipated. After just two days …

ROME-The Italian auction for five Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses began last Thursday. Italy is Europe’s largest cell-phone market, with six groups participating in the auction process, which is expected to raise around $21 billion. The German UMTS auction, which …

SAO PAULO, Brazil-Vodafone Group and British Telecommunications announced committees focused on the auction of new-generation cellular telephony licenses in Brazil in the C, D and E bands. William Kiever, president of Vodafone for America and Asia, said the company does …

FORT WORTH, Texas-Travelocity.com launched a mobile flight-booking tool with rebooking capabilities for customers using various types of wireless devices. The service allows travelers to buy airline tickets via their devices, as well as rebook previously purchased tickets if necessary. The …

LONDON-Irish telecom company Eircom confirmed it is in preliminary discussions regarding the sale of all or part of its mobile subsidiary, Eircell. International press reports said Eircom is talking with Vodafone Group plc about a possible sale. Eircell, Ireland’s largest …

BEIJING-Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile-phone operator by total subscriber numbers, is set to take a 2-percent stake in China Mobile (Hong Kong), the listed subsidiary of parent China Mobile Telecommunications in Beijing. Vodafone agreed to purchase shares valued at $2.5 …

NEW YORK-Verizon Wireless added 806,000 new customers during the third quarter of this year, a 35-percent increase in net additions compared with third quarter results last year from the combined U.S. wireless properties of Bell Atlantic Corp., Vodafone Group and …

HONG KONG-China Mobile Hong Kong is buying seven mobile-phone networks from China Mobile Communications, its parent company, for about US$33 billion. China Mobile Hong Kong will sell US$2.5 billion of shares to Vodafone Group plc to help pay for the …

NEW YORK-Telecommunications carriers worldwide are under significant pressure due to the bandwidth explosion, rising capital expenditures, competition from new players and delays in commercial rollout of new technologies. “I take a cautious view of the telecommunications services world at the …

NEW YORK-Telecommunications is like chess, because the grand masters emerge as victors by controlling the center of the board, Ivan Seidenberg, president and co-chief executive officer of Verizon Communications Inc., said. “In our case, the move to center means four …

CAMBRIDGE, England-Interest group Cambridge3G was launched to establish Cambridge, England, as a leading test bed in Europe for the early rollout of third-generation mobile services. The initiative is backed by Cambridge-based telecommunications companies including Analysys, 3G LAB, Cambridge Positioning Systems, …

India The government-owned Department of Telecom Operations (DTO) will start its cellular mobile service in some cities by March 2001. It will soon float a tender for the supply and installation of about 1.5 million lines of GSM equipment on …

Until you have actually bought a good or service using a mobile device, it is difficult to comprehend the sheer power of the phone as an electronic wallet. In Europe, recent initiatives by innovative carriers such as Sonera allow users …

HELSINKI, Finland-Vodafone Hungary plans to use Nokia Corp.’s InSite Base Station solution to provide indoor coverage and capacity solutions to its new headquarters in Budapest, Hungary. The agreement includes equipment supply, solution planning and implementation. “For a large company like …

BUCHAREST, Romania-As European wireless penetration rates increase, operators are looking to new services, including short message service (SMS) and fax and data transmissions, to increase profit margins. Another application, mobile positioning, is gaining importance across Europe. According to U.K. telecom …

DUBLIN, Ireland-High license costs and fierce competition have further increased the pressure on European third-generation (3G) operators to quickly roll out their networks. But while this rush to market will create opportunities for companies other than the current dominant cellular …

France France released details of its plan to award four 3G wireless phone licenses based on a beauty contest. Bidders, given a 31 January, 2001, deadline to submit proposals, will be judged on the strength of their business plans, before …

TOKYO-Japan Telecom said it plans to launch third-generation (3G) mobile service by October 2001, instead of its originally scheduled December 2001 date. J-Phone, the company’s wireless operator, hopes to better compete with NTT DoCoMo, the country’s dominant wireless carrier by …

Ericsson Canada. With Microcell Connexions for a GPRS network. Value: Undisclosed China. With China Unicom for GSM expansions in Jilin, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Hubei provinces. Value: US$176 million Laos. With Lao Telecommunications Co. for GSM switching. Value: US$1.2 million …

NEW YORK-The number of licenses awarded, not the prices paid for them, likely will lead Standard & Poor’s Corp. to downgrade the debt ratings of many winning bidders in Germany’s recent third-generation wireless auctions. “The total paid, 50.5 billion euros …

New Zealand Nokia Corp. will integrate its General Packet Radio Service core network solution into Vodafone New Zealand’s network, providing mobile Internet access to Vodafone’s subscribers. Vodafone plans to launch commercial GPRS service during the fourth quarter. Taiwan Nokia will …

WASHINGTON-Union employees at Verizon Communications, the parent company of Verizon Wireless, remained on strike at RCR’s deadline Friday afternoon with both sides refusing to say when the strike might end. Whether the key issue of easing efforts at union organizing …

In a surprise ending, six groups walked away with Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Germany at a total cost of $45.85 billion, the largest amount raised yet in a third-generation spectrum auction, hitting the ceiling of most analyst predictions. …