BRIEFS

Mobile Phone News, April 5, 1999

Roseville Telephone Sues AirTouch Cellular

Roseville Telephone Co. (RTC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Roseville Communications Co. [RVCL], has filed a lawsuit against AirTouch Cellular [ATI] claiming that AirTouch is illegally blocking it from operating a PCS network in Northern California. Roseville, with a 23.5 percent interest, is one of four limited partners in Sacramento-Valley Limited Partnership (SVLP); AirTouch Cellular is the general partner. RTC Wireless, a second Roseville subsidiary, in 1997 acquired four PCS licenses for areas including Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto and Yuba City, Calif., and plans to launch service in the first half of 1999. AirTouch, however, contends that RTC violates the SVLP partnership agreement because certain portions of the RTC license areas overlap the partnership's market. RTC filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California seeking declaratory relief, injunctive relief and damages. The company reported that an AirTouch affiliate operates a PCS network in the Reno, Nev., area, which also is within SVLP's service area. (Mike Campbell, Roseville, 916/786-4282.)

Andrew Signs Reseller Agreement With Divine

Orland Park, Ill.-based Andrew Corp. [ANDW] has signed a reseller agreement with Divine Tower International Corp. (DTIC), which will deploy Andrew's radio antenna tower and base station equipment to carriers in North and South America and Europe. Andrew and Columbus, Ohio-based DTIC will offer full turnkey wireless services and products to developed and emerging markets. The initial contract is to deploy Andrew products at communications sites owned, managed and maintained by DTIC. (Greta Brown, Andrew, 708/349-5661.)

BAM Relies On MKS Source Integrity to Manage Billing

Waterloo, Ontario-based Mortice Kern Systems Inc. [MKX] (MKS) announced that Bell Atlantic Mobile [BEL] (BAM) is using MKS Integrity Framework as its software change management solution for customer billing systems serving more than 6.3 million customers. The MKS Source Integrity Professional Edition is being deployed to 200 BAM developers within the company's Information Systems group to manage development and custom enhancements to BAM's two customer billing systems. The systems record all calls made by BAM's customers and supply account information to the 2,000 representatives in the company's customer care system. (Margaret Dobbin, MKS, 519/883-4389.)

ENGLAND: Fixed To Mobile Calls Reduced

England's Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) last week modified the licenses of Vodafone Group PLC [VOD] and Cellnet to reduce by 25 percent the costs of calls made from British Telecommunications PLC [BTY] (BT) wireline phones to numbers on those networks. The cut was recommended by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) following an investigation requested by Oftel last March (MPN, Dec. 14, 1998). The modifications also eliminate charges for unanswered calls on Vodafone and Cellnet. Oftel expects the country's other wireless carriers, Orange PLC [ORNGY] and One 2 One, also to cut rates on calls made from fixed-line networks.

SPAIN: Telefonica Considers Seeking 2nd Mobile License

Fresh off its $33 million acquisition of a cellular license in Guatemala, Telefonica SA [TEF], Spain's largest telecommunications operator, is considering purchasing its second mobile phone license in Spain, which will award the third license to operate in the country this year. Telefonica seeks to increase its advantage over Airtel SA, Spain's No. 2 mobile phone company with 2.5 million subscribers. Airtel recently received a license to provide fixed-line telephone services. Telefonica, which recently bought a Guatemalan wireline company, plans to invest more than $99 million in the next six months to develop its wireless and wireline services in Guatemala. The company reported that 1999 profit growth will exceed the previous year's 14.5 percent increase. (Telefonica, 34-91-556-8285.)

VENEZUELA: Auction Of Third Cellular License To Restart

The Venezuela Infrastructure Ministry hopes to raise $180 million for the cash-starved government and to boost competition in the wireless market, by restarting the auction for a third cellular phone license in mid-April. TelCel Celular CA, which is 78 percent owned by BellSouth Corp. [BLS], has about 60 percent of the country's more than 2 million cellular users; Telecomunicaciones Movilnet SA, a unit of CA Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela, has the rest. Although a legal challenge that stopped the auction last November was dismissed, the auction was postponed because of December's presidential elections. Six bidders, including Bell Canada International Inc. [BCICF] and British Telecom Plc [BTY], have been qualified for the auction.