Posted: 11/1997
People on the Move
Wireless Inc. appointed Donald MacLeod Vice President of its recently opened Asia/Pacific Sector Headquarters. MacLeod will establish the Wireless Inc. headquarters in Singapore to deliver wireless products and services throughout Asia.
Fred Mercado has joined TresCom International Communications as Vice President of Network Operations. Mercado will be responsible for supervising international telecommunications gateway switches in New York, Puerto Rico and Fort Lauderdale.
David Hardwick assumed the position of Chief Operating Office of RSL COM Europe, Ltd. Hardwick will be responsible for the daily operations of sales, customer service, management and finance activities throughout Europe.
FaciliCom Begins International Gateway Service
WASHINGTON--FaciliCom International (FCI) has begun service over its new international gateway in London. With the start-up of the facility, FCI joins Global One, Teleglobe, ACC, MFS and other carriers providing facilities-based communications services from the United Kingdom.
The facility also signals the start of FCI's push to establish switching locations throughout Europe. In addition to facilities already in place in Sweden, FCI plans to install international gateway switches in at least four additional cities this year.
With the gateway and new fiber optic capacity, FCI has the infrastructure in place to provide fast connections to its global network from an increasing number of access points. The switch, a Nortel-built digital multiplex system global services platform, provides both global and national carrier services.
TIA to Co-Sponsor Trade Mission to India
ARLINGTON, Va.--The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) are organizing an official U.S. delegation to New Delhi, India in December.
The trade mission is scheduled in conjunction with Broadcast Cable & Satellite India '97 and COMMS INDIA '97, India's international exhibition and conference on the broadcast, cable, satellite and telecom sectors. The trade mission will provide an opportunity for U.S. firms to meet with top decision makers, regulators, service providers and equipment buyers from the government and private sectors. Participants in the delegation will have a chance to present information about their companies' technologies and explore opportunities in India's market.
Ericsson Hosts Technology Business Council Members
RICHARDSON, Texas--Ericsson recently hosted a delegation of eight Technology Business Council (TBC) members from Richardson, Texas, who were visiting Sweden's TelecomCity. The four-day visit expanded trade and investment opportunities between the countries, and was in response to an invitation from TelecomCity's representative, Tage Dolk.
The delegation represented high-tech companies from the Richardson area in an effort to develop areas of common interest and competence with TelecomCity. The TBC also explored European markets and developed partnerships for Telecom Corridor companies as well as future investment opportunities between Sweden and Texas.
TelecomCity is a joint project between 10 companies and the University of Karlskrona/Ronneby and Karlskrona Municipal Council. The project builds cooperation between research and business development in an effort to integrate telecommunications with computing and media. TelecomCity companies include Ericsson, Nokia, Sun, Telia, Europolitan and Global One.
Rockwell Supplies South African Call Center
WOOD DALE, Ill.--Dimension Data, Rockwell Switching Systems Division's South African distributor, will provide South Africa's national telephone company, Telkom, with updated call center technology.
Telkom's call center platform will include nine Rockwell Spectrum automatic call distributors as well as computer telephone integration (CTI) middleware and software components and VoiceTek interactive voice response (IVR) systems. Telkom's nine call centers will employ about 1,700 agents, support six languages and handle an estimated 1 million inbound calls per month.
Omnipoint Begins Roaming Operations in Greece
CEDAR KNOLLS, N.J.--Omnipoint Communications Services has begun commercial roaming operations with Panafon, a Greek wireless operator. Though Omnipoint and Panafon operate in different frequencies, customers can roam via subscriber identity module card technology. The smart card carries all a subscriber's service information, allowing access to the network. Customers insert the card into a global system for mobile communications (GSM) handset designed for use overseas, and use the service as they would in North America. All a customer's service features are functional with international roaming.
Sprint Testing Satellite ATM to Hong Kong
BURLINGAME, Calif.--Sprint is currently testing COMSAT World Systems' satellite-based asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) transmission service internationally with Hong Kong Telecom and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. This represents one of the earliest tests of multipoint ATM via satellite, connecting several carriers to each other.
Through its Advanced Technology Laboratories in California, Sprint has connected the technology to the networks of Hong Kong Telecom and Chunghwa Telecom. Further expansion of the trial to Singapore and Thailand is on the horizon. The new ATM-via-satellite service employs technology developed by COMSAT Laboratories.
"This trial is likely to result in an additional advantage in serving customers by giving Sprint greater access to those countries where fiber optic cable is not prevalent," said Frank DeNap, director of Sprint's Advanced Technology Labs.
GN Comtext Buys Three CWI Companies
LONDON--Cable and Wireless plc has agreed to sell Cable &Wireless Bimcom, based in the United Kingdom and Greece, to GN Comtext. The company also will sell Cable & Wireless' enhanced fax businesses in Switzerland and Italy to GN.
QUALCOMM CDMA Certified for Russia
SAN DIEGO--QUALCOMM Inc. has been certified to deploy code division multiple access (CDMA) equipment commercially in Russia. The State Committee for Telecommunication and Informatization (SCTI) of the Russian Federation presented the certificate to QUALCOMM after extensive testing was performed on the company's CDMA wireless local loop network in Chelyabinsk.
The certificate is valid for three years and is renewable after that, pending an annual inspection of the certified equipment by the SCTI.
ADC Enters Singapore Paging Market
WINCHESTER, Mass.--ADC Metrica will provide its Metrica/NPR network performance system to Singapore Telecom Paging. The system will help Singapore Paging analyze the performance of its network in a competitive paging market. Singapore Paging has 100 percent coverage of the island and is deploying Metrica/NPR as part of a drive to ensure its network management is as automated as possible.
ADC also will provide Metrica/NPR for SingTel Mobile for three of its mobile networks. Metrica/NPR forms part of the HP network management solution, which will help SingTel Mobile standardize management of its different vendor networks and enable it to focus its resources on improving quality.
SITEL Obtains ISO 9001 Certification
OMAHA, Neb.--SITEL Corp. announced that SITEL Telebusiness of New Zealand has obtained ISO 9001 certification. ISO 9001 is an internationally recognized quality standard for companies that specialize in designing and building products and services, and is a growing trend within the technology support sector of the teleservices industry.
The quality certification, which was audited by KPMG Peat Marwick, covers sales, finance, administration, call center application analysis and development and systems integration.
"We recognized a year ago that call centers were maturing and becoming critical to many organizations' distribution strategies. To prepare ourselves to meet future client needs, we committed to additional investment in our people and processes to ensure our proven methodologies were formalized and complied with the ISO 9001 standards," said Simon Norton, New Zealand general manager for SITEL.
Anam Telecom Tests Korean Call Network
MONTVALE, N.J.--Geotek Communications Inc. installed an 800 MHz FHMA system in Seoul for Anam Telecom. Anam will begin testing the Geotek digital FHMA network with select customers. The service, to be marketed under the brand name Business Call, will be launched later this year in Seoul and Pussan and is expected to be available throughout Korea by 1999. Subscribers to Anam's Business Call network will be able to communicate with workers in the field, locate vehicles instantly and send and retrieve information.
Geotek's digital FHMA network will allow Anam to provide an integrated bundle of communications services; equipment; software solutions, which will include dispatch telephony and packet data services; and Geotek's mobile business solutions, including voice manager, automatic vehicle location, mobile messaging and mobile manifest.
Investors Qualify to Bid on SNO
KAMPALA, Uganda--The Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications of Uganda, in association with the Privatization Unit, announced that five of the seven bids received for the Second National Operators (SNO) license have passed the government's prequalification stage. The five prequalified bidders will now begin due diligence before submitting their business plan and financial bid for the SNO license.
"With the current poor state of the telecom section in Uganda, I am particularly pleased that the government has remained on schedule and soon will be able to provide acceptable telecommunication standards for the people of Uganda," said Hon. John Nasasira, Minister of Works, Transport and Communications.
InterVoice to Distribute in Venezuela
DALLAS--InterVoice Inc., a Venezuelan distributor, has received an order of 24 InterVoice OneVoice 5000 systems, valued at about $4 million, from one of that country's leading telecommunications companies. The 24 systems, InterVoice's multiapplications call and business process automation platform, are in addition to the 19 systems the company purchased previously. They will be used to expand existing sites to meet growing cellular subscriber call capacity.
Graphnet Unveils ProPHONE
TEANECK, N.J.--Graphnet Inc. announced the availability of ProPHONE, a telephony service, in France and Belgium. Graphnet recently installed Nortel multimedia carrier switches in both Paris and Brussels. The company will market ProPHONE through direct sales, agents and dealer programs, including private branch exchange and third-party sales channels.
Graphnet also is applying for international facility licenses in both France and Belgium. The company is seeking interconnection for national origination and termination of public switched telephone network calls in France and Belgium with respective national carriers France Telecom and Belgacom.
Telstra, IBM, Lend Lease Seal Alliance
SAN FRANCISCO--Telstra, IBM and Lend Lease Corp. have signed agreements to form an information technology (IT) and telecommunications alliance incorporating an Australian IT outsourcing deal and creating a new network services company called Advantra.
Telstra will join IBM Australia and Lend Lease as an equity partner in IBM Global Services Australia. IBM Australia will retain 51 percent of equity in IBM Global Services, while Telstra and Lend Lease will retain 26 percent and 23 percent respectively.
The new network services company, Advantra, will help customers better manage their communications needs by marrying desktop applications, phone, fax computers and video with the telecommunications network. The company will provide network services to customers, including managing the delivery of IBM Global Network services across Australia.
