News not directly related to NXTL, but interesting:
TetraLink to Announce Plans
On Creating Wireless Network
February 26, 1998
By GAUTAM NAIK and CHRISTOPHER J. CHIPELLO
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
TetraLink Telecommunications Ltd., a little-known
wireless provider, is expected to announce a plan to
build Britain's fifth national digital wireless network at a
cost of 200 million pounds ($330.1 million).
The network, to be constructed over a two-year period,
could eventually let TetraLink go head-to-head with the
U.K.'s four traditional mobile operators, including
Vodafone Group PLC and Cellnet, which is 60%
owned by British Telecommunications PLC. The move
also may help TetraLink's ambitious Canadian parent,
Telesystem International Wireless Inc., create a wireless
network in key European countries.
TetraLink's Plans
TetraLink's main goal in the U.K. will be to sign up
customers such as utilities and trucking companies
whose roving employees need to stay in constant touch.
These customers aren't adequately served by traditional
mobile operators, whose pricey rates discourage
frequent use. A TetraLink handset will let the user make
cheap "walkie-talkie" type calls and send short
messages, as well as more expensive mobile-phone
calls. A similar technology has been launched by Nextel
Communications Corp. in the U.S.
TetraLink's new U.K. network will be rolled out on a
regional basis and is expected to cover 90% of Britain's
population by the end of 1999. Initial services will be
available early next year. An announcement of the
company's plans -- and the adoption of a new name -- is
expected Thursday in London.
TetraLink and Nokia Corp. have agreed in principle for
the Finnish equipment provider to supply infrastructure
for the first phase of the U.K. network. The order is
valued at about 50 million pounds, according to a person
familiar with the terms. Nokia would supply base
stations, switches, a network-management system and
about 40,000 handsets. Discussions also are under way
with Motorola Inc. of the U.S. to provide 150,000
handsets, and with another equipment supplier, Simoco,
to provide 10,000 terminals, Telesystem officials said. A
spokesman for TetraLink in Basingstoke, England,
declined to comment.
Telesystem Expands Presence
Telesystem is slowly building a wireless presence in key
European countries. It recently acquired National Band
Three Ltd. in the U.K. and Terrafon Bundelfunk of
Germany, providers of old-style radio-dispatch services.
Telesystem also owns 60% of a similar U.K. company,
Fleetcomm Ltd. All told, Telesystem has about 160,000
dispatch customers in Europe, half of whom are in the
U.K.
The company's eventual plan is to transform its older and
clunkier dispatch networks into sophisticated digital
systems in key European countries.
Telesystem already owns, or is applying for, licenses to
build similar networks in Spain, France and other
countries. Since most traditional mobile operators focus
on the consumer markets, Telesystem is hoping to
prosper by targeting roving "work groups" in vehicles
and offices. |
