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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (11986)	7/2/1998 10:30:00 PM
From: 2brasil	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Northern Telecom Ltd. (NTL.TO - news) has won a $590-million contract to build a wireless telephone network for a new Mexican telecommunications company, the Mexican firm said on Thursday. Sistemas Profesionales de Comunicacion (SPC) said in a statement it had signed a letter of intent on Wednesday awarding Nortel the contract to install a wireless network for some two million potential customers in five years. ''Nortel's advanced technology, its support and commitment were key elements in the decision,'' Javier Sarro, the head of SPC's telephone venture, called Unefon, said in the statement. The contract, initially valued by SPC at $750 million, was awarded more than a month after the Mexican firm signed another letter of intent on the deal with Nortel's U.S.-based rival Lucent Technologies (LU - news). Officials at SPC and Lucent said the deal fell apart due to differences over terms of the contract, but would not provide details. Mexican newspapers suggested two weeks ago that both sides were at odds over the cost of the contract. "SPC has notified us that we did not win the contract .... We were unable to reach a final agreement on terms and conditions of the deal,'' Inge Sengelmann, Lucent's regional director of corporate communications, told Reuters. The contract is the clearest sign to date that several U.S. and Mexican firms plan to use wireless networks as a cheaper way to compete in local telephone service with giant Telefonos de Mexico SA (Telmex) (TELMEXL.MX). Telmex lost its long-distance monopoly nearly two years ago, but is still the only provider of local service. SPC, created early last year by billionaire media and retail magnate Ricardo Salinas Pliego, said Nortel will install the wireless using Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, technology. SPC also said Unefon had made the first 603 million peso payment of some 2.621 billion pesos it pledged earlier this year to win government concessions for three wide-band wireless frequencies. ''With these steps, Unefon has taken the first steps to providing in the short-term wireless telephone service to small businesses and homes, aiming at the lower income level that makes up most Mexicans,'' it said. News that Nortel had won the contract away from Lucent surprised some local analysts. ''I thought Lucent had it all wrapped up .... Maybe it had to do with differences over price,'' said one analyst who wished to remain anonymous. "Both companies are leaders on the technological front ... so I would guess the decision had less to do with the equipment and more to do on price,'' agreed Alfredo Guillen, an analyst at Interacciones Brokerage in Mexico City

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (11986)	7/2/1998 10:50:00 PM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 152472

Ramsey - I personally will be happy to lend money overnight at 3.5% (or higher) if inflation is 1% (or, much lower (i.e., deflation)). Jon.

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (11986)	7/2/1998 11:14:00 PM
From: Jon Koplik	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Ramsey - regarding "equal chance it may go either way" -- (I am assuming you mean short-term rates up to 7.5%, rather than down to 3.5%). I think it would be pretty hard to get to an environment, in little more than a year, where you'd need 7.5% money to make everything work here in the U.S. But, one never knows ... By the way, I just now finished listening to Paul Krugman's interview from earlier today (on CNBC) (I had videotaped it). What he said about Japan -- that a hugely deflationary, "liquidity trapped" economy needs a (stimulatory) weak currency, (as opposed to Goldman Sachs' saying in print somewhere that Japan really needs a strong currency) seems incredibly obvious to me. How is Japan supposed to cope with all of the incremental deflationary forces that a super strong currency would bring? To anyone who hated economics and/or thought it was boring, and wishes we'd all get back to discussing Qualcomm -- sorry. I have noticed that the weekends can get kind of slow here. Jon.