ROW Short Takes

Microcell and Telus could be headed to courtMicrocell Telecommunications Inc. and Telus Mobility are facing off in what could turn out to be an ugly court battle over Microcell’s analog roaming agreement with Telus. Microcell, the country’s smallest national wireless operator, is asking the B.C. Supreme Court for an injunction to ensure that Telus doesn’t cut its roaming connection. According to the filing, Telus has accused Microcell of violating its roaming agreement by promoting its CityFido home replacement service. Microcell launched the initiative on Oct. 9, 2003 (RoW, Oct. 7/03). Microcell also asked the Quebec Superior Court to find Telus in contempt of violating injunctions it issued in November and December. The injunctions relate to a telemarketing campaign targeting Microcell subscribers. Kedar gets back into the telecom gameTelecommunications industry veteran Mike Kedar revealed his next telecom play late last week. His company Mobilexchange Spectrum Inc. has acquired all the assets of WNI Networks Inc., a company controlled by Joe Church, president of Wispra Inc. Wispra purchased six 24 GHz licences - Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver - in the 1999 spectrum auction for about $70 million. It’s unclear whether Kedar will have better success than Church, but Report on Wireless will have the full story in an upcoming issue. Nortel in talks to outsource remaining manufacturing opsNortel Networks Corp. is in talks with Flextronics to divest its remaining manufacturing operations currently being conducted in its systems houses in Calgary and Montreal and other locations in Northern Ireland, Brazil and France. Manufacturing activities to be outsourced include product integration and testing and repair operations. The decision follows similar moves the company made in the past. In other Nortel news, the company has been selected by Microcell Telecommunications Inc. as its exclusive supplier of GSM and 3G core wireless equipment until Dec. 31, 2006. The agreement, valued at $70 million, amends an earlier pact between the two companies. SR Telecom ships products from Montreal plantSR Telecom Inc. has made first shipments of its angel and airstar products from its new manufacturing facility in Montreal. The additional capacity from the facility allows the company to meet the growing demand for its two products. SR Telecom is, however, in discussions with third parties to potentially take over some of its maintenance services and R&D projects. The company expects to conclude discussions within the coming months. This move is part of SR Telecom’s previously announced plans to reduce operational costs. Restructuring charges are expected to range from $2 million to $3 million between Q4 2003 and Q1 2004. PointShot partners with Broadreach for mobile Wi-FiOttawa-based PointShot Wireless has partnered with U.K.-based Broadreach Networks Ltd. to deliver Wi-Fi services to the rail industry in the United Kingdom. The two companies will address a growing mobile Wi-Fi services industry. Rail passengers are expected to spend $420 million per year by 2008 on in-transit Wi-Fi services, according to BWCS, an industry analyst firm. PointShot’s knowledge of train operator requirements and back office mobile Wi-Fi applications will be integrated with Broadreach’s expertise in broadband Internet access and ISP/mobile roaming technology. PointShot also has mobile Wi-Fi deployments in the U.S. and Canada. RAMTelecom selects Encore’s security productsRAMTelecom has selected Encore Networks’ BANDIT security applications for its satellite networking systems across Canada. RAMTelecom subscribers will now be able to create end-to-end virtual private networks (VPNs) across both satellite and terrestrial networks. Implementing VPNs on a satellite platform has proven difficult in the past because of satellite networks’ inherent latency, but RAMTelecom president Ralf Misener says that’s not the case anymore. "The BANDIT has been certified in our laboratory, and we are pleased to add it as a stand alone solution within our managed security service. We are confident that the BANDIT will meet both the stringent requirements of the Canadian government and of our large corporate clients," he said in a news release. THL sells remaining stake in COM DEVTechnology Horizons Ltd. (THL) has sold its remaining interest in COM DEV International Ltd. THL sold nearly 3 million shares at $2.85 each to institutional investors. THL decided to divest its holdings in COM DEV as part of a strategy to liquidate all of its various investments, held since the mid-1990s. Atsana Semiconductor lands $13-million investmentOttawa-based fabless chip maker Atsana Semiconductor has landed $13 million in equity financing from several new and existing investors. New investment comes from Siemens Mobile Acceleration, GrowthWorks WV Funds, Covington Capital Corp. and Greenstone Venture Partners. Atsana will use the money to expand sales, marketing and business development activities, and to further enhance its multimedia processors. The company designs multimedia chips for cell phones, PDAs and network cameras allowing the devices to send, receive and play rich media content. SAMSys inks resale agreement with PEAKSAMSys Technologies Inc. has inked a value-added reseller agreement with PEAK Technologies. Under terms of the agreement, PEAK will sell, install and service SAMSys’ RFID readers as a complementary technology to its own products. PEAK will be able to take advantage of a reader that supports a variety of protocols and frequencies, while also using its system integration expertise. Stratos to sell DIRECWAY services in U.S. and CanadaStratos Global Corp. will become a value-added reseller of Hughes Network Systems’ DIRECWAY broadband satellite services. Stratos will focus on selling to local, state/provincial and federal government agencies, and other business customers in the U.S. and Canada. With the addition of the DIRECWAY service to its portfolio of satellite and wireless IP communications products, Stratos is now a single point of contact for a variety of communications systems for its customers.

ROW Short Takes

News | January 27, 2004

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