Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless and Triton PCS said they finalized an agreement to guarantee post-merger Cingular has a presence in all the top 100 U.S. markets. Cingular gains entry to 3 missing markets, all in Va. -- Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News. Triton gains licenses, network assets and customers in N.C. and P.R., plus $175 million cash. The companies had signed a preliminary agreement July 7.
Viacom’s Blockbuster split-off exchange offer will proceed despite a shareholder suit filed Sept. 17 (CED Sept 21 p7), after the Del. Chancery Court denied Wed. the plaintiff’s request for a hearing on a preliminary injunction.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has posted to its Web site the draft preliminary report for its investigation (No. 1205-6) on proposed modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS).
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has made preliminary affirmative antidumping (AD) duty determinations that certain tissue paper products and certain crepe paper products from China are being, or are likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice announcing that effective September 26, 2004, it is terminating its countervailing (CV) suspension agreement and issuing a CV duty order on hot-rolled flat-rolled carbon-quality steel from Brazil.
Nortel is getting “deeply engaged” in Internet security as it moves to the end of its restructuring, expected by year-end, Bill Owens told reporters Thurs. He said Internet security was one of the areas that concerned him “a lot.” “Nortel devotes a lot of money and a lot of time and has a lot of understanding about security of networks of the world as it relates to the Internet,” he said. Owens said other areas of focus for Nortel included service and govt. businesses. “Government business is a really good business for Nortel,” he said: “In the United States this year, this is at least a $60 billion market. Nortel will compete much more aggressively in that federal marketplace.” As reliance on the Internet grows “in profound ways,” Owens said, “this is a time when we must start to focus on how reliable it is.” He said the question was emerging whether Internet was as reliable as circuit switched voice. “The answer to that in many instances today is no, it’s not,” he said: “It’s a matter of simply exchanging digits from routers around the Internet and that doesn’t provide the reliability. So you need to have an ability to go into the Internet, identify voice packets, put them together, prioritize them and deliver… a reliable voice over the Internet. Nortel… has a range of products that include both the copper wire world as well as cable networks.” On the regulatory side, Owens said the govt. should: (1) “Realize that this country will set the standards for the use of the Internet from a regulatory perspective around the world and understand that that is a responsibility that goes beyond just setting policy for the United States.” (2) “Focus on developing a policy that can be put in place and maintained without change, so that there is less turbulence in the marketplace.” (3) “Realize… that today, when we are all into a new world of converged Internet experience, it is far less likely that individual states can set there own policies and then the FCC put in place an umbrella policy that is optimal.” Separately, Nortel also said Thurs. it expected 3rd quarter revenue to be lower than the company’s announced preliminary unaudited revenue for the 2nd quarter. The company expects 2004 percentage revenue growth to be in the mid single digits and the overall communications equipment market to grow faster than that. Owens said while the company was going through “this challenging transition period,” he was “confident” that it would be “positioned to compete strongly in all our markets… as we move into 2005.” He said in the near future, Nortel would focus on: (1) Addressing financial accountability. (2) Implementing “an excellent business in terms of its business model and the growth of cash” and revenue. (3) Developing a strategic vision about a changing marketplace, which certainly “will be a consolidated marketplace. Nortel wants to be a consolidator and not a consolidatee.”
The ITA states that until completion of the review, it will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to allow, at the option of the importer, the posting of a single entry bond or security in lieu of an AD cash deposit for entries of the subject merchandise both produced and exported by Watex.
Magnola's rate is for alloy magnesium only.
As Eidos reported disappointing preliminary results for its fiscal year ended June 30, the future of the U.K. publisher best known for its Tomb Raider game series remained unclear Wed. Noting again that his company had “received expressions of interest from a number of parties” to possibly buy it, Eidos Chmn. John van Kuffeler said discussions with suitors were “progressing well.” The publisher didn’t name them, and Kuffeler warned “there can be no certainty at this stage as to whether or not they will lead to an offer being made for the company.”
(a) Venus has a de minimis rate of 0.06%; no cash deposits will be collected.