AirTouch Increases Ownership Stake in Italian Cellular Venture.SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 1995--AirTouch Communications (NYSE NYSESee: New York Stock Exchange :ATI (ATI Technologies Inc., Markham Ontario, http://ati.amd.com) A leading manufacturer of graphics chips and display adapters. Founded in 1985 by K. Y. Ho, Benny Lau and Lee Lau, ATI chips and boards are widely used by OEMs. ) today announced that it has increased its ownership of Omnitel-Pronto Italia (OPI (Open Prepress Interface) An extension to PostScript that provides color separations. It was developed by Aldus Corporation, which was later acquired by Adobe. ), its Italian cellular company, by 1.5 percent. AirTouch is now the second largest partner in OPI, with a total shareholding of 11.7 percent. AirTouch acquired its additional indirect interest from a group of Italian partners for approximately $6 million. The favorable purchase price was part of the original shareholders contract, and recognized AirTouch's key role in the license application process. The Italian government awarded a digital cellular license to Omnitel-Pronto Italia in 1994. "This acquisition demonstrates our strategy of enhancing shareowner value by increasing our stake in our existing international operations Internal Operations (I.O., IO or I/O) is a fictional American Intelligence Agency in Wildstorm comics. It was originally called International Operations. I.O. first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 (August, 1992) and was created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee. ," said Arun Sarin Arun Sarin (Hindi:अरुण सरीन) (born October 21 1954, in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, India) is the CEO of the world's biggest mobile phone company (by revenue), Britain's Vodafone Group plc. , president and chief executive officer of AirTouch International. "We believe there is outstanding growth potential in the international cellular market. By expanding our holdings in selected countries, like Italy, we can get in on the ground floor and benefit from pent-up customer demand for wireless services." Omnitel-Pronto Italia began field testing on its digital network in June and expects to begin service by the end of the year. The country's cellular penetration rate is about four percent, compared to approximately 10 percent in the U.S. There is currently only one cellular operator in Italy and about 57 million people. OPI was formed in 1994 when the Omnitel consortium merged with the Pronto pron·to adv. Informal Without delay; quickly. [Spanish, from Latin pr  mptus; see prompt. Italia consortium to bid for Italy's second digital cellular license. Other significant partners in the company, which is 70 percent owned by Omnitel and 30 percent owned by Pronto Italia, include Olivetti, Bell Atlantic, Cellular Communications International, Telia, Lehman Brothers, Banca di Roma, and Mannesmann, A.G. AirTouch Communications is a global wireless communications company, with interests in cellular, paging, personal communications services See PCS. , satellite, and other operations in the United States and 11 other nations: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Thailand. The company, which is based in San Francisco, serves nearly four million customers worldwide. CONTACT: AirTouch Communications Susan Rosenberg, 510/210-3910 |
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