Mobile telephone maker Motorola today announced that it had sold its stake in five overseas cellular businesses for one billion dollars and said it could take in another two billion from additional sales this year.
The electronics giant began investing in wireless communications companies outside the United States in 1985. But it said that as the cellular market matured, its network infrastructure customers found themselves competing with the cellular companies in which Motorola had investments.
Motorola in the first quarter this year sold off its interests in cellular businesses in Brazil, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Pakistan.
Motorola, which competes against Finland's Nokia Corp. and Ericsson of Sweden, said it also had agreements to sell its investments in companies in Hong Kong and Mexico in transactions that could be worth as much as two billion dollars by third quarter 2001.
Cellular investments in Argentina, Azerbaijan, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Lithuania and Uruguay could likewise be sold, according to a company statement.
AFP