August 1996

NEW YORK-In Latin American countries, “where completion of a phone call is cause for celebration in some cases,” rising gross domestic product signals increasing financing demands for wireless communications infrastructure …

ATLANTA-GTE Mobilnet Inc. switched 250 cellular customers in Austin, Texas, from its analog network to a trial network using Code Division Multiple Access technology. GTE said it intends to gather …

Sprint Spectrum delays offering -5 AT&T, SBC swap properties – 13 Telecel expands service in Africa – 18

Free marketers are giving voice to a rising chorus of demands to privatize electromagnetic spectrum and overturn the 60-year-old regulatory regime enshrined at the Federal Communications Commission. At its heart, …

AUGUST 19-20 A Practical Introduction to Wireless Data, by Motorola Inc. San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel, San Francisco. (800) 771-2012. 19-21 Wireless Communications Conference, by The Microelectronics Society. Regal Harvest …

NEW YORK-Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago, assigned an investment grade rating of AA- to Pacific Bell’s $250 million issue of 10-year notes sold Aug. 15. The notes were …

WASHINGTON-Comments were due late last week on the draft proposal forwarded by the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee, which contained recommendations by five subcommittees regarding ways to fill the country’s …

A government summary outlining the reclassification of specialized mobile radio operators “may pose more questions than it answers,” said SMR organization leader Alan Shark. “Reclassified operators are being thrown into …

FORT WAYNE, Ind.-Centennial Cellular Corp. has introduced a new call package plan to its customers in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. In addition to bundling a number of minutes into a …

BETHESDA, Md.-Comsat Personal Communications made a phone call from Malaysia to Germany last week with the Planet 1 phone, using the Inmarsat-3 satellite operating over the Indian Ocean. Comsat developed …

SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. signed a license agreement for VLSI Technology to develop, manufacture and sell Application Specific Integrated Circuits to Qualcomm’s subscriber equipment licensees. VLSI is the third announced supplier …

U.S. partners in a Slovakian phone venture are confident they can restructure their company to meet new license qualifications unexpectedly created by the Slovakian government. Slovakia is scheduled to issue …

NEW YORK-Sprint Spectrum L.P. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Sprint Spectrum Finance Corp., last week delayed and apparently downsized a planned issuance of $650 million in 10-year notes. By Aug. …

ZK Celltest Inc. announced narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service measurement capability on the ZK-SAM/DX, a system access monitor. The company said the device interfaces with Motorola Inc.’s MicroTac dual-mode NAMPS …

Using cellular and intelligent satellite technologies, Telecel International Ltd. of New Canaan, Conn., is on track to rehaul communications in Africa. The company was first to introduce cellular service in …

IRVINE, Calif.-Subscriber Computing Inc., a provider of management solutions for the wireless industry, has completed the installation of the first Unix version of SCI’s Intelligent Message Router for Western Wireless …

Paging stocks have been taking a beating lately as ratings agencies and some analysts worry that plain old paging won’t be able to compete in the sophisticated two-way messaging and …

WASHINGTON-A recently released Federal Communications Commission order now prohibits states from singling out wireless carriers for service- or technology-specific area code overlays. States will be able to institute all-services overlays …

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS-NetCom GSM, a Norwegian cellular network operator, announced its trial DCS 1800 digital cellular system. The system, supplied and commissioned by Motorola Inc.’s European Cellular Infrastructure Division, follows the …

NEW YORK-Moody’s Investor’s Service Inc. downgraded certain outstanding debt of Mobile Telecommunication Technologies Corp., Jackson, Miss. The New York-based rating agency downgraded its speculative grade rating to B3 from B2 …

ATLANTA-MCI Communications Corp. announced it is offering local cellular service in the Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y., markets. Customers in those areas will have an alternative for local cellular service, …

NEW YORK-Never mind the summer sun. When it comes to microwave incumbent relocation, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas to personal communications services providers. By late July, about …

DENVER-Sprint Spectrum demonstrated its 1900 MHz phones last week during the Sprint International golf tournament at Castle Pines. The company provided free personal communications services calls to tournament spectators with …

TORONTO-Rogers Cantel Mobile Communications Inc. has developed a system that will allow subscribers to roam all over the world with a special cellular phone. Customers buy or rent a Worldwide …

WASHINGTON-The Industrial Telecommunications Association Inc. and the Personal Communications Industry Association won their fights to become designated clearinghouses that will administer the Federal Communications Commission’s microwave-relocation cost-sharing plan. “We are …