1997

The consolidation of C-block personal communications services license holders has begun earlier than expected as five licensees have combined to form one partnership. Aer Force Communications L.P., Fortunet Wireless Communications …

SEOUL, South Korea-SK Telecom said its Voice Touch voice-activated dialing service is available to its digital cellular customers nationwide. The service, which allows customers to place hands-free cellular calls, will …

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.-Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Infrastructure Group broke ground on its manufacturing headquarters in Swindon, United Kingdom, announced the company. The $116 million facility will be dedicated to researching, developing …

Nearly two years after Airtel Movil SA became the second Global System for Mobile communications licensee in Spain, the company and its competitor, Telefonica Moviles, have resolved issues and created …

WASHINGTON-The Senate Commerce Committee last week rejected spectrum fees and toll-free telephone number auctions, but embraced lease fees for private wireless licensees in budget legislation lawmakers concede will fail to …

Antagonism is high between wireless carriers and local governments these days as carriers continue to fight with municipalities about zoning ordinances and tower sites. “Cities really want to deal with …

NEW YORK-Telecommunications carriers are experiencing and causing a lot of taxing questions related to how they are defined-and therefore treated-by tax departments in state and local government. It’s not your …

William A. Wilson, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Arch Communications Group Inc., resigned his position to accept a position at another company. His resignation is effective June …

SAN DIEGO-ComStream Corp. won a contract to supply its VSATPlus II technology to the Telephone Organization of Thailand for a large Time Division Multiple Access very small aperture terminal satellite …

Consolidation as a means to expansion has been the tradition in the wireless industry. Look no further than Craig McCaw, amassing a wireless fortune one cellular license at a time. …

INDIANAPOLIS-Brightpoint Inc. filed a registration statement for a public offering of 1.8 million shares of common stock to be sold by the company and 2 million shares and 200,000 shares …

TUCSON, Ariz.-Authentix Network Inc. introduced its Intelligent Agent Technology, a fraud-prevention tool that can communicate with any fraud prevention or detection system including profiler systems, radio-frequency fingerprinting and A-Key authentication …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission’s delay in compiling a telecom diversity report could foreclose future female and minority bidding credits because of new anti-affirmative action legislation, which in turn could trump …

NEW YORK-Notable by its absence amid the current merger mania in telecommunications is convergence across industry lines between transmission and content providers, according to a new study by Price Waterhouse …

RANK/COMPANY TWO YEAR TOTAL RETURN 1 PriCellular Corp. 130.37% 2 Sprint Corp.* 84.85% 3 GTE Corp. 62.24% 4 Ameritech Corp. 60.68% 5 BellSouth Corp. 59.94% 6 U S West Communications …

CHICAGO-Aerial Communications Inc. will launch the first phase of its personal communications services network today in Tampa, Fla., covering 3 million people, announced the company. Once the Global System for …

WASHINGTON-The Senate Finance Committee last week relaxed a provision in the tax-cut bill that would allow AirTouch Communications Inc.’s proposed $5 billion purchase of U S West Inc.’s wireless properties …

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL, Minn.-Sprint Spectrum L.P. launched its personal communications services network branded Sprint PCS in the Twin Cities area. Minneapolis and St. Paul mark the company’s 47th and 48th Code …

BALTIMORE-Statistics have shown that some 70 percent of calls made to 911 operators have nothing to do with life-or-death situations. People have been trained to call the number to gain …

SINGAPORE-Nokia Corp. and L.M. Ericsson are submitting a statement to the Association of Radio Industries and Business, the Japanese standardization body, backing the proposal of NTT DoCoMo in support of …

Could the Clinton administration be scheming to take down its own Justice antitrust chief nominee, Joel Klein, or just giving him a little wake-up call if he manages to be …

CEDAR KNOLLS, N.J.-Omnipoint Communications Inc. made its Voice Dial service available to all of its subscribers. Voice Dial allows customers to speak the names or numbers they wish to call …

SAN JUAN, P.R.-PCS 2000 L.P. said it has changed its name to ClearComm L.P. The old name confused potential customers in focus groups.

NEW YORK-Price Communications Corp. reached a definitive agreement to sell the Fort Myers, Fla., metropolitan statistical area that it acquired during its recent purchase of Palmer Wireless Inc. Wireless One …

WEST POINT, Ga.-Personal communications services provider Powertel Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of InterCel Inc., launched commercial PCS service last week in Gainesville, Fla. Allen Smith, president and chief executive …