June 1998

MADRID-Spain’s incumbent mobile phone operators Telefonica and Airtel could have some competition soon, as the country prepares to award a third license this month. Involved in the auction is the …

ATLANTA-A survey of 500 small business owners, released at SuperComm ’98, demonstrated a “tremendous potential for sales in the coming years.” The survey, conducted by the Verity Group last month, …

BOULDER, Colo.-SCC Communications announced the first two-state wireless Phase 1 E911 deployment is up and routing E911 calls to public-safety agencies in Washington County, Ore., and in the Clark County …

Interlink Electronics Freedom Writer OEM, the first application using Interlink Electronics Inc.’s new medium-range wireless communications technology, RemoteLink, is set to be introduced this month at InfoComm International, said Interlink. …

An indoor solution to wireless electronic asset tracking that uses digital radio-frequency technology to locate personnel and property has been developed by PinPoint Corp., a fledgling company based in Bedford, …

WASHINGTON-Notwithstanding the Federal Communications Commission’s consistent call for Congress to pass legislation to protect FCC licenses from being held up by auction bidders in bankruptcy proceedings, it became apparent last …

A request by Connecticut’s attorney general and state utility regulators that a combined SBC Communications Inc./Southern New England Telecommunications Corp. reduce its local telephone rates could put the planned merger …

TORONTO-Rogers Cantel Inc. launched its AT&T Page Partner + service, a package that allows a wireless phone and up to five pagers to be combined into one bill. The service …

ATHENS, Ga.-Powertel Inc. said it launched commercial personal communications services in Athens, Ga. Powertel provides commercial service in 26 metropolitan areas and major highway corridors throughout its 12-state license area …

SecurFone America Inc., a company specializing in prepaid communications, said it plans a major market expansion of its Buy-the-Minute prepaid cellular handset solution. Bill Stueber, president and chief executive officer …

ASHLAND, Ky.-RAM-Page, a division of RAM Technologies, announced it has launched Pre-Paid Paging, a new service aimed at customers who require occasional paging service and want to avoid monthly bills, …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. announced plans to establish a manufacturing facility in China that will produce Global System for Mobile communications base stations and network transmission products. The factory, which will …

DALLAS-PageMart Wireless Inc. announced it will provide customers with a two-day airtime credit for the downed service time that occurred during the PanAmSat Galaxy IV failure May 19. The company …

The Italian government named the Wind consortium the winning bidder for the country’s third mobile phone license, bringing to a close a tender process that began in the fall of …

ATLANTA-LHS Group Inc. said it completed its acquisition of Marlborough, Mass.-based InfoCellular Inc. The acquisition provides LHS with a point-of-sale software solution, which expands its global billing and customer-care product …

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Sprint Spectrum L.P. formed affiliation agreements that will bring Sprint PCS personal communications services to key cities in Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and …

ALISO VIEJO, Calif.-Smith Micro Software Inc. said it released its version 3.0 HotPage software, which provides message management and transmission to alphanumeric and numeric pagers from computer systems using Microsoft …

COLUMBUS, Ohio-SmarTalk TeleServices Inc. acquired Worldwide Direct, a direct-to-consumer prepaid cellular phone distributor, in a stock-for-stock transaction that provides it with terminal-based prepaid capability. Combined with SmarTalk’s alliance with Boston …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission rejected an appeal by SkyTel Communications Corp.-formerly Mobile Telecommunication Technologies Corp.-that argued the paging carrier deserved its narrowband personal communications license for free as a pioneer’s …

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.-SigmaOne Communications Corp. held the first prototype demonstration of its E911 system for locating and tracking wireless calls, said the company. Results showed SigmaOne’s Southern California network-based system …

Competition among companies that supply digital signal processors to the wireless industry is beginning to heat up with new alliances and investments changing the competitive landscape. IBM Corp.’s Microelectronics division …

NEW YORK-After receiving “Big Daddy” T-shirts from BT Alex. Brown Inc. telecommunications analyst Jeffrey L. Hines June 10, top executives of four of the world’s largest wireless carriers offered an …

ATLANTA-Bosch Telecom Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. announced plans to develop and market broadband wireless networking solutions designed to help service providers offer integrated voice, data and video services faster …

NEW YORK-BEA Systems Inc., a major player in providing mission-critical middleware solutions, announced BEA M3, which it said is the first and only production-ready Object Transaction Manager. Among other things, …

JACKSON, Miss.-MobileMedia Communications Inc. announced it will close its retail activation center in Jackson, Miss., and consolidate its functions at the Dallas-based call center by Oct. 31. The move will …