July 1998

NEW YORK-A Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association group is developing recommendations for handset manufacturers that would reduce fraud potential and facilitate over-the-air customer activations for non-Global System for Mobile Communications carriers. …

WASHINGTON-New public-safety spectrum will be denied to police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel well into early next century because of delays claimed by broadcasters in moving from analog to digital …

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Metrocall Inc. announced a two-year strategic marketing agreement with Washington Gas, under which the utility will offer Metrocall pagers and services to its customers in the Washington, D.C., area …

SAN JOSE, Calif.-Fujitsu Software Corp. extended its ByeDesk Link wireless server software to Metrocall Inc., PageMart Wireless Inc. and Paging Network Inc., as well as to PageNet reseller MCI Communications …

WASHINGTON-The FBI and the Department of Justice are shopping an amendment to congressional appropriators to change the Justice Department budget in a way that would re-write the controversial digital wiretap …

Analysts are indicating now is the time to buy some cheap Canadian wireless stocks, as the mobile phone market finally has rebounded from its 1997 growth slump. BT Alex.Brown Inc. …

EL DORADO HILLS, Calif.-International Billing Services’ electronic billing solution will be offered to the entire client base of Cincinnati Bell Information Services, which provides billing and customer-support solutions to the …

WARWICK, R.I.-Cellular One of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Mass., launched its digital wireless network and is offering calling plans that provide for free long-distance wireless calls throughout North America, …

With personal communications services carriers reporting average monthly churn levels about twice as high as cellular carriers, bad debt increasingly is being blamed for PCS churn problems. Some PCS carriers …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission created a new “accelerated docket” for complaint resolutions between telephone companies. Complaints that are accepted for the docket will be resolved within 60 days. The FCC …

Metapath Software Corp. today introduced its Cerve Provisioning Manager 2.0, which will be commercially available during the fourth quarter. The Cerve product is a real-time provisioning platform designed to decrease …

NEW YORK-The $61.4 billion purchase of Ameritech Corp. by SBC Communications Inc., the second-largest merger in history, accounted for the lion’s share of communications carrier consolidation activity during the last …

PALO ALTO, Calif.-BellSouth Cellular Corp. selected Corsair Communications Inc.’s FraudWatch Pro system to prevent fraud in its North and South American markets, said Corsair. The first installation of the product, …

HACKENSACK, N.J.-GoAmerica Communications Corp. announced it acquired the ZAP-IT business unit of DTS Wireless Inc. without disclosing the financial details of the transaction. ZAP-IT allows users to access e-mail, corporate …

To the Editor: I thought Lynnette Luna’s recent story on Powertel’s distribution center was very thorough. However, I feel compelled to respond to the comments from Mr. Laikin and Mr. …

ATLANTA-LHS Group Inc. announced it won a multi-million-dollar contract from Portuguese telecom consortium Optimus to provide its billing and customer-care solution called BSCS, or Business Support and Control System. Optimus, …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week released rules for the auction of Location and Monitoring Service spectrum. LMS is used to locate or monitor mobile radio units primarily located in …

BEIJING-Lucent Technologies Inc.’s Communications Software business group established a new Asia Pacific Communications Software Regional Technical Center in Beijing to develop communications software products for markets in China and other …

WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), turning the tables on the Clinton administration, has accused the Democratic-controlled Federal Communications Commission of running a do-nothing wireless bureau. McCain, angered specifically …

LONDON-Cable & Wireless plc announced plans to purchase MCI Communications Corp.’s Internet communications business for $1.75 billion in cash. An agreement previously announced May 28 included only the Internet backbone …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson signed a contract to provide a turn-key Global System for Mobile communications network to Paltel in the Autonomous Areas of the West Bank and Gaza. The contract …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson announced it won a $45 million order to expand the digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service network operated by Telefonica Comunicaciones Personales in central and southern Argentina. This …

PALO ALTO, Calif.-Corsair Communications Inc. said it signed an agreement to provide its PhoneCheck wireless performance monitor to Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Co. PhoneCheck is a software application on the …

SCARBOROUGH, Ontario-Clearnet Communications Inc. launched an automatic roaming service that provides Clearnet PCS clients with digital coverage across the United States without the confusion of inconsistent airtime and long-distance charges …

WASHINGTON-The Congressional Budget Office has informed House telecom subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) that his 911 federal land antenna-siting bill will not generate the huge windfall projected by the cellular …