November 1998

WASHINGTON-Franklin Haney, a Tennessee developer closely tied to Vice President Gore and a central figure in Portals investigations, was indicted by a federal grand jury last week on charges of …

While Iridium L.L.C. continues work to improve the technical prowess of its low-earth-orbit satellite-based global phone service, the company also must turn its attention to its global sales and marketing …

PENSACOLA, Fla.-BellSouth Mobility Inc. launched personal communications services in northwest Florida, including Panama City, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Ocala and Tampa. The company’s licenses in northwest Florida include Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa …

Rural Cellular Corp. Rural Cellular’s revenues increased 103 percent to $34 million from $16.8 million during last year’s third quarter. Net loss for the quarter totaled $4.5 million, or 50 …

ITA The Industrial Telecommunications Association said it appointed Laura Leigh Smith executive director, government relations. She formerly was deputy division chief (legal) in the public safety and private wireless division …

WASHINGTON-At a time other sectors of the telecommunications industry are urging the Federal Communications Commission to go away and leave them alone, Mark Crosby, president of the Industrial Telecommunications Association …

AirTouch Communications Inc. reportedly is close to awarding a new contract to Nortel Telecom Inc. to replace existing Motorola Inc. Code Division Multiple Access equipment in Los Angeles. Industry sources …

LISLE, Ill.-United Kingdom mobile phone operator Cellnet will deploy Tellabs EC Duo 8000 echo cancelers in 13 switching centers to eliminate background noise from mobile phone calls, Tellabs announced.

WASHINGTON-Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. Chairman George Carlo is expected to recommend early next year that basic scientific research be de-emphasized in the future in favor of post-market surveillance. Carlo announced …

INDIANAPOLIS-In its third quarter report, Brightpoint Inc. of Indianapolis reported net income of $9.42 million, or 18 cents per share, up from $5.93 million, or 12 cents per share, the …

NEW YORK-Telecommunications carriers, equipment manufacturers, regulators and financiers are invited to attend the second steering committee meeting Nov. 9 of a new organization being formed to promote competitive markets and …

Ben J. Kern Jr., president and chief executive officer of Natcom Inc., died Oct. 17 of complications from leukemia. He was 64. Mr. Kern founded Natcom, an authorized Motorola Inc. …

SAN DIEGO-OmniVoice Technologies Inc. announced Bell Mobility of Canada soon will begin testing its digital voice paging technology. OnmiVoice’s VoiceOver technology compresses voice messages into packets that can be transmitted …

FOSTER CITY, Calif.-The Municipality of Anchorage in Alaska approved Alaska Communications Systems Inc.’s offer to acquire the operations of Anchorage Telephone Utility for $295 million cash. ACS was formed by …

SAN FRANCISCO-The California Public Utilities Commission has ordered local telephone and electric utility companies to allow telecommunications firms and cable TV companies equal access to their poles, conduits and rights-of-way …

DALLAS-Dobson Cellular Systems said it will install Nortel Networks’ digital infrastructure equipment in Maryland, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania under a three-year, $30-million contract. Nortel will supply radio and switching …

My Oct. 19 column was titled, “Patently Controversial.” It certainly was. We received feedback in one form or another from Captain Joe Hanna of Richardson (Texas) Police Department’s communication division …

My Oct. 19 column was titled, “Patently Controversial.” It certainly was. We received feedback in one form or another from Captain Joe Hanna of Richardson (Texas) Police Department’s communication division …

WASHINGTON-Yoshio Utsumi was elected secretary-general and Roberto Blois deputy secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union. The two replace Pekka Tarjanne and Henry Chasia, respectively. Voting was completed at the ITU’s …

The new head of Italy’s communications ministry said the government expects to hold its tender for a fourth mobile phone license by the middle of next year. The ministry originally …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. said it launched a new high-capacity Global System for Mobile communications system in Beijing, China. Nokia said the new system offers a 10-fold capacity increase compared with …

NEW ORLEANS-Independent tower companies hoping to cash in on the anticipated sale of tower assets by wireless carriers still are waiting for the first big deal to set the standard …

NEW YORK-Teligent Inc., Vienna, Va., opened for business Oct. 27, offering its bundled point-to-multipoint telecommunications services to small- and medium-size companies in 10 major cities. The commercial launch occurred in …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Technor International Inc. subsidiary, CellPoint Systems AB, agreed to allow French Global System for Mobile operator France Telecom Mobiles to test and evaluate its GSM positioning technology for the …

WASHINGTON-Top Pentagon brass-angrily responding to new revelations U.S. military communications have disrupted wireless telecom operations abroad and major U.S. weapons have been rendered useless due to lackluster Defense Department frequency …