Alcatel to deliver network to Pegaso
SAN DIEGO-A subsidiary of Mexico’s Pegaso Telecomunicaciones S.A. de C.V. and Alcatel Althsom signed an agreement that calls for Alcatel to provide up to $270 million in equipment, services and construction to build out Pegaso’s nationwide personal communications services network in Mexico.
Pegaso is owned 33 percent by Leap Wireless International Inc.
The agreement resulted from the recent opening of the Mexican trading markets as well as a relationship between the Mexican and French governments, said Leap. Mexico’s president Ernesto Zedillo and France’s president Jacques Chirac attended the ceremony at which the agreement was signed.
The agreement calls for Alcatel to provide equipment for the network, including towers, microwave transmission equipment, switches, a billing system and deployment services such as cell site acquisition, said Leap. Pegaso already has awarded a contract to Qualcomm Inc. for infrastructure equipment, including QCell base stations and QCore base station controllers, and related program management and deployment services.
Pegaso’s network will use Code Division Multiple Access technology. Commercial service is planned in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara and Tijuana starting early next year.
FCC approves TTY extension
The Federal Communications Commission Friday extended the compliance date for rules requiring digital phones to be compatible with text telephones used by the deaf community, particularly when those phones are being used to call 911.
The new compliance deadline is Dec. 31.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and the Personal Communications Industry Association late last month requested the FCC suspend enforcement of the rules beyond the Nov. 15 termination date.
The commission also established a waiver mechanism that requires carriers to provide specific information regarding their compliance plans. Petitions for waivers must specify what steps the carrier is taking or plans to take to make TTY devices compatible with digital phones and when the carrier intends to make the capability available to TTY users.
