October 1999

The wireless industry is waiting to see how many customers are attracted to Sprint PCS Group’s wireless Internet services, but they will have to wait at least another quarter. Sprint …

CARROLLTON, Texas-CellStar Corp. and Telecommunications par Satellite Mobiles SAS signed an agreement under which CellStar will distribute Globalstar terminals in most of TE.S.A.M.’s South American territories, said the companies. CellStar …

FRANKFURT, Germany-Deutsche Telekom AG announced it is buying a majority stake in MediaOne Group Inc.’s cellular phone assets in Central Europe and Russia for $2 billion. Under the agreement, Deutsche …

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.-Arch Communications Group Inc. announced it completed the process of issuing stock and warrants in exchange for debt securities, reducing its total debt by $25 million in the process. …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week allocated 75 megahertz of spectrum for smart highway technologies, such as automated toll booths, monitoring traffic jams, travelers’ alerts, and enabling traffic signals to …

In the Oct. 18 issue of RCR, RCR’s Top 20 list of personal communications services operators excluded two markets Omnipoint Communications Inc. has launched. Michigan and Indiana should have been …

The Wireless Application Protocol had the biggest coming-out party of its 20-month life span during Telecom ’99 in Geneva, with more than 100 carriers, vendors and content providers displaying WAP …

HOUSTON-Crown Castle International Corp. announced Metricom Inc. signed a 10-year master license agreement for up to 500 wireless data sites on Crown Castle’s domestic communications towers. Metricom is expected to …

BellSouth Corp. last week announced plans to restructure the company to better position itself to provide bundled services. The move comes just weeks after BellSouth failed in a bid to …

United Kingdom British Telecommunications plc announced it licensed PocketScience Inc.’s PocketMail mobile e-mail service via a revenue sharing agreement that allows BT’s Internet and Multimedia Services Division to exclusively license …

OSLO, Norway-Telenor Satellite Services AS launched Inmarsat M4 service, a new global area network for multimedia applications that will improve the data transfer capabilities and the mobility of remote communication, …

Following is a summary of the finalists for the tower industry Excellence in Business Awards sponsored by RCR and Shorecliff Communications Inc. Winners will be announced at the 1999 Tower …

ARLINGTON, Va.-TeleCorp PCS Inc. filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of its shares of class A common stock, the company announced. …

ABC’s 20/20 segment, which was supposed to make me change the way I use my cell phone, instead made me more suspicious about TV journalism. The only person in the …

RESTON, Va.-American Mobile Satellite Corp. reported a third-quarter net loss of $66 million, or $1.45 per share, compared with a loss of $39.4 million, or $1.24 per share, for the …

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-ThinAirApps.com introduced its ThinAir Secure Server application that, when installed inside a private corporate network, allows employees to access corporate database information and services from wirelessly enabled devices. …

PALO ALTO, Calif.-Corsair Communications Inc. reported revenues for the third quarter of $17.1 million, an increase from the $12 million in revenues reported for third-quarter 1998. The company had net …

NEW YORK-Aether Systems Inc., a middleware provider based in Owings Mills, Md., sold an initial public offering Oct. 20 of 6 million shares, a 23-percent equity stake, priced at $16 …

In two different venues, two totally different approaches to antenna siting were on display in the nation’s capital last week. In the power corridors of Congress, the House and Senate-hounded …

In an attempt to position paging devices and services as Internet appliances, as opposed to telephone appliances, PageMart Wireless Inc. said it will change its name to WebLink Wireless Inc., …

NEW YORK-France Telecom last week proceeded toward its goal of becoming a pan-European provider of seamless mobile, wireline and Internet communications through an agreement to acquire controlling interest in E-Plus, …

Nuevo Grupo Iusacell S.A. de C.V. seems to be making moves to establish a nationwide wireless presence in Mexico. Bell Atlantic Global Wireless Inc. confirmed it is in discussions regarding …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) were thwarted last week in their attempts to attach language to the FCC spending bill that would allow the government to …

MENLO PARK, Calif.-Phone.com Inc. will integrate fax-to-e-mail services in its MyPhone mobile portal offering through a deal with eFax.com, said eFax. As a result of the deal, phone users will …

WASHINGTON-In some respects, the Main Event was a non-event. Wireless stocks did not go into free fall. Major dailies did not go wild with follow-up stories on ABC’s “20/20” broadcast …