January 2001

Twenty years ago, in a dangerous neighborhood in the slums of Denver, a monthly newspaper called Radio Communications Report was first published. Its mission: to cover the emerging land mobile …

LISBON, Portugal-Portugal Telecom announced its Brazilian cellular subsidiary, Telesp Celular Participacoes S.A., acquired 49 percent of the common shares and 100 percent of the preferred shares of mobile operator Global …

BOSTON-American Tower Corp. has priced the sale of 10 million shares of class A common stock through Goldman, Sachs & Co. in an underwritten public offering. The net proceeds of …

SAN FRANCISCO-With a second-quarter revenue rise of about $100 million from the year-ago period, handheld maker Handspring Inc. surpassed Wall Street estimates and looks to turn its first profit by …

HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. and Symbian Ltd. are teaming up to develop a color-screen mobile phone and personal organizer ahead of Microsoft Corp., according to the Wall Street Journal. Nokia plans …

STAMFORD, Conn.-Wireless operator Triton PCS Inc. sold $350 million of 10-year senior subordinated notes in the 144a private placement market. Triton said it would use proceeds from the sale for …

Citing results from their new, 300-plus page report covering almost every facet of the telecommunications industry, executives of the Telecommunications Industry Association said that while the market is slowing down …

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. said it received the necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals to complete its acquisition of privately held Xypoint Corp. Under terms of the agreement, Xypoint shareholders received 4.2 …

NEW YORK-Debt downgrades for telecommunications carriers last year outnumbered upgrades by a two-to-one margin, setting the stage for increased pressure on ratings this year, analysts for Standard & Poor’s Corp. …

MUNICH, Germany-Siemens said Portuguese mobile operator TMN chose it as its preferred supplier for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System technology. Siemens will be the main supplier for the network. Siemens will …

NEW YORK-In an unusual but not unprecedented step, the U.S. Commercial Service Export Assistance Center will be hosting what its officials call a “reverse trade mission” in the Boston and …

CUPERTINO, Calif.-Pixo Inc. and Snippets Software announced they are teaming to make Snippets’ corporate Intranet and Internet monitoring system available to wireless devices. “Together with Snippets, Pixo is enabling individuals …

With celebrity endorsements becoming common in advertisements for wireless carriers, Cingular Wireless knew it needed a recognizable figure to kick off the advertising campaign promoting its nationwide service. The country’s …

GREENVILLE, S.C.-Verizon Wireless launched digital wireless services in Florence, Lee, Sumter, Clarendon and Williamsburg counties in South Carolina. “With this significant digital expansion into eastern South Carolina, Verizon Wireless has …

BOSTON-The mystery of how mobile location services will make money could be solved by the increasingly popular and consumer-friendly appeal of mobile commerce and its related advertising, both of which …

WASHINGTON-House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) has called for a hearing next month to examine complaints about how Internet addresses are selected, an issue that takes on added significance …

Most analysts expected the Federal Communications Commission’s auction of 422 personal communications services licenses to finish up late last week. Instead, there were 37 eligible bidders placing 27 new high …

WASHINGTON-The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said last week testing showed that ultra-wideband systems “have the potential” to operate in the 3 to 6 GHz bands even though the power …

It has been less than 20 years since the first commercial cellular phone call was completed in the United States. The date was Oct. 13, 1983. Bob Barnett, then president …

MENLO PARK, Calif.-Nuance, a manufacturer of voice interface software, and OnStar, the telematics subsidiary of General Motors Corp., announced OnStar has licensed Nuance’s speech recognition software to be used in …

TAMPA, Fla.-GTE Telecommunication Services Inc. announced it will no longer market itself with GTE or Verizon Information Services and will note the distinction by changing its name to simply TSI …

Yada Yada Inc. has formed an alliance with Novatel Wireless Inc. to provide co-branded Minstrel V Wireless Handheld Modems for the Palm V and to supply Minstrel S Wireless Springboard …

SpectraSite Transco Communications SAS, the French subsidiary of SpectraSite Transco Communications Ltd., said it purchased 19 percent of the share capital of Paris-based telecommunications network deployment company Sofrer S.A. Financial …

More than 50 percent of the 39.8 million business travelers in 1999 brought cellular phones with them on their trips, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. Such numbers …

HELSINKI, Finland-Phone maker Nokia Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding that allows China’s Fujian Mobile Communications Co. to try Nokia’s mCatch positioning system for Fujian MCC’s GSM network. The location-based …