March 2001

NEW YORK-The Wireless Multimedia Forum, which recently celebrated its first birthday, is on schedule in building a framework for content that must be written just once for delivery to any device over any network. Earlier this year, the WMF released …

MADRID, Spain-While third-generation services have grabbed most of the limelight in wireless news, in Spain a group of companies has been quietly rolling out high-speed voice and data services using LMDS technology. The first of these is FirstMark, which recently …

A great political stroke of genius of Team Bush has been the creation of the moderate tone implied by the “compassionate conservative” banner. Why, you’d think George W. would suffer from repetitive-motion injury for all the many times he’s mouthed …

WASHINGTON-Congressional opponents of the proposed $30 billion acquisition of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. by Deutsche Telekom AG have struck again, just weeks after VoiceStream was successful in getting members of its congressional delegation to urge support for the deal. “In recent …

The traditional paging industry is dead, many analysts and paging veterans agree. But there is an escape route for the few companies left fighting, though many industry observers agree more consolation will take place and not everyone will make it …

WASHINGTON-A new day appears to be dawning for FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell. This new day will have Powell greeting four new colleagues by the end of the year, reforming an agency that some on Capitol Hill have said cannot …

WASHINGTON-Whether the nation is plagued with daunting deficits or buoyed by gushing surpluses, spectrum auctions remain a lightning rod for controversy as the revenue-generating wireless licensing tool becomes inextricably intertwined in national budget policy. This was inevitable. Spectrum auctions grew …

LINCOLN, Neb.-Transcrypt International Inc. ended the year with revenues totaling $42.2 million compared with annual revenues of $53.5 million for 1999 and is evaluating a sale of part or all of the company. The losses are due to a weaker …

DENVER-Daniels & Associates, a provider of financial services to media, Internet and telecommunications clients, set an all-time company record in 2000 by completing 115 transactions, totaling more than $22.7 billion. The firm completed 84 mergers and acquisitions. Also included in …

WASHINGTON-Government testing of potential interference between the global positioning system and ultra-wideband devices seems to be politically inconclusive, while an UWB-industry funded study shows that UWB devices do not interfere any more than other unlicensed RF-using products. “The report documents …

Now that the United States appears to be entering a recession, the economics behind deployments of third-generation wireless systems are even trickier than new math. Carriers and vendors are walking a tightrope trying to find the proper balance between offering …

NEW YORK-Vaultus, a mobile platform company, announced it closed $32 million in second-round financing, bringing the total invested in the company to more than $57 million. The top investor in this round was First Union Capital Partners. Other investors included …

PLEASANTON, Calif.-Mobileum Inc., which provides wireless and mobile-commerce solutions, announced it has joined the Openwave Developer Alliance Program. The Openwave Developer Alliance Program aims to promote the concept of wireless information access and to coordinate the exchange of ideas and …

While the digital divide holds out hope of shrinking in the next half decade, signs persist that vendors and operators have yet to come to grips with the special needs of the burgeoning numbers of minority users. Two new studies …

MONTREAL-TIW added 878,300 net subscriber during the fourth quarter to reach a total of more than 4.4 million cellular subscribers, an increase of 97 percent from 1999. ClearWave N.V., a central and eastern European subsidiary of TIW added 314,400 subscribers …

FAIRFAX, Va.-One must first define the world before predictions can be made about how soon the world will be connected to the Internet, said an expert at last week’s 2001 Global Internet Summit. “It depends on what you mean by …

WASHINGTON-The Bush administration is unlikely to stem the tide of telecom mergers headed for the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission in the next four years and may be reluctant even to block monopolistic market formations in the …

LOS ANGELES-Telemac Corp., a provider of network-independent billing and accounting technologies for the wireless industry, announced it has been granted broader U.S. and European patents covering a network-independent, handset-based prepaid wireless system. The patented system includes Telemac’s IMA-Module software and …

The path to third-generation services for many wireless operators appears to be anything but smooth. While Asian carriers seem to be taking the high-speed approach, European carriers recently have seen their paths clogged by uncertainty. For U.S. carriers, 3G plans …

Two-way messaging licenses held by the now-bankrupt paging company TSR Wireless L.L.C. will be auctioned off near the end of this month, according to the company’s bankruptcy trustee Charles Forman. The auction for the two two-way licenses, informally known as …

WASHINGTON-As the Federal Communications Commission considers proposals to select a nationwide number-pooling administrator, two leading contenders are duking it out at the state level in winning pooling contracts. Number pooling allows telephone numbers to be assigned in thousands-blocks rather than …

Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, one of the world’s premier breeding grounds for mobile-phone technology, wireless network security developer Columbitech is gearing up to take on the United States with a wireless virtual private network product that will allow users to …

HELSINKI, Finland- Nokia Corp. has selected subcontractors to supply its 3G equipment around the world. The subcontractors are Skanska Telecom networks and Flextronics Network Services in Sweden; Boke and Walterfang GmbH and Pfleiderer AG in Germany; Landis Public Networks B.V., …

LAKE CHARLES, La.-US Unwired Inc. completed two transactions in which it exchanged class A common stock for the minority interests in its Sprint PCS operating subsidiaries, Louisiana Unwired L.L.C. and Texas Unwired. “These transactions eliminate all of US Unwired’s minority …

SEATTLE-Cingular Wireless launched its brand in the Seattle and Spokane, Wash., markets, replacing GTE Wireless. The company also introduced GSM coverage in the area. Cingular said it has contacted current GTE customers about the switch and is offering to provide …