At the end of each year, the RCR Wireless News editorial staff looks back on the new events that made RCR headlines and decides which were the most significant, industry-impacting stories of the past 12 months. Here are our picks for 2000 in chronological order.
A look back
1. Feb. 7
Mannesmann accepts pricey Vodafone bid
After resisting a hostile takeover attempt by Vodafone AirTouch plc for more than two months, Germany’s Mannesmann AG last week agreed to a revised friendly offer just days shy of the Feb. 7 deadline for Mannesmann shareholders to vote on the hostile bid.
2. March 20
Iridium’s sky falls
When launched in November 1998, Iridium L.L.C. hoped the glare from its low-earth-orbit satellites would catch the attention of earthbound eyes and cause a stir.
It soon will succeed in ways it never imagined.
The company Friday shut down its 66-satellite constellation and began the process of directing the satellites to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere over nonpopulated areas of the globe, causing them to burn apart.
3. April 10
`Heavenly match’ is finally official
It is a match made in heaven. BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications finally ended weeks of speculation, announcing plans to create a wireless joint venture that will become the second-largest wireless operator in the United States, serving 16.2 million subscribers and reaching 175 million potential customers.
4. April 10
Verizon is new No. 1
The ongoing fight for dominance of the U.S. wireless market flared up once again last week as Bell Atlantic Corp. and Vodafone AirTouch plc said they will commence this year an initial public offering of Verizon Wireless, the joint venture that combines the U.S. wireless holdings of Bell Atlantic, PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. and Vodafone AirTouch.
5. April 24
U.K. prices: Up, up and away
Bidders in the U.K. third-generation license auction appeared to exceed their budgets last week. Bidding for the five licenses totaled an eye-popping $35 billion, and the auction will linger on into this week.
6. May 1
AT&T Wireless stock takes center stage
For market watchers waiting to exhale, the AT&T Corp. Wireless Group’s $10.6 billion initial public offering proved not just big, but also graceful, as it took center court April 27.
7. June 5
U.S. triumphs at WRC-2000
When fanfare over the American delegation’s victory in securing global frequency bands for third-generation mobile-phone service subsides, the United States and the wireless industry will face implementation challenges at home even greater than the fierce spectrum battles at the now-completed World Radiocommunication Conference.
If U.S. mobile-phone firms are to ever see the new 3G spectrum, telecom policy-makers will have to overcome technical, political, national security and economic challenges that lie ahead. It won’t be easy, or cheap. Indeed, there is no guarantee mobile-phone carriers will even get access to two of the three new 3G bands.
8. June 5
FCC opens re-auction to big firms
The Federal Communications Commission will delay the re-auction of C- and F-block licenses to give the wireless industry time to digest rules that allow large carriers to bid, said Ari Fitzgerald, legal adviser to FCC Chairman William Kennard.
9. June 26
TV bill could moot 700 MHz clearing plan
The Federal Communications Commission’s decision last week to encourage rather than mandate band-clearing arrangements at 700 MHz could be moot if a powerful important market as the Brazilian government granted personal communications services licenses in the 1800 MHz band.
Last week’s decision caught many mobile-phone carriers and infrastructure providers off guard. In choosing the 1800 MHz band, Anatel, the Brazilian telecom regulatory authority, made Global System for Mobile communications the mandatory technology for the PCS market.
11. July 17
CTIA-certified phones to post SAR numbers
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, seeking to foster better public understanding of controversial wireless health issues, will require beginning Aug. 1 that all mobile phones seeking certification include radiation exposure data.
12. August 14
Internet firms team to redefine industry
The end is near.
That is the prophecy heralded by the principals of Phone.com Inc. and Software.com Inc., which last week said they will merge in what is the largest announced wireless Internet transaction to date.
13. Sept. 18
CDMA goes to China (again)
China and CDMA technology have attempted marriage about as many times as Elizabeth Taylor.
Now it appears the Chinese government again has given the green light to China Unicom to deploy CDMA technology as quickly as possible. Naturally, vendors remain cautious. They’ve heard this before.
14. Oct. 9
A `Cingular’ carrier
Following months of speculation, regulatory red tape and the seemingly elusive approval by the Federal Communications Commission that arrived Sept. 29, SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Mobility officially came together last week, announcing its joint venture now will be known as Cingular Wireless.
15. Oct. 23
RF class-action balloons
A relatively minor mobile-phone case in Illinois state court-involving allegations of privacy invasion and health risk coverup in connection with an epidemiology study-has mushroomed into one of the largest class-action lawsuits in U.S. history.
16. Oct. 30
AT&T Wireless stands alone
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. could have a more difficult time offering bundled services to its customers after the business unit is separated from the parent group, according to one analyst.
Now that AT&T has announced it will create four separate companies, each operating under the AT&T brand, its one-stop-shopping benefit may be lost.
AT&T last week said it would split into four groups, with each becoming a publicly held entity trading as a common stock or tracking stock.
17. Dec. 4
NTT-AT&T: What it means
The strategic alliance announced between NTT DoCoMo and AT&T Wireless Services Group is fairly simple on the surface, but may have long-term implications for the global wireless industry.
18. Dec. 11
C-block re-auction finally a go
As the Federal Communications Commission frantically prepared to re-auction 422 C-and F-block personal communications services licenses beginning tomorrow, the agency on Dec. 1 released the names of those planning to participate in the auction and those that had been rejected.
19. Dec. 11
TSR closes operations
TSR Wireless L.L.C., the nation’s largest privately held paging carrier, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy late Friday afternoon in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark.
20. Dec. 18
Carlo book points finger at CTIA, Wheeler
A new book describes top cellular lobbyist Thomas Wheeler as obsessed with controlling public relations for industry-funded mobile phone-cancer research conducted in the 1990s and claims he attempted extraordinary measures to downplay suspected health risks.
