Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Time Machine is a way to take advantage of our extensive history in covering the wireless space to fire up the DeLorean and take a trip back in time to re-visit some of the more interesting headlines from this week in history. Enjoy the ride!
Increased churn, growth mark ’95 SMR industry
The specialized mobile radio industry grew 13 percent last year, but operators reported a steady increase in industry churn during 1995, says a new market study produced by Economic and Management Consultants International Inc. and the American Mobile Telecommunications Association. The report indicates industry churn increased from 17 percent in 1994 to about 21 percent in 1995. One leading reason for the trend is a soft economy in the private sector, said AMTA President and Chief Executive Officer Alan Shark. … Read More
PCS stakes get too rich for some C-Block bidders
Are the prices being paid for C-block broadband personal communications services licenses getting to be too rich for even the richest blood? If the recent exit of U.S. AirWaves Holdings Inc., PersonalConnect Communications Inc. and TeleCorp. Inc., is any indication, second-squad bidders should get ready to come up with the cash for major and middle-tier markets as more varsity-team players take themselves out of the game. … Read More
Fraud-fighting standards grow from engineering
Eighty percent of major U.S. cellular carriers employ Systems/Link Corp.’s RoamEx product to fight cellular fraud, but until now the decade-old Jackson, N.J., company has kept its nose to the grindstone and quietly gone about its business. Diane Sammer, president of Systems/Link said the company has been too busy to seek press before now. In retrospect, that’s been a good strategy, she said. “We emerged fully grown before our competitors saw us coming.” … Read More
Companies deny squabble in Sprint-cable TV venture
Sprint Spectrum L.P. denies any discord among its member companies, despite revisions to the venture’s original plans to launch cable telephony with its wireless service. But telecommunications analysts are split on what the modification means. It shouldn’t be surprising that the companies are repositioning 16 months after making their massive alliance as some of the obscure variables become clear, said David Abraham, telecommunications financial adviser of David Abraham & Co. in Westport, Conn. “When they entered this, there were so many unknowns,” Abraham commented, “They didn’t know what licenses they’d win, or how much it would cost or even which technology they would use.” … Read More
PCS bids top $5B as competition surges
After staying the course for almost 30 rounds, John DeFeo and his U.S. AirWaves Holdings Inc. group may be on the verge of bidding the C-block broadband personal communications services auction goodbye. In the last two weeks, the group has been dormant during several rounds, and it used up its waivers. According to the rules, the Federal Communications Commission then was forced to reduce AirWaves’ eligibility from a top contender’s 83 million pops to fewer than 10 million. Its only presence going into Round 28 last Thursday was in the Philadelphia, Pa.-Wilmington, Del., basic trading area, which it subsequently lost to Omnipoint Corp. … Read More
Metawave tries to claim stake in multibeam antenna market
Using a novel approach to antenna design, Redmond, Wash.-based Metawave Communications Corp. plans to tackle the wireless communications industry with promises of increased channel capacity and improved call quality. The SpotLight Multibeam Antenna Platform is Metawave’s launch product, currently targeted at analog cellular operators because of their immediate need for more calling capacity, but the product also can be used for enhanced specialized mobile radio and personal communications services systems. PCS providers that install the antenna platform will be able to reduce infrastructure costs because they will need to build fewer sites, the company said. … Read More
FBI offers CTIA digital wiretap implementation requirements
The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this month responded to Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) request for key data on digital wiretap implementation. The 13-page document explains the methodology behind calculating capacity requirements for wiretapping and currently is being reviewed by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Determining carriers’ capacity requirements addresses one provision in the implementation of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act charted by Leahy. CTIA said it anticipated rules and procedures on costs for recovery, a separate provision under CALEA, would be issued in the Federal Register last Friday. The provision addresses reimbursement procedures. … Read More
N.Y. antenna site lease at heart of AT&T lawsuit
On a clear day, you can look south and see the Manhattan skyline from the landmark hilltop house of Steve Preston, who owns and leases towers for wireless transmissions. But Preston has his sights set north where he sees the chance for significant tower sublease income disappearing over nearby Jackie Jones Mountain. In late 1991, Preston Communications Inc. received a signed contract from AT&T Communications Inc. in Atlanta authorizing the lease of Preston’s tower site high atop Jackie Jones Mountain. AT&T owns the site, considered a premium one because of its height and location in an area near to and facing New York City. Local zoning codes in Rockland County severely restrict tower placement. … Read More
Lightbridge products provide carriers capability to analyze
Lightbridge Inc. is introducing a new modular line of analytical products and services designed specifically for wireless carriers. The Wireless Intelligence decision support system provides carriers with detailed information about their distribution channels, customers and sales trends, the company said. Lightbridge said it uses data warehousing technology to provide fast access to a large variety of information, analyzing and categorizing data so the average business executive can easily identify patterns and trends to aid in decision-making. … Read More
Pac Bell tower request delayed while city studies interference
Zoning opposition by a James Valentine-supported group has temporarily blocked city approval of a dozen personal communications services site permits sought by Pacific Bell Mobile Services in San Diego. Opponents are supporters of Code Division Multiple Access technology that say the Global System for Mobile communications technology chosen by Pac Bell Mobile is unsafe. Pac Bell Mobile sees the Valentine group’s move as cheap, inappropriate politics. CDMA and GSM technologies are vying for equipment market share. … Read More
