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!
GSA, industry work together to solve wireless siting problems
At least one federal agency appears to be stepping up to the plate regarding expedited siting of new wireless towers and antennas in an effort to comply with the August 1996 presidential memo regarding unimpeded building of such network elements on government land. At the March 19 Federal Agency Antenna Forum sponsored by the General Services Administration’s Office of Real Property, representatives of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the Personal Communications Industry Association, the American Mobile Telecommunications Association, the U.S. Telephone Association, the Federal Communications Commission and GSA discussed concerns, viewpoints and recommendations aimed at improving GSA’s siting program-which includes some 1,800 federal rooftops-prior to a larger meeting between industry groups and other federal agencies April 15. … Read More
Motorola prepares pursuit of 21st Century smart card vision
After contemplating the matter for years, Motorola Inc. has decided to jump feet first into the global smart card business. The Schaumburg, Ill.-based manufacturer has created a new business unit to take advantage of the enormous potential it sees for plastic cards embedded with microprocessors. Technical advances are transforming what has been a single-application product into a multi-application device, the company said. Motorola intends to pool its core competencies in chip manufacturing, radio design, software creation, and add its new ability to manufacture plastic cards. … Read More
Gaming professor says NextWave bids skewed C-Block auction
A University of Maryland economics professor who assisted the Federal Communications Commission in setting up parameters for simultaneous, multiple-round spectrum auctions, such as that conducted for C-block personal communications services licenses, has determined that NextWave Telecom Inc.’s bidding strategy affected all bidders, not just second-ranked winners in a NextWave-won market. This opinion, written on behalf of Antigone Communications L.P. and PCS Devco-which participated in the C-block auction but were not successful-flies in the face of the Jan. 3 Wireless Telecommunications Bureau order that conditionally awarded PCS licenses to NextWave. … Read More
AT&T plans to pull the plug on PACT
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. reversed course in narrowband personal communications services, resolving not to deploy services using the personal Air Communications Technology advanced paging protocol. AT&T Wireless said it still supports the technology development of pACT, but the turnabout could affect pACT vendors and the two-way industry as a whole. … Read More
Ram Mobile Data prepared for nationwide rollout
RAM Mobile Data USA L.P. is gearing up for a national rollout, starting in the New York City metropolitan area, of an interactive, two-way messaging service designed to compete head-on with SkyTel Corp.-brand paging. At a news conference March 11, RAM Mobile Data officials said the new RAMfirst interactive paging initiative will provide additional capabilities over the SkyTel two-way paging services of Mobile Telecommunication Technologies Corp. These include: access software permitting dispatched messages to pagers; real-time confirmation of messages sent; the ability to initiate messages from a pager to a telephone or a fax, as well as for World Wide Web inquiries and delivery confirmations. … Read More
Wireless resellers will be big winners in future, analyst predicts
As unlikely as it may seem at first glance today, an affinity marketing company and an airline reservation system offer a glimpse into the future landscape of the wireless telecommunications industry. Working Assets, a cause-related marketer, is a successful example and role model for “a one-stop-shop virtual carrier, a `switchless’ reseller that outsources everything but its billing,” said Jerome G. Lucas, president of TeleStrategies Inc., McLean, Va. The privately held company, headquartered in San Francisco, offers Internet access, long-distance phone service, paging, “and will eventually offer wireless (telephony),” Lucas said March 11 at a seminar titled, “Making Sense of the New Telecommunications Market for Financial and Strategic Planners.” … Read More
Technology now differentiator in battle of smallest phone
The battle for the tiniest phone is no longer just a matter of shape and size. The technological standard used by the phone is now a clear differentiator. The new Q phone by Qualcomm Inc. doesn’t claim to be the smallest phone-it claims to be the smallest phone for Code Division Multiple Access technology. Philips Consumer Communications doesn’t just say their new Genie phone is the smallest and lightest mobile phone; with an extra capacity battery, it has longer standby time than any other phone using Global System for Mobile communications technology. … Read More
Congressman promises public-safety spectrum, loan program
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) plans to introduce two separate pieces of legislation aimed at aiding the public-service industry in its quest to secure additional spectrum and new equipment to take it through the year 2005. Presiding over a March 11 town meeting held in conjunction with the annual National League of Cities meeting, Weldon-a former volunteer firefighter and fire chief-said he was in complete support of the Public Safety Wireless Communications Committee’s request for 24 megahertz, gleaned from a set-aside of certain parts of broadcast channels 60-69 now in auction contention, and that he would introduce legislation not only to codify the allocation but to begin the search for the additional 73 megahertz needed after 2005. … Read More
Sen. McCain to be honored with PCIA’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Personal Communications Industry Association as part of the festivities surrounding the annual Eugene Bowler Award ceremony scheduled for April 29. At press time, this year’s Bowler Award recipient was being decided by the award’s board of directors. “Sen. McCain has been a staunch supporter of the telecommunications industry and has fostered its growth,” said Jay Kitchen, PCIA president. “He will be establishing the framework of where we will be going during the rest of our lifetimes. We recognize Sen. McCain for the extraordinary sacrifices he has made on behalf of his country and for his commitment to a vibrant telecommunications marketplace fueled by competition.” … Read More
Motorola says Q copies StarTac
Motorola Inc. said it intends to file a patent infringement lawsuit against Qualcomm Inc., claiming Qualcomm’s new Code Division Multiple Access “Q” phone copies the basic look and functions as well as marketing literature of Motorola’s StarTac wearable phone. Qualcomm in turn has filed a lawsuit against Motorola in a San Diego federal court for a declaratory judgment ruling that Qualcomm’s products do not infringe any patents held by Motorola. “We believe that Qualcomm’s Q phone goes beyond simple infringement of patent rights. It is an intentional effort to copy our proprietary StarTac phone design and to confuse consumers,” said Wolf Pavlok, senior vice president and general manager of the Pan American Cellular Subscriber Group for Motorola. … Read More
