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!
UWCC reconsiders digital technology choice
Carriers in the Asia-Pacific are beginning to re-evaluate their choice of digital technology, opening a new door for Interim Standard-136 Time Division Multiple Access in the region, said officials and members of the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium last week. The group held a press conference to release its latest TDMA subscriber figures and projections for South America, the region that together with North America includes most of TDMA’s nearly 14 million subscribers worldwide. South America had 2.7 million TDMA subscribers as of year-end 1997, a figure that jumped to 4.9 million as of July 1-an 81-percent increase, according to UWCC. The group projects 6 million subscribers by the end of this year, with a forecasted 17.3 million South American users by year-end 2002. … Read More
Asian crisis hits telecom vendors
The year-old Asian financial crisis is being blamed for an increasingly gloomy outlook for the third quarter, which ends this week. The situation is compounded by growing economic worries in Russia and Latin America and a weakened semiconductor market. Several companies warned investors last week earnings would not meet expectations for the quarter. Telecom stocks were hit particularly hard when Alcatel Alsthom announced Sept. 17 its earnings would fall short of analysts’ estimates. The French telecom equipment vendor said its telecom segment’s income will be “adversely impacted by sharp investment cuts recently decided by some traditional operators and the deepening of the Southeast Asian and Russian crises.” … Read More
New Glenayre platform aims to make carriers more money
In an effort to move from a provider of mere product to that of end-to-end solutions, Glenayre Technologies Inc. announced at PCS ’98 an enhanced services platform designed to help paging carriers offer higher-cost services to customers. Lee Ellison, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, said Glenayre recognizes paging carriers are under pressure from investors to become profitable and free cash flow positive. The company believes wireless e-mail and two-way messaging are the paradigms for future growth that could achieve this goal, Ellison said. Therefore, Glenayre has introduced what it believes will be revenue-generating enhanced services: Call Out, Personal Conference and the Rating Engine. The new solutions will be delivered directly from Glenayre’s GL3000 wireless messaging switch via software upgrades, said the company. … Read More
BellSouth Wireless Data lays out strategy, forms alliance
BellSouth Wireless Data disclosed in greater detail its distribution strategy for its Interactive Paging service at PCS ’98 last week, where the company also announced a strategic alliance and conducted a developer’s seminar. BellSouth released a list of 43 distributors made up of resellers, master dealers and dealers selling the Interactive Paging services, representing about 500 direct sales representatives and more than 3,000 retail stores. The effort gives BellSouth a much-needed presence in the target markets of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington D.C./Baltimore. In entering the two-way messaging game, BellSouth will be taking on paging carriers that traditionally have larger and more-established methods of distribution, something analysts have noted will be a significant challenge to BellSouth’s effort. … Read More
Kennard not backing off from strongest signal
Federal agency head William Kennard said he is not backing off from support of the strongest-signal proposal to ensure emergency 911 calls are completed, and indeed, is interested in a new proposal that calls for an adequate signal to place 911 calls. Kennard “is still very interested in the strongest signal [proposal]. [He] thinks that the adequate signal [proposal] has a lot of merit,” said Ari Fitzgerald, Kennard’s legal adviser for wireless issues. Fitzgerald’s comments comport closely with comments Kennard made in an exclusive interview earlier this month with RCR. “I am encouraged there is today a lot of active discussion going on that will hopefully result in coalescing around a proposal which will serve the needs of strongest signal … I’m impatient … If we can’t come to an agreement with the industry on an alternative, we will have no choice but to go ahead with strongest signal,” Kennard said. … Read More
Industry begins to lobby to prove wireless competes with wireline
The wireless industry is at a “watershed point,” and is now beginning to compete in earnest with wireline telephony, said Tom Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. The industry is entering the fourth wave of its development, Wheeler said, noting the four waves to be in order: the car phone, the bag phone, the pocket phone and now competition with wireline service. Competition is evident by the first-person accounts appearing in mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal of people who are going strictly wireless and “cutting the cord” on wireline service. Additionally, Jeff Cohen, communications manager for the Personal Communications Industry Association, is vocal about his lack of a landline phone. “It fits my lifestyle … people can reach me and I can reach them … I can’t imagine living without it,” Cohen said. … Read More
WINs could be new platform for competition
Wireless intelligent network deployments remain slow in the United States as mobile phone carriers have focused on building out digital networks and spending money on switching and radio-frequency infrastructure. That is about to change, indicate WIN vendors, as more competitors enter the mobile phone market, creating a need for carriers to offer enhanced services rather than competing on price. WINs allow carriers to offer revenue-enhancing services such as short message service, virtual private networks and voice-activated dialing. … Read More
BAM refuses to back down on antenna sitings
Bell Atlantic Mobile refuses to throw in the towel on antenna siting and continues to fight for sites the company claims are necessary for coverage. In two cases, opponents see their actions as intransigent and perhaps even threatening. In another case, BAM has been successful in getting Congress to back its efforts. On Sept. 17, the National Park Service responded to an Aug. 6 letter from Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the telecom subcommittee, regarding NPS’ failure to make final decisions on BAM’s desire to site two towers within Rock Creek Park. The letter states that a proposed deadline of this Wednesday “is impossible to meet.” … Read More
Price denies pursuing merger with Vanguard
Price Communications Corp.’s president Robert Price said his company is not pursuing a merger agreement with Vanguard Cellular Systems Inc. despite recent reports that suggested the company might be interested in such a deal. A Toronto Dominion report dated Sept. 15 quoted Dow Jones News Service as saying “Price Communications would be willing to purchase Vanguard for $25 to $27 per share if the deal were accretive to the earnings of the combined entity.” Toronto Dominion noted it could not reach officials at either company at the time it published its report. However it did say, “We … view the deal as a good strategic fit. The companies have complementary East Coast footprints with zero overlap, and both have deployed the same digital [Time Division Multiple Access] technology. … Read More
Qualcomm offers open system switch for IS-95 networks
Qualcomm last week at PCS ’98 announced it now is offering its cdmaOne Interim Standard-95 network with an open system radio-switch interface, meaning carriers using Qualcomm equipment can use its radio access equipment but use switches from a different vendor. In the United States, Chase Telecommunications Inc. is providing Code Division Multiple Access personal communications services using Qualcomm’s radio access equipment and Alcatel’s switching platform. In addition, the Pegaso consortium in Mexico, a new PCS company in which Qualcomm has a stake along with Mexican media empire Televisa and Mexican entrepreneur Alajandro Burillo Aczarraga, will be the first carrier to use this arrangement. … Read More
