Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Verizon picks up Price
The hunt for spectrum by wireless carriers continued last week as Verizon Wireless, the country’s largest operator, offered more than $2 billion for Price Communications Wireless, a wholly owned subsidiary of Price Communications. While the purchase was not surprising-Price has been looking for a buyer for sometime-it comes on the heels of a flurry of activity by nationwide carriers to shore up their spectrum footprints ahead of the December re-auction of wireless licenses by the Federal Communications Commission. The 15th largest U.S. cellular carrier and one of the last large pure-play carriers, Price’s wireless business covers 3.4 million potential customers in 16 markets throughout Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida. The purchase will add 500,000 customers to Verizon’s current customer base of 26.3 million subscribers. … Read More
Hunt for 3G spectrum turns to clearing, rather than sharing
The Clinton administration last week cast doubt on large-scale sharing of spectrum designated for third-generation mobile systems, a development likely to shift the government’s focus to broadcast spectrum and to clearing military, educational, religious and broadband Internet licensees off the 1700 MHz and 2500 MHz bands to make room for 3G services. Interim 3G spectrum reports, released by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission last week in accordance with President Clinton’s Oct. 13 executive memorandum, were nearly overshadowed by highly critical remarks by FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. Speaking to reporters the day after the reports were released, Furchtgott-Roth blasted FCC Chairman William Kennard for walking in lockstep with Clinton’s directive rather than exercising discretion as an independent agency. … Read More
BT begins to sell assets
A week after announcing plans to eliminate as much as $14 billion in debt, British Telecommunications plc said it was selling its 34-percent stake in Swiss joint venture Sunrise to TeleDanmark, a partner in the deal, for $659 million. BT said the sale netted the company a profit of $560.4 million on the $100.6 million it invested in Sunrise in 1997. While BT said it plans to remain in Switzerland through its Ignite subsidiary, the TeleDanmark deal was too good to pass up. BT previously has stated that its preferred route to 3G is through businesses with existing 2G operations. Sunrise was not awarded a 2G license in Switzerland’s 1998 “beauty contest” for spectrum. … Read More
Sprint tests voice recognition for concierge-level offering
Just as Sprint PCS was quick to offer wireless Web services, the company is jumping head first into the voice-recognition market, signing a new agreement with voice portal provider BeVocal Inc. to test speech-activated applications powered by BeVocal’s Total Voice Portal Solution. The BeVocal deal comes months after Sprint announced a deal with voice-recognition technology provider Nuance to provide service for Sprint’s Voice Command offering. BeVocal, which uses Nuance’s voice-recognition technology, said its Total Voice Portal was designed to deliver personalized, location-specific, voice-enabled services to subscribers. … Read More
Clear of bankrupt parent, Vast free to tackle wireless ASP market
Now that Arch Wireless Inc.’s acquisition of Paging Network Inc. is complete, former PageNet subsidiary Vast Solutions Inc. is free of the dead weight its former parent company represented and can begin establishing its place in a marketplace it originally helped define. Vast was born in June 1999 out of PageNet’s desire to evolve into a wireless information services firm. In many ways, the company was far ahead of its time. Vast featured both custom solution capabilities as well as outsourced management tools in a wireless application service provider model. Another small company at the time, Aether Systems Inc., was developing much the same thing. But while Aether has sprinted ahead to lead the industry in terms of wireless Internet positioning, Vast has largely remained motionless. The reason-Vast depended entirely on PageNet to fund its operations, which for the last 18 months was very much like trying to draw water from a stone. … Read More
Western Multiplex to acquire Adaptive Broadband
In pursuit of a more consolidated fixed-wireless infrastructure industry, Western Multiplex Corp. entered an agreement last week to acquire Adaptive Broadband Corp. for $645 million in stock. Under terms of the agreement, Adaptive Broadband shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 1.345 Western Multiplex shares for each share of Adaptive Broadband stock. Based on Western Multiplex’s closing price of $12.75 on Nov. 10, this represents a price of approximately $17.15 per Adaptive Broadband share, the companies said. … Read More
Leap widens small-town reach
In tune with its philosophy that small is beautiful, Leap Wireless International Inc. has moved to extend its grip on small and rural communities across the United States by signing multiple agreements to acquire wireless operating licenses from CenturyTel that encompass 11 million customers. Launching its foray into small-town America through its subsidiary Cricket Communications Inc., Leap bought personal communications services licenses valued at $205 million in markets like Fort Wayne, Ind.; Flint, Lansing and Saginaw-Bay, Mich.; Duluth, Minn.; and Appleton-Oshkosh, Wis. Leap said the areas cover 7 million potential customers. Leap also bought licenses for an undisclosed sum covering about 520,000 potential customers in Evansville, Ind., and it also signed four memoranda of understanding to acquire about 3.5 million customers in Peoria, Ill.; Utica, N.Y.; Charleston and Huntington, W.Va; as well as other markets. It said it now has licenses that cover about 47 million potential customers in 31 states. … Read More
Nextel still sweeping 800 MHz, short forms filed for C-block re-auction
Nextel Communications Inc. has received some competition -albeit minor-in the ongoing auction of licenses for the lower 80 channels of the 800 MHz band. At the end of round 24, Nextel’s subsidiary, Nextel Spectrum Acquisition Inc., still dominated the bidding, having made 2,514 bids totaling more than $8.6 million. The next closest bidder, Southern Communications Co., has made only 117 bids totaling $190,400. Analysis of the license-by-license/market-by-market data shows that Nextel has currently lost some licenses. However, bidding appears to remain strong with 123 new bids being made in round 24. In other auction-related news, the Federal Communications Commission has accepted all of the applications for the 700 MHz guard-band manager licenses. Those wishing to file petitions to deny these license grants must do so before Nov. 27. … Read More
Supreme Court serves blow, declines to hear siting case
The Supreme Court, in a major blow to the wireless industry, last week said it would not hear an appeal of a lower court’s antenna-siting ruling favoring a Pennsylvania town. “It would appear that it gives towns again the opportunity to say the burden of proof is on the service provider,” said Janet Newton, executive officer of the EMR Network. The EMR Network, though small and having limited resources, has become a force in antenna-siting issues that are playing out at the federal, state and local levels. Newton and the EMR Network have worked closely in recent years with the Vermont congressional delegation in support of legislation that would return all antenna-siting oversight to local regulators and repeal federal pre-emption of health-related tower-siting provisions of the 1996 telecom act. … Read More
Arch, PageNet merger sealed Friday
Arch Wireless Inc. and Paging Network Inc. announced the completion of their merger Friday, creating the largest paging carrier in North America and adding a significant two-way wireless data player to the wireless Internet game. The combined company, which will keep the Arch Wireless name and headquarters, boasts more than 13 million messaging units in service and a nationwide sales force of about 1,600. The two will consolidate their respective networks, adding PageNet’s nationwide ReFLEX 25 two-way messaging network to Arch’s existing network. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
