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!
Reports link Deutsche Telekom with One2One, Sprint, Qwest
Rumors that Deutsche Telekom AG is in talks to buy British mobile phone company One2One for about $12 billion continued last week amid renewed speculation the German phone company might also be interested in buying Sprint Corp. Deutsche Telekom has been the subject of such speculation since it failed in its attempt to merge with Telecom Italia SpA earlier this year and subsequently raised $11 billion in a secondary offering. The company has pledged to become a global player present in all large markets, planning to acquire mobile-phone companies, Internet service providers and information systems groups. Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom SA each own minority interests in Sprint as part of the trio’s Global One alliance, which is long-rumored to be near collapse. Sprint has been widely rumored to be negotiating hookups with Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom. … Read More
Crazy pace of technological change impacts regulation
The pace of technological change-rapid and frenzied-will have an impact on regulation, and in turn, how regulation impacts the wireless industry in the next millennium, most policy makers agree. The Federal Communications Commission already is changing the way it conducts business; that is, the way it regulates, said Thomas Sugrue, chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. “Regulation, if we do it right, will try to keep ahead and indeed be ahead of marketplace and technological changes,” Sugrue said. Sugrue’s view is not universal at the FCC. Republican FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth said he “tends to think the technological and legal changes have been so immense [recently, but] will be nothing compared to what will happen in the future.” … Read More
Tegic targets carriers with instant messaging
Having made partners of most wireless handset OEMs with its T9 Text Input technology, Tegic Communications Inc. said it plans to make customers of wireless carriers with a new instant messaging application, as yet unnamed. The current desktop version of Tegic’s instant messaging notifies Internet users when other members of a buddy list log online, and allows them to send messages to one another, no matter where each user is on the Web. Tegic’s expressed goal is to extend this desktop instant messaging to mobile phones, so a computer Internet user can send an instant message to a friend’s wireless phone. … Read More
Motorola introduces first WAP handset
Phone.com Inc.’s Unwired Universe conference attracted about 1,100 attendees from 29 countries, twice the number expected by conference planners. The conference was designed to act as a meeting point for vendors, carriers and application developers interested in Wireless Application Protocol technology. Several WAP-related announcements were made at the show. Perhaps the biggest newsmaker was Motorola Inc., which demonstrated its first WAP handset equipped with Phone.com’s UP.Browser microbrowser. The tri-band Global System for Mobile communications 1900 MHz phone meets WAP 1.1 specifications. With the microbrower, the phone can access e-mail and Internet-based information services. It also features certain voice-activation features, data transmission capability, an infrared wireless modem and an enhanced graphics display. The phone is expected to become commercially available in the fourth quarter. … Read More
Vodafone AirTouch, GTE enter CDMA data services market
Two Code Division Multiple Access carriers launched limited data services last week that involve linking wireless phones to laptop computers via a cable, allowing the phones to act both as a voice device and wireless data modem. Such a solution has been available from Global System for Mobile communications providers for some time because the GSM standard included data transmission specifications from the start. The announcements by CDMA carriers Vodafone AirTouch plc and GTE Wireless portend a future quickly approaching in which GSM carriers no can longer use their data capabilities as a differentiator. … Read More
Airadigm is latest C-Block casualty
The fallout from the C-block debacle continued last week as Wisconsin-based C-blocker Airadigm Communications filed for chapter 11 protection at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Madison, Wis. Meanwhile, C-block winner NextWave Personal Communications Inc. was handed a favorable ruling in its own bankruptcy proceeding. Airadigm has been one of the more successful C-block licensees. The company was the first C-block licensee to launch service in March 1997, and since then Airadigm has continued to build out its licensed service area in Wisconsin and parts of Iowa. The company’s subscriber base totals 13,000. … Read More
Appetite for bandwidth will mark new millennium
When the clocks roll over at midnight on Dec. 31, the world will welcome not only a new year, but a new decade, a new century, a new millennium and, by many accounts, a new paradigm in the way people communicate. What took decades to build in developed countries-a telecommunications infrastructure-will take a matter of months or years to build with fixed wireless technologies, and a variety of service providers and hardware vendors are positioning themselves to capitalize on what is expected to be a significant industry. Fixed wireless technology is only a few years in the making, but its champions promise big things from the nascent technology, both in what it will enable customers to do as well as how it will affect entire societies. Ed Champy, executive vice president of vendor Spike Technologies Inc., said fixed wireless has the potential to leapfrog developing nations into the modern telecommunications age, circumventing the industrial revolution other nations had to go through to get there. In developed nations like the United States, fixed wireless promises to break up a bottleneck in the last mile between high-speed conduits like fiber and the end user. … Read More
Industry comes out against FCC truth-in-billing rules
The telecommunications industry has come out against the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to impose truth-in-billing rules on commercial mobile radio service carriers. Additionally, both long-distance carriers and local exchange carriers oppose certain aspects of the truth-in-billing requirements. The CMRS industry is so competitive that misleading bills are not practical because customers can leave the confusing carrier and move to a carrier that is less confusing, the wireless industry told the FCC in comments filed last week. For example, Bell Atlantic Mobile Inc. said in its comments that the recently completed CMRS annual report did not contain any evidence of any consumer-related complaints regarding wireless billing. Additionally, wireless industry growth and competition “occurred without even more intrusive rules that would dictate to wireless carriers the words they can use in communicating to their customers,” BAM said. … Read More
EC maintains support for pan-European W-CDMA network
The European Commission said it supports industry efforts to harmonize third-generation mobile phone standards, but refused to retreat from plans to deploy home-grown technology for a pan-European 3G network and suggested U.S. policy will discriminate against foreign manufacturers seeking to sell advanced wireless products in the United States. “While the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service) decision requires that member states grant at least one license to UMTS in order to ensure, in the least-trade-restrictive manner, the availability of interoperable 3G services in the [European Union] and pan-European roaming for the benefit of consumers, this in no way prevents member states from granting licenses and assigning frequencies for the operation of systems other than UMTS,” said EU high-tech Commissioner Karel van Miert, in a July 22 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky. … Read More
Powerful global players to dominate new millennium
The worldwide wireless industry is expected to pass a significant milestone sometime during 2000. With total mobile subscribers at the end of last year of about 315 million and a growth rate of nearly 8 percent this year, mobile subscribers are expected to surpass the one-half billion mark next year, according to research conducted by the Yankee Group, Boston. The study also predicts net additions worldwide will peak next year at more than 142 million net additions and gradually taper off after that. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
