AT&T and Sprint slash jobs, while Samsung looks to CDMA for growth … 18 years ago this week
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!
Sprint PCS cuts jobs, consolidates offices
Sprint Spectrum L.P. has begun streamlining its operations nationwide, eliminating engineering and operations positions. Sprint PCS spokesman Tom Murphy said the reorganization reflects the company’s move from building out new markets to an operational phase. Murphy declined to comment on how many employees will lose their jobs, but according to a company memo obtained by RCR, the restructuring impacts less than 10 percent of all 7,000 current positions at Kansas City-based Sprint PCS. Some employees will have the opportunity to relocate. … Read More
AT&T expected to announce cuts
AT&T Corp. is expected to announce to analysts today its operating strategy for the year that will include as many as 19,000 layoffs, management restructuring and the integration of its wireless business with its long-distance, local and Internet service divisions, reported the Wall Street Journal. These moves will be part of a series of actions by AT&T’s new Chief Executive Officer Michael Armstrong, who has been streamlining the company’s operations to focus on its core business since his arrival in October. … Read More
Samsung aims for half of CDMA handset market
Samsung is not a household name in the United States, but the consumer electronics giant is hoping its $10 million brand promotion campaign introduced in the fourth quarter and its aggressive strategy to grab a 40-percent share of the U.S. CDMA handset market will do the trick. Samsung Group’s American telecommunications business, Samsung Telecommunications America, is on the fast track in the United States. The company started shipping its first handsets in the United States during mid-1997 under a $6 million contract with Sprint Spectrum L.P. … Read More
Wireless firms hot to secure Windows CE agreements
With the introduction of the Windows CE operating system designed by Microsoft Corp.-expected to revolutionize the mobile computing industry much like the company’s Windows 95 operating system changed the computing world-wireless communications companies are hot to secure strategic agreements with the software giant. Motorola Inc. recently announced it will design, manufacture and sell a set of wireless modules for Windows CE-based devices to provide paging and data transmission capabilities using FLEX technology. Both companies will jointly develop a software protocol to enable Windows CE-based devices to receive data over one-way and, eventually, two-way FLEX-based networks. … Read More
Widespread Internet acceptance could grow wireless data apps
The combination of an increasingly mobile work force with the growing popularity of the Internet could potentially speed up the adoption of wireless data networks and services, according to a report by the Yankee Group. The group estimates one-third of the country’s work force is mobile-meaning they spend 20 percent or more of their time away from the office-and these mobile workers need to access company data and stay in contact with co-workers. … Read More
Comspace to jump-start SMR with new technology
With a second round of financing in hand along with a strategic purchase and a name change, Comspace Corp., formerly Unique Technologies International Inc., plans to jump-start the specialized mobile radio industry. Irving, Texas-based Comspace has been working since 1994 to develop Dynamic Channel Multicarrier Architecture technology, which allows SMR analog operators to increase the capacity of their existing radio systems. The technology is designed to increase the capacity of one radio channel to six channels. The company now has taken the technology from a working prototype to a real product and last year signed a memorandum of understanding with manufacturer Kenwood Communications Corp. … Read More
Vendor financing can be risky but good business
Manufacturers are under pressure to finance independent personal communications services companies, but recent financial turmoil surrounding some C-block carriers highlights the risk involved in extending credit to companies whose only assets sometimes are licenses not yet paid for. “There is an inordinate amount of pressure to finance C-block carriers,” said John Powers, director of sales and operations for the central United States for Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Infrastructure Group. “All vendors felt the squeeze to fund these guys.” … Read More
Insiders question if launch window is closing on PCS
While the personal communications services industry is characterized as up and running, a host of PCS carriers have yet to launch service, raising questions about whether they will survive in the marketplace. Twenty-six out of RCR’s 40 top PCS operators (ranked by pops) have yet to launch service in any market. Many of those carriers are C-block operators. Two carriers, Pocket Communications Inc. and GWI PCS Inc., have filed for bankruptcy. The future looks bleak for several C-block operators. Many paid exorbitant amounts for their licenses and haven’t had a lot of luck securing financing, resulting in their inability to make payments to the Federal Communications Commission for those licenses. … Read More
New phones debut at CES
Manufacturers at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas may have been hinting at things to come with a handful of launches and plenty of promises of phones that can do more for longer periods of time. Long-awaited dual-mode, dual-band phones-those that work on both analog and digital networks at either 800 MHz or 1900 MHz-are finally making it to market in quantities. And manufacturers are beginning to add more features to their handsets to make them more attractive to consumers. … Read More
Samsung designs pico base station for cheap deployment
Samsung Telecommunications America introduced a new compact Code Division Multiple Access base station designed to drastically reduce initial deployment and recurring network costs. Samsung said the PicoBTS base station provides cellular and personal communications services carriers with a small and high capacity platform allowing for maximum deployment flexibility. Carriers can install the product in nontraditional areas like sides of buildings, telephone and utility poles and tunnels and bridges. Additionally, the product provides space efficiency with macro cell coverage at reduced operating cost-about one-fifth of standard base station operating costs, said David Allen, director of marketing, STA Wireless Systems division. … Read More
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