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 those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
3G standards squabbles continue
Industry executives in February hailed the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue agreement as a major breakthrough in the 3G debate, but today it appears standards bodies have made little progress to pursue this framework, and political infighting among the 3G players remains. Executives in February agreed to pursue a tri-mode Code Division Multiple Access third-generation standard that will encompass direct sequence (W-CDMA), multi-carrier (cdma2000) and Time Division Duplex versions of CDMA technology. Sweden’s L.M. Ericsson and Qualcomm Inc. ended their intellectual-property-right deadlock over CDMA patents and jointly agreed in March to support approval in standards bodies of the tri-mode CDMA 3G standard. The Operators Harmonization Group (OHG), an assembly of mobile-phone operators from around the world, has held a series of meetings to hammer out technical differences within the tri-mode standard and present its findings to the International Telecommunication Union. However, Commerce Department Undersecretary for International Trade David Aaron has requested standards bodies present their progress toward reaching the TABD agreement next month. “Basically, standards groups haven’t looked at how to implement TABD,” said one industry executive. The 3G Partnership Project, a standards group established in Europe that is developing much of the UMTS specification for the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, and 3G Partnership Project 2, a similar working group in North America developing cdma2000 technology, have not collaborated. And ETSI, according to concerned government officials, appears to be plowing ahead with the UMTS specification. … Read more
Using cell phones for good
Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association President Tom Wheeler has announced this year’s Vita Wireless Samaritans, all of whom used their wireless phones to save, protect or improve themselves or the lives of those around them. CTIA will honor a person from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico June 7, at the Wireless Foundation dinner in Washington, D.C., at which time the winners also will meet the members of Congress from each of their home states. Individual wireless carriers submitted nominations to a panel of judges representing law enforcement and other emergency services, who then chose the winners. Initially the awards honored four or five people, but because of the rapid growth of wireless communications, the awards were expanded to all 50 states last year, said Jeffrey Nelson, director of communications, CTIA. In the United States, 74 million wireless customers make more than 98,000 911 and equivalent emergency service calls everyday. “The awards put a face on wireless safety,” said Nelson. Wheeler’s announcement kicks off National Wireless Safety Week, which runs through May 28. According to CTIA, honoring the Vita Wireless Samaritans encourages others to take advantage of their phones to make improvements in their own communities. … Read more
Taking stock of European cellular usage
LUTON, United Kingdom-A new report compiled by Strategy Analytics shows low-spending customers and the introduction of prepaid services in Europe are causing average revenue per user rates to progressively decline for many cellular providers. “While cellular ARPU levels are now showing signs of bottoming out in some European countries, there is still a long way to go for many regions,” said Declan Lonergan, Strategy Analytics’ director of wireless services, Europe. The report, “European Cellular User Survey 1999,” presents the results of the company’s latest study of European cellular users’ behavior and attitudes, focusing on usage patterns, landline substitution, churn and value-added service opportunities. New cellular customers in Europe are reporting much lower monthly expenditures than other customers who have had a cellular phone for at least four years. Just 1 percent of new users spend more than $100 per month on their cellular service compared with 33 percent of experienced users, said the report. Forty-two percent of cellular users in Europe are consumers, 35 percent are business users and 23 percent are combination users, with average expenditure across all user segments at $70 per month. The average daily usage for all cellular users is 21 minutes, although the largest segment is the 5-10 minutes per day group, which accounts for 32 percent of users. … Read more
Paging players attempt to adapt to increased mobile content
While paging carriers work to upgrade their network technology to fit the advanced messaging paradigm, several also are working to upgrade the services available on their networks, namely content. For about a year now, information content has been available to subscribers for free. The idea initially was to enhance the value of what customers already were paying for service. In addition, the available information was fairly generic and not valuable enough to command an extra monthly fee. But the industry is preparing to take the next step in content delivery, shifting to a model where the customer will be asked to pay extra for information services. The difference is carriers are preparing content packages that allow the user to customize the type of information sent and the way it is received. By allowing the customer to personalize information content, the service becomes something unique to that user. The question remains, however, as to what effect the services will have. Will the content be so compelling it draws new subscribers to the network, much like HBO drew subscribers to cable, or will it merely be a way to stop churn? Most agree on the need to model content services after the success of Internet portals. Companies like Excite and Yahoo! are popular Internet portal sites where Web users go for information. Once there, users select subjects that interest them and narrow down the vast wealth of information available on the Internet into a usable and valuable format. … Read more
Bill would prioritize Pentagon use of U.S. spectrum
WASHINGTON-A Defense Department authorization bill headed to the Senate floor today would give Pentagon spectrum superior status over all government and nongovernment frequencies and force federal agencies and private-sector telecom licensees alike to pay to redesign or rebuild military radio systems if interference problems arise. The Department of Defense authorization bill, unanimously approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 13, took industry lobbyists, federal agencies, telecom regulators and the White House by surprise last week. Once they learned of it, they expressed alarm.“The administration is aware of this provision and has concerns,” said a spokesman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. NTIA manages federal government spectrum and advises the president on telecom policy. Government and industry officials said the provision on DOD spectrum, which is shared between federal agencies and private-sector licensees, has the potential to wreak havoc by effectively relegating to secondary status all nonmilitary communications users that share spectrum with the Pentagon. On top of that, they said the measure-by legislative fiat-would mandate that nonmilitary spectrum users underwrite costs of constructing new communications facilities for the Pentagon if interference to DOD systems could not be corrected. The Pentagon disavowed any responsibility for the controversial language in the DOD bill. … Read more
Court discounts the value of Nextwave licenses
NEW YORK-The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York handed NextWave Personal Communications Inc. a big victory May 13, cutting its C-block license bid obligation to $1.023 billion from $4.744 billion. “The court has provided a market-based solution upon which NextWave can reorganize and emerge from bankruptcy,” said Michael Wack of Hawthorne, N.Y.-based NextWave. “The ruling opens the way for successful implementation of NextWave’s carrier’s carrier strategy, providing consumers and resellers access to a wide range of innovative services in the wireless marketplace,” Wack added. Adlai S. Hardin Jr., the presiding judge, concurred with NextWave’s contention that the value of the personal communications services licenses it won in the Federal Communications Commission auction in May 1996 had declined substantially by February 1997, when NextWave received them from the FCC. NextWave will retain ownership of the licenses it won. Judge Hardin also agreed substantially with NextWave in calculating what the licenses are worth, taking into consideration both cost and market value, as opposed to an income-based model. The latter, which is closer to the FCC’s position in the case, estimates an asset according to the present value of potential cash flow that a fully financed and operational company could generate by using the asset, in this case, the spectrum licenses. “Ninety-four percent of C-block licenses are currently not in operation. Licenses constituting approximately 80 percent of the net prices bid at the C-block auction are tied up in bankruptcies or have been returned to the FCC,” Judge Hardin said. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.