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!
Absorbing the impact of the new Telecom Act
It’s always uneasy when a new group of people in power take over, whether it’s at the local city council, Congress or the Federal Communications Commission. Certainly the people in the new position are more aware of that uncomfortableness than anyone. So while the new commission is under the microscope, it is usually a safe bet to provide as vague an answer as possible. Having said that, I am intrigued by some of the new commissioners’ comments. There is wisdom. Commissioner Michael Powell, in particular, brought up some good points about the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and those who want to tinker with it. Powell’s point, in a nut shell, is that it is too early to judge the act. He believes it will take two years before the effects of the new law are seen. Telecom deregulation is a tricky process, he noted. “If we change the rules every four months, competition won’t come,” Powell said. “Companies need some level of comfort and expectation … If we’re not careful of how we manage the act, some companies may just give up on it.” Likewise, Harold Furchtgott-Roth noted that competition is not a smooth, yellow-brick-road process. “Competition will come in fits and starts,” he said, noting that international barriers to telecommunications competition are breaking down. … Read more
Location mandates and e911
Dr. Dan Schlager, M.D., president of Zoltar Satellite Alarm Systems, filed an ex parte brief with the Federal Communications Commission urging it to apply Phase II E911 rules on locating emergency callers to new wireless phones only. Schlager said the wireless industry should follow the lead of the automotive industry when deciding how to implement the mandate. “They didn’t retrofit the 1957 Chevy with airbags,” he said. “They only applied it to new cars.” If the FCC requires that only new phones be equipped, Zoltar’s system would be allowed to compete more fairly in the E911 marketplace, said Schlager. The company, which owns patents to combine global positioning system technology, wireless devices and emergency buttons or automatic sensors, advocates a handset-based solution to the Phase II requirements rather than a network-based approach. One of the reasons, said Schlager, is that about 70 percent of trauma-related deaths occur in rural areas where network-based location systems are less likely to provide a highly accurate location of the person in distress. “Location is a lot easier to do in the city than in rural areas, and I don’t want those areas to be neglected,” said Schlager. “Coverage needs to be the strongest in those areas, especially with so many rural hospitals closing.” … Read more
Nortel offers fixed wireless solution
CANCUN, Mexico-Northern Telecom Ltd.’s Proximity T-LTX, which allows operators to offer fixed wireless services from a wireline switching system, is now commercially available, announced the company at Mexico’s Wireless ’97 show. The Proximity T-LTX uses Time Division Multiple Access technology to deploy additional capacity, particularly in geographic locations where adding wireline service is cost prohibitive. Proximity T-LTX interacts with almost any local telephone exchange, maximizing the access capabilities of existing equipment, and providing for future growth. “In situations where operators have switching capacity that is under-utilized, Proximity T-LTX increases network efficiency,” said Mike Hayes, general manager of fixed wireless access for Nortel. “This means that operators can more easily tap new market segments for incremental revenue.” … Read more
Telstra goes public
NEW YORK-Telstra Corp. Ltd. debuted with a bang Nov. 17 on the Australian Stock Exchange, and trading began on the New York Stock Exchange a day later. The hugely oversubscribed initial public offering of 4.3 billion shares of common stock in the country’s largest telecommunications carrier opened in trading at a retail price of approximately $1.36 per share. Institutional buyers paid a slightly higher initial price of $1.39 per share. The stock closed its first day of trading at about $1.82, pushing the company’s valuation to about $35 billion. With nearly $10 billion going into government coffers as a result of the partial privatization of Telstra, federal Finance Minister John Fahey said all Australians-stockholders and taxpayers-were winners. The Australian government put a third of the carrier up for sale. Prime Minister John Howard described the IPO, which was a central part of the Liberal Party’s 1996 election campaign, as a great investment in a great Australian company. Frank Blount, Telstra’s chief executive, said the success of the offering and the company’s track record show it could be ready for further listing “pretty quickly.” But Kim Beazley, federal Opposition Party leader, said the political party would oppose any further privatization of Telstra. He also said he is concerned the public stock sale will compromise the carrier’s profitability. … Read more
Handsets set to transition from analog to digital in 1998
NEW YORK-For handset manufacturers, next year likely will be a transition period as new entrants gear up to enter the rapidly expanding wireless marketplace, said Jeffrey Schlesinger, wireless technology analyst for UBS Securities L.L.C. Brightpoint Inc. projects that sales of new handsets in North America alone will total 24 million, said Robert Laitkin, the company’s chief executive officer, at a recent UBS Securities Telecom Conference. Of these, 9 million will be based on Advanced Mobile Phone Service technology, 7 million will use the Time Division Multiple Access protocol, 5.5 million will be Code Division Multiple Access-technology based and 2.5 million will use Global System for Mobile communications 1900 personal communications services technology. “Replacement sales (worldwide) will outnumber new subscriber additions,” said Jim Caile, vice president of marketing for Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Subscriber Sector. The overseas market also is likely to grow in size, with Asia outstripping North America, according to UBS projections. So large and so rapidly growing is the overall Asian market that Motorola doesn’t anticipate any diminution in demand even if individual countries, like Indonesia and the Philippines, experience economic difficulties, Caile said. Worldwide, Motorola has seen unit volumes increasing 40 percent “year over year, providing an opportunity to reduce costs and maintain revenues,” he said. Five years ago, handsets cost more than $1,000 each, whereas there are digital phones available today for about $200, Laitkin said. Airtime-which used to cost 40 cents to 50 cents per minute-is now available in some cases for 3 cents per minute. Frequency availability has quadrupled to 400 megahertz of spectrum today from 50 megahertz when cellular first became available, Caile said. … Read more
Three technologies predicted for 3G, amid a push for tri-mode phones
As the Global System for Mobile communications community celebrates the inroads the technology has made throughout the world, the GSM MoU Association said it will continue to promote the technology worldwide and make sure third-generation technology incorporates a GSM platform and open interface. As of September, GSM subscribers around the world numbered 55 million. “We now have GSM operations in 600 countries,” said Adriana Nugter, chairwoman of the GSM MoU and managing director of European public policy for AirTouch International. “We expect to have 60 million [subscribers] by the end of 1997.” North American GSM operators recently celebrated their collective gain of more than 1 million customers. In comparison, cdmaOne worldwide subscribers reached 4.25 million in September, and the CDMA Development Group expects world subscribers to number 6 million by the end of the year. GSM technology has been in commercial operation for nearly 10 years, while Code Division Multiple Access technology based on Interim Standard 95 was introduced commercially for the first time in January 1996. GSM technology is in a race with cdmaOne for adoption in some of the world’s key markets, but it is evident technology selections around the world will be fragmented, like in North America. GSM technology encompasses almost all of Europe, however, and cdmaOne already has grabbed some important Asian markets like Korea and Japan. Nugter touts GSM’s global roaming capability as one of the technology’s major advantages over other digital technologies. The GSM MoU is working to enhance the GSM technology’s roaming capabilities by lobbying for tri-mode handsets that operate in three different frequencies, enabling instant roaming. Currently, GSM subscribers roaming in other countries cannot use their handsets. Roaming is achieved when the user places his subscriber identity module card-which contains identity and other user information-into a replacement handset. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
