PCS, paging and more telecom tidbits circa 1996
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!
LG lands a PCS license
Lucky-Goldstar won the latest battle between Korean manufacturing titans last week when it captured the only digital Korean phone license being offered to an equipment manufacturer. Foreign entities were not allowed to participate in the process because international competition doesn’t begin in Korea until 1998. Equipment will be procured through a competitive bidding process that will include domestic and foreign manufacturers, according to the announced Korean rules. Some U.S. sources question how beneficial this new market will be for U.S. companies. The government of Korea has told the European Union and the U.S. government it would not interfere in the equipment procurement of the new private licensees, but it also has publicly stated it would help Korean companies grow into top world manufacturers. Three licenses for personal communications services were included in the Korean government’s recent issue of 27 telecommunications licenses. One PCS license was designated for a telecommunications equipment manufacturer, another was reserved for a non-telecom manufacturer and the third was set aside for current government operator Korea Telecom. Seoul-based LG Group, formerly the Lucky-Goldstar Group, was considered a strong applicant for the manufacturer’s license from the beginning. … Read more
Motorola’s iDEN optimism
CHICAGO-A group of wireless industry analysts and reporters got a chance to watch Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola Inc. atone for past enhanced specialized mobile radio infrastructure sins by introducing its second-generation line of digital network and subscriber gear–the Integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network system. The new iDEN system replaces the old Motorola Integrated Radio System, which never really performed to specifications. As RCR reported last week, ESMR provider Nextel Communications Inc., which kept its nationwide network strategy under wraps while iDEN was being developed this past year, is one of two U.S. beneficiaries of the new equipment; the Southern Co. is the other. McLean, Va.-based Nextel has committed $100 million to purchase the new equipment, including 100,000 new cellular-like subscriber units Motorola calls the i360. The 8.7-ounce i360 is capable of full duplex telephone interconnect, instant conferencing within a number of subscriber talk groups and acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement alphanumeric messaging. iDEN also is available in an installed mobile configuration; data capabilities are expected to be introduced later this year. Instead of having to change out all of its MIRS infrastructure, Nextel can revamp it to iDEN standards via software upgrades. Some radios also may have to be replaced. Nextel plans to call its portable handset the “PowerFone,” and it has been beta-testing iDEN’s revamped 3-to-1 Time Division Multiple Access system in five major metropolitan areas-Chicago, Boston, Denver, Atlanta and Detroit-for the past six months. … Read more
Paging industry navigates change
ASHINGTON-Pointing the way to continued success, the paging industry saw dramatic changes in 1995 as a series of firsts were accomplished by both carriers and manufacturers, said Economic Management and Consultants International Inc. in its annual study called The State of the U.S. Paging Industry: 1996. According to the report, for the first time in the industry two-way pagers became commercially available, alphanumeric pagers increased market share to double its previous size, net paging subscribers increased by more than 8 million and personal paging use increased to 37 percent. In studying the growth in alphanumeric paging use, EMCI found that alphanumeric pagers increased in market share from 7 percent in 1994 to 10 percent in 1995. EMCI attributes the increase to a series of factors in the industry relating to the decrease in equipment and airtime prices for alphanumeric pagers, the increased use of higher baud rates leading to added capacity to load alphanumeric pagers and consumers’ desire for enhanced paging services. … Read more
Lotus gets a mobile messaging update
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-Lotus Development Corp. announced a new version of its Lotus Notes Pager Gateway, a wireless messaging solution for Lotus Notes that allows customers to filter and forward messages to mobile users carrying pagers. Lotus Notes Pager Gateway 2.0 improves the transmission of information from the desktop to alphanumeric or PCMCIA pagers through message abbreviation, an open architecture that supports multiple paging protocols that includes two-way paging, additional e-mail fields and multiple communication ports that allow groups of people to receive paging simultaneously, said Lotus. … Read more
PCS expected to boom
NEW YORK-Personal communications services are projected to triple their market penetration to 40 percent or more by 2006, according to participants in a “PCS: Here at Last?” panel. The discussion, held June 18, was part of the Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. three-day Technology Conference. “I have a bullish outlook,” said David A. Freedman, managing director of Bear Stearns, and moderator of the panel. “PCS should enter the major (U.S.) markets by the end of 1996, and I’ll project it will more than triple in the next 10 years to more than 43 percent market penetration.” Alan Battey, vice president of marketing for Sprint Spectrum, concurred with Freedman’s projections. “Revenues will double in the next five years,” he added. Aiding the expanding inroads of PCS into the marketplace will be a marked decline in prices to consumers, predicted Clark Smith, chief financial officer of American Portable Telecom Inc. “The average (monthly) bill expectations start out at $50,” Smith said. “We’re looking at $30 service down the road that will support increased market penetration.” Barry Winkle, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Pocket Communications Inc., formerly called DCR PCS Inc., agreed with the expectations of diminishing prices, following the pattern set previously by cellular service. But Winkle said he strongly hopes personal communications service providers will avoid another pattern set by cellular. “I hope PCS doesn’t get to the point of selling 99 cent phones,” Winkle said. … Read more
Nextwave outlines its CDMA plans, risks
WASHINGTON-If the Securities and Exchange Commission approves S-1 paperwork it filed June 12, NextWave Telecom Inc. could move forward with a planned stock and senior discounted notes sale in the near future. What may garner the carrier some unwanted questions in the process are a few risks it had to attribute to its early-on adoption of Code Division Multiple Access technology. NextWave, which aspires to build a nationwide “carriers’ carrier” personal communications services network by the end of 1998, hopes to raise $400 million through sales of the notes plus $300 million from an undetermined number of series B common shares (Nasdaq symbol “SURF”). It then would join the few pure-play PCS carriers available on Wall Street. A portion of the anticipated note proceeds have been earmarked to pay down $130 million worth of bridge notes that were used to pay NextWave’s 5 percent downpayment commitment following its successful run for PCS licenses in 56 basic trading areas. From May 1996 through December 1997, NextWave has projected capital requirements of $1.3 billion, including costs for expenses, working capital, interest payments and its Federal Communications Commission downpayment of $210 million; this should be covered, the company said, by proceeds from this offering combined with private capital, vendor financing and cash on hand. NextWave also anticipates paying about $3.8 billion in government-financed interest debt during the next 10 years; the principal kicks in during 2003. … Read more
Bidders line up for the C-block PCS re-auction
WASHINGTON-Previous Federal Communications Commission auction winners and near winners plus a few new faces were accepted as qualified bidders for the July 3 auction of 18 C-block personal communications services licenses that were taken back from two winners that did not meet their financial obligations. Whether the auction actually begins on that date remains to be seen. At press time, an emergency stay filed by National Telecom PCS Inc., original winner of the American Samoa license, still was being considered by the full commission. According to NatCom President Jack E. Robinson, “If they rule in favor of us, fine. If they rule against us, we have to decide quickly whether to petition the appeals court to stay the auction.” Robert Kyle, director, chief executive officer and chairman of BDPCS Inc., the initial winner of the 17 other C-block licenses disallowed by the FCC, has not filed any emergency petitions at the commission since the agency denied BDPCS’s waiver and reconsideration requests. He told RCR he was not ready to comment on whether his group would concede defeat. The following players filed and paid upfront fees to bid on all the PCS licenses being re-auctioned: Alpine PCS Inc., Aer Force Communications II L.P., AirGate Wireless L.L.C., Americall International L.L.C., Cook Inlet Western Wireless PV/SS PCS L.P., DCR PCS Inc. (now Pocket Communications), Eldorado Communications L.L.C., Farajollah Besimanto, GWI PCS Inc., Jory Inc., MPR PCS Consortium, Mercury Mobility L.L.C., Miccom Associates Ltd., National Telecom Holdings Inc., New Wave L.L.C., NextWave Personal Communications Inc., PCS USA L.L.C., PCS Devco Inc., Parker Communications Services Inc., Roberts-Roberts Associates L.L.C., Radiofone Nationwide PCS L.L.C., Redwood Wireless Corp., Telewaves Corp. and Westel L.P. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
