Editor’s note: At the end of each year, the RCR Wireless News editorial staff looks back on the news events that made headlines and decides which were the most significant, industry-impacting stories of the past 12 months. Here are our picks for 2002 in chronological order. Some headlines have been changed to fit this space.
1. Jan. 21
Smile, you’re on a wireless phone
If image is everything, imaging is a stepping stone. The wireless industry, still puzzled over what the killer applications for next-generation services might be, thinks the picture is beginning to crystallize. And it is all about pictures, still and motion.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=38711
2. Jan. 28
Verizon rolls out 1x in select cities
Verizon Wireless Inc. is poised to become the first nationwide carrier to commercially launch cdma2000 1x services this week as it unveils its Express Network in a select number of markets today.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=38756
3. Feb. 18
Gov’t, carriers decry UWB
WASHINGTON-Various Bush administration agencies and mobile-phone carriers are exploring the options to challenge last week’s Federal Communications Commission decision to authorize ultra-wideband technology, a reaction directly contradicting agency statements that its action was fully coordinated within the U.S. government and represented a consensus of federal agencies.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=39006
4. March 11
Supreme Court takes FCC vs. NextWave
WASHINGTON-“It is a mess,” said Michael K. Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, as the reality of years of more litigation in the NextWave Telecom Inc. bankruptcy sank in.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=39179
5. March 18
Microsoft tries full-court press
Microsoft Corp. officials describe the past month as the time when “the rubber hit the road” for the company’s wireless strategies, and yesterday’s announcement provides concrete evidence of the statement.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=39299
6. April 8
Interoperability success requires cooperation
MobileSpring Inc. and Inphomatch Inc. rival vendors for short message service interoperability solutions, have been working together during the past few months to ensure their cross-carrier messaging systems are themselves interoperable.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=39436
7. April 22
PCIA bows out of spotlight, drops show, cuts staff
WASHINGTON-For the Personal Communications Industry Association-a long-time wireless mainstay that steadily lost messaging, data and mobile-phone members and finally its direction in the topsy-turvy high-tech world-the other shoe dropped last week.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=39648
8. April 29
Vendors `right-sizing’ with super-sized cuts
While economists say signs show the economy is on the mend, the wireless industry is still in the middle of a tremor of layoffs.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=39656
9. May 27
FCC delays upper 700 MHz auction
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission late Friday delayed the auction for the upper 700 MHz band (TV channels 60-69) until June 14, 2003, but will go ahead with an auction for the lower 700 MHz band (TV channels 52-59) as scheduled June 19.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=39862
10. June 3
BREW embraces Java
A year-and a-half after launching its platform for wireless data applications, Qualcomm Inc. has a fair amount to show for it.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=39920
11. June 17
Massive standards group seeks to unite industry
The new Open Mobile Alliance standard group-which now comprises almost 200 of the biggest wireless companies in the world-is hoping to cover virtually every aspect of the wireless data industry, but it remains to be seen whether the group will be able to stand up under its own weight.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=40049
12. July 8
E-OTD handsets next E-911 battle
WASHINGTON-Whether and when enhanced observed time difference of arrival will ever meet Federal Communications Commission requirements is the next battle in the fight to deploy wireless enhanced 911.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=40168
13. Aug. 12
Nationwide 3G launched
Fulfilling the claim that it would launch its highly anticipated next-generation network this summer, Sprint PCS pulled the wraps off if its PCS Vision data service, which is expected to hit consumers this week. From the devices, coverage and pricing, a number of analysts agree with the carrier that the launch will drastically change the wireless data landscape in the United States.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=40521
14. Oct. 7
Cell-phone cancer suit tossed
WASHINGTON-Lawyers for Christopher Newman said they will challenge the likely dismissal of an $800 million brain-cancer lawsuit against the mobile-phone industry, but the appeal and other pending health litigation that once threatened to bring down wireless carriers and manufacturers now appear to have little chance of success.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=40892
15. Oct. 14
What does $1 buy? A few stock shares
In addition to being able to purchase 20 minutes of long-distance calling and pint-sized fast-food items, anyone with a dollar burning a hole in their pocket could quickly become a player in the wireless industry. What was once the playground for the rich and famous has become a dilapidated sandbox of wireless company stock prices that are struggling with per-share values.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=40940
16. Oct. 21
Sprint initiates pricing war
LAS VEGAS-With the latest pricing adjustment to its recently introduced PCS Vision service, Sprint PCS appears to be taking off the gloves in a rapidly escalating data pricing war.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=40993
17. Nov. 4
Monet selects Duluth for first EV-DO launch
DULUTH, Minn.-According to my taxi driver-an elderly gentleman sporting a camouflage jacket, wide-brimmed white hat and that wonderful MinnaSOtah accent-Duluth is a city of about 85,000 souls who enjoy hunting, fishing and apparently, staying warm. (The heater was on full blast.) And even though my driver didn’t know it, Duluth is also the site of the newest wireless network in the United States, and the fastest by far.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=41104
18. Nov. 18
Re-auction winners can cut ties to licenses
WASHINGTON-More spectrum soon
may enter the U.S. market as carriers that won re-auctioned PCS licenses from NextWave Telecom Inc. and Urban Comm North Carolina Inc. are no longer obligated to buy those permits. Further, those same carriers likely could buy the licenses at much lower prices.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=41257
19. Dec. 9
AT&T,
IBM, Intel to build Wi-Fi network
Three major industry players have plans to build potentially the biggest wireless network in the United States. Originally floated as Project Rainbow earlier this year, AT&T Corp., IBM Corp. and Intel Corp. formed Cometa Networks to build a national Wi-Fi network with access to hot spots throughout the top 50 metropolitan areas.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=41358
20. Dec. 9
Wheeler to give up throne
WASHINGTON-Thomas Wheeler, probably the most recognized person in the wireless industry, said he is stepping down from his longtime position as president and chief executive officer of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association when his contract expires at the end of 2003.
www.rcrnews.com/article.cms?articleId=41374
