To the Editor: I am writing in response to two recent articles-"McCain: FCC is Running a Do Nothing Wireless Bureau," (July 20) and "McCain Lays Foundation to Revamp FCC" (July 27). These articles convey the impression that the commission exists to serve the special interests of...
NEW YORK-After dramatically reducing the size and price of its initial public offering, Crown Castle International Corp., a Houston-based wireless tower company, sold 14 million shares at $13 each Aug. 18.The company had registered June 19 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell...
In what is no doubt the single-largest transaction in the history of the paging industry, Arch Communications Group Inc. and MobileMedia Corp. confirmed they have completed a definitive merger agreement under which Arch will acquire MobileMedia for a combination of cash, stock and the...
SARASOTA, Fla.-Pinnacle Holdings Inc. announced it no longer is pursuing its initial public offering due to unfavorable market conditions.Pinnacle provides wireless communications rental tower space in the southeastern United States. Since May 1995, Pinnacle has bought 598 towers and constructed another 48, the company...
The vast number of players coupled with loads of savvy Wall Street money has set the stage for mass consolidation within the tower industry.The rate of acquisitions has moved quickly within the last year, and industry executives and analysts say only a handful will...
Arch Communications Group Inc. lowered its cash interest expenses by $4.55 million a year following a series of interest rate swaps in connection with a $100 million 14-percent senior notes offering. The company lowered the interest rate on the senior notes from 14 percent...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry last week made significant strides in its efforts to reach a conciliatory note on antenna siting with various parties with which the industry has often disagreed.Additionally, the House Commerce Committee approved legislation that encourages tower sitings on federal property and uses...
In this Clintonian Age of Relativity, there is always-for everyone here-a way out: denial. Having an extramarital affair with a girl your twenty-something daughter's age. Deny it. Soliciting campaign contributions from a Buddhist temple or from the White House. Deny it. Call it something else,...
Tadiran Microwave Networks, which has made several structural changes designed to improve operating efficiencies, won a $4.2 million contract with the Maricopa County, Ariz., government to replace its analog network for public-safety communications.TMN was formed by Tadiran Ltd.'s April 21 acquisition of Microwave Networks,...
WASHINGTON-House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.), compromising with Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) on privacy, liability and cancer-research funding, won bipartisan approval last week on legislation to improve E911 wireless capability and foster antenna siting on federal land.The bill, which the House Commerce Committee...
Communication Solutions Inc. awarded Conductus Inc. a subcontract, valued at about $1 million, to build a multichannel wireless receiver front-end enhanced by superconductors. The Baltimore-based company plans to integrate the front end into a high-performance system earmarked for a number of government communications applications,...
MCLEAN, Va.-LCC International Inc. said its subsidiary, Microcell Management Inc., has agreed to work with an unnamed personal communications services carrier to construct 60 towers.The build-to-suit services will take place in the southeastern United States, said the company. LCC will provide project management, site...
WASHINGTON-The Superintendent of Rock Creek Park, an urban national park, said it would take five months before an environmental assessment is completed to determine whether Bell Atlantic Mobile can site two antennas inside the park. The National Park Service sent a letter to BAM...
The success of the personal communications services industry has astounded industry analysts, PCS company executives and cellular carriers alike.The PCS industry is about two years old and already has penetrated the market, driven down prices and earned high revenues faster than anyone had expected."It's...
FORT LEE, N.J.-MobileMedia Corp. announced it signed a definitive agreement to sell its 163 transmission towers to Pinnacle Towers Inc.The $170 million sale allows MobileMedia to retain ownership of the transmitters, antennas and other equipment on the towers through a leaseback arrangement over an...
A dispute between Omnipoint Communications Enterprises L.P. and one of its site-acquisition consultants highlights the potential problems that can occur when wireless carriers loosen their control on tower siting.Omnipoint and TeleSearch Properties Inc. are embroiled in a legal battle in the U.S. District Court...
WASHINGTON-It is Congress, not the Federal Communications Commission, that makes telecom policy, according to one of the new FCC commissioners, Harold Furchtgott-Roth. The FCC "must simply follow the law as it is written by Congress in developing telecommunications regulation. We don't go outside of...
NEW YORK-Boston-based American Tower Systems Corp. sold a secondary offering of 29.37 million shares of Class A common stock July 2 at a price of $23.50 each in connection with its spinoff from American Radio Systems Corp., which CBS Corp. purchased.In response to investor...
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-Motorola Inc.'s Land Mobile Products Sector signed a multiyear contract to manage wireless communications equipment facilities located on Waste Management of North America Inc.'s property at sites across the country.The Antenna Site Division of Motorola plans to manage communications towers located at some...
WESTBOROUGH, Mass.-Arch Communications Group Inc. announced it completed the first phase of its site management business sale to OmniAmerica Inc.In the first of two transactions, Arch sold its communications towers, real estate, tower management contracts and leasehold interests for $13 million. The second phase...
FWT Inc. announced its first installation of the PowerMount antenna system on anything other than an electrical transmission tower-this one inside the legs of a Shell Oil Co. sign at a gas station in North Attleboro, Mass. The new site is part of a...
SINGAPORE-If there's one good thing that has come out of the current economic crisis in Southeast Asia, it's the added push it has given to the long-talked-about and much-needed shakeout in the regional telecommunications market.Already, there have been rumblings of cash-strapped companies in Indonesia,...
HOUSTON-Crown Castle International Corp. recently filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the initial public offering of $300 million of its common stock, par value 1 cent per share.The offering includes common shares sold by Bob Crown, chief executive officer...
U.S. utility companies could become significant players in the wireless telecommunications industry in coming years if they can figure out the right strategy to enter the business.Analysts indicate utilities seriously are evaluating opportunities to branch out into the telecommunications arena in light of deregulation...
