The tortoise is Tortoise Paging & Communications, of Ridgecrest, Calif., and the scare is the U.S. government.This may not interest a lot of you. It's a small-town story, not the kind likely to animate lawmakers or trade associations into action (though Rep. Bill Thomas...
Cellular towers ruining AmericaTo the Editor: I have two comments regarding your antenna-siting article. (Antenna siting is hot topic for NACo Crowd, March 8.)First, it is my understanding that all calls from cellular phones travel along landline phone wires to the next cell site.Second, having...
SAN DIEGO-If you are a small specialized mobile radio operator, which trade association, if any, should you belong to?Three trade associations, all based in the Washington, D.C., area, purport to represent the SMR industry: the American Telecommunications Mobile Association, the Personal Communications Industry Association and...
WASHINGTON-The regulatory landscape for the personal communications services industry is dominated not by issues that are PCS-specific but by issues impacting the entire commercial mobile radio services industry."Even though there may be some rules that are different (for PCS carriers than for cellular carriers),...
WASHINGTON-The telecommunications industry forum studying whether the telephone network will work when the new century arrives needs better participation from the wireless industry, said Peter Spring of the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council.NRIC is a Federal Communications Commission advisory committee chartered to examine network...
Despite massive consolidation among players in the tower industry, many small tower owners said they are not interested in selling their sites, according to a survey conducted by Fryer's Information Services.About half of the survey respondents indicated they would not consider selling, and the...
WASHINGTON-Daniel Phythyon, capping a stormy year-and-a-half stewardship of the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, which had him under constant siege from feisty bankruptcy lawyers, angry lawmakers and high-powered lobbyists, said he will step down Dec. 1."The timing was my decision," said Phythyon. "The...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to vote this month to resolve most of the remaining issues regarding the tortured refarming docket.The refarming docket began several years ago as a way of consolidating and better coordinating private wireless spectrum usage. Refarming allows for more...
To the Editor: The D.C. Notes column by Jeff Silva, Oct. 19 issue, is of considerable concern to me as executive director of the Greater Harris County 911 Emergency Network, and to the network's board of managers.The article impugns the reputation of John Melcher, the...
WASHINGTON-Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. Chairman George Carlo is expected to recommend early next year that basic scientific research be de-emphasized in the future in favor of post-market surveillance.Carlo announced that initial findings from radio-frequency radiation experiments do not appear to have identified a clear...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-"Mobile Phones-Is There A Health Risk?" was the title of a conference held mid-October in London. "Mobile phones-Is there a health risk?" is also a complex question that has been the subject of considerable study, debate and publicity over the past five...
TOKYO-Some public-use halls in Japan next year will be allowed to use jamming devices-an illegal practice under present laws-to shut out noisy beeps, electronic melodies and loud chats on cellular and PHS phones.In November, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) will start accepting...
WASHINGTON-The two trade associations representing the wireless industry last week joined other trade associations and the federal government in a major advertising campaign asking, "Are You Y2K OK?" The campaign's objective is to reach small- and medium-sized companies that may not be as diligent...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The International Mobile Telecommunications Association said its board of directors now is complete following the addition of the Mobile Trunked Radio Operators Association of India."Since its creation, IMTA's goal has been to create a federation of national trade associations and companies who have...
WASHINGTON-A confluence of factors are converging that may force the Federal Communications Commission to relax the commercial wireless 45 megahertz spectrum cap, an antitrust check that some feel has outlived its intended purpose and even may be hindering wireless industry development.The emergence of mobile...
WASHINGTON-A petition by three trade associations representing railroads, utilities and the petroleum industry is being criticized soundly by other frequency coordinators, which claim the request for a separate "public service pool" would destroy refarming goals.The petition, filed Aug. 14, asked the Federal Communications Commission...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry has been asked to help the Federal Communications Commission reduce a three-inch thick backlog of work yet to be completed by the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. At the urging of congressional staff, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the Industrial Telecommunications Association...
As PCS '98 approaches, RCR editorial staffers are bracing themselves for an onslaught of press releases ranging in news value from important to the less-important.A print journalist for 20 years, I also spent five years doing industrial public relations for Fortune 100 multinationals.Let me...
Eloquent and elaborate quotes with references to Winston Churchill, the 1969 presidential inauguration and the devil himself spewed forth from press releases last Wednesday as three wireless associations praised the joint agreement between local governments and the wireless industry on antenna-siting moratoria.The Personal Communications...
WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), increasingly distressed about Federal Communications Commission wireless policy management, plans legislation next year that would overhaul the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and mandate more deregulation.McCain, according to congressional staff and industry officials, plans to address the matter in...
WASHINGTON-Ten telecom industry associations urged the Federal Communications Commission not to impose rules designed to protect consumer privacy. In a July 20 letter to the FCC, the groups said the rules were expensive and burdensome.The associations were joined by the Small Business Administration, which...
Like a teenager desperately trying to find the right "look," industry associations focused on the mobile data field continue to tweak their strategies for marketing the enigmatic technology.The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association recently announced it renamed its annual mobile data show Wireless Information Technology...
NEW YORK-Wireless telephony providers are hemorrhaging revenues from organized activity by criminals drawn to the low risk and easy money of subscription fraud.Thieves are exploiting a particularly lucrative window of opportunity right now, one that is likely to remain open for a few years....
WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard told Congress last week that public-safety wireless systems are at risk of succumbing to the Year 2000 computer bug, a problem that will cost the private sector an estimated $50 billion to fix and one the Clinton administration...
