WASHINGTON-The House Commerce Committee said an investigation confirmed that BellSouth Corp. offered to drop a regulatory challenge to Teligent Corp.'s wireless licenses if Teligent would actively support the Baby Bell's entry into long distance.The congressional probe also found that BellSouth threatened to attack Teligent's...
Argentine President Carlos Menem last week announced a telecommunications liberalization plan that would give American wireless companies broader access to the Argentine telecommunications market.Under the president's executive decree, Argentina's two major telecom providers would begin competing in each other's territory in October 1999, a...
While it may be clear that the use of wireless phones is prohibited aboard commercial aircraft, many private pilots in a recent survey indicated they have made calls from their cellular phone while airborne, and some believe it is OK to do it.Billig &...
B-band cellular licenses don't appear to be a wireless Mardi Gras for the Brazilian government any longer.Though raking in billions so far from four of the 10 licenses it already has awarded, the Brazilian Ministry of Communications most likely won't see bids rivaling the...
NEW YORK-Citing unfavorable market conditions, Colombia's largest cellular carrier, Celumovil S.A., has postponed indefinitely its plans to go public.Celumovil's decision has not, however, altered plans by another local carrier, Occidente y Caribe Celular-doing business as Occel Celular S.A.-to sell 62 percent of its stock...
BellSouth Wireless Inc. sold the majority share of its Cellemetry Data Service to NumereX Corp.Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will form a joint venture called Cellemetry L.L.C., to which NumereX will make an initial in-kind cash contribution of $7.5 million...
ATLANTA-BellSouth Small Business Services announced it now has specialists who consult individually with business customers about their telecommunications needs.The enhancement to its "one-stop shopping" concept enables the company to work one-on-one with small business customers to assess the proper role for cellular service in...
ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp.'s Cellemetry data division announced it signed a joint-license agreement with HighwayMaster Corp.'s HighwayMaster Communications Inc. to share wireless data application patents.Patents for BellSouth's Cellemetry service and HighwayMaster's product will be shared to accelerate the expansion of future wireless data applications. BellSouth plans...
NEW YORK-The Telecommunications Executive Leadership Council, a group of 18 executives, is working with Deloitte & Touche L.L.P. and The Economist to analyze factors critical to success in the next century.The council has met twice, most recently in February, to identify key issues for...
Consumers are aware of increased competition within the wireless industry, according to a report conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc., released at Wireless '98 last week in Atlanta.Seventy-one percent of the survey's respondents said they perceived more competition among wireless companies today...
Further developments in the B-band auction for cellular licenses in Brazil continue to be stymied, while the June privatization auction date set for government-owned Telebr
In the summer of 1989, one of my favorite bands, the B-52s, released an album with the big hit-tune "Roam," in which singer Kate Pierson encouraged listeners to "roam around the world." Well, it took me nine years, Kate, but I finally took you...
WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission member Susan Ness said last week's ruling on the marketing of customer information by paging, cellular and telephone companies will benefit Baby Bells and their subsidiaries more than others.The agency's ruling restricts carriers from using customer data from one telecom service...
Multinational Automated Clearing House U.S.A. said it signed agreements to provide roamer call data clearing services to Global System for Mobile service providers American Personal Communications, Powertel Inc., Microcell Connexions Inc., Aerial Communications, Airadigm Communications, DigiPH PCS, Conestoga Wireless and NPI Wireless. A subsidiary...
CERRITOS, Calif.-Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Co. said it teamed up with the American Association of Retired Persons, Retired Senior Volunteer Persons and a host of celebrities and local dignitaries to fight telemarketing fraud in Southern California.L.A. Cellular subsidized this week's two-day program at the...
ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. announced that 1997 showed an 8-percent increase in revenues, earnings growth of 12.3 percent and 15-percent growth in net income over 1996. It was the fifth consecutive year of improved operating results, BellSouth said.BellSouth's fiscal 1997 fourth quarter revenues of $5.6 billion...
TRANSCRYPT INTERNATIONALTranscrypt International Inc. named Craig Huffaker senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer. Huffaker's 20 years of financial management experience include 12 years as CFO for publicly traded companies. Huffaker, a certified public accountant, most recently was CFO of TIE Communications.CellStar...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. and BellSouth New Zealand signed an agreement for Nokia to provide a mobile intelligent network for the BellSouth Global System for Mobile communications network in New Zealand, said Nokia."The Nokia IN platform will give BellSouth customers the ability to use their...
WASHINGTON-A year-end survey conducted by the Telecommunications Resellers Association revealed that 90 percent of respondents who sought to resell personal communications services were barred from doing so by carriers, and that number rose to 100 percent for those respondents who want to resell specialized...
The interconnection fight between paging carriers and local exchange carriers is far from over. LECs, wounded by a Federal Communications Commission Common Carrier Bureau letter denying them the right to charge paging carriers interconnection fees, have fired the first shots in the next battle...
WASHINGTON-NAACP President Kweisi Mfume last week predicted "widespread boycotts" of major wireless firms that are found to have poor records of hiring and promoting African Americans.The Economic Reciprocity Initiative, which also covers wireline carriers and eventually could encompass the entire telecom industry, follows the...
To the Editor: As an African-American and CEO of United Calling Network Inc., a licensed California public utility and a competitive access provider maintaining our own switches provided by Lucent Technologies Inc., I've learned a lot about fairness and integrity in our country. As one...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission ruled last week that a personal communications services operator cannot necessarily be considered a facilities-based local competitor when determining whether a regional Bell telephone company can enter the long-distance market.The ruling was part of the FCC's rejection of BellSouth Corp.'s...
NEW YORK-Along with its fourth-quarter earnings release Jan. 28, Telephone and Data Systems Inc., Chicago, reported a lawsuit challenging its plan to repurchase publicly held stock in three of its subsidiaries.The company-parent and majority owner of Aerial Communications Inc., American Paging Inc., United States...
