NEW YORK-Directel, a new, Dallas-based paging carrier doing business in Argentina and Brazil, has selected and installed a new billing and management system provided by In-Touch Management Systems Inc., Melville, N.Y.Besides billing, the In-Touch II system will handle functions for Directel including inventory, accounts...
Trying to address the various issues systems integrator companies face in the telecommunications industry is like stepping into a mine field, say industry experts.The increased level of competition spurred by the 1996 telecom act, corporate mergers, diversity of standards, customer demands, growth and changing...
By 2005, mobile location services will reach all 148 million wireless subscribers in North America, according to a study by Ovum, an independent telecommunications and information technology analyst firm.Ovum also predicts service revenues for mobile location services in North America will reach $2.4 billion...
Wireless carriers that bill for services through local phone companies may be affected by cramming, the latest consumer billing scam to hit the telecommunications industry.Cramming is when customers are charged for services they didn't order from communications companies other than the local phone provider...
NEW YORK-Instead of viewing paging as a dying industry, wireless telephony providers should recognize it as a service enhancement and growth catalyst, said Andrew Weisheit, vice president of the carrier service division of PageMart Wireless Inc., Dallas."Many folks we talk to on the facilities-based...
Western Wireless International announced it began Global System for Mobile communications cellular service in Iceland through its TAL Ltd. partnership. The initial network covers about 70 percent of the Icelandic population.Nexus Telocation Systems Ltd. said it was selected by a South American communications services...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association filed comments at the Federal Communications Commission requesting a national calling party pays plan be implemented.Some sort of national framework must exist before wireless carriers can implement calling party pays, and the trade group wants the FCC to provide...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week said wireless carriers could indeed use customer information to market mobile handsets and so-called information services to customers who originally purchased these items from the carrier. The FCC left in place rules that restrict the use of customer...
Mobile communications is a key factor shaping the growth of the global communications industry, according to a report from BT World Communications.Nearly 150 million people subscribed to a wireless service last year, a tenfold increase during the last six years, said the report. That...
Personal communications services provider PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. signed a roaming agreement with GTE Wireless that will expand its PrimeTravel coverage area to 45 of the country's top 50 markets, said PrimeCo. PrimeCo customers now can roam in GTE's San Francisco; Indianapolis; Nashville and...
In an effort to create consistency among the many markets nationwide that use its brand name, Cellular One has been regularly monitoring customer satisfaction in each of its markets through customer surveys conducted each year.Sixty-six wireless carriers use the Cellular One brand name in...
The most recent consolidation among larger paging carriers was completed last month, when TSR Paging Inc. and American Paging Inc. combined into TSR Wireless Inc.With the financial and regulatory aspects of the transaction behind them, TSR Wireless President Mitchell Sacks and his executive crew...
DALLAS-Aeris Communications Inc. and Orbcomm Canada Inc. announced an agreement to integrate their respective MicroBurst and Orbcomm services for hybrid wireless data and messaging products and services in Canada.The combined solution will combine MicroBurst's coverage in the Rogers Cantel cellular network in Canada with...
Now that paging carriers must make Universal Service Fund contributions, even though they are ineligible to withdraw money from it, many are adding new charges to customer bills to recoup those fees-and the charges are not just for end users.Some carriers have extended this...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. last week introduced an aggressive national rate system that eliminates long-distance and roaming charges.The AT&T Digital One Rate plan includes three pricing options: 600 minutes for $90, 1,000 minutes for $120 and 1,400 minutes for $150. Those rates equate to per-minute...
Sygnet Wireless Inc. said it is exploring strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of the company, and has retained Lehman Brothers Inc. as its financial adviser. The company said the decision comes after the increasing pace of consolidation in the cellular industry. Several second-tier...
WASHINGTON-The House Commerce Committee, raising the stakes in its probe of the Federal Communications Commission's planned headquarters move, last week authorized subpoenas to Portals developers Franklin Haney and Steven Grigg; lobbyist and former Clinton-Gore campaign manager Peter Knight; Jim Sasser, U.S. ambassador to China...
NEW YORK-Orange plc outshined the other major mobile network providers in the United Kingdom, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 1998 U.K. Mobile Customer Satisfaction Study.Orange's overall satisfaction rankings were fueled by top scores in key areas, including corporate capabilities, call quality and...
Globalstar L.P.'s original service providers have until the end of today to decide if they want to take up Loral Space & Communications' recent offer to buy a portion of their holdings in the satellite partnership.In a series of complex transactions announced April 24,...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association last week asked the Federal Communications Commission to delay until November implementing rules regarding how commercial mobile radio services carriers use information about their customers.If the FCC does not choose to stay the rules, set to go in effect...
Cincinnati Bell Inc. said it will separate its billing and customer-management businesses into a new subsidiary and then spin it off in a tax-free distribution to Cincinnati Bell shareholders after taking the company public in May.The company also announced John T. LaMacchia, Cincinnati Bell's...
DENMARKMobilix, a France Telecom subsidiary, has begun offering services on its DCS 1800 network.GERMANYLucent Technologies Inc.'s Microelectronics Group acquired Optimay GmbH, a privately held software-development company based in Munich. Optimay, which will become a subsidiary of Lucent Technologies International, develops software products and services...
NokiaGSM phonesNokia Corp. introduced three new GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) phones operating on the 900 MHz frequency band. The Nokia 8810 has a protective slide cover and is accented with a touch of silver. It offers built-in data communications capabilities with infrared...
WASHINGTON-Iridium L.L.C. reported a net loss of $205 million for the quarter ended March 31, which the company said is consistent with its expectations.The consortium is developing a global wireless communications network based on a constellation of 66 low-earth-orbiting satellites, expected to begin commercial...
