BEIJING—By the end of the year, China will set up a new telecom carrier, the China Telecommunications Satellite Group Corporation, by merging the satellite subsidiaries of several existing companies, including China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corporation and ChinaSat.Zhou Zehe, who is currently heading ChinaSat, has...
Mobile users in the United Kingdom have been put on alert. A scam is doing the rounds. Text messages are being broadcast to thousands of mobiles stating they should ring a phone number urgently. Hapless mobile owners who keep calling the number are greeted...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has loosened its rules to help facilitate the opening up of spectrum as TV transitions from analog to digital.The new rules will allow TV broadcasters to continue to broadcast in analog past mandated deadlines if the broadcaster has agreed...
Even though third-generation services are not yet available on mobile phones, one Belgium-based company is betting that 3G telematics services will be just as big, if not bigger.Acunia NV, Leuven, Belgium, crossed the Atlantic at the beginning of last year to set up a...
WASHINGTON-House and Senate lawmakers plan to introduce legislation after the August recess that would provide federal funding for mobile-phone health research and repeal a 1996 law prohibiting local officials from considering health as a factor in reviewing tower-siting applications, a top Senate staffer said...
WASHINGTON-In a major development that could leverage political pressure to force mobile-phone carriers to make greater public-safety use of their networks, the first-ever demonstration of emergency wireless messaging went off without a hitch last week in Austin, Texas.The private demonstration, attended last Wednesday by...
NEW YORK-3Com Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., which entered the wireless market with the advent of the high-speed 802.11b data standard, has made available commercially two of three parts of a product suite for providing wireless local area network coverage.The company is now selling its...
MELBOURNE, Australia-Melbourne wireless telecom developer Advanced Communications Technologies (ACT) is on track to be the first company in the world to commercially launch a multiprotocol mobile base station, including third-generation (3G) wireless capabilities, as early as the end of the year.Called SpectruCell, the multiple...
NEW YORK-American Tower Corp., Boston, warned June 21 of greater losses than securities analysts had expected due to acquisition integration problems and a write-off related to the Nasdaq delisting threat against a company in which it invested.The wireless and broadcast tower owner and operator...
BlackstoneBlackstone announced Elaine Moncayo has joined its marketing department as marketing coordinator. In her new position, she will be responsible for internal marketing, including newsletter, brochures, Web site updates and presentations. She will work with both Blackstone employees and distributors in Miami and across...
WASHINGTON-A German company announced last week that it has begun selling GSM phones manufactured by Siemens modified with military-grade encryption software.The TopSec cell phone, which is not currently being sold in the United States, was introduced just as ramifications of a recent U.S. Supreme...
Under an agreement announced last week between messaging carrier Arch Wireless Inc. and entertainment company Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., TV sets sold next year will be-in essence-really big pagers.The deal between the two companies involves interactive television, which allows viewers to check the time...
Paging lit up the wireless industry like a white-hot star.It showed that fistfuls of money could be made using wireless technology. It showed that wireless companies could grow by leaps and bounds virtually overnight. Paging showed the industry that millions and millions of people...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling said last week that restricting the broadcasting or publication of an illegally intercepted cellular-phone conversation violated the First Amendment because the contents of the call were of public significance.The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association said the...
LISBON, Spain-Lucent Technologies Inc. signed a contract to design a national network that combines wireless local loop with digital TV broadcast services for Redes e Servicos de Telecomunicacoes SA (WTS). Under the deal, Lucent will offer consulting, integration and network design services.
NEW YORK-Third-generation technology is completely unnecessary for taking advantage of data opportunities, which are growing even though widespread consumer adoption may be years away, according to speakers at the recent WirelessWednesdays "Killer Mobile Applications and Opportunities" seminar."The widespread belief that you need 3G to...
WASHINGTON-In an unexpected twist pitting billionaire Craig McCaw against a mobile-phone industry he once towered over, sources say the Federal Communications Commission may propose making some mobile satellite service spectrum-including that held by McCaw's New ICO and other struggling satellite firms-available for third-generation wireless...
WASHINGTON-Congress last week was set to pass a new budget that embraces President Bush's plan to delay two auctions of valuable radio spectrum but rejects an administration proposal to impose fees on TV broadcasters in order to encourage the clearing of frequencies sought by...
Tom Wheeler, that fierce wireless lobbyist, has a serious problem. It's Bud Weiser. It seems wherever Tom goes, whatever wireless issue he's spinning, there's Bud Weiser. Tom can't seem to shake Bud Weiser. It's not that he hasn't tried, and it's not like Tom...
American Tower Corp. and SpectraSite Holdings Inc. reported positive operational results last week for the first quarter ended March 31.American Tower said it constructed 375 new towers, acquired 238 wireless towers and one broadcast tower, and removed 175 sites from its active marketing list,...
WASHINGTON-House and Senate budget leaders are at odds over President Bush's plan to delay auctions of valuable broadcast spectrum, a dispute that arises at a time when the mobile-phone industry desperately wants to secure additional frequencies for third-generation wireless systems.The Senate budget resolution embraces...
WASHINGTON-Republicans and Democrats last week officially began the fight for control of America's high-tech agenda, a battle more about broad national economic policies than about key digital issues like privacy, e-commerce taxation, cyber security and third-generation mobile-phone spectrum.President Bush, seeking to shore up support...
NEW YORK-Lenders anted up significant capital during the first quarter for the five publicly traded wireless tower companies, even as their share prices declined amid the stock market's general concerns about telecommunications."At a time when companies like PSINet made announcements that their stock is...
Lucent TechnologiesLucent Technologies introduced Flexent Wireless IP Core Network Architecture, which it said will help wireless carriers deliver a range of voice and data services to customers. According to Lucent, the first phase of the architecture, the Lucent Softswitch Toll/Tandem Solution, lets carriers connect...
