WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard's decision to neither shut down nor fine an unlicensed Texas broadcaster in April-following a friendly phone call from Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas)-contrasts sharply with his tough-talking rhetoric about the agency's no-nonsense enforcement policy.After a California federal judge in...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is advocating legislation for spectrum fees, tax certificates and "two-sided" auctions as part of its new spectrum policy, a tack that drew a sharp rebuke last week from FCC member Harold Furchtgott-Roth."Speculation and advocacy is inappropriate in this statement,"...
OTTAWA, Ontario-The Federal Communications Commission gave Ottawa-based mobile satellite system operator TMI Communications the go-ahead to provide service in all 50 U.S. states via the MSAT-1 satellite, which has a coverage area of North and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and 250...
Cue Corp., Irvine, Calif., has entered into an agreement with STMicroelectronics Inc. to develop an AM/FM decoder chip for Cue's new SkySpeed.com network for mobile Internet applications for automotive and consumer products."We expect that within a year the SkySpeed network will cover 90 percent...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission next month is expected to announce which sectors of the wireless industry will be able to use spectrum made available with the transition to digital TV, culminating in an auction for that spectrum by April 25.The government is transitioning channels...
WASHINGTON-The Food and Drug Administration-which recently agreed with the cellular industry to replicate two studies by Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. that showed positive findings-may have rejected cooperating with industry on research when mobile-phone cancer allegations first surfaced in 1993 because of a potential conflict...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Nextel Communications Inc. is eyeing the African continent as an ideal market for iDEN, the technology it uses in the United States. So much so that a consortium, AfricaSpeaks, included iDEN, in partnership with Nextel, in its business plan for its recent...
The waning loss of faith in the American political system can be explained away by episodes like this.The alleged misdeed, if true, is bad enough. The way the incident has been handled looks worse. It appears to be a magnificent microcosm of how the...
WASHINGTON-Sen. John McCain late Friday called on the Federal Communications Commission's Office of Inspector General to "promptly, fairly, and thoroughly investigate" an allegation from a high-ranking civilian FCC employee that FCC Chairman William Kennard and FCC Chief of Staff Kathryn Brown intervened to allow...
A U.S. investigative news television program caused a mild stir in the wireless industry after airing a report in October on the possible link between cellular phones and health problems. It was the first major U.S. media report on the issue since lawsuits claiming...
WASHINGTON-Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), ranking minority member of the Governmental Affairs Committee, called for a congressional investigation into whether mobile phones pose a health risk to the nation's 80 million subscribers."In the last five years, the numbers of Americans using cellular telephones has increased...
LOS ANGELES-Sea Launch, the multinational ocean-based launch services company, Oct. 9 successfully launched its first commercial satellite-a DirecTV 1-R satellite from its Odyssey launch platform located on the equator, about 1,400 miles southeast of Hawaii.Hughes Space & Communications built the DirecTV satellite, which once...
Last week heralded a slew of fairly positive announcements from the still-struggling paging industry, with PageMart Wireless Inc., Paging Network Inc., SkyTel and TSR Wireless L.L.C. announcing significant partnerships.PageMartPageMart announced a strategic agreement with the MSN.com Mobile Service to provide customized personal information services...
Following is a summary of the finalists for the tower industry Excellence in Business Awards sponsored by RCR and Shorecliff Communications Inc. Winners will be announced at the 1999 Tower Summit & Trade Show Nov. 8 in Las Vegas.Most Innovative Collocation Solution Crown Castle...
WASHINGTON-In some respects, the Main Event was a non-event.Wireless stocks did not go into free fall. Major dailies did not go wild with follow-up stories on ABC's "20/20" broadcast on mobile-phone health concerns last Wednesday evening. Congress did not call for hearings, although Sen....
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association last week attempted to delay ABC's "20/20" broadcast on mobile phones and attacked the credibility of the man who led CTIA-funded health research.ABC said it plans to air the segment on mobile phone health concerns, possibly this week. "60...
BOSTON-American Tower Corp. entered into an agreement with TV Azteca S.A. de C.V. in Mexico under which American Tower will loan up to $120 million to TV Azteca in exchange for annual net payments of approximately $13.9 million, plus the rights to all existing...
Joining several other third-party developers creating applications for the Wireless Application Protocol, CMG Telecommunications introduced its WAP Service Broker, a platform designed to connect wireless phone users to WAP-based content.The WSB is a platform that carriers can place in their networks to complement WAP...
WASHINGTON-The Congressional Budget Office predicts the transition to digital television will take longer than anticipated, a possible outcome that will delay the rollout of new 800 MHz public-safety systems across the country and likely reduce auction receipts from the sale of analog broadcast spectrum.Under...
CULVER CITY, Calif.-DSI Technology Inc. said it will begin selling its new Adserver Internet platform at the Personal Communications Showcase in New Orleans this week.The Adserver allows paging carriers to offer customers what DSI calls "Totally Free Paging." Integrated into an existing paging terminal,...
WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc. is charging that private wireless receives a subsidy because it does not pay for its licenses. The enhanced specialized mobile radio operator made the remarks in reply comments filed at the Federal Communications Commission.The FCC is establishing a record on what...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-GTE Wire-less said it will test @mobile.com's Internet-based information services to customers in its Seattle and Spokane, Wash., markets.Services include a group text message broadcast service, a service sending Internet-based content to digital wireless phones at predetermined times and the ability to query...
LucentLucent Technologies Inc. introduced software that will turn down transmitter power levels when the user is not speaking into the handset, effectively increasing talk time by extending battery life up to 30 percent. The discontinuous transmission feature will be generally available for network operators...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission has been deluged with a slew of special-interest requests for 36 megahertz of prime spectrum that Congress wants sold this year, a scenario with logistical and policy challenges that offer regulators an opportunity to adopt the kind of flexible rules...
