CommQuest Technologies Inc. today introduced a tri-band Global System for Mobile communications chipset that will allow global roaming in the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz frequency bands using one handset.The two-chip product includes a single-chip Communication Application Specific Processor for baseband and...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry accomplished much last year on the regulatory road to competition, but the task of creating parity with wireline services and eliminating old monopoly-related regulations is far from complete.Cellular carriers, personal communications services licensees, private radio providers, messaging companies and other wireless...
WASHINGTON-Fulfilling another congressional directive under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission last week released its report and order governing the reallocation of broadcast channels 60-69."The first beneficiaries of the FCC's plan for transition to digital television are the police, fire and...
WASHINGTON-For the wireless telecom industry, 1998 will be a pivotal year.A continuation next year of this year's policy retreats and defeats at the Federal Communications Commission, on Capitol Hill and in the courts could make the wireless industry even more wobbly on Wall Street...
NEW YORK-AT&T Corp. is rumored to be at an advanced stage in negotiations to acquire Teleport Communications Group Inc., the first and largest competitive local exchange carrier in the country.AT&T and Teleport, both headquartered in New York, have declined comment on the speculation, which...
Wouldn't it be nice to know if people are actually going to like the holiday gifts you so thoughtfully picked out especially for them?You ponder, prepare and then pray that your choices will be well received. Is the Federal Communications Commission staff any different?...
HOUSTON-Castle Tower Corp. and Crown Communications merged, announced the companies. Castle Tower is a subsidiary of Castle Tower Holding Corp., now know as Crown Castle International.With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Crown Communications will serve as the domestic operating arm of Crown Castle International, which will...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service have aligned to produce a guide to help federal land managers work with the wireless industry in placing antennas on government lands.Siting Wireless Antennas: An Introduction was discussed by the two federal...
WASHINGTON-With the numbers showing net revenues of $80.7 million at the end of round 142 last Wednesday, and with 14 new high bids garnered, there was hope at press time that the 800 MHz specialized mobile radio auction would be over by Thanksgiving. Sixteen...
WASHINGTON-"The view is better from up here," commented Bill Kennard as he banged the gavel in his first Federal Communications Commission meeting as chairman Nov. 25.Kennard and new compatriots Gloria Tristani, Michael Powell and Harold Furchtgott-Roth tackled a number of issues that, while not...
Reps. Tom Bliley (R-Va.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) apparently have had it with rope-a-dope delays by Franklin L. Haney. Haney, as you may recall, is the Tennessee investor-developer and pal of Al Gore who is suspected of paying $1 million to Peter Knight, another...
WASHINGTON-Public-safety wireless advocates have urged federal regulators not to license additional digital TV stations using frequencies that Congress this year reserved for police, fire and emergency medical service providers.The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials Inc. told Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard in a...
WASHINGTON-Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) has asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard to delay any decision on antenna siting pre-emption for a year to give policy makers more time to sort out the emotionally charged issue."Given the complexity of the issue, and the fact...
WASHINGTON-The Library of Congress may ask the Federal Communications Commission for a piece of the auction-revenue pie to promote a program to preserve TV videos.The Library of Congress in a September report proposed using spectrum auction revenue to fund video preservation. The report is...
Sitting in a meeting several years ago, Douglas (Bud) Weiser and his staff were oblivious to a tornado touching down not too far from their office. Traditional emergency warning systems-outdoor sirens and television and radio broadcasts-weren't able to reach them.Yet, according to Weiser, everyone...
As far as first press conferences go, new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard did well. In fact, he was nearly flawless as far as these thing go. Relaxed, composed and confident (good eye contact and understated head and hand movement), Kennard was in...
WASHINGTON-Federal telecom regulators, under fire from Congress, have proposed allocating more spectrum for little low-earth-orbit mobile satellites even though such a move may prove incompatible with land-based wireless communications.The Federal Communications Commission wants to give little LEOs-global satellite systems that provide data messaging, emergency...
WASHINGTON-President Clinton's four picks for the Federal Communications Commission won approval by the Senate Commerce Committee last week, and there were new indications that the nomination of William Kennard for FCC chairman will not be blocked by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) or others.With this...
WASHINGTON-Rather than voting publicly on the pending public-safety allocation item announced on the sunshine agenda, Federal Communications Commissioners last Thursday chose to spend their last open meeting together patting each other on the back, burying the hatchet and putting aside any rumors that contention...
A Federal Express drop-box pages a route driver letting him know that it received no packages that day and that a stop is not necessary. A beer distributor sends an alphanumeric page to the 100 digital display signs he has in different liquor stores,...
WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) joined the wireless industry in fighting back White House and congressional budgeteer efforts to add spectrum fees and toll-free number auctions to balanced budget legislation last week, while the private wireless sector suffered a major setback when...
WASHINGTON-The Senate Commerce Committee last week rejected spectrum fees and toll-free telephone number auctions, but embraced lease fees for private wireless licensees in budget legislation lawmakers concede will fail to generate $26.3 billion from wireless license sales during the next five years.But spectrum fees...
As a procrastinator from birth, I'm usually not one to point fingers at slackers. During my school years, long-term projects were put on the back burner until the night before they were due. Even in college, when my humanities professor declared at the beginning...
WASHINGTON-The House Commerce Committee approved expanded spectrum auction legislation last week amid an uproar over signs the bill falls well short of the five-year, $26.3 billion target negotiated by congressional and Clinton administration budgeteers.The controversial auction legislation, which will be rolled into a massive...
