WASHINGTON-Telecom and high-tech sectors, beaten down and eager for an economic revival, last week found themselves forced to pick and choose among competing tax-cut packages in Congress after the GOP-led House and Senate abandoned the White House plan. Just like that, with votes to...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-Western Wireless Corp. signed GSM/GPRS roaming agreements with T-Mobile USA Inc. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and said it was in discussions with AT&T Wireless Services Inc. regarding similar agreements.With the agreements, Western Wireless said it will build out a GSM/GPRS network using its...
REDMOND, Wash.-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and T-Mobile USA Inc. reported a joint roaming agreement designed to increase coverage of their respective GSM/GPRS networks.AT&T Wireless said the deal will provide its customers access to services covering approximately 3,000 highway miles and 12.1 million potential customers...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-Nextel Communications Inc. is awarding cell site contracts to continue its network build out across the United States, likely needed for its nationwide direct connect service and to prepare the carrier for wireless local number portability. The company hired NorthStar Communications Group Inc....
MANILA, The Philippines-Mobile-phone operator Smart Communications is targeting at least 11 million subscribers by year-end, according to company legal and carriers division head Rogelio Quevedo.He also said the company, currently considered the number-one operator in the Philippines in terms of subscriber volume, aims to...
MURRAY HILL, N.J.-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. selected Lucent Technologies Inc.'s PacketStar Multiservice Media Gateway to move voice and data traffic on its network.Lucent said the PacketStar Gateway is being deployed at thousands of Cingular cell sites and that it will enable the carrier to increase...
MANILA, The Philippines-Smart Communications is setting aside at least 8 billion Philippine pesos (US$147 million) for an expansion program that will extend its reach to remote areas in the country, as well as further improve indoor coverage in major urban centers, such as the...
TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it will expand its wideband CDMA-based FOMA service in the Kanto Koshinetsu region beginning Feb. 22 with 400 additional cell sites and cover approximately 97 percent of the regional populated areas. The carrier said the expansion will increase nationwide coverage...
MINOT, N.D.-Verizon Wireless said it completed the conversion of all of its local wireless service in North Dakota from analog to digital technology. The conversion included adding two new digital cell sites in Fargo and Bismarck to improve coverage and converting 39 existing cell...
CHICAGO-U.S. Cellular Corp. reported $601.9 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2002, a 25.7-percent increase compared with the $478.7 million the carrier reported for the same quarter of 2001. For the year, U.S. Cellular reported a 15.3-percent increase in revenues from $1.9...
MANILA, The Philippines-Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has approved a 25-year franchise application of Gokongwei-owned Digital Telecommunications (Digitel) to operate a cellular phone firm. To be operated by Digitel Mobile Philippines, which was spun off from Digitel, the newly signed franchise application would allow the...
MORRISTOWN, N.J.-Celerica Inc. said Israeli-based wireless operator Cellcom has completed a successful trial of the Celerica 500 System. Celerica's system allows carriers to deploy new cell sites and to extend coverage areas within hours via optical wireless technology."We could have installed a new base...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. is getting ready to award a large tower buildout contract and it appears incumbent service provider Bechtel Communications may have to share the contract it once solely held.Competition is the name of the game, said Bechtel President George Conniff. Earlier...
NEW ORLEANS-Emerson Network Power Global Services, a division of Emerson Network Power, will formally announce the launch of Total Wireless Tower & Cell Site Service Solutions, at this week's Tower Summit & Trade Show in New Orleans.Total Wireless Tower & Cell Site Service Solutions...
OTTAWA-Nortel Networks Ltd. and Qualcomm Inc. announced the successful test of an UMTS voice and data call across commercial cell sites using live 1.9 GHz radio spectrum, Qualcomm chipsets in commercial-form-factor handsets and a live, end-to-end 3GPP UMTS network from Nortel.The test is significant...
MANILA, The Philippines-The Ayala group, one of the Philippines' biggest conglomerates, plans to limit capital spending for mobile-phone subsidiary Globe Telecom to US$500 million for the next two years, as the bulk of infrastructure needed to establish its network has been completed. Ayala Corporation...
MANILA, The Philippines-The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has advised Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and Digital Telecommunications (Digitel) to stop squabbling and expand customer services instead. "Instead of bickering, cellular service providers could very well put their financial resources and profits to better...
BEDMINISTER, N.J.-Verizon Wireless Inc. said Friday it has signed a five-year contract with TeleCommunication System Inc. to provide wireless enhanced 911 Phase I and Phase II network services, using TCS' Xypoint platform, to 50 percent of Verizon Wireless' cell sites nationwide.The agreement consolidates existing...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Ericsson will begin trialing a UMTS network in the Dallas area beginning later this year.The companies, which completed a live UMTS voice call at AT&T Wireless' headquarters earlier this year, said the network will use about 100 cell...
BEDMINSTER, N.J.—Verizon Wireless installed a number of new cell sites to enhance network quality in parts of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. The Illinois upgrades involved the installation of two cell sites in Mattoon and Kinmundy, which are expected to improve digital and analog coverage...
WASHINGTON—Total wireless revenues increased more than 22 percent during the last half of last year to $34.1 billion compared with $27.8 billion during the last half of 2000, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association's Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey.The jump in revenues was...
ORLANDO, Fla.—Cingular Wireless said it plans to invest more than $700 million in its Gulf States region network, including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.The investment will be used for enhancing call quality and network coverage. During the year, the company said it plans to...
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Dobson Cellular Systems Inc. placed a follow-on order under a purchasing agreement signed in 2000 for a minimum of 200 wireless systems from Conductus Inc. for its ClearSite superconductor systems."In cell sites where we have deployed the ClearSite systems, we have seen up...
RESTON, Va.—Nextel Communications added 1.99 million subscribers during 2001, ending the year with 8.7 million wireless subscribers and said it expects to add another 2 million customers this year. Domestic revenues for the year increased more than 30 percent from 2000 to $7 billion,...
