NEW YORK-Companion bills to enact the Wireless Facilities Siting Act never made it out of New York State Assembly and Senate committees before the Legislature adjourned Aug. 6 for summer recess.The proposed legislation, some believe, would have been the first in the nation to...
NEW YORK-It was just this year that the camel's nose of wireless intelligent networks appeared under the mobile communications' tent, and it is not expected to rise to its full height until the dawn of the new millennium in 2001.A creature of technology to...
A Fort Collins, Colo.-based company is collecting information from the wireless industry to determine the usefulness of radar satellites in mapping applications.I-cubed, which stands for Information Integration and Imaging L.L.C., is conducting the surveys as part of a study funded by the National Aeronautics...
The transition of control of cell sites from wireless carriers to independent tower companies is accelerating, and build-to-suit companies increasingly are getting the call from carriers to handle the buildout of their networks.Most industry watchers agree the transition is good for carriers and tower...
No matter that future wireless technology will do everything from make your coffee in the morning to balance your checkbook at night, the enduring value-revolutionary hallmark-of mobile phones remains their ability to facilitate real-time human communication, heretofore artificially restricted by twisted copper wire in...
The recent battles at the Federal Communications Commission between AirCell Inc. and the cellular carriers that oppose its air-to-ground communications system may be starting to affect AirCell's business.In a letter sent to Steve Weingarten of the Commercial Wireless Division of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau,...
NEW YORK-The New York Wireless Carriers Coalition is hoping for passage this spring of a bill that some group members believe would be the first in the country to set uniform statewide tower-siting requirements for local governments to follow and implement.The proposed legislation's primary...
Dear Editor: In a March 29 letter in RCR from Daniel F. Akerson, chairman and CEO, Nextel Communications Inc., Mr. Akerson states "what we are asking the Justice Department to do is provide a level playing field in the wireless industry in which we can...
With tower companies and carriers facing difficulties getting permission to build sites at local zoning boards and collocation increasingly becoming a favored business model, CoLocation Technologies Inc. is marketing a solution designed to facilitate collocation.Based in Atlanta, CoLocation Technologies was formed initially to market...
Advanced Fox WirelessAdvanced Fox Wireless introduced the OEM Style Mini Twin Charger for Nokia Corp. 5100 Series and Nextel Communications Inc. i1000 handsets. The device will charge the battery on the phone while charging a second battery. It is compatible with Nickel Cadmium, Nickel...
NEW YORK-A panel of three federal judges heard arguments April 5 in an appeal of Federal Communications Commission siting and safety requirements for the placement of microwave cell sites for wireless telecommunications.The judges questioned attorneys for both sides critically and closely, allowing the clock...
Dynamic Mobile Data SystemsDynamic Mobile Data Systems Inc. announced its Mobile Server product is commercially available. Mobile Server is a set of wireless drivers and controls for Microsoft NT servers and wireless devices that the company said extends beyond-firewall corporate data and applications to...
NEW YORK-Television programming often can be as good a barometer as hard numbers about trends that are hot, and so it is with the wireless tower industry.In a recent "The Simpsons," cartoon character Homer Simpson rented cell site space on his rooftop to the...
Never has an industry been so vastly underestimated as the cellular industry in its formative years.When the industry celebrated its 10th birthday in late 1993, industry watchers joked about how wrong the early subscriber forecasts were, while putting out new subscriber forecasts that underestimated...
Wireless carriers often face a dilemma in obtaining radio-frequency engineering services to implement and operate their networks. How do they find experienced RF engineers to design and build those networks, while at the same time controlling costs for recruiting or consulting? Carriers must find...
Representatives from BellSouth Corp., AirTouch Communications Inc. and GTE Corp. last week met with Federal Communications Commission representatives to discuss AirCell Inc.'s petition for a waiver of the airborne cellular rule.The discussion with representatives from the Commercial Wireless Division of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau...
NEW YORK-TeleCorp PCS Inc., an AT&T Wireless Services Inc. affiliate, Tuesday plans to debut its first commercial market, from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, La., at Wireless '99.Later in the quarter, TeleCorp, an F-block personal communications services carrier, expects to roll out commercially its...
ChinaMetawave Communications Corp. announced it entered into an agreement with Shanghai Post & Telecommunications Administration and Shanghai New Globe Co. to develop and test a Metawave smart-antenna system for Global System for Mobile communication networks, and for the trial of the system in Shanghai...
Earlier in this decade, the wireless industry began heating up over the immense promise of wireless local loop applications. Predictions of an explosion of worldwide WLL system installations through the end of the century were everywhere. Yet the number of lines actually deployed today...
NEW YORK-Cautious optimism in the absence of completely verifiable proof is the prognosis for Year 2000 compliance by the wireless industry, according to consultants interviewed by RCR."How fraught with danger is the unknown? It is irresponsible to say 'head for the hills and take...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Lucent Technologies announced it signed contracts totaling $340 million with Telesp Celular in Brazil to build wireless networks based on Code Division Multiple Access in the state of Sao Paulo.Under the terms of the contracts, Lucent Technologies said it is providing its...
LOUISVILLE, Colo.-The Federal Communications Commission has ruled that a prohibition on cellular phone use in airplanes should not apply to a new air-to-ground wireless phone system designed by AirCell Inc.AirCell provides air-to-ground wireless communications to the general aviation and commercial airline markets by connecting...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-A seasonal increase in demand caused by an influx of visitors is a familiar phenomenon to many cellular network operators. But the increased demand is rarely overwhelming and usually is spread out in both time and space. Not so in Saudi Arabia....
Metawave Communications Corp. last week expanded its SpotLight 2000 product line to include a Code Division Multiple Access/Advanced Mobile Phone Service smart antenna system that works with Motorola Inc.'s SC 9600 base station.The SpotLight 2000 product also is compatible with Lucent Series II and...
