Prepaid cellular represents a huge opportunity for carriers, as demonstrated by the flood of prepaid services inundating the marketplace. More significantly, however, prepaid cellular may prove in itself a new paradigm for conducting consumer business in wireless.Industry estimates show between 20 percent and 30...
ORLANDO, Fla.-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in Florida announced it will market wireless telephones using an automated kiosk that dispenses ready-to-use cellular phones directly to the customer.The Interactive Retail Information System, developed by Lightbridge Inc., is fully automated and provides a number of customer services,...
The Personal Mobile Communications Division of Mitsubishi Wireless Communications Inc. announced the MobileAccess smart phone. The phone integrates a cellular telephone with broad messaging and data capabilities in a lightweight, handheld unit, the company said. The model relies on cellular digital packet data technology...
Starting a wireless communications company was probably the most ambitious undertaking I have ever initiated in my life. Many people question whether or not a small business can survive in today's ever changing wireless marketplace filled with major retailers and carriers. I suggest that...
In Chicago, where cellular penetration is highest and rates are lowest among the nation's 10 most populous markets, Ameritech Cellular Services and SBC Communications Inc. are fighting it out for customers.And competition stands only to intensify once challengers in personal communications services, including the...
Telex Communications Inc. has introduced a lightweight headset specifically for cellular phones and other mobile applications. The company said its Telex Nomad Headset is a lightweight, ear-worn device with an adjustable boom microphone and high-fidelity speaker. The headset is designed to improve the sound...
In Chicago, where cellular penetration is highest and rates are lowest among the nation's 10 most populous markets, Ameritech Cellular Services and SBC Communications Inc. are fighting it out for customers.And competition stands only to intensify once challengers in personal communications services, including the...
NEW YORK-In the short run in the U.S. analog cellular phone equipment market, Nokia Corp. and, to a lesser extent, L.M. Ericsson, have gained ground on industry giant Motorola Inc. But the bigger question over the longer run is how meaningful this market share...
Western Wireless Corp. said aloha to Honolulu's wireless communications market by offering consumers yet another way to communicate-via a personal communications services handset.The Bellevue, Wash.-based company announced it has activated its PCS 1900 network based on Global System for Mobile communications technology in Honolulu...
Robert Franke is now director of distribution for AirTouch Cellular, a subsidiary of AirTouch Communications Inc. In his new position, Franke will be responsible for customer acquisition and dealer development through the distribution and retail channel for AirTouch inland California and northern Nevada markets....
NEW YORK-Faced with falling cellular phone prices and formidable competition by the four heavyweight handset manufacturers, smaller, Japanese-based players are pursuing other options in the U.S. marketplace."It's going to be a brutal year," said Francis McInerney, a principal of North River Ventures, New York....
WASHINGTON-Consumer and industry groups are not expected to offer a clear cut fix to hearing aid interference from digital pocket telephones in the report they submit to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt next month.But even without a magic bullet, engineers have begun to...
Florida cellular customers may soon see a 50-cent increase in their monthly bill, in the form of a fee to fund 911 technology and distance learning. Some cellular carriers indicated they are vehemently opposed to the fee, which is included in Gov. Lawton Chiles'...
Cellular theft: A cellular phone is stolen from a legitimate customer and used before the theft can be reported.Subscription fraud: This type of counterfeiting occurs when a person signs up for cellular service using fraudulent information or false identification and does not intend to pay for...
WEST POINT, Ga.-InterQuest Inc. announced it is offering a new service that allows wireless carriers to offer unregistered roamers in their market to complete a cellular call.Instead of connecting unregistered roamers to a recording that ultimately prevents the user from completing a cellular call,...
Some big-city markets saw a decrease in cloning fraud last year after implementing personal identification numbers, but the effort hasn't beat the bandits. Cloning criminals have hit the road, scanning for numbers in one market, reprogramming and selling handsets in another-what industry has termed...
PITTSBURGH-AT&T Wireless Services announced its customers in western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and eastern Ohio now have access to the AT&T CellCard, a smart card that extends the reach of a customer's cellular phone outside North America.To use the smart card, traveling customers rent...
Omnitel Pronto Italia, Italy's first private Global System for Mobile communications cellular provider, said it has reached a roaming agreement with government-owned Telecom Italia Mobile SpA and announced three additional pricing plans to help it compete with TIM.Omnitel, a consortium comprised of Italy's computer...
ISELIN, N.J.-Dusting off patents shelved by Bell Laboratories due to commercialization prohibitions, Telecommunications Premium Services Inc. hopes to gain competitive advantage in the frontier of anywhere, anytime communications.Founded less than two years ago by David L. Turock, a Bell Labs alumnus, TPS' service offering...
Despite strong initial efforts on the part of Chilean, Argentine and Mexican regulators, implementing personal communications services in Latin America will fall a little short of earlier bullish expectations. At the same time, PCS already has taken off in a sense, with cellular increasingly...
Pockets of wireless local loop operations and fixed cellular services are emerging throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Small-scale operations and field trials are underway in Argentina, Belize, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. But many of these areas may...
ALAMEDA, Calif. - Geoworks and Ericsson Inc. announced an alliance to deliver a range of afforadable "smart phone" next-generation cellular phones combining voice and data transmission capabilities.Under the terms os the agreement, Ericsson has licensed Geoworks' Geos open operating system platform.Ericsson smart phones are...
WASHINGTON-After five years of research and development, and three tries on the keypad, the inaugural call on American Mobile Satellite Corp.'s SkyCell satellite telephone service was made Jan. 24 between a Red Cross flood-disaster site in Harrisburg, Pa., and Washington, D.C."Five years ago, I...
Dial Page Inc.'s stockholders have approved a merger proposal and agreement with Nextel Communications Inc., Nextel announced. The Federal Communications Commission's final approval on the merger is expected to be made in late January, Nextel said. The transaction is scheduled to close Jan. 31....
