As the end of the millennium approaches, it is worth pondering whether the recent bout of mergers and acquisitions are precedents to some colossal event of biblical proportions or merely defensive strategies of companies safeguarding themselves against falling commodity prices, uncertain technological change, increased...
In a rapidly consolidating wireless industry, the list of available cellular carriers last week got shorter by two.After entertaining bids from at least two suitors, including Bell Atlantic Corp., AirTouch Communications Inc. opted to tie up with Britain's Vodafone Group plc in a deal...
New Enterprise AssociatesNew Enterprise Associates, a Palo Alto, Calif. venture capital firm, appointed Nobel Laureate Arno A. Penzias as a partner. Penzias is the senior technology adviser for Lucent Technologies Inc. He has written two books, Ideas and Information and Digital Harmony. Penzias won...
KANSAS CITY-Sprint Corp. announced it completed the recapitalization of its common stock into two separate classes and the restructuring of Sprint Spectrum L.P., branded Sprint PCS.With the recapitalization, each share of Sprint's publicly traded common stock has been reclassified into a half share of...
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint Corp. shareholders approved a proposal allowing Sprint to assume full ownership and management control of Sprint PCS and create two separate classes of Sprint common stock-one reflecting the performance of Sprint's personal communications services operations and the other tracking the company's...
WILMINGTON, Mass.-Priority Call Management Inc. said it agreed to market and distribute Comcast Cellular Communications Inc.'s GroupTalk wireless service.According to the company, GroupTalk facilitates call management of inbound and outbound calls for wireless business customers within defined work groups. Under terms of the agreement,...
WAYNE, Pa.-Comcast Cellular Communications Inc. announced new national and regional service plans that provide service for one low rate, without roaming or toll charges.Rates for the new Digital PCS (personal communications services) plan are as low as 10 cents per minute. The regional plans...
Sprint Corp., citing poor market conditions, said it is postponing its planned public offering of its Sprint PCS venture.The Kansas City, Mo.-based long-distance carrier said it will continue to evaluate market conditions and may proceed with a public offering later. The carrier hoped to...
At a rate of nearly 400,000 new subscriber additions each quarter, U.S.-based Nextel Communications Inc. has been attracting a lot of attention, including from traditional wireless carriers that may try to imitate Nextel's unique Direct Connect dispatch feature.Wireless carriers in the United States have...
NEW YORK-Comcast Corp., Philadelphia, announced Oct. 20 it will become the majority shareholder and operating partner of TeleSource Corp., a start-up wireless telecommunications carrier headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.TeleSource already has received a temporary license for a pilot broadband wireless network in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,...
PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. has sold its major trading area license and operations in Hawaii to Sprint Corp.-a deal that PrimeCo says has been in the works for nearly 15 months."The Hawaii investment was a good one for us," said Lowell McAdam, president and...
ORLANDO, Fla.-To paraphrase a Bell Atlantic commercial, "wild things are happening" in dispatch radio, according to speakers at the recent PCS '98 show.Just outside the spotlight, which is focused on the apparent dominance of Nextel Communications Inc. and the demise of Geotek Communications Inc.,...
Sprint Corp. hopes to raise about $604 billion from its initial public offering for Sprint PCS.The Kansas City, Mo.-based long-distance carrier has filed its registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue shares of new common stock to track Sprint PCS.In addition,...
WASHINGTON-NAACP President Kweisi Mfume last week called for a boycott of two top wireless firms-AirTouch Communications Inc. and AllTel Corp.-for inadequate representation of African Americans in employment and contracting practices, a backlash becoming more pronounced as a result of affirmative-action curbs and increased telecom...
Seventy years ago, the mobile radio industry was born when the Detroit Police Department installed the first one-way radios in their squad cars. Today there are approximately 19 million two-way radios in use in the United States, including 3.1 million specialized mobile radio units.Cellular...
The first half of this year has produced several landscape-changing events in the wireless industry. If completed, the proposed mergers between SBC Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. and Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. could put several significant cellular markets up for grabs by...
NEW YORK-A Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association group is developing recommendations for handset manufacturers that would reduce fraud potential and facilitate over-the-air customer activations for non-Global System for Mobile Communications carriers.The CTIA Fraud Technology Assessment Group, charged with evaluating and recommending new fraud-prevention measures, has...
Phoenix Wireless GroupPhoenix Wireless Group announced several new appointments. Christopher Bear was named director of engineering. He joins the company from AccessLine Technologies Inc., where he was director of product development. Previously, he was lead manager of CDMA open interfaces for Northern Telecom Inc.Kenneth...
Now that the nation's top wireless carrier and its second-largest cable TV company have announced plans to merge, industry watchers are speculating about how the companies might converge their networks.Dan Youmans, a spokesman for AT&T Wireless Services Inc., said it is too soon to...
AT&T Corp. last week stepped outside of the telecommunications industry to buy the nation's second-largest cable company, Tele-Communications Inc. The move is the latest in a string of mega-mergers involving communications companies.The stock transaction, valued at $48 billion including debt, is thought mainly to...
Sprint PCS said it expects to spend up to $700 million during the next three years with Lucent Technologies Inc., which will supply equipment and services for the next phase of Sprint PCS' nationwide wireless network expansion.The new contract allows Sprint PCS to expand...
NEW YORK-In a "three-peat" of its 1995 and 1996 performance, AT&T Corp. again took first place in revenues and net income among carriers last year, despite a marked decline in profits year-to-year.AT&T closed its last fiscal year with $51.32 billion in revenues, up 1.53...
Sprint Corp. announced its deal to gain ownership and management control of Sprint PCS, its wireless venture with Tele-Communications Inc., Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc.The Kansas City, Mo.-based long-distance carrier will issue shares of a new common stock that tracks Sprint's wireless operations...
SALEM, N.J.-Comcast Cellular Communications Inc. provided 60 wireless phones to Public Service Electric & Gas earlier this month for a nuclear emergency response test. The phones essentially replaced landline communications during the drill.The exercise tested cooperation among the utility, county, state and federal agencies...
