Motorola Inc. found a third operator in the United States willing to deploy its proprietary integrated Digital Enhanced Network technology and more may follow.Specialized mobile radio operator Pacific Wireless Technologies Inc. announced plans to offer iDEN technology in central California. The company, formed through...
NEW YORK-Stratos Global Corp., Toronto, has begun obtaining presale purchase agreements from customers for its new Inmarsat-M4 service, which will provide Integrated Services Digital Network communications by satellite.Stratos said M4 will fill a gap in existing Inmarsat services, whose equipment lacks the ISDN connectivity...
Dear Editor: As pointed out by Jeff Silva in his "D.C. Notes" column Nov. 9, many industry players, including the Personal Communications Industry Association, are supportive of additional spectrum for third-generation services worldwide.Representatives from these groups and from the government have expended a great deal...
DENVER-Newly formed UltraRF, the former semiconductor division of Spectrian Corp., announced a new amplifier integration technology, in addition to details of its focus as an autonomous business unit.UltraRF produces laterally diffused metal oxide silicon and bipolar transistors. The company will begin U.S. beta testing...
Speculation continues that AT&T Corp. will unveil plans to issue a separate tracking stock to trace its wireless business, which has grown significantly since the carrier introduced its successful Digital One Rate plan.The tracking stock, according to published reports, also would include fixed wireless...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Nextel Communications Inc. is eyeing the African continent as an ideal market for iDEN, the technology it uses in the United States. So much so that a consortium, AfricaSpeaks, included iDEN, in partnership with Nextel, in its business plan for its recent...
After scoring an agreement with Vodafone AirTouch plc to deploy its location-based technology in the carrier's U.K. network, Cambridge Positioning Systems is ready to push its product in the United States."We have not done a lot of marketing in the United States on purpose,"...
Enhanced specialized mobile radio operators are poised to lead the country in rolling out Wireless Application Protocol services next year.Today, no U.S. wireless provider offers full WAP services. But SMR operators Nextel Communications Inc. and Southern Linc both have embraced pre-WAP services, with an...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is expected to revise wireless enhanced 911 rules that would eliminate the cost-recovery obligation that now must be met before E911 services have to be deployed.The move faced heavy lobbying from wireless carriers, two associations representing public safety answering points...
NEW YORK-The astounding success of NTT DoCoMo's mobile Internet access service is a resounding note of affirmation to proponents of wireless Web services, said Crispin K. Vicars at the Yankee Group's conference Nov. 8.By the end of September, DoCoMo's wireless Internet service had 1.7...
Dear Editor: I read Alan Shark's rebuttal in the Oct. 18 issue of RCR and feel it's time Mr. Shark take a trip back into the trenches. His advocacy of auctions for private dispatch systems below 520 MHz is misguided at best. One only has...
GENEVA-Russia's Gazprom, the world's largest supplier of natural gas, is completing the final stages of a $100 million trunked radio network built to service gas drilling towns located in one of the most remote and inhospitable regions on the planet.Covering an area of more...
NEW YORK-A key component of the IMT-2000 global wireless third-generation standard that the International Telecommunication Union evaluated this month comes from the kind of small, entrepreneurial company whose voice is often drowned out in this type of process.Golden Bridge Technology, West Long Branch, N.J.,...
WASHINGTON-While lawmakers and industry executives debated the proposed $130 billion merger between MCI WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp.-the largest transaction in history-Senate Judiciary Committee Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced legislation last week to relax regulatory and financial requirements for smaller mergers.The MCI WorldCom-Sprint deal, largely...
DUBLIN, Ireland-Northern Ireland is a complex country with an intriguing cellular industry. As part of the United Kingdom, it is covered by the same mobile networks (BT Cellnet, Vodafone AirTouch plc and Orange plc) as the rest of the United Kingdom. Yet those three...
NEW YORK-Because of the burgeoning demand for data communications in the United States, wireless local access is emerging from the shadows of its mobile brethren and coming into its own as a bona fide business opportunity."There is tremendous enthusiasm for data, and the enthusiasm...
American Tower Corp. reported strong third-quarter results, including improvements in net income and increases in revenues.The company said its revenues increased 121 percent to $67.5 million for the third quarter, ended Sept. 30, from revenues of $30.5 million for the same quarter last year....
The term "consolidation" is now applied continually to the wireless telecoms industry. Yet it seems inadequate to describe a situation in which European telecom companies are disappearing at a rate of up to three a week.The dynamics are clear. Europe's former state-owned PTTs and...
CameroonCameroon's Camtel and Camtel Mobiles are scheduled to be privatized in 2000. Camtel is the incumbent state-owned cellular carrier and operates a GSM 900 network, which had just over 5,100 subscribers as of early this year. A second carrier, operated by France Cfbles et...
DUBLIN, Ireland-In any international cellular tender, carriers must determine whether the price paid represents true value for the money or a sizable gamble. On the other side of the coin, wireless license fees can be the equivalent of a gift from the gods for...
GENEVA-Just five years from now, cellular will overtake fixed-line access to become not only the dominant form of telephony, but the world's primary access to the online world as well. That bold prediction doesn't come from a controversial industry guru or brash market analyst,...
LONDON-Orange, the United Kingdom's third-largest mobile operator, announced just prior to Global Wireless press time that it is offering a new prepaid package, called Just Talk, that makes clear all conditions and charges upfront and offers existing prepaid subscribers the option of switching to...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Most foreign investment in the wireless market in South America has been directed at Brazil, Argentina and Chile in recent years based on their high wireless demand. However, several other countries in the region are experiencing strong wireless user numbers as well.Paraguay,...
TOKYO-Japan's major carriers said they had taken all necessary measures by the end of September to cope with any potential Y2K problems. Now, say the carriers, they are busily preparing for counter measures for the upcoming critical days.Reports say there could be two types...
