WASHINGTON-Ten telecom industry associations urged the Federal Communications Commission not to impose rules designed to protect consumer privacy. In a July 20 letter to the FCC, the groups said the rules were expensive and burdensome.The associations were joined by the Small Business Administration, which...
Signing one of its largest ever pacts, CommQuest Technologies Inc. said it will supply its GSM-XL chipset to Audiovox Communications Corp. for a new Global System for Mobile communications handset.Terms of the agreement call for CommQuest, a recent IBM Corp. acquisition, to supply its...
Satellite-based communications is all the buzz in the telecom industry today, with hopeful mobile satellite services providers and terrestrial-based telcos alike shooting satellites into orbit with unprecedented regularity.Yet the rush of commercial satellite launches has placed the current presidential administration in hot water with...
Though the wireless industry remains an employee-driven market, signs indicate the intense demand for employees domestically may be slowing as companies are becoming cost sensitive under intense competition and merger-and-acquisition activity increases.Two years ago, when new personal communications services operators were building their armies...
TAIPEI, Taiwan-Low-tier mobile phone service in Taiwan was opened to competition by the country's Ministry of Transportation and Communications, with a tender announcement expected by December and commercial service rollout by March.The Taiwan Directorate General of Telecommunications under the MOTC has adopted an official...
WASHINGTON-The Superintendent of Rock Creek Park, an urban national park, said it would take five months before an environmental assessment is completed to determine whether Bell Atlantic Mobile can site two antennas inside the park. The National Park Service sent a letter to BAM...
The success of the personal communications services industry has astounded industry analysts, PCS company executives and cellular carriers alike.The PCS industry is about two years old and already has penetrated the market, driven down prices and earned high revenues faster than anyone had expected."It's...
NEW YORK-Even if telecommunications giants seeking to combine with each other clear the myriad hurdles confronting their plans, the success of their bids to merge may depend ultimately on approval by the little guy.Holding what may be the ultimate trump card is the holder...
To the Editor: I thought Lynnette Luna's recent story on Powertel's distribution center was very thorough. However, I feel compelled to respond to the comments from Mr. Laikin and Mr. Egan.First, and most importantly, Mr. Laikin contends that Powertel's move to an internal distribution capability...
WASHINGTON-A proposal from Western Wireless Corp. to receive universal-service support payments for providing telephone service to rural areas seems to have gotten a lukewarm response from the Federal Communications Commission.A basic piece of the Western Wireless proposal-to have the FCC re-evaluate support for rural...
Irwin Jacobs, chairman of Qualcomm Inc., fought a David and Goliath battle during the 1980s to get Code Division Multiple Access technology accepted by the U.S. wireless establishment. Having accomplished that in a big way, Jacobs now is fighting another war of biblical proportion...
As the digital revolution begins to move at a substantial pace, mobile phone manufacturers have some tough decisions to make.The demand for digital handsets is growing, especially in the CDMA arena, where carriers are screaming for more handsets. More cellular carriers aggressively are pushing...
Second-tier wireless companies are hot properties, helping to push wireless stock prices past the Standard &Poor's index.Centennial Cellular Corp. earlier this month became the third second-tier cellular carrier to be bought by an investment firm when New York-based Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe agreed...
With the lifespan of paging devices getting ever shorter, and with new advanced paging devices flooding the marketplace, paging carriers must be extra careful in their purchasing patterns.Kevin Reynolds, president and founder of PCS Maze Inc.-a wireless industry consulting service based in Texas-said the...
While the majority of wireless carriers are moving toward outsourcing their handset distribution needs, Powertel Inc. is moving in the opposite direction.The West Point, Ga.-based personal communications services company recently ended its relationship with Brightpoint Inc., a distribution and value-added logistics services provider, and...
WASHINGTON-Two wireless trade groups urged the government to develop flexible rules that do not impose undue cost on carriers, manufacturers and consumers in comments filed regarding rules for providing people with disabilities access to telecommunications services and equipment.Technical and legal feasibility, expenses, cost recovery...
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint Spectrum L.P. introduced Sprint PCS Management Reporting, a software application for small-and medium-sized businesses that contains invoice detail for the current month and two previous months.Delivered monthly on CD-ROM, the software ensures customers that internal reports match call detail information, said...
Wireless carrier CMS St. Cloud, which is operating a cellular network in St. Cloud, Minn., under the name Cellular 2000, is ahead of many rural carriers in deploying digital technology on its network.Needing to upgrade its switch and other equipment, the company in 1995...
The larger players in the paging industry have bellied up to the consolidation table and, with fork and knife in hand, are poised to dig in.Still digesting its acquisition of ProNet Inc., Metrocall Inc. said its next serving will be the Advanced Messaging Division...
FWT Inc. announced its first installation of the PowerMount antenna system on anything other than an electrical transmission tower-this one inside the legs of a Shell Oil Co. sign at a gas station in North Attleboro, Mass. The new site is part of a...
The sinking ship that is Geotek Communications Inc. wallowed deeper into troubled waters last week when the company filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while its captain and founder, Yaron Eitan, stepped down as chief executive officer and resigned from the company's...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-Investment in the telecommunications sector is an urgent priority for Central and Eastern European countries. Financial management consultant Price Waterhouse examined in a recent report the challenges of such investments for 12 countries in the region, representing a combined population of some...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-The imminent explosion of the mobile data market has been like a constant companion for the past 12 years. The technology driving this supposed market expansion may have changed over time, but the predicted boom has always been present, always just about...
