WASHINGTON-The American novelist Edith Wharton once noted the only thing that distinguishes vice from virtue is point of view. Some might say her comment is an apt description of the current debate about whether the U.S. wireless market should adopt Calling Party Pays (CPP)...
SINGAPORE-If there's one good thing that has come out of the current economic crisis in Southeast Asia, it's the added push it has given to the long-talked-about and much-needed shakeout in the regional telecommunications market.Already, there have been rumblings of cash-strapped companies in Indonesia,...
The highly competitive wireless market in the Republic of the Philippines-with five carriers serving some 70 million people-is perhaps the most ripe for consolidation compared with all Southeast Asian countries.With cellular companies burdened with the devaluation of the Philippine peso against the dollar, mandatory...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-The debate of issuing a third or fourth cellular license in South Africa is gaining momentum, with the industry pressuring the government to speed up the tendering process before the existing operators become so powerful they would eliminate any other competitor."We recommend...
BANGLADORE, India-Bangladesh is one of the world's least-developed countries, and most of the rural heartland lacks roads and electricity, as well as telephones. For its 140 million people, Bangladesh has just 500,000 phones, nearly all in the urban centers of Dhaka and Chittagong.Grameen Telecom...
On 10 December 1997, the frequency auction for trunking services concluded, resulting in 580 channels being auctioned and raising almost US$40 million.Argentina Wireless Telecomunicaciones paid more than US$27 million for 140 channels in Buenos Aires, 60 in Santa Fe/Paran , and 100 each in...
WASHINGTON-They announced it, delayed it, set deadlines and then extended them-each one of these at least once and often amid accusations of scandal and preferential treatment. Currently, the tender process for two 1.9 GHz PCS (Personal Communications Services) licenses to serve a 100-kilometer area...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-High on the agenda of issues raised by African ministers at Africa Telecom '98 held here in May was using satellite technology for boosting African economies and low telephone-penetration rates.Africa presents an ideal candidate for Mobile Satellite Services (MSS). The continent is...
U.S. utility companies could become significant players in the wireless telecommunications industry in coming years if they can figure out the right strategy to enter the business.Analysts indicate utilities seriously are evaluating opportunities to branch out into the telecommunications arena in light of deregulation...
When Arch Communications Group Inc. last week disclosed it was in talks with MobileMedia Communications Corp. about acquiring the bankrupt company, it sparked a rash of speculation about the future consolidation of the paging industry.Yet MobileMedia has been a prime target for acquisition since...
To the Editor: I've watched with more than passing interest the growing outcry against the federal government's universal service program. Each day brings another news release from a member of Congress, a consumer group or some media pundit, denouncing this program as an unfair tax...
NEW YORK-"The dam is about to burst on outsourcing in the wireless world," and LCC International Inc., the giant radio-frequency engineering firm, is getting ready to ride the resulting rapids into new lines of business, said Geoffrey S. Carroll, its new president and chief...
LONDON-ICO Global Communications Ltd. announced last week that it filed registration statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of $100 million worth of ordinary shares and $50 million of high-yield senior notes.ICO is a spinoff of Inmarsat, established...
Direct Wireless Corp., a new company based in Houston, has filed patent applications for a wireless communications system that would allow handsets to communicate directly with each other without signals first being routed through switches and cellular infrastructure.The Direct Wireless Communication System reduces switching...
A request by Connecticut's attorney general and state utility regulators that a combined SBC Communications Inc./Southern New England Telecommunications Corp. reduce its local telephone rates could put the planned merger in jeopardy.SBC reportedly said it might scrap the planned merger if regulators approve the...
NEW YORK-After receiving "Big Daddy" T-shirts from BT Alex. Brown Inc. telecommunications analyst Jeffrey L. Hines June 10, top executives of four of the world's largest wireless carriers offered an expansive vision of their companies and their industry."There are accelerating growth rates in all...
ATLANTA-Bosch Telecom Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. announced plans to develop and market broadband wireless networking solutions designed to help service providers offer integrated voice, data and video services faster and more cost effectively.Through the strategic alliance, the companies will collaborate on joint engineering,...
An indoor solution to wireless electronic asset tracking that uses digital radio-frequency technology to locate personnel and property has been developed by PinPoint Corp., a fledgling company based in Bedford, Mass.Outdoor tracking of vehicles, personnel and equipment has long been available using global positioning...
ATLANTA-Wireless data's success in the future depends on how easily users can access it, said some wireless executives last week at SuperComm '98.Key executives from the wireless industry's largest companies participated in a panel addressing the direction of the wireless industry in 2000 and...
With paging systems and devices moving evermore toward FLEX-based equipment, a debate is heating up about the future of second-hand POCSAG-based gear.The nation's top 10 paging carriers are migrating their networks and customers primarily to FLEX equipment, devices and enhanced services. Their one-way numeric...
NEW YORK-Wireless telephony providers are hemorrhaging revenues from organized activity by criminals drawn to the low risk and easy money of subscription fraud.Thieves are exploiting a particularly lucrative window of opportunity right now, one that is likely to remain open for a few years....
As RCR reported last week, the General Services Administration is giving the Federal Communications Commission the boot. Time to move out of the downtown offices and out to the Portals. By fall. Leases have been canceled. The $17.6 million loaned to the FCC to...
A wave of activity between carriers and tower management firms appears to be developing, signaling a growing trend toward carriers selling off their tower assets in purchase/leaseback arrangements.In such transactions, carriers sell their towers to a tower management company and then lease back the...
Puerto RicoA consortium led by GTE Corp. signed a definitive pact to purchase for $375 million a controlling interest of 50 percent plus one share in the Puerto Rico Telephone Co. from the government there. GTE made the initial purchase and plans to sell...
