ORLANDO, Fla.-Put four analysts up on a podium, ask them what they think and while their answers don't always agree on specifics, their big picture themes often seem similar.That's what happened at the recent 1997 CDMA North American Regional Congress when four wireless market...
The Personal Communications Industry Association and a coalition of alphanumeric paging dispatchers have filed petitions to either stay or reconsider, respectively, the Federal Communication Commission's Pay Telephone Compensation Remand Order.PCIA believes the ruling will cause economic and competitive harm to the paging industry, and...
WASHINGTON-The House Commerce Committee, claiming its probe of the Federal Communications Commission's relocation to The Portals is being deliberately thwarted, is considering subpoenaing the Portals developer who paid $1 million to lobbyist and former Clinton-Gore campaign manager Peter Knight to seal the deal.Franklin Haney,...
A California court of appeals remanded for further proceedings a judgment for Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Co., allowing four cellular dealers to revisit part of their case against the carrier, charging unfair business practices.According to the dealers-Cel-Tech Communications Inc., Comtech Inc., Cellular Service Inc....
NEW YORK-When looking for the causes of customer churn, executives of cellular and personal communications services carriers should "start with the man in the mirror," to borrow words from pop singer Michael Jackson."In many ways, it's not the customers who have caused churn; it's...
While PCS carriers aren't slashing airtime rates for the holidays, handset prices are dropping to ranges that may persuade the reluctant customer to make a purchase.Omnipoint Communications Services in New York is pushing Ericsson Inc.'s 388 Global System for Mobile communications handset for $50,...
NEW YORK-As the new year approaches in the horse race that is commercial deployment of low earth orbit mobile satellite systems, "we're still at the first half-mile, with the finish line at 2000," said Timothy Logue, a satellite analyst for Coudert Brothers, Washington, D.C.There...
NEW YORK-For handset manufacturers, next year likely will be a transition period as new entrants gear up to enter the rapidly expanding wireless marketplace, said Jeffrey Schlesinger, wireless technology analyst for UBS Securities L.L.C.Brightpoint Inc. projects that sales of new handsets in North America...
Only 24 more shopping days left before Christmas, but personal communications services pricing promotions don't seem to look much different from those offered during the last few months.Though enticing price packages remain, like 400 minutes for $40, the deeply discounted PCS pricing plans, like...
NEW YORK-With the introduction Dec. 1 of a suite of radio-frequency integrated circuit products, Texas Instruments, Dallas, made a giant leap forward toward providing all major system blocks for digital wireless phones."Right now, we are the number one supplier of digital basebands, and we...
Global industry trends regarding future sales of wireless communications equipment are going to include enough opportunity for everyone with something to offer, according to the "U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook 1998."U.S. wireless industry growth projections "are expected to be as good or even better"...
COSTA MESA, Calif.-The CDMA Development Group announced that Japanese cellular service providers DDI Corp. and IDO Corp. will use cdmaOne as the brand name for their joint Code Division Multiple Access cellular phone service.The two companies, which are members of the CDG, plan to...
WASHINGTON-What's good for the goose should be good for the gander, commenters say, when it comes to personal communications services financial-restructuring relief offered by the Federal Communications Commission.Forwarding an option menu to C-block winners was a good start, entrepreneurs said, but that plan also...
A Greenville, S.C., jury awarded four independent cellular dealers $2.5 million each in punitive damages and actual damages totalling nearly $2 million in a lawsuit against 3607 Communications Co.Dealer Drivfone Inc. received the highest actual damage award at $1.3 million. Hi-Tech Communications Inc. was...
A Denver-based company has caught the attention of price-sensitive mobile phone carriers as well as some big manufacturers.Cactus Integration Group, incorporated Aug. 1, provides integrated, turnkey site development solutions to wireless carriers. Services range from site identification and acquisition to engineering and installation services."We...
St. Paul, Minn.-based Tele digital Development Inc. has introduced a system that allows cellular phone service resellers and other providers to control the cost and use of prepaid airtime on their own, without the help of a carrier.Called the TallisSystem, the package features a...
CANCUN, Mexico-Northern Telecom Ltd.'s Proximity T-LTX, which allows operators to offer fixed wireless services from a wireline switching system, is now commercially available, announced the company at Mexico's Wireless '97 show.The Proximity T-LTX uses Time Division Multiple Access technology to deploy additional capacity, particularly...
More bad news for the wireless telecom industry on the RF front. The Communications Workers of America is throwing its full weight behind an appeal in the D.C. circuit to overturn the 1996 hybrid RF exposure standard.Organized labor, which threw $35 million at the...
NEW YORK-Point-to-multipoint equipment should be available in quantity by mid-1998, bringing the bandwidth on demand promise of last-mile wireless "fiber" closer to widespread deployment."Where the heck did this market come from and why is it here today?" David Graves, chief executive officer of Broadband...
WASHINGTON-After months of being publicly pounded on antenna siting, health concerns, unsafe cell phone drivers and blocked E-911 calls, the wireless industry is responding with an approach that relies on good corporate citizenship and uses the power of advertising to stress the public-safety benefits...
WASHINGTON-The Library of Congress may ask the Federal Communications Commission for a piece of the auction-revenue pie to promote a program to preserve TV videos.The Library of Congress in a September report proposed using spectrum auction revenue to fund video preservation. The report is...
The holiday season is just around the corner, and wireless carriers will be looking to cash in by marketing their products and services as gifts to consumers enjoying a strong economy.But another group is waiting to capitalize on wireless service during the season-fraudsters.In the...
An attorney who filed a class-action lawsuit against reseller Econopage Inc. announced he will amend that suit to include claims against paging carriers Paging Network Inc. and PageMart Wireless Inc.Econopage is the now-defunct San Jose, Calif.-based reseller that abruptly closed its doors after carriers...
Voice paging service will get another chance at success as Conxus Communications Inc. launches Pocketalk in the nation's capital and South Florida.Conxus said it launched service last week in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Fla., and in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore metropolitan area,...
