LOS ANGELES-Ever since PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. launched service in 11 markets last month, many Code Division Multiple Access proponents believe the technology has passed its first test-widespread deployment. Now the challenge, most say, will be for carriers to maintain high voice quality while...
A Seattle company has created model legislation that wireless carriers can use to convince state legislators to create a dedicated wireless E-911 fund administered at the state level."We have met with numerous carriers and there is a feeling that the state-level fund is the...
Less than a year since licenses were awarded, PCS is live in Canada.Microcell Telecommunications Inc. turned on its personal communications services network in Montreal and is offering service at low rates.The Montreal-based company is targeting the mass market with its wireless service, branded Fido....
220 MHz operator US MobilComm Inc. said the conversion to digital technology by Nextel Communications Inc. is offering MobilComm a tremendous opportunity to capture customers.US MobilComm recently rolled out 220 MHz specialized mobile radio service over 50 channels in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore, Md., market....
The transition from analog to digital handsets in the United States is finally taking off, says a new study published by Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd."After four years of false starts, the U.S. digital transition is finally underway," said Jane Zweig, senior vice president of...
FORT WORTH, Texas-Uniden Corp. has formed a subsidiary, The Private Radio Communications Group, to specialize in research and development, manufacturing and sales of private mobile radio and specialized mobile radio products. Uniden said it created the group to better serve the needs of its...
SEATTLE-Toll Free Cellular has announced plans for national expansion of its #800 free cellular calling services.The national expansion is propelled by an infusion of capital, provided primarily by limited partnerships affiliated with Goldman, Sachs & Co., and supported by agreements with a number of...
WASHINGTON-Neither federal regulators nor lawmakers are likely to approve sweeping pre-emption of local-state taxation of wireless licenses, according to sources, but policymakers could strike down discriminatory levies on a case-by-case basis or make technical changes in the law to accomplish the same on a...
A Massachusetts-based company has developed two lightning protection devices specifically for wireless networks that can be retrofitted into existing systems.M/A-Com Inc. of Lowell, Mass., develops and manufactures radio integrated circuits, passive and control devices, antennas, cables and interconnects. The company has manufacturing facilities worldwide...
Lucent Technologies Inc. has agreed to finance infrastructure equipment for NextWave Telecom Inc., in a deal the companies value at $200 million for the first two years.Lucent will not receive an equity position for the investment. Payment terms will run for a number of...
WASHINGTON-NextWave Personal Communications Inc. categorically denied it surpassed the federal rules regarding foreign ownership caps and outside control in a letter answering questions regarding its fitness to become a personal communications services licensee.In an effort to clear up the award of the remaining C-block...
I've noted before that vendors of the personal Air Communications Technology protocol-one of the newest contenders for two-way paging and messaging systems, and being implemented by AT&T Wireless Services Inc. over its nationwide two-way channels-have their work cut out for them since Motorola Inc.'s...
WASHINGTON-Commenters on both sides of the issue regarding the Federal Communications Commission's proposal to kill its finder's preference programs have one thing in common-their arguments all come down to money.Many of those who oppose the commission's plan first to do away with the preference...
WASHINGTON-Despite recent findings that some Federal Communications Commission employees have been using commission-owned cellular phones for their personal use at taxpayer expense, apparently none will be charged for hundreds of dollars of non-business calls made between October 1995 and May 1996.At the beginning of...
Dialing 911 is an automatic response in a crisis. But what if the emergency call is placed on a cellular car phone and the signal drops?Mobile Security Communications Inc. of Atlanta, Ga., said its new CarCop vehicle and passenger safety system, which uses cellular...
Mike Lorelli will resign as president and chief executive officer of MobileMedia Corp., the latest in a chain of events that has shareholders, industry and Wall Street wary of the company's future.Lorelli, who was hired in September, said he opted to leave the company,...
Several C-block licensees are questioning the 7 percent interest rate used by the Federal Communications Commission in payment plan notes, but the government stands behind the figure.The difference between a rate of 6.5 percent and 7 percent is significant for licensees that owe hundreds...
As the worldwide debate rages on whether pocket phones are linked to adverse health effects, some groups are attempting to capitalize on the issue.Within the next few months, two companies will introduce devices in the United States, Europe and other countries designed to limit...
"The debate on CDMA is over, folks," declared Jerry Butters, an executive with Lucent Technologies Inc., last week when PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. launched 1900 MHz service in 11 major trading areas.It was the most comprehensive launch of both personal communications services and Code...
WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission statistics released Nov. 14, as of Round 109, show only one entrepreneur classified as a small business had dropped out of the current personal communications services auction along with 10 entrepreneurs in the "very small business" niche.The small-business players have accounted...
Using the existing Ardis two-way data network, ConectUS Wireless Communications of Thousand Oaks, Calif., plans to launch two-way nationwide messaging services next month, initially targeting business users.ConectUS is a subsidiary of Executive Page, which is an Ardis master reseller and distributor of products for...
LONDON-The wireless market in the Asia-Pacific region is surpassing fixed telephony, according to CIT Research Ltd. Despite demand for more landline telephones in the area, CIT said overall market penetration of lines is only 6 percent, compared with 48 percent in Europe.In its study...
NEW YORK-Omnipoint Communications Inc. opened for business Nov. 14, but a full-scale promotional campaign for its first personal communications services network-in the New York City metropolitan area-won't start for another week or so.By then, roaming will be possible in portions of Southern California, the...
WASHINGTON-Almost by default, GTE Corp.'s Government Systems division was awarded the General Services Administration's eight-year post-FTS2000 federal wireless telecommunications services contract Nov. 12.Current FTS2000 service providers Sprint Corp. and AT&T Corp. bowed out of the process earlier this year, citing hardcore problems with contract...
