GTE Mobilnet Inc. is signing up customers in a new way, by mail order. Hello Direct Inc., which produces a catalog full of a various telecommunications and business products, will begin featuring GTE's cellular service in its Fall '96 catalog, along with several cellular...
NEW YORK-A recent concerted industrywide effort among cellular carriers has reduced churn to an estimated 2 percent to 2.5 percent per month on average. But the battle is far from over, as personal communications services and number portability could cause cellular churn to increase.Approaching...
SAN FRANCISCO-Cellular One in San Francisco, a partnership of AirTouch Communications Inc. and AT&T Wireless Services Inc., announced it is adding its own cellular long-distance service.Cellular One said customers now can receive all of their cellular charges, local air time and long distance on...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Treasury will be receiving another auction-related windfall payment sometime in the near future when the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T Corp. and the General Accounting Office decide how much money was made from the 900 number that personal communications services applicants used to...
WASHINGTON-Wireless carriers looking for relief from high interconnection costs may have to wait a bit longer before the proxy pricing suggested by the Federal Communications Commission in its recently voted interconnection order becomes a reality.GTE Corp. and the Southern New England Telephone Co. filed...
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.-Alltel Information Services Inc. has named Jeffrey Fox president and William Cravens chairman.Fox most recently served as senior vice president of business development and Cravens previously served as vice chairman and chief operating officer. Prior to joining Alltel, Fox worked in investment...
WASHINGTON-In a highly unusual case involving improper lobbying by the lawmaker who may oversee the telecommunications industry one day, the Federal Communications Commission threw out two Louisiana rural cellular licenses after ruling that a firm's reliance on wireless technology to provide fixed telephone service...
NEW YORK-Recent Securities and Exchange Commission censure of Nasdaq, a stock market that lists many wireless-related companies, is just one of several drivers of significant changes ahead for the financial services community.As already has happened in the telecommunications industry, so too will technology advances,...
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia-Motorola Inc. has bought a 38 percent stake in a joint venture company that will build a digital radio network in China. The company will use Motorola's integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network technology.Leader Universal Holdings Berhad of Penang, Malaysia, will hold a 52...
Sales strategy in the cellular business is beginning to hint of mass marketing auto-dealer style. "Free phone with activation!" is about as persuasive as, "One-thousand dollars cash back when you buy any 96'van in stock!"Granted, a free phone still may be a great deal,...
From day one, the demand for Personal Handyphone System service in Japan has astounded the world of telecommunications. After only a year in the marketplace, PHS now claims more than 3.2 million subscribers.Most surprising is that PHS was an immediate success despite the doubt...
ARLINGTON, Va.-Omnipoint Corp. announced a loss of $21.5 million, or 47 cents per share, for the second quarter ended June 30. This compares with a loss of $16.4 million, or 52 cents per share, for the same quarter last year.The company reported a loss...
Sprint Spectrum L.P. said it is facing the same problem in Oregon experienced by its personal communications services competitor, Western Wireless Corp.-an attempt by the state to tax its personal communications services license."This tax puts PCS operators at a disadvantage because incumbents aren't facing...
NEW YORK-Never mind the summer sun. When it comes to microwave incumbent relocation, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas to personal communications services providers.By late July, about two-thirds of the incumbents already "are off the system" industrywide, according to Tim Rich, manager...
WASHINGTON-The Industrial Telecommunications Association Inc. and the Personal Communications Industry Association won their fights to become designated clearinghouses that will administer the Federal Communications Commission's microwave-relocation cost-sharing plan."We are gratified that the FCC went the way it did," said Fred Day, ITA's executive director...
Free marketers are giving voice to a rising chorus of demands to privatize electromagnetic spectrum and overturn the 60-year-old regulatory regime enshrined at the Federal Communications Commission.At its heart, the debate is about whether a system of centralized planning created in the "vacuum tube"...
ZK Celltest Inc. announced narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service measurement capability on the ZK-SAM/DX, a system access monitor. The company said the device interfaces with Motorola Inc.'s MicroTac dual-mode NAMPS phone and displays and collects NAMPS and enhanced AMPS call processing data. The DX...
WASHINGTON-Following the formal release Aug. 8 of intricate interconnection rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission, incumbent local exchange carriers will have nine months following any request for interconnection from a commercial mobile radio services carrier to resolve any differences and to begin providing...
During the next five years, personal communications services are poised to make a significant advance over cellular telephone services, offering more versatile handsets, higher quality digital connections, far greater call completion and a focus on non-automobile mobility, according to a new monograph from Deloitte...
Celcore Inc. won a second patent for its Hybrid MicroSystem technology, which enables cellular operators to implement "underlay" microcellular systems in the same coverage areas as existing cellular networks."As wireless service becomes more ubiquitous and competitive, the need for higher capacity, better coverage and...
The likelihood of lower interconnection charges is good news for cellular operators, but a telecommunications economist warns the industry not to "pop the cork" on that bottle of champagne yet."There's a bit of a road ahead before the carriers find out what the cost...
CTIA President Tom Wheeler called it the biggest issue facing the wireless industry in 1996. Last Thursday, he simply said, "Hooray."The Federal Communications Commission revamped interconnect agreements last week as part of sweeping rule changes aimed at bringing competition to the local exchange.For the...
NEW YORK-Advanced Radio Telecom Corp., a 38 GHz provider of wireless local loop service, announced Aug. 1 it had pulled a planned initial public offering of common stock and a concurrent debt issue."We are postponing both issues pending improved market conditions," said Thomas A....
Wireless analysts say cellular carriers have two distinct goals in releasing a barrage of pricing plans at this time. Get as many customers on contract as possible, and confuse the consumer to avoid price comparisons."Now is the time for cellular operators to lock customers...
