WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission's adoption last week of a sweeping local-competition docket at best opens the door for some wireless carriers to become true head-to-head competitors with local exchange carriers, and at least will help lower prices wireless carriers and subscribers pay for service.Aug....
NEW YORK-At a coverage cost of $7 per population equivalent-one-tenth the cost of cellular-satellite communications promise $300 million in cash flow for each 1 percent of market penetration.That is one aspect of a positive outlook on wireless satellite telecommunications offered by Robert B. Kaimowitz,...
Enhanced services deliver greater convenience, mobility and security to cellular customers, but how much value these "value-adds" provide carriers is uncertain.Depending on the sophistication and expandability of the platform, enhanced services can be expensive for carriers to implement in their networks. But customers who...
Not wanting to be elbowed aside by rival new suitors, cellular carriers are beginning to serenade subscribers with their own chorus of "Digital! Digital! Digital!"But unlike emerging personal communications services networks that are digital by design, incumbent cellular carriers have some unexpected leeway in...
LOS ANGELES-Celsat America Inc. has entered into an agreement with Hughes Space and Communications Co. as a potential supplier for the Celsat geosynchronous telecommunications satellite system to serve the United States.Celsat said it plans to use a stationary satellite to provide low cost personal...
American Technologies Inc. announced the availability of the MicroTracker remote tracking module, a vehicle location system that combines a global positioning system receiver, radio transceiver and radio frequency modem in one unit. ATI said the module can be easily installed in trailers, cars, boats,...
From Wall Street to Main Street, the outlook for the cellular industry remains positive, especially for major players abroad and minor players at home that exploit markets with lower competition and penetration levels.The new Telecommunications Act has unleashed forces that could transform the entire...
Cellular One of Washington, D.C./Baltimore is introducing an off-the-shelf, no-contract cellular service package called Speak Easy.The package costs about $200, includes Motorola Inc.'s TeleTac phone and a free one-year subscription for analog cellular service. The monthly access charge is about $15 thereafter.Calls made within...
The prospect of taking SkyTel 2-Way messaging service from a workable technology to a marketplace product is at the crux of John Stupka's new role as president and chief executive officer of paging giant Mtel.In taking the helm at Mobile Telecommunication Technologies Corp., Stupka...
WASHINGTON-Principals of the Code Division Multiple Access advocate North American Wireless Inc. are deep in discussions to decide if the organization has a future in the personal communications services arena. Some top personnel already have departed for other jobs.While touting its success during the...
PCS eyes cable TV's lineCompetitive times call for innovation.During the energy crunch of the mid-1980s, The Williams Cos. of Tulsa, Okla., wanted to take advantage of its unused gas pipelines. The company ran fiber optic cable through its pipes and marketed it to telecommunications...
Nokia Mobile Phones announced it has teamed with computer manufacturer Psion to enable wireless users to send and receive short messages over a Global System for Mobile communications-based PCS-1900 network using a Nokia PCS phone, Psion's palmtop computer and Palmtop BV's Messenger software. Messenger...
Sales and marketing practices in the wireless communications industry are substandard and could cause carriers worldwide to lose as much as a third of their revenues to new competitors over the next three years, according to a new global benchmarking study from Andersen Consulting.For...
PCS eyes cable TV's lineCompetitive times call for innovation.During the energy crunch of the mid-1980s, The Williams Cos. of Tulsa, Okla., wanted to take advantage of its unused gas pipelines. The company ran fiber optic cable through its pipes and marketed it to telecommunications...
Alerting all couch potatoes, VideoGuide Inc.'s state-of-the-art television enhancement service delivers real-time news and information, wirelessly, and is a seven-day TV program guide and one-touch VCR recording device all in one.VideoGuide's Bedford, Mass., computer facility receives news, weather and sports information, compresses it and...
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint Spectrum L.P. will deploy Cincinnati Bell Information Systems' Precedent 2000 Wireless Business Management Solution for its personal communications services network.Sprint Spectrum said it has signed a five-year contract with CBIS that also covers providing CBIS' Precedent 2000 to Sprint Spectrum affiliate...
U.K. wireless operator Orange plc claimed victory last week after a High Court judge dismissed a complaint made by Vodafone Group plc following the launch of a comparative ad campaign by Orange."It's good to win the court case, but it was absurd to be...
Equipment manufacturers with contracts to build personal communications services networks are more than rushed to get those systems up-they're in an all-out run, said a business leader with a company interested in joining the race.Artecon builds rackmounts and creates integrated workstations, in most cases...
IRVING, Texas-NEC America announced its intent to introduce its first personal Air Communications Technology paging device for mass market development in 1997.The pACT protocol is a new and advanced two-way messaging standard with an Internet protocol open architecture for narrowband personal communications services. NEC...
WASHINGTON-Tucked quietly away in the House commerce appropriations bill last week was a Clinton administration-inspired fund into which intelligence and law enforcement agencies can contribute to reimburse wireless and wireline carriers that modify their networks to comply with a 1994 wiretap law.That the GOP-led...
NEW YORK-Electric utilities are taking a close look at wireless communications as a means to enhance revenues and operating efficiencies in their recently deregulated and competitive business environment.A variety of wireless opportunities and applications are under review or newly in use among electric power...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is crafting a politically correct auction plan that would convert TV broadcast spectrum into a launching pad for new wireless telecommunications services.The initiative, briefly mentioned by FCC Chairman Reed Hundt at a Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing last week and...
In efforts to capture a broad range of consumer users, cellular carriers and equipment providers are stepping up marketing and advertising efforts to include glossy paper and primetime TV.The advertising boon arises from a climate of intensifying competition among cellular and personal communications service...
TORRANCE, Calif.-Telemobile Inc. has joined with Belgium-based Telkon N.V. to provide a series of wireless products for what it calls the Wireless Rural Loop."While the rapidly growing urban cellular radio markets have reduced the need for additional methods of wireless telecommunications in the cities,...
