Less than a year after A- and B-block personal communications services licenses were awarded by the Federal Communications Commission, the PCS industry is entering a new phase of horse trading.GTE Mobilnet Inc. has agreed to sell its broadband PCS license for the Denver major...
Taiwan's new telecommunications law will give wireless companies the chance to break into that country's communications market, but a 20 percent ownership limit may disappoint some businesses.Taiwan is making liberalization strides in hopes of becoming an Asia-Pacific regional operations center, as well as fulfilling...
WASHINGTON-After five years of research and development, and three tries on the keypad, the inaugural call on American Mobile Satellite Corp.'s SkyCell satellite telephone service was made Jan. 24 between a Red Cross flood-disaster site in Harrisburg, Pa., and Washington, D.C."Five years ago, I...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission, one of the government agencies GOP lawmakers beat up on much of 1995, could be brought to its knees this year if stalled budget talks collapse completely and Republican congressional leaders shift to a strategy of fully funding programs they...
Rural Cellular Corp. hopes to raise about $30 million in an initial public offering of common stock that could occur as early as this month. The IPO would make the company one of the few rural wireless telecommunications companies to have gone public.Based in...
The cellular industry has taken numerous steps to package cellular for the mass consumer retail market, but a small gap remains between the industry's effort and the complicated process to activate a phone."Mass merchants are a substantial opportunity for everyone to make this business...
God weighed in on the budget debate between Congress and the Clinton administration last week, dumping two feet of snow on the nation's capital shortly after negotiators agreed to end the record three-week government shutdown they engineered."You want a government shutdown," the Great One...
Wanting to leave no market unserved in the new age of pocket telephony, Pacific Bell Mobile Services said it will introduce a personal communications services telephone that offers a dual mode for roaming on analog cellular networks."We're committed to doing it," said Garrison Macri,...
There may well be a vast geographic and cultural divide between Russia and the United States, but Mikhail Bogdanov, owner of Moscow-based EcoSoft GTCO, said he is impressed by the fact participants in the C-block auction for personal communications services face many of the...
Bidders seeking C-block personal communications services licenses will bring mixed sentiments to the table tomorrow, when the Federal Communications Commission plans to resume the auction."The way this is being handled is absolutely ludicrous," exclaimed Hank Lucas of Houston-based Texas PCS Inc. He is furious...
Bell Communications Research Inc. and Unisys Corp. have joined together to help fight what once was simple theft but increasingly is becoming a carrier service nightmare-telephone fraud.The companies formed a strategic alliance to integrate Bellcore's new NetMavin suite of Signaling System 7 link monitoring...
Even though the personal communications services auctions are designed to make money for the government, some entrepreneurs are finding their own ways to financially benefit from the auctions-by packaging auction information.Several engineering and wireless service groups have joined the business of auctions by offering...
The worldwide market for wireless online transaction terminals and systems is forecast to grow from $487 million in 1995 to $1.9 billion by 1999, with wireless partially displacing wireline for a greater share of the overall OLTT market, according to a new study from...
NEW YORK-Industry analysts remain confident in the outlook for Nokia Corp., despite the mid-December drubbing its American Depository Receipts took after the Finnish electronics manufacturer announced poor profit performance in its sales of mobile phones in the United States and televisions in Europe.By the...
NEW YORK-For successful bidders in the government's C-block auction for personal communications services, "the good news is you've got a license; the bad news is you've got a license." So said Norman C. Frost, Jr., managing director at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., sounding...
HUNT VALLEY, Md.-Private carriers are not the only entities wrestling with an uncertain competitive future. Dealers from large to small are wondering what role they will continue to play as the communications arena and customer needs change daily.At a recent gathering at the headquarters...
WASHINGTON-A government plan for personal communications services licensees to share microwave relocation costs has received qualified support from both carriers and fixed users, while providing the two warring factions a public forum to continue fighting.The Federal Communications Commission's proposal would enable initially licensed PCS...
WASHINGTON-In a bold speech with profound and far-reaching policy implications, new Federal Communications Commission Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Michele Farquhar said she will pursue policies to help wireless carriers compete not only with each other but with local landline telephone companies as well."My main...
Ameritech Corp. announced it has formed a consortium with Singapore Telecom and Tele Danmark to pursue a partnership with Belgacom S.A., the national telecommunications operator in Belgium. The Belgian government this summer selected Ameritech as a final bidder for the consolidation of Belgacom. The...
WASHINGTON-Congress, in the face of an impending veto and resumed fighting with the White House over government spending that could lead to another government shutdown next week, approved a Republican balanced budget bill that would raise $14 billion over the next seven years by...
With plans to offer commercial tracking services in North America in February, Orbcomm Global L.P. has two satellites in orbit and is beta testing its global data-only communication system.The Dulles, Va.-based company is licensed to create a 34-satellite system to provide worldwide data and...
SAN MATEO, Calif.-RadioMail Corp. said it is taking new initiatives to extend and enhance its two-way gateway messaging service for both cellular carriers and its own subscribers.The San Mateo, Calif.-based company announced a new suite of Message Center services to enable cellular carriers to...
A new study issued by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration said wireless telephone service may be a desirable alternative to wireline service in some rural areas because of cost factors.The report, which analyzed a range of telecom services, concluded that distance and low...
WASHINGTON-The future is here.Vice President Al Gore, father of the information superhighway, christened the broadband personal communications services industry with a call to Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke Nov. 15 on the Sprint Spectrum system operated by American Personal Communications."I'm proud to speak to you...
