WASHINGTON-While President Clinton and FCC Chairman William Kennard called on federal agencies, broadcasters and others to take steps to free up spectrum for third-generation wireless services, allegations surfaced last week that the administration lobbied against legislation that could have accomplished the same thing and...
WASHINGTON-The Supreme Court, confronted with four appeals challenging the Federal Communications Commission's mobile-phone radiation standard and congressional intervention, last week granted the government's request for more time to respond to lawsuits seeking to have the high court hear their cases.Petitions for certiorari, filed by...
A hue and cry went up among Clinton-Gore Democratics and political pundits when it surfaced that NBC and Fox would not carry the first debate between GOP and Democratic presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore, respectively, last Tuesday night. Was there outrage...
Verizon Wireless turned the industry on its ear last week, announcing plans to support legislation in Illinois that would ban cell-phone use while driving unless the caller is using a hands-free device.The decision is "in direct response to the political situation in Illinois and...
CHICAGO-Was last week's Personal Communications Industry Association GlobalXChange show a success?It depends on who you ask. While some exhibitors complained loudly about the lack of traffic, others said they received more attention since some traditional large vendors opted out of the show.Before the event,...
WASHINGTON-From the beginning, the stickiest issue with the implementation of wireless enhanced 911 has been who would pay for what and when.This issue has come to the forefront again as wireless carriers urged the Federal Communications Commission on Sept. 18 to reject a proposal...
WASHINGTON-A Motorola Inc. technician who was a mobile-phone trouble shooter for 10 years plans shortly to sue Motorola Inc. and possibly others for allegedly causing his brain cancer. The man went on disability last fall after being diagnosed with a potentially deadly brain tumor...
WASHINGTON-Telecom firms-including those with major wireless properties-have contributed nearly $18 million so far in soft money in the 2000 election cycle, according to a new report.Overall, Common Cause said the telecom industry ranked second only to Wall Street in this season of record, unregulated...
WASHINGTON-With worries in some quarters that America will lose the third-generation mobile- phone market to Europe and Asia, the blame game has begun.Leading the finger-pointing is John Stanton, chief executive officer of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and chairman of the Cellular Telecom-munications Industry Association.Stanton, addressing...
Time was when stock options were a big deal, the stuff of digital dreams. Overnight millionaires and billionaires everywhere. But, as we're learning, stock options can be a pain when associated with questions of conflict of interest. It's a dilemma for GOP vice presidential...
WASHINGTON-With Congress back at work for a fall legislative session that will be cut short by the 2000 presidential election, several key bills of interest to the wireless industry remain in play.The GOP-led Congress, among other things, is anxious to repeal the 3-percent federal...
While the United States claimed victory in securing global frequency bands for 3G mobile-phone service during the World Radiocomm-unication Conference earlier this year, the process of allocating that spectrum could become a nightmare for the U.S. wireless industry.The U.S. delegation during May's WRC-2000 accomplished...
There is a great disconnect in the wireless industry. Whether it's mismanagement, industry hype, flawed law, Wall Street greed-or some combination of the above-is unclear. But it doesn't matter. The losers will be consumers, rank-and-file investors and pension funds.To illustrate this disconnect, take a...
WASHINGTON-The world's top mobile-phone manufacturers have agreed to include radiation data with new phones, a move that comes as suspicion has increased about whether wireless devices cause brain cancer.The vendors-Finland's Nokia Corp., Sweden's L.M. Ericsson and U.S.-based Motorola Inc.-said radiation information will not be...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week rescinded its previously announced plan to make wireless carriers pay an additional $7.3 million in regulatory fees."We're very happy that the FCC acted so quickly to correct their public notice and rescind the fees," said Michael F. Altschul,...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said it will vigorously enforce wireless radiation safety rules that go into effect later this week."We are serious about this and will be checking," said Robert Cleveland, the FCC's expert on radio-frequency exposure rules. Cleveland said the FCC will conduct...
Score one for the wireless industry. The D.C. Federal Court of Appeals last week ruled that the Federal Communications Commission must use a narrower legal standard in interpreting the Communications for Law Enforcement Act, a 1994 digital wiretap law designed to help law-enforcement officers...
WASHINGTON-A ruling last week from a federal appeals court allowing for law enforcement to obtain cell-site information without a court order means the issue of law enforcement using mobile phones as tracking devices could be hotly debated by Congress when it returns next month...
WASHINGTON-The Baltimore law firm that earlier this month filed a mobile-phone cancer lawsuit against several wireless firms and two industry trade associations is expected to file additional lawsuits as early as this week, according to sources. The lawsuits could be filed in Georgia and...
The issue of mobile-phone radiation and its possible link to cancer became even more garbled last week as the Australian Consumers Association released a study in its Choice magazine, claiming hands-free kits dramatically reduce the amount of electromagnetic radiation exposure to the brain.These findings...
ROCKVILLE, Md.-The inaugural meeting of a government-industry task force formed to examine the health effects of radio-frequency exposure listed a variety of studies to be conducted that could cost as much as $10 million."All of the studies we have been talking about here have...
WASHINGTON-President Clinton on Friday signed into law legislation that mandates wireless subscribers be taxed based on a single address.The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, which had lobbied for the legislation, hailed the event."Instead of a mish-mash of different jurisdictional claims that confuse wireless consumers, there...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the Wireless Data Forum and NetRatings Inc. have joined forces to study the impact of advertising on the wireless Internet.There has been much speculation about the potential efficacy of advertising on the wireless Internet, said CTIA."A number of important...
WASHINGTON-The argument over which trade association should represent the wireless data industry could peak next September when two large trade shows overlap.The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's Wireless IT show is set for Sept. 10-12, 2001, in San Diego. The Personal Communications Industry Association's GlobalXChange...
