WASHINGTON-Cellular carriers have mounted an all-out assault on the Federal Communications Commission to get more spectrum."Spectrum is the `life blood' of wireless services. But not all radio-frequency spectrum is equally useful or suitable. Spectrum-management policies determine the `rule of the game;' that is, who...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission has reduced by one penny the amount of regulatory fees commercial mobile radio services carriers must pay to 30 cents per unit."Clearly the FCC is recognizing the growth of the wireless industry. This growth reflects the downward trend in the...
WASHINGTON-Thomas Sugrue, chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, has begun preparing for the likelihood that many mobile-phone carriers will not meet upcoming deadlines governing location-based 911 wireless emergency service rules.Meanwhile, Sugrue and his staff are mired in other prickly 911 policy issues dealing...
WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association plans to file documents this week asking a federal court to allow it to join in a lawsuit that could have a substantial impact on antenna sitings near historic properties.The lawsuit goes to the heart of the process carriers...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, seeking to foster better public understanding of controversial wireless health issues, will require beginning Aug. 1 that all mobile phones seeking certification include radiation exposure data.CTIA's board of directors approved the policy at its June meeting, though the trade...
WASHINGTON-John Stanton, chairman and chief executive officer of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and Western Wireless Corp., was named chairman of the board of directors of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.Stanton served as chairman of CTIA from 1998 to 1999, and will replace former CTIA chairman...
Not many 44-year-olds can put on their resum, that they built a nationwide wireless business from the ground up with a capital infrastructure budget larger than the Boston freeway project. Nor can many people boast that they successfully brought their company to the public...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry, breaking with the public-safety community, last week urged the Federal Communications Commission to scrap efforts to improve technical capabilities of 911-only mobile phones donated to charitable organizations and instead recommended an educational campaign to tackle the problem of phones without call-back...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission's decision last week to encourage rather than mandate band-clearing arrangements at 700 MHz could be moot if a powerful lawmaker's plan to get high-speed access to the Internet is approved.The FCC said late Thursday it will presume arrangements between broadcasters...
WASHINGTON-Andrew Sukawaty, president and chief operating officer of Sprint PCS and recently installed chairman of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, said Friday he is leaving the nationwide mobile-phone carrier to pursue a new, unnamed opportunity."This is the fourth start-up venture in which I've been...
WASHINGTON-The mobile-phone research pact between the Food and Drug Administration and the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association has come under attack by the former chairman of the leading Canadian wireless association, adding fuel to a controversy that could become mired in litigation soon.In a June...
Fires, floods, avalanches, carjackings. Disaster at every turn. This is everyday Americana?Yes, according to CTIA head Tom Wheeler at last week's CTIA's Wireless Foundation Awards dinner honoring 51 VITA Award winners. (OK, Wheeler didn't say it exactly that way.)Wheeler was praising-as well he should-51...
WASHINGTON-The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, challenged with increased use of mobile phones, navigation systems, the Internet and other technologies in vehicles, will hold meetings the next two months on digital distractions and how to curb dangers they pose to drivers.The first forum on...
WASHINGTON-A Federal Communications Commission ruling on liability could be issued within weeks, with the completion of a staff proposal that is expected to steer clear of specific litigation issues and instead provide general guidance for state courts evaluating consumer claims against wireless carriers."Our goal...
The prospect of calling party pays looks like a dying one in the United States, as the Federal Communications Commission appears to be backing away from the issue, and many wonder if the service is needed in light of nationwide rate plans.The wireless industry...
WASHINGTON-Peter Angelos, the wealthy Baltimore lawyer and Democratic Party benefactor, said he will decide by early summer whether to file a class-action lawsuit against the wireless industry for alleged health-related injuries from mobile phones."We have compiled a multitude of information and probably the next...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association kicked off Wireless Safety Week last week with an emphasis on driver safety.The association focused on different wireless safety aspects each day of the week.CTIA and its member companies launched a national drive-time radio campaign focused on driver safety.In...
WASHINGTON-A divided Federal Trade Commission last week said industry self-regulation of Internet privacy was a failure and called on Congress to legislate consumer safeguards, an action that immediately drew criticism from high-tech advocates and further underscored the prospect for new government regulation of wireless...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry received a stinging rebuke Thursday about its lack of action on a Federal Communications Commission item that could increase the amount of money wireless customers pay into the universal-service fund."I have been shocked at how timid and placid the wireless industry...
Nextlink Communications Inc. said it is beginning field trials in Boston and Dallas of consecutive-point broadband wireless access technology that is expected to be used to extend Nextlink's local fiber networks. Consecutive-point technology essentially forms wireless sub-rings within the 20- to 40-square-mile area that...
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association likes to talk about safety. And why not? Thousands of 911 calls from mobile phones are made every day, millions each year. No doubt countless lives have been saved and serious injury averted by a device CTIA President Thomas...
Noting more than 100,000 calls are placed every day to 911 from wireless phones, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association has recognized May 22-28 as "Wireless Safety Week," with an emphasis placed on awarding Good Samaritans who have used their wireless phones to help others."The...
On the heels of press reports that the British government soon will require mobile phones to carry health warnings, a Swedish team of medical investigators released findings from a new study that resurrects concerns about links between brain tumors and cellular phones.In the report,...
WASHINGTON-The cellular industry and leaders of state and local government groups took to the road last week with their efforts to pass legislation to mandate that wireless subscribers be taxed based on a single address.This time, they took their message before the House Judiciary...
