CTIA

BALTIMORE-Statistics have shown that some 70 percent of calls made to 911 operators have nothing to do with life-or-death situations. People have been trained to call the number to gain immediate access to someone who may or may not be …

WASHINGTON-Lockheed Elementary School in Marietta, Ga., became the 100th school involved in the ClassLink program, which evolved from a challenge issued by U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich to the wireless industry at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s annual convention more …

DENVER-CommNet Cellular Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Arnold C. Pohs has been elected chairman of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the wireless industry’s trade association. “Throughout the past 14 years as the wireless industry has come into its own, …

WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt has informed Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) that decisions are nearing on key wireless petitions seeking relief from antenna siting moratoria and taxation through federal pre-emption of state and local regulations. In …

WASHINGTON-In a January 1993 article, a year-and-a-half before joining the Federal Communications Commission, then-attorney Rachelle Chong laid out what has turned out to be a model defense of cellular phone-cancer lawsuits. Chong, in a paper titled “Zap, Crackle, Pop” delivered …

WASHINGTON-Ed Jose, winner of this year’s VITA*award for Crimestopper from the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, couldn’t be on hand to accept his award last week in Washington. He was testifying in the kidnapping case he helped solve, the case for …

BOSTON-The New England Journal of Medicine published an article last week that says wireless phones can disrupt heart pacemakers but do not pose health risks-findings that are not new. Detecting interference between wireless phones and pacemakers has been established in …

The applications for this year’s VITA Awards are in and the winners will be honored during the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s Wireless Safety Week, May 19-25. Vita is the Latin word for life. The contest is divided into four categories: …

Not so fast. Senate communications subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burns (R-Mont.). has asked Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) to put Clinton’s nomination of Joel Klein to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division on hold. Seems that Burns, who’s become more …

WASHINGTON-Assistant FBI Director James Kallstrom accused Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association President Thomas Wheeler of making false and misleading statements to Congress about the agency’s role in implementing the 1994 digital wiretap law, and suggested the wireless industry’s lack of cooperation …

WASHINGTON-An Illinois judge last week ruled that personal injury claims in product liability lawsuits against cellular telephone manufacturers can proceed, but dismissed conspiracy charges against the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, former CTIA spokesman Ron Nessen and Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. …

The cellular industry joined Ellen and the Clinton administration last week, volunteering to come out as a consumer advocate. That’s right, CTIA joined the fight against aggressive driving-this coming from the people who champion the car phones that irresponsible drivers …

WASHINGTON-Local government officials have lashed out at Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt over letters he sent to them questioning antenna siting moratoria they have imposed. “It is extremely disconcerting that a federal official charged with regulating the communications industry …

WASHINGTON-Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) last week launched a congressional investigation into the Food and Drug Administration’s oversight of the struggling cancer research program funded by the cellular telephone industry, a move that signals renewed congressional interest in the controversial issue. …

NEW YORK-Amid an expanding arsenal of competing fraud detection and prevention options, just two radio frequency fingerprinting companies have staked out a potentially lucrative niche in the analog cellular arena. Cloning, the illegal interception and reuse of a legitimate cellular …

Dear Editor: Any fair assessment of the “unraveling” of Wireless Technology Research’s research program on health effects of radio frequency fields requires consideration of the goals it set out to reach. Unlike a chemical company with a new product, the …

WASHINGTON-Margaret Tutwiler was appointed senior vice president of public affairs and communications for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Her responsibilities at CTIA will include oversight of the group’s communications and public affairs activities including the CTIA Foundation, CTIA’s website and …

WASHINGTON-A key hearing in Illinois state court early next month could determine whether a major case proceeds in which consumers claim cellular pocket phones cause brain cancer and accuse pocket phone companies of conspiring with the industry-funded bioeffects research group …

If one were to ask Congress for a written transcript of the Feb. 2, 1993, Capitol Hill briefing on alleged health risks from portable wireless phones, the reply would be that it doesn’t exist. The omission speaks volumes-figuratively and literally-about …

WASHINGTON-House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.), reacting to continuing thefts on the information superhighway, is expected this spring to sponsor comprehensive legislation that bolsters wireless privacy and security. The coming Tauzin bill will likely serve as a companion to …

A Minnesota cryptographer said the cellular industry knows the cryptographic algorithms used in U.S. cellular digital systems are inadequate and were watered down by U.S. military pressure-and the industry is trying to hide that information. Bruce Schneier, president of Counterpane …

WASHINGTON-The Food and Drug Administration, citing industry funding limitations, recommended the struggling wireless industry-funded bioeffects research program be redirected to give lifetime animal exposure studies highest priority and to expand scientific investigation beyond brain cancer to other diseases. But WTR …

When confronted with the question of why there is no radio frequency radiation bioeffects research after four years and $15 million, embattled Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. head Dr. George Carlo passionately replies that his critics-those in the wireless industry and …

Motorola counters research memo Dear Editor: I would like to take strong exception to the tone and substance of RCR’s March 3 article on Motorola’s 1994 response to biological research conducted at the University of Washington by Drs. Henry Lai …

NEW YORK-A bill that would mandate hands-free cellular phone use while driving cleared the Executive Committee of the Illinois General Assembly March 12 and now goes to the full house. The vote was 10-4, said State Representative Robert Bugielski, a …