Deutsche Telekom's recent acquisition of U.S.-based GSM operator VoiceStream Wireless Corp. again showed the ever-shrinking nature of the wireless industry. Including United Kingdom-based Vodafone Group plc's partial ownership stake in Verizon Wireless and Japan's NTT DoCoMo's interest in AT&T Wireless Services Inc., international telecommunications...
Microsoft Corp.'s competitors are calling the attention of anti-trust authorities to the company's new initiative .NET as the software player's latest strategy to extend its monopoly.Analysts think that, in spite of the antitrust lawsuit still pending in the U.S. appeals court against Microsoft, the...
While seven-digit numbers are usually reserved for a company's bottom line or telephone number, the seven digits in 6,219,694are of extra importance to Canadian-based wireless messaging company Research In Motion Ltd. Those seven numbers represents the patent issued to the company last week from...
Telecommunications provider McLeodUSA Inc. sold two of its personal communications services licenses and entered into agreements to sell the remainder of its PCS licenses to four buyers for more than $100 million. The buyers include U.S. Cellular Corp., TeleCorp PCS, HickoryTech Corp. and Midwest...
WASHINGTON-The law firm of Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, which earlier this year took control of an $800 million mobile phone-brain cancer lawsuit, has joined forces with attorneys in a New Orleans class-action case against the wireless industry seeking to force equipment manufacturers to...
Wireless industry insiders increasingly seem to be making the case that governments should consider "rebates" to carriers that bid too much money at spectrum auctions for third-generation wireless services. While they make some strong points, one has to wonder how many times this issue...
The traditional paging industry is dead, many analysts and paging veterans agree. But there is an escape route for the few companies left fighting, though many industry observers agree more consolation will take place and not everyone will make it to greener pastures.The recent...
WASHINGTON-Spectrum-management policy looms large on the agenda of a key lawmaker even as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission says he will not comment on the policy initiatives of either Capitol Hill or the Bush administration.That is not to say that Michael...
NEW YORK-A host of players behind the scenes is pulling the complex strings required to amplify and simplify the end-user experience with billing and customer relationship management for the increasing variety of wireless services.With six or seven operators in each major market, price no...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry last week suffered two stunning legal setbacks in health-related litigation, capped by the decision of wealthy Baltimore superlawyer Peter Angelos to take control of an $800 million mobile phone-cancer lawsuit in Maryland.It was an unprecedented week that left the industry in...
Despite recent studies pointing the other way, a tumor of doubt still remains as to whether the use of cellular phones can cause cancer.Two new studies, one sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the other by the American Health Foundation, last week confirmed...
WASHINGTON-A major personal injury lawsuit is expected to be filed this week in Illinois against Motorola Inc. and possibly others by a former technician with the company who claims his brain tumor was caused by mobile-phone radiation.The suit, the second in the past four...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme Court, confronted with four appeals challenging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mobile-phone radiation standard and congressional intervention, in October granted the government's request for more time to respond to lawsuits seeking to have the high court hear their cases.Petitions for certiorari,...
SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Here we go again.After 10 years of asking the question, we finally have an answer."Everybody has been asking when wireless data is going to come," said Tom Wheeler, CTIA president and chief executive officer, at the closing keynote of the organization's Wireless...
Lucent Technologies Inc.'s slow and steady slide from Wall Street darling to Wall Street doldrums accelerated last week when the company issued a profit warning that triggered several downgrades and sent its stock plummeting to a new 52-week low.The company said it expects earnings...
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...
WASHINGTON-The Industrial Telecommunications Association put Nextel Communications Inc. and Pegasus Guard Band L.L.C. on notice Friday that the private wireless association will "watch very closely" to ensure the enhanced specialized mobile radio carrier and the digital broadcast satellite provider play by the rules as...
An emerging collection of technical standards promises to change forever the way marketers do their jobs by automating how businesses interact.The question is: Will this automation cut marketers out of the mix?One of the most recent and important proposed standards is called universal description, discovery...
WASHINGTON-In danger of losing its funding, the Texas state commission with authority over 911 implementation is blaming the wireless industry because the commission did not meet a state-mandated target.As of Aug. 31 (the state-mandated deadline) wireless enhanced 911 Phase I service had been deployed...
The mainstream media's honeymoon with WAP technology ended long ago, but the relationship has deteriorated so much lately that the entire affair seems ready for marriage counseling. One reason for the discord is media has a new mistress-iMode.While the press and analysts have largely...
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...
DUBLIN, Ireland-After decades of tight state control, Eastern European telecommunications markets are waking up to the reality of telecommunications liberalization.But even though many of these countries accept that liberalization will have to proceed more rapidly, the process is not without frustrations for potential new...
WASHINGTON-Senate Judiciary Committee members last week voiced serious concerns about the proposed $160 billion America Online Inc.-Time Warner Inc. merger, a deal that takes on added significance in light of new strategic partnerships between AOL and several wireless firms."he most significant danger to the...
DUBLIN, Ireland-The news that Mannesmann has conceded defeat in its battle with Vodafone AirTouch merely underlines the momentum behind consolidation in the European mobile communications industry. However, few observers appear concerned at the concentration of market power in the hands of a relatively small...
