RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.-MobileMedia Corp. put off plans to report third quarter financial results until Nov. 1 because the new company president said he wanted to take another week to prepare for the announcement.MobileMedia, which originally planned to release financial information Oct. 24, said it...
There is one universal truth about Mark Crosby, longtime president of the Industrial Telecommunications Association-he speaks his mind, and he speaks it often. In a regulatory era that has been rough on private wireless carriers, Crosby is optimistic that things will get better, beginning...
WASHINGTON-The consensus agreement formulated earlier this year by the American Mobile Telecommunications Association, SMR Won, Nextel Communications Inc. and the Personal Communications Industry Association has completed Round One of the public-comment cycle, with most of the large specialized mobile radio concerns marching in lockstep...
WASHINGTON-Bidders in the D-, E- and F-block personal communications services auctions appear to be in no hurry to end it. According to analyst Taylor Simmons, even if the Federal Communications Commission ramps up to three rounds per day (which it may do this week),...
As the Clinton administration and the wireless industry reach for the stars with lofty purpose, each would be well advised to heed the call of Chicken Little: "THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!"It's hard, I know, for either to believe someone could rain...
WASHINGTON-Environmentalists have teamed up with organized labor to block antenna siting and publicize alleged health risks from pocket telephones in a potent grass roots movement that could lead to litigation and delays in the buildout of new personal communications services systems.Environmentalists have seized upon,...
Editor: On behalf of WillowRun L.P., I would like to respond to your Sept. 16 article, "Editor who got free stake in PCS carrier promotes that firm." The article nicely illuminates part of PCS 2000's background. However, several statements about WillowRun should be corrected.The following...
Western Wireless Corp. is expected soon to privately sell $200 million in notes due 2007 to help finance its ongoing personal communications services buildout and to acquire additional spectrum in the latest Federal Communications Commission auctions.Headquartered in Issaquah, Wash., Western Wireless owns and operates...
WASHINGTON-As expected, DCR PCS Inc., part of Pocket Communications Inc. and the second-largest C-block winner, responded to National Telecom PCS Inc.'s recent second supplement to its petition to deny DCR's licenses by stating, "once again, there is no affidavit support or legal authority advanced...
WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration's free Internet plan would discriminate against wireless carriers by forcing them to pay extra into the universal service fund without the likelihood of gaining access to monies to connect schools and libraries, say wireless industry executives.While policymakers say they want to...
Donald Gips has a penchant for throwing himself into his work-and play-with reckless finesse and abandon.And he's paying for it today with a severely ruptured disc on the mend from years of rough and tumble sports that could have easily left him paralyzed and...
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals to stay the proxy pricing rules for interconnection rates until oral arguments can be heard is a setback to the wireless industry, even as it continues to lay groundwork to bring legitimate telecommunications competition to this...
WASHINGTON-Any euphoria felt by wireless carriers following the recent adoption of new interconnection and local competition rules by the Federal Communications Commission should have melted away by now as the commission faces a long, uphill battle in federal court to defend the proxy-pricing aspects...
WASHINGTON-San Juan, Puerto Rico-based PCS 2000 L.P. says it is running out of cash. The company, whose 15 C-block personal communications services licenses are in limbo due to an ongoing Federal Communications Commission investigation and the three petitions to deny filed against it, has...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is expected to complete 800 MHz specialized mobile radio auction-licensing rules within weeks, following bipartisan pressure from Congress to adopt an industry plan that has divided the FCC.With backing from a group of 23 House Commerce Committee members and Senate...
WASHINGTON-Fine points continue to need to be ironed out as the Federal Communications Commission tries to compete its interconnection and resale order regarding commercial mobile radio carriers. According to recent petitions for reconsideration and clarification filed by Nextel Communications Inc. and the American Mobile...
WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc.'s proposed $159 million buyout of Pittencrieff Communications Inc.-a deal that could give one firm half of the 2.2 million dispatch customers and access to most of the U.S. population-could become a key antitrust test case in the new wireless regime of...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to hear an appeal of a pioneer's-preference fee case filed earlier this year by Jackson, Miss.-based Mobile Telecommunication Technology Corp. Instead, it chose to remand the appeal to the Federal Communications Commission for further attention."Thousands of petitions...
WASHINGTON-The wireless telecommunications industry said many carriers will not meet the Jan. 1 deadline when new radio frequency radiation safety guidelines go into effect.The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association last week joined the Personal Communications Industry Association and a host of wireless carriers in seeking...
NEW YORK-Because many new personal communications services providers are unable to pay out of pocket for equipment purchases, AirNet Communications Corp. announced last week it would downsize, restructure and direct its attention to customers capable of arranging financing independent of vendors."In markets outside the...
WASHINGTON-In his continued attempt to regain the C-block American Samoa personal communications services license taken back by the Federal Communications Commission due to default, Jack Robinson, president of National Telecom PCS Inc., has charged a financial-fundraiser and a major C-block winner with collusion during...
WASHINGTON-The remaining private sector board members of the congressionally mandated Telecommunications Development Fund have been named, capping an eight-month controversy that had the White House trying to mediate a fight between the Congressional Black Caucus and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt over the...
I had the strange sensation of deja vu all over again reporting on antitrust implications of Nextel Communications Inc.'s proposed buy-out of Pittencrieff Communications Inc., what with all the acquisitions and talk of a national footprint. Could Craig be priming Nextel to be swallowed...
ST. LOUIS-The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit released the briefing schedule for arguments regarding the Federal Communications Commission's interconnection and local competition order.The court still has not ruled on whether to continue the temporary stay it imposed last month on the...
