NEW YORK-While wireless and wireline carriers assess and respond to the effects of the 1996 Telecom Reform Act on their business, the Federal Communications Commission also must adapt quickly to its new mission in enforcing the law."We have an unprecedented opportunity to permit competition,...
WASHINGTON-Capitol Hill insiders once again are playing the name game, this time regarding who will be nominated to replace former Federal Communications Commissioner Andrew Barrett, who left the agency for new public-relations digs last month.Possible candidates for the Republican spot include several Hill staffers,...
WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt last week accused House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Jack Fields (R-Texas) of trying to pin a nonexistent pagers-for-the-homeless proposal on the agency to drive a partisan wedge between commissioners."This was politics," said Reed Hundt in written remarks prepared for...
Eon Corp. of Chantilly, Va., said it plans to offer a low cost wireless two-way messaging service and a host of other consumer-priced wireless services to jump start the lagging interactive video and data services market.Having completed its research and development program for its...
NEW YORK-With a push from the new federal telecommunications deregulation law, SBC Communications Inc. and Pacific Telesis Group announced April 1 the first merger ever between two Baby Bells.In this friendly takeover, SBC Communications Inc., based in San Antonio, Texas, has agreed to acquire...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is believed to be leaning toward radio frequency radiation exposure guidelines that incorporate Environmental Protection Agency recommendations, a policy shift the wireless telecommunications industry and others oppose and believe is politically driven by FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and EPA head...
An Internet message posted by the private-radio advocate group SMR WON last month was in keeping with its hard-nosed, grassroots campaign to oppose any auctioning of occupied spectrum in the 800 MHz range and to uphold the rights of "small business incumbents who established...
NEW YORK-Look who's talking! After deflecting outside speculation for months, PCS PrimeCo L.P. partners have hinted recently that their TalkAlong phone-in-a-box product is to become their nationwide marketing vehicle.PCS PrimeCo is a venture jointly owned by Bell Atlantic Corp., Nynex Corp., U S West...
WASHINGTON-President Clinton late last week signed legislation to give small businesses more leverage to challenge regulations of the Federal Communications Commission and other government agencies.The measure is a scaled-back version of regulatory reform included in the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 that...
What did he know and when did he know it?Ah, the immortal question of Sen. Howard Baker of Watergate fame.That's what House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Jack Fields (R-Texas) wanted to know last week of FCC Chairman Reed Hundt's knowledge about an elusive proposal in...
WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission officials said microwave relocation guidelines will be clarified but not fundamentally altered later this month, despite intense lobbying by the wireless telecommunications industry for major rule changes to keep pocket telephone companies from having to pay excessive sums of money to...
WASHINGTON-Congress late last week was expected to introduce legislation to force the Federal Communications Commission to lift the two-month-old paging application freeze, a source told RCR.The legislation likely will take the form of an amendment by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) to...
WASHINGTON-North Coast Mobile Communications-gone. GO Telecommunications Corp.-gone. PCS 2000-director and CEO Anthony Easton resigns to "pursue other business interests." NextWave Personal Communications, GWI PCS Inc., DCR PCS Inc.-cleaning up. April Fools? Not hardly. Just another week in the life of the C-block broadband personal...
WASHINGTON-Andrew Barrett, a Bush-appointed member of the Federal Communications Commission since 1990, joins Edelman Public Relations Worldwide today despite entreaties from Republican lawmakers that he remain at the FCC until the new telecommunication law is implemented.Barrett will be managing director of Edelman's telemedia unit,...
WASHINGTON-In a March 29 draft letter to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who introduced legislation March 28 that would require the Federal Communications Commission to mandate access to 911 services by all commercial mobile services carriers, Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association President Tom Wheeler told the...
The nascent 220 MHz industry reached another milestone last month when non-nationwide licensees almost were forced to fish or cut bait. As of March 11, anywhere between 3,600 and 3,800 prospective operators who have been waiting for the regulatory morass surrounding the startup of...
Pacific Bell Mobile Services survived what it called "a political hit" when the San Diego City Council approved 12 PCS antenna permits previously suspended due to health complaints from a James Valentine-supported opposition group.Pac Bell Mobile now is free to build the personal communications...
I've got a scoop! I think I now know how President Clinton plans to balance the budget. By selling the budget-all five volumes of the fiscal '97 spending plan for $100.Reporters, lobbyists, trade associations and think tanks eat this stuff up. What fools we...
WASHINGTON-No matter how many times Federal Communications Commission economist Greg Rosston declared that spectrum auctions were not about money, it was clear to member associations of the Land Mobile Communications Council that money is all the commission is about when it comes to private-radio...
NEW YORK-Last year, companies involved in various aspects of wireless communications generated 16,000 new jobs in the United States at all levels, and that number is expected to grow by an additional 20,000 this year, according to Christian & Timbers Inc.The wireless-related businesses affected...
Starting a wireless communications company was probably the most ambitious undertaking I have ever initiated in my life. Many people question whether or not a small business can survive in today's ever changing wireless marketplace filled with major retailers and carriers. I suggest that...
homas Gutierrez, David LaFuria Could it be that the C-block auction is too successful? After overcoming numerous pre-auction challenges, both from the industry and the Supreme Court, a new and potentially disruptive problem within the auction grows each day. The C-block auction for personal...
WASHINGTON-With telecommunications reform behind it, Congress now wants to overhaul the Federal Communications Commission."The key issue is whether a regulatory agency-the Federal Communications Commission-devised in the 1930s based on the Interstate Commerce Commission model of the last century makes sense today as we prepare...
WASHINGTON-"Let's not fool ourselves-the number one issue is money," said Carl Thompson, the new president and chief operating officer of Vienna, Va.-based North American Wireless Inc., who pulled no punches as to what it will take for the small business or entrepreneur to participate...
