WASHINGTON-The wireless telecommunications industry is at a crossroads.Either the ever-popular mobile phone used by more than 35 million people today will remain forever a nice little extra for business people and safety-conscious citizens or it will evolve into something much bigger and revolutionary: the telephone...
WASHINGTON-For commercial mobile radio services carriers, passage of the Telecommunications Reform Bill of 1996 contains both good and bad news. The good news is that CMRS operators can provide local exchange services. The bad news is that they will be expected, down the road,...
Last month's passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 heralds the industry's most fundamental structural change since AT&T Corp. was split up in 1984. Traditional barriers separating industry sectors are crumbling. Wireless will play a key role in the industry's transformation. While few provisions...
WASHINGTON-If bidders in the C-block broadband personal communications services auction have learned one thing, it's to watch one's back at any given moment or prized markets will be stolen away. And another milestone has been passed-all C-block BTAs now have been bid higher than...
WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration last week proposed to auction toll-free 888 telephone numbers, a potential hot-button issue for Congress that could hurt paging operators in the near term and pocket telephone firms in the future.The proposal, pegged to raise $700 million over three years, is...
WASHINGTON-Jackson, Miss.-based Mobile Telecommunication Technologies Corp. will have to wait a while longer to learn if it is liable for a $33 million payment for the pioneer's preference narrowband personal communications services license it won in 1993.After considering oral arguments put forth Dec. 8...
WASHINGTON-In a move that could chill other potential bidders, Sprint Corp. has taken itself out of the running for a multiyear federal government wireless provision contract that could be worth "a few hundred million" because it claims the General Services Administration already has decided...
WASHINGTON-Congress passed a one-week funding extension late last week that averts a third shutdown of the Federal Communications Commission, giving Republicans and Democrats a chance this week to consider a broader spending measure to keep government agencies without appropriations operating for the final six...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission could be heading for a shake-up.Commissioner Andrew Barrett, a Republican appointed by President Bush, has signaled he'll be leaving the agency by May. His departure has been anticipated for months, following the expiration of his term last June.Senate Commerce Committee...
WASHINGTON-The gloves finally are off in the fight for the most desirable C-block broadband personal communications services markets. Instead of taking the battle outside to duke it out, certain C-block bidders are using the Federal Communications Commission as the venue of choice.In a March...
Dear Editor: The Telecommunications Act is now law. The President's pen unlocked doors to fair and free telecommunications competition that had been closed in some key areas for decades. Business and residential users, and our economy, will be the big winners if we, the communications...
Robert Franke is now director of distribution for AirTouch Cellular, a subsidiary of AirTouch Communications Inc. In his new position, Franke will be responsible for customer acquisition and dealer development through the distribution and retail channel for AirTouch inland California and northern Nevada markets....
I've looked everywhere-the dictionary ... the thesaurus ... Bartlett's Familiar Quotations ... Harry Newton's telecom opus. And I just can't find it. I can't find anything that lists "auctions" as a synonym for "spectrum policy."But it must exist somewhere, because the FCC spent an...
WASHINGTON-Another top bidder in the C-block broadband personal communications services auction has had enough with the possibility of dealing with "front" organizations and speculators participating in the high-priced spectrum sale.GO Communications Corp. and its subsidiary, GO Telecommunications Corp., weighed in March 1 at the...
WASHINGTON-Only time will tell what the Federal Communications Commission will do with the information it gleaned from last week's en banc hearing on spectrum policy.The all-day session, which involved some 30 panelists representing industry spectrum consumers and academia, was designed to collect information on...
CHARLOTTE, N.C.-Glenayre Technologies Inc. said its first quarter net sales could result in a $10 million to $12 million reduction because of the recent Federal Communications Commission Notice of Proposed Rule Making, which included a freeze on accepting new applications for 900 MHz paging...
WASHINGTON-Regulatory parity and universal service participation were the two common issues addressed by those who submitted comments regarding the Federal Communications Commission's proposal to allow commercial mobile radio services operators to provide fixed local-loop services.Most advanced wireless carriers already have the right to provide...
An Indiana-based company bidding in the ongoing C-block auction of broadband spectrum asked the Federal Communications Commission to waive rules that prevent it from speaking to investors in entities that have dropped out of the auction.At press time, the FCC had not responded yet...
Celsat America Inc. is awaiting permission from the Federal Communications Commission to launch its vision of a mobile satellite system in 1999.The company filed a pioneer's preference license application with the FCC in February 1992. Celsat uses a geosynchronous satellite capable of covering the...
WASHINGTON-The number of bidders participating in the C-block broadband personal communications services auction who are flying by the seats of their pants is staggering. The thought of committing millions of dollars to build a network that is expected to directly compete with numerous established...
John Dolan, principal of C-block personal communications services bidding interest North Coast Mobile Communications Inc., filed an amended Form 175 application with the Federal Communications Commission that names his uncle, Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan, as the provider of a secured loan he used for...
Roy Neel, president of the United States Telephone Association, offered reporters last week what he believed to be a keen insight.He recounted an anecdote about President Clinton's Feb. 8 signing of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. On the one hand, said the former aide...
WASHINGTON-NextWave Telecom Inc., whose subsidiary NextWave Personal Communications Inc. is bidding in the C-block personal communications services auction, wants to pin the Federal Communications Commission down as to how participants acting as "fronts" will be treated if a ruse is discovered and proved.In a...
WASHINGTON-TheUnited States Telephone Association last week attacked the Federal Communications Commission's interim wireless-wireline interconnection proposal, calling the plan misguided and the cellular industry's campaign for such reform misleading."The process seems to be a little screwy," said Roy Neel, president of USTA and a former...
