WASHINGTON-Consumer and industry groups are not expected to offer a clear cut fix to hearing aid interference from digital pocket telephones in the report they submit to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt next month.But even without a magic bullet, engineers have begun to...
MONTVALE, N.J.-In a role reversal for the high-tech communications revolution, 27 million blue-collar workers nationwide are targeted as the early adopters for Geotek Communications Inc.'s spring rollout of enhanced mobile workstations and supporting networks.Last week, Geotek introduced the commercial start-up of its digital, spread-spectrum...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission's new application freeze has created a major rift in the paging industry, the second major wireless sector to feel the big chill from Chairman Reed Hundt's auction embrace.The latest application freeze, imposed Feb. 9 on all paging carriers except those...
WASHINGTON-Comments are split regarding whether C-block broadband personal communications services and 900 MHz specialized mobile radio auction bidders who submit flawed bids should be fined to the letter of the Federal Communications Commission law.MAP Wireless L.L.C., PCS 2000 L.P. and Atlanta Trucking Associates said...
Florida cellular customers may soon see a 50-cent increase in their monthly bill, in the form of a fee to fund 911 technology and distance learning. Some cellular carriers indicated they are vehemently opposed to the fee, which is included in Gov. Lawton Chiles'...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission will seek comment on whether to adopt new fixed microwave rules that would facilitate the introduction of antenna technology developed by the military to the land mobile radio industry.In a notice of proposed rulemaking adopted Feb. 29, the FCC's Office...
Northern Telecom Inc. announced the commercial launch of VoiceStream Wireless service on its Global System for Mobile communications-based personal communications services 1900 network in Hawaii, the second PCS network activated in the United States.The service, operated by Western Wireless Corp., was launched in Honolulu...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission will address affirmative action issues left over from last summer's Supreme Court Adarand ruling as it implements telecommunications reform legislation, a move likely to intensify early Republican criticism of the effort.Last month, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) chided...
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler (R- S.D.) says he's perplexed by the Federal Communications Commission's schedule for implementing the new telecommunications bill.I'm equally perplexed by Pressler's perplexity. Pressler asked the FCC why it's trying to make a deregulatory bill regulatory. "As you are...
A coalition of local and regional paging companies and an equipment manufacturer plan to file an emergency petition with the Federal Communications Commission this week requesting that the paging application freeze be lifted.The commission announced Feb. 9 it will not accept new paging applications...
Cellular theft: A cellular phone is stolen from a legitimate customer and used before the theft can be reported.Subscription fraud: This type of counterfeiting occurs when a person signs up for cellular service using fraudulent information or false identification and does not intend to pay for...
WASHINGTON-Are the prices being paid for C-block broadband personal communications services licenses getting to be too rich for even the richest blood? If the recent exit of U.S. AirWaves Holdings Inc., PersonalConnect Communications Inc. and TeleCorp. Inc., is any indication, second-squad bidders should get...
WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association urged the Federal Communications Commission last week to lift the freeze on paging applications, saying small carriers will suffer unproportionately as federal regulators attempt to streamline rules for large operators.PCIA's President Jay Kitchen said the freeze that went into...
WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) slammed the Federal Communications Commission last week for saying it cannot implement the telecommunications bill without adequate funding and accused the agency of attempting to regulate wireless long-distance access."The suggestion that the FCC will not be able...
PHOENIX-The U.S. District Court in Phoenix ordered One Line Cellular and Cell Phone Extensions to permanently discontinue altering, transferring, emulating or manipulating electronic serial numbers to create extension phones, U S West Cellular announced.U S West filed charges against the two companies in August,...
WASHINGTON-Key GOP and Democratic lawmakers last week lambasted Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) plan to add broadcast auction language to debt ceiling legislation, a reaction that represents a widening schism in Congress between telecommunications and budget policymakers over jurisdiction of the lucrative public airwaves.The House...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected a petition to review mandatory relocation of public-safety entities from personal communications services frequencies to perceived lesser-quality channels.In an opinion written by U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Wald, the three-judge panel decided that the Federal Communications Commission "had...
WASHINGTON-Despite congressional mandates that have put the Federal Communications Commission on a regulatory timeline, the commission should plan on a long, slow haul on its road to further develop 800 MHz specialized mobile radio systems. Changes in regulatory treatment and implementation of auction procedures...
SPRING VALLEY, N.Y.-On a clear day, you can look south and see the Manhattan skyline from the landmark hilltop house of Steve Preston, who owns and leases towers for wireless transmissions. But Preston has his sights set north where he sees the chance for...
Proponents of calling party pays believe the service will both generate more airtime and increase the number of incoming calls, but they don't agree on how such a system should be introduced in the U.S. market."We need some movement along these lines and there...
It's understandable, as we now read in post-telecom bill interviews with U.S. District Judge Harold Greene, that the seven regional Bell telephone companies under his purview since the 1984 AT&T Corp. breakup still believe this smallish man of giant stature had it in for...
WASHINGTON-After staying the course for almost 30 rounds, John DeFeo and his U.S. AirWaves Holdings Inc. group may be on the verge of bidding the C-block broadband personal communications services auction goodbye.In the last two weeks, the group has been dormant during several rounds,...
WASHINGTON-Despite fiscal uncertainty and a daunting workload, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt has vowed to "meet or beat" congressional deadlines to implement the recently signed Telecommunications Act of 1996.Calling the bill the "Invest in America Act of 1996," Hundt said the commission's timetable...
Sprint Corp. announced that its proposed spinoff to shareholders of its cellular unit has been ruled a tax-free transaction by the Internal Revenue Service.Holders of Sprint common stock as of Feb. 27 will receive one share of new stock in the spinoff cellular company,...
