CINCINNATI-USA Mobile Communications Holdings Inc. has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the paging business and licenses of Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Page Alert.Page Alert has 6,500 subscribers in service, USA Mobile said. Specific terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The transaction is...
A new age of global wireless telecommunications is beginning as barriers to competition fall and innovative satellite technologies move from the drawing board to the heavens.For developing and underdeveloped countries, mobile satellite communications could become a key component of their telecommunications networks. Ordinary pocket...
WASHINGTON-He's baaack!Craig McCaw, founder of the cellular empire that AT&T Corp. bought for $11.5 billion, will bid for broadband personal communications services licenses Dec. 5.The wireless entrepreneur is one of 74 applicants seeking 99 licenses to operate next-generation pocket telephone systems across the country....
WASHINGTON-The industry created two decades ago to foster dispatch wireless communications in the United States stands at a crossroads as regulatory, technological and market forces conspire to put mom-and-pop two-way radio businesses out to pasture.Nextel Communications Inc., the largest specialized mobile radio operator, has...
In unspectacular fashion, Susan Ness diligently immersed herself in spectrum auction and personal communications services rulemakings at the Federal Communications Commission soon after she was confirmed as a commissioner by the Senate in May.Such is the style of the former banking executive and House...
ussell H. Fox, Esq. My intent, in writing an article in RCR, was to analyze the Federal Communications Commission's decision in the Docket No. 93-252 proceeding, which addresses the new rules governing commercial mobile radio service providers.The new rules, designed to achieve "regulatory parity"...
WASHINGTON-With the number of people using mobile telephones increasing each year, federal regulators want to improve 911 emergency service for calls made over the airwaves, and could force carriers that fail to meet future government standards to put warning labels on handsets indicating their...
WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration last week sent Congress trade legislation that includes a new plan for three companies awarded pioneer's preferences to pay for personal communications services licenses.Under a compromise reached by lawmakers, the White House and the three firms, the U.S. treasury would be...
House and Senate Judiciary committees late last week approved digital wiretap legislation, improving chances for passing a bill before the 103rd Congress adjourns for the year.Meanwhile, House Budget Committee members blasted the Clinton administration's new formula for determining how much three pioneer preference winners...
With three new investors injecting a fresh $310 million into its low-earth-orbiting satellite project, Iridium Inc. said it has completed its planned equity financing.That means the Motorola Inc.-led international group now can make debt financing arrangements to fund the remainder of its commitments.Iridium seeks...
The Federal Communications Commission is experiencing a metamorphosis: Established as a custodian of the public airwaves in the interest of the public, it has become a cash cow for the U.S. treasury.The FCC is on the brink of going auction mad, with seemingly little regard...
The Southern Co., a registered holding company for five Southeastern utilities, plans to have the first domestic digital specialized mobile radio network operated by an end-user organization on the air early next year.The network under construction includes 270 towers and provides coverage of Southern's...
Cellular carriers in California have asked the Federal Communications Commission to reject a petition filed by the California Public Utilities Commission that asks for continued state regulation of cellular rates.The FCC planned to take control of rate regulation from states Aug. 10 under authority...
It's a done deal.AT&T Corp.-the nation's largest long-distance telephone company-and McCaw Cellular Communications Inc.-the biggest cellular operator in the land-are now one.The two firms closed the $11.5 billion merger Sept. 19, following conditional approval by the Federal Communications Commission earlier the same day. The...
WASHINGTON-With huge sums of money expected to be bid on broadband personal communications services licenses later this year, the Federal Communications Commission has adopted a get-tough policy on auction fraud."It's really quite simple, we're going to enforce the rules," said William Kennard, general counsel...
While it is significant that William Kennard, general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission, is one of only a handful of African Americans to make it into government's upper echelon, perhaps just as significant is the fact that he works for Reed Hundt.Hundt, though...
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association has filed comments with federal regulators opposing Ameritech's new telephone numbering plan for Illinois.CTIA said the new area code plan is anticompetitive and discriminatory against wireless carriers and customers. Under the new area code plan, customers who order paging...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission, facing intensified criticism from industry and Congress, has set up a task force to help it decide the fate of thousands of specialized mobile radio applications that await processing.The task force, set up two weeks ago, is comprised of Private...
SEATTLE-The Personal Communications Industry Association's annual meeting started here last Wednesday with a bang but ended with a bust.About 7,000 people attended the three-day Personal Communications Showcase, more than double the attendance of last year's event. Exhibit and hotel space sold out early. About...
Demand for one-number services may become even greater now that the non-geographic 500 area code is available, according to Accessline Technologies Inc., a company in the one-number ball game."The whole idea of having a personal phone number has become very popular. Now, with the...
The revolution in wireless communications, already well underway, will dramatically reshape the way we work, play, shop and travel. Which technologies survive and flourish depends not only upon their consumer acceptance in the marketplace, but also, on a more basic level, their ability to...
WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association said it has urged the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a microwave relocation cost-sharing plan to ease the deployment of personal communications services networks.PCIA's proposal calls for all PCS licensees that benefit from a specific microwave system's relocation to...
WASHINGTON-Congress will attempt to pass telecommunications reform and digital wiretap legislation this fall, and lawmakers also plan to put the Federal Communications Commission's auction program under the microscope before adjourning the 103rd session next month.With any luck, telecommunications reform legislation could hit the Senate...
Who's the Federal Communications Commission fooling with all this talk of "designated entities," or providing incentives-and frequencies-for small businesses, women and minorities in the upcoming PCS auctions?The FCC, a victim itself in all of this as a result of a considerable amount of back-shoving...
