WASHINGTON-The wireless telecommunications industry told the Federal Communications Commission it will work with the hearing-impaired community, hearing aid manufacturers and audiologists during the next six months to develop short-term and long-term solutions to hearing aid interference and compatibility problems posed by digital pocket telephones."We...
VIENNA, Austria-The licensing process for Austria's second digital wireless phone system has been put on hold temporarily due to the government crisis in that country.Six bidders met the Oct. 13 application deadline for the Global System for Mobile communications license. However, that day also...
Before 1995, people with a moderate to total hearing loss couldn't carry on an ordinary phone conversation, according to Jo Waldron, co-inventor of the Hearing Aid Telephone Interconnect System. Today, using the HATIS device, it is possible for people with up to 99 percent...
ATLANTA-GTE Telecommunications Services and IBM Corp. have introduced a service for managing usage and billing information generated by cellular roaming users.The number of roamers has grown, said GTE, and so it has become increasingly difficult to track usage and manage the distribution of operator...
WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt directed the wireless telecommunications industry to develop a plan by next week to address interference from European-designed digital pocket telephones to hearing aids.Hundt, according to sources, met last Monday with representatives from the Personal Communications Industry Association, the...
The success of wireless communications presents a double-edged blade for mobile satellite service. On one hand, the continued acceptance of wireless communications and the development of wider applications represents large potential demand. On the other hand, the growth of terrestrial cellular systems reduces the...
ORLANDO, Fla.-A young Florida company is manufacturing a broadband base station system for cellular and PCS markets that it says has fewer components, uses less energy and can be programmed to be protocol independent.Melbourne, Fla.-based AirNet Communications Corp. was founded January of 1994 and...
Nearly half of the 20 companies holding licenses for broadband personal communications services have made firm technology decisions, but others continue the difficult task of weighing options."It is like building 10 years of cellular all at once," said Jack Finlayson, vice president and general...
Knowing that network efficiency and service quality will be key differentiators in the new arena of wireless competition, and having cut its teeth on the fast-growing digital systems in Europe and Asia, Metrica Inc. now is introducing its network performance system in the United...
On a recent trip across Europe to visit some of the major operators and manufacturers of the blossoming cellular industry there, I was asked to describe the state of the industry in the United States. Of course I spoke of the great advancements we...
The Czech Economics Ministry is firming its plans to issue a tender for companies interested in becoming partners in one of two groups that will hold licenses to operate Global System for Mobile communications cellular networks in the Czech Republic.The U.S. Embassy in Prague...
North American Wireless Inc. has yet to announce the name of a U.S. utility company expected to take the place of Cable & Wireless Inc., which recently withdrew from the partnership.Vienna, Va.-based NAWI was formed last fall with the goal of building a nationwide...
U.S. telecom companies have the chance to buy into one of Indonesia's cellular operators, PT Telkomsel, which is seeking a strategic partner to help combat the $586 million investment Deutsche Telekom AG has made in competitor Satelindo.Telkomsel turned on the country's second nationwide Global...
ierre Dogan, David Patton and Ray Nettleton Two observations can be drawn from the recent personal communications services license auctions. First, PCS participants are willing to assume enormous financial risk, on the order of tens of billions of dollars-an unprecedented level of risk-taking by...
Mobistar, a partnership of Belgian telecommunications manufacturer Telinfo and France Telecom Mobile International, won the second license to operate a Global System for Mobile communications network in Belgium. Mobistar will pay $296 million for the license.Mobistar will compete against current cellular operator Belgacom Mobile,...
Beijing Nokia Mobile Telecommunications Ltd. has received a contract from the Zhejiang Post and Telecommunications Administration to supply a digital cellular network to the Zhejiang province of the People's Republic of China. The contract is valued at more than $20 million. The Global System...
Allen Telecom Group hopes that four new applications for its SmartCell will allow the company to attract business in areas that other manufacturers have ignored."I'm not sure the cellular carriers have adopted the microcell idea as they are looking for ways to improve capacity,"...
PALO ALTO, Calif.-Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenMail short messaging service now will be available to users of the Vodafone Group's Global System for Mobile communications cellular system, the companies announced. The agreement will make it possible for Vodafone subscribers to send and receive text messages on...
German powerhouse RWE Energie AG has its telecom engine revving, awaiting a license to drive. The diversified conglomerate has an extensive telecom network already in place and is gearing up to compete head-to-head with Deutsche Telekom, currently the monopoly telephone operator.As a European Union...
In concert with the European Union's directive to liberalize the telecommunications market in Europe, Austria plans to permit a second, privately owned mobile phone license by the end of the year.Austria's Ministry for Public Economy and Transport recently issued a tender for a Global...
WEST POINT, Ga.-Powertel PCS Partners L.P. has selected Global System for Mobile communications technology for the personal communications services network that will be built by Powertel.Powertel paid $124.5 million for licenses for three major markets, Memphis, Tenn., Birmingham, Ala. and Jacksonville, Fla. InterCel Inc.,...
Final tender documents for two Global System for Mobile communications licenses in Poland will be available next month, and several U.S. firms intend to figure prominently in the deal.Bids will be accepted until the end of October. Both licenses should be awarded by the...
An AirTouch Communications Inc. consortium is scheduled to launch Spain's first private cellular system on Oct. 3, on the heels of the government operator's launch of a similar service.The Airtel consortium defeated at least five other consortia last fall, paying $705 million to win...
Three Chinese state ministries have created a competitor for China's monopolistic Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to expand the nation's telecommunications system.China United Telecommunications Corp., Unicom, initially intends to offer Global System for Mobile communications service in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Unicom said...
