WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is expected to revise wireless enhanced 911 rules that would eliminate the cost-recovery obligation that now must be met before E911 services have to be deployed.The move faced heavy lobbying from wireless carriers, two associations representing public safety answering points...
It could have been an isolated path for TDMA operators going forward as they struggled for economies of scale in their businesses, but with a new agreement with the GSM Association, the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium hopes to gain access to the worldwide equipment...
NEW YORK-Landline replacement, the Holy Grail of wireless telephony, received a boost from an array of forces unleashed simultaneously into the communications environment.This is not a high-stakes game of winner takes all, however. Telecommunications providers are learning more about how best to exploit the...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Mobile telephony in Latin America rapidly is evolving into a viable substitute for inefficient and expensive landline services, according to Dataquest Inc.During the first half of this year, Latin American handset sales exceeded 9.8 million, and Dataquest forecasts handset sales to reach...
Some confusion exists in the wireless industry over whether mobile-phone-component shortages are affecting the handset supply in the United States.Major handset suppliers say they aren't struggling with component shortages, but one major carrier said its lower subscriber additions in the third quarter were caused...
The Chinese government announced it will enforce regulations announced last year requiring all foreign-manufactured mobile phones and other telecommunications equipment to carry a government-issued seal indicating authenticity. The government said the move will help it reduce smuggled goods from entering the country. Foreign executives...
The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) had the biggest coming-out party of its 20-month lifespan during Telecom '99 in Geneva, with more than 100 carriers, vendors and content providers displaying WAP and WAP-related products-warts and all.While WAP's momentum has grown all year, many consider Telecom...
TEL AVIV, Israel-Just as the cellular fight in Israel intensified with the latest marketing campaigns, the Ministry of Communications announced it may license a fourth and maybe a fifth provider by the end of next year.Deputy Prime Minister and Communications Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer recently...
GENEVA-Globalstar officially announced at Telecom '99 a phased launch of its mobile satellite service. The phased launch begins with user trials, followed by a soft launch that will allow the company to work out quality issues. Commercial service should begin in early 2000, Globalstar...
The GSM Association and the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium (UWCC) announced they signed a memorandum of understanding to work toward worldwide interoperability between GSM andTDMA technologies.The nearly 490 GSM and TDMA carriers currently have 290 million subscribers worldwide.Member companies of the two associations will...
CanadaBell Canada offered to purchase for cash up to 15.8 million of the outstanding common shares of Aliant, the largest telecommunications company in Atlantic Canada, at a price of US$18.40 per share. Such an acquisition would give Bell Canada, which already owns about 41...
Finland. Sonera began offering High Speed Circuit Switched Data services to its data customers 6 September, but without available handsets. Sonera said it wanted to be ready when handsets are available later this year.France. At Telecom '99 in Geneva, Alcatel, French carrier SFR/Cegetel, Phone.com...
Wireless location-based services have been talked about for years and few carriers have deployed them, but reality should begin to set in within the next few years.The Federal Communications Commission's revised enhanced 911 rules released in September have put carriers on notice that decisions...
In the debate over whether radio-frequency emissions from handsets cause adverse human health effects, the wireless telecommunications industry should borrow a page from the energy industry.Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a package of stories on corporate response to the contentious global warming issue....
Low-earth-orbit satellite voice provider Globalstar L.P. has reduced the number of handsets expected to be available at the end of the year from 70,000, as announced in September, to between 35,000 and 50,000.Globalstar spokesman Mac Jeffery said the lower figures do not represent manufacturing...
As Sprint PCS shuts down its Global System for Mobile communications network in Washington, D.C., at the end of this month, speculation is increasing about what will happen to the GSM infrastructure.All roaming with GSM operators will terminate this month, said Sprint PCS. Carriers...
Perhaps the greatest indicator of how the wireless data industry has matured is the almost giddy buzz of excitement generated by this week's Wireless I.T. show in Santa Clara, Calif., sponsored by the Cellular Telecommunication Industry Association.In the fall of 1997, some 56 companies...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said capacity problems and handset shortages constrained the company's ability to add subscribers in the third quarter.The nation's largest wireless operator added 269,000 subscribers in the third quarter, down 17.4 percent from the previous year and down significantly from 473,000...
WASHINGTON-Lost in the hoopla over the enactment of wireless 911 legislation last week is the growing prospect that the rollout of position location for the nation's 80 million mobile-phone users will be seriously delayed in the same way that caller identification is far behind...
Nextel Communications Inc. announced customer additions of 458,000 in the third quarter, ending the three-month period with 4.05 million customers."The third quarter was our best ever, with both domestic and international operations setting new records and reaching new milestones," said Nextel President and Chief...
While Ericsson AB's third-quarter net income fell, rival Nokia posted a 38-percent jump in third-quarter net profit to $687 million and expects full sales growth of 40 percent.Ericsson's net income in the third quarter was less than expected, however, slipping to $319 million from...
The Wireless Application Protocol had the biggest coming-out party of its 20-month life span during Telecom '99 in Geneva, with more than 100 carriers, vendors and content providers displaying WAP and WAP-related products, warts and all.While WAP's momentum has grown all year, many consider...
ABC's 20/20 segment, which was supposed to make me change the way I use my cell phone, instead made me more suspicious about TV journalism. The only person in the 30-minute segment who actually was credible and who appeared credible was Dr. Ross Ady.ABC's...
The wireless industry is waiting to see how many customers are attracted to Sprint PCS Group's wireless Internet services, but they will have to wait at least another quarter.Sprint PCS, which launched nationwide wireless Web service in late September, said it's too early to...
