SEATTLE-Qualcomm Inc. and Microsoft Corp. made good on their promise to converge the computing and wireless industries when they announced the formation of WirelessKnowledge L.L.C. last week, a joint venture many say will revolutionize the wireless data industry.WirelessKnowledge aims to provide an airlink-independent end-to-end...
PolandPoland may call tenders for three new mobile phone licenses for Global System for Mobile communications 900 MHz and 1800 MHz systems during the first half of next year. Reuters reported that the country's telecommunications minister Marek Zdrojewski said the tenders would be issued...
EDI Telecom Ltd. and Tadiran Telecommunications Ltd. announced they signed an agreement under which the two will merge in a stock-for-stock transaction.Mobile Systems International, United Kingdom, and U.S.-based Metapath Software Corp. announced the two companies are merging. Both companies provide software-based applications and services...
The Argentine government, in an attempt to proceed with the PCS auctions currently in judicial limbo, is considering selling two PCS licenses each for the northern and southern regions of the country, excluding the greater Buenos Aires area. This maneuvering would speed up the...
MELBOURNE, Australia-The Australian communications industry has applauded Telstra Corp.'s decision to build its second national mobile phone network using CDMA technology.Industry groups, including the Australian Telecommunications Users Group and the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, have openly welcomed Telstra's move, hailing it as progressive and...
Argentina will adopt calling party pays for cellular as of 1 January. Trunking and paging also are expected to adopt the system in an attempt to develop these markets. The paging sector experienced a significant drop in subscribers as a result of competition with...
While many personal communications services licensees have become disillusioned with the PCS market in the United States and have opted to bow out of the game, Leap Wireless International Inc. sees a market with opportunities.Purchasing licenses "is certainly something we want to look at,...
AustriaKyro Corp.'s Tecnomen Group announced Mobilkom Austria selected it to supply a new messaging system for Mobilkom's Global System for Mobile communications network expansion. The new system will add more than 600,000 voice and fax mailboxes to the Austrian GSM system, the company said....
Qualcomm Inc. said it expects to distribute common shares of Leap Wireless International Inc.-Qualcomm's spun-off wireless communications carrier-Sept. 23 after the close of marketing trading.The Securities and Exchange Commission indicated it has no further comments to the registration statement filed by Leap Wireless. Regular...
Qualcomm to spinoff LeapSAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. announced a record date of Sept. 11 for the proposed spinoff of Leap Wireless International Inc.The board declared a one-share dividend of Leap for every four outstanding shares of Qualcomm. The distribution of Leap is expected to occur...
WASHINGTON-In late spring, as federal regulators, wireless carriers and state and local officials neared the end of nearly one year of negotiations-culminating earlier this month with a highly publicized antenna-siting agreement that included the withdrawal of a controversial industry pre-emption petition-President Clinton quietly signed...
NEW YORK-The communications industry took the lead in the domestic mergers and acquisitions market during the first quarter, with $26.1 billion in transactions announced, a huge leap from the $1.5 billion announced during the first three months of 1997.Communications companies posted 56 mergers and...
NEW YORK-World Access Inc., Atlanta, rang in 1998 in the same way it rang out 1997, with an acquisition announcement.World Access announced Jan. 2 a definitive agreement to purchase a 67-percent stake in NACT Telecommunications Inc., Provo, Utah, for $65 million in cash and...
NEW YORK-With the introduction Dec. 1 of a suite of radio-frequency integrated circuit products, Texas Instruments, Dallas, made a giant leap forward toward providing all major system blocks for digital wireless phones."Right now, we are the number one supplier of digital basebands, and we...
WASHINGTON-According to a new book on wireless regulations written by former Industrial Telecommunications Association staffer Fred Day, "In 1993, Congress amended the Communications Act to incorporate a new term, `commercial mobile service,' also referred to as `commercial mobile radio service.' This term is essentially...
NEW YORK-Changing things inside a network is about to get easier by orders of magnitude, according to NEO Networks Inc. and Lucent Technologies Inc.NEO Networks, Minnetonka, Minn., will integrate Lucent's Inferno, a distributed inter-networking operating system, into its StreamProcessor, a network forwarding product line....
NEC America Inc. in June will demonstrate its total network solution for utility network applications at the Utilities Telecommunications Council national convention in Portland, Ore. The demonstration will include four interoperable network products-NEC's 2000 and 2600 series digital microwave radios, IMT-150 Sonet multiplexer and...
WASHINGTON-Commerce Secretary William Daley next month will lead a trade mission to Latin America, a hotbed for the wireless telecommunications business that the Clinton administration does not want to lose to foreign competitors.The trip to Brazil, Argentina and Chile, May 11-19, will be the...
Several low-earth-orbit satellite systems will have initial launches this year, marking the beginning of services that a Washington, D.C., consulting firm says "will fill the gaps other wireless systems don't cover."Big LEOs and medium earth orbit systems will not only be viable but will...
RCR missed boat on NextWave storyDear Editor: RCR is a respected wireless trade publication known for its journalistic standards. It inexplicably departed from those standards in its Jan. 13 edition, which contains analysis and commentary on the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to conditionally grant...
Plantronics Inc. has taken one small step by expanding its existing headset business into the wireless market.The company first introduced communications headsets in 1962. Initially designed for airline pilots, the headsets have been adopted for other applications including operator services, air traffic control and...
Nokia Corp. announced it will introduce the Nokia 9000 Communicator into the U.S., Canadian and Latin American markets in the second half of 1997.The product began shipping in Europe on Aug. 15.The 9000 combines digital voice and data services with personal organizer functions.It operates...
NEW YORK-The numbers vary depending on the source, but there is unanimity about the trends unfolding in the nation's paging sector during the past year: subscriber growth, consolidation in the number of paging providers and overall increases in revenues despite price squeezes due to competition...
Well, it's finally here. American Personal Communications, doing business under the Sprint name, has introduced personal communications services in the Washington, D.C., market.Broadband PCS is a reality.One small step for wireless, one giant leap for the future?We'll see. It sounds like the company has...
