WASHINGTON-Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) today urged the General Services Administration to consider cutting ties with WorldCom Inc., potentially putting lucrative government wireline and wireless contracts in jeopardy. Collins' terse two-page letter to GSA Administrator Stephen Perry, obtained by RCR Wireless...
WASHINGTON-The inspector general of the General Services Administration is investigating WorldCom Inc.'s contracts with the federal government and may issue recommendations to Congress shortly on whether the Bush administration should continue doing business with the embattled long-distance company, according to a source familiar with...
WASHINGTON-Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she is dissatisfied with the General Services Administration's response to her May 30 inquiry on why WorldCom Inc. should continue to bid on federal government contracts.WorldCom, which recently snagged an Iraq mobile-phone contract worth $34...
WASHINGTON-The inspector general of the General Services Administration is investigating WorldCom Inc.'s contracts with the federal government and may issue recommendations soon on whether the Bush administration should continue to do business with the embattled long-distance company, according to a congressional source late today.The...
The U.S. paging and messaging industry is still declining. Nationwide carriers are still losing thousands of customers every month-both one- and two-way subscribers-and there is no indication the tide will turn anytime soon.However, industry players continue to offer hopeful outlooks on the future. Some...
WASHINGTON-Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) has launched a probe into whether scandal-plagued MCI, which recently won a $34 million defense contract to supply mobile-phone service in Iraq, should be allowed to compete for federal contracts."Despite evidence that WorldCom (renamed MCI) committed...
ASHBURN, Va.-MCI Corp., formerly known as WorldCom Inc., has reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its accounting fraud case and will pay $500 million in fines when it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, expected later this year.The tentative settlement...
WASHINGTON-Despite interest in steering Iraq reconstruction business to American companies through competitive bidding and White House reluctance to meddle in wireless rebuilding in the war-torn country, the Bush administration has awarded what appears to be a no-bid GSM mobile-phone contract to a troubled U.S....
BellSouth Corp. has agreed to buy WorldCom Inc.'s multichannel multipoint distribution system licenses for $65 million in an agreement the two companies reached last month. BellSouth's bid for the company's fixed-wireless assets is a "stalking horse" bid, in which a bankrupt company chooses one...
There are several ways one can read the Pentagon mini-mobile-phone Iraq contract with MCI, formerly MCI before reputation-ravaged WorldCom Inc. figured a retro name change was in order since just about everything having to do with the one-time telecom giant had been turned upside...
WASHINGTON-MCI is working with the Pentagon to provide mobile-phone service in Iraq, but it is unclear whether the embattled long-distance telephone company has an inside track to bring large-scale commercial wireless service to the war-torn country."Yes, we have been awarded the contract, and we...
SAN JOSE, Calif.- Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. Ltd. will license over-the-air application provisioning technology from DoOnGo Technologies Inc. for use in the company's Panasonic FOMA mobile phones.Using the new software, Panasonic phone owners will be able to wirelessly access software upgrades in Panasonic retail...
CLINTON, Mass.-Citing the company's recent bankruptcy filing and the pending restatement of its financial statements for 2001 and the first quarter of 2002, the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel informed WorldCom Inc. that its WorldCom Group Common Stock, MCI Group Common Stock and 8 percent...
CLINTON, Mass.-WorldCom Inc. reported that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York approved $750 million in interim financing the company said would provide sufficient finds to continue operations, pay employees and continue service to customers. A hearing for final approval...
CLINTON, Mass.-Adding to investor fears concerning the future of WorldCom Inc., the company's board of directors said it would not pay the 60 cents per share dividend to MCI group common stockholders that was scheduled for July 15. WorldCom did reaffirm that each outstanding...
CLINTON, Miss.—WorldCom Group announced it will cut 3,700 jobs, affecting six percent of WorldCom Group's work force, or four percent of WorldCom Inc.'s overall work force, but not MCI Group.The company said the reduction is being taken to better align costs with its projected...
SAN FRANCISCO—MVNO enabler Visage Mobile announced it has made Whitey Bluestein its executive vice president of corporate and business development.Bluestein, who has previously held executive level positions at NorthPoint Communications and MCI Communications Corp., will be responsible for developing partnerships with wireless carriers and...
HARTFORD, Conn.—Law firm Schatz & Nobel filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of purchasers of Metricom Inc. common stock.The suit alleges that unbeknownst to the investing public, Metricom entered into three significant transactions with...
Editor's note: In 2000, RCR Wireless News founded the Wireless Hall of Fame to honor those individuals who have made significant contributions to the wireless industry. Following is a look at each of the inductees:
NEW YORK-WorldCom Inc. shareholders approved June 7 the creation of separate tracking stocks, which pursued separate pricing paths at the close of their first day of trading on Nasdaq June 8.Under the plan, each share of WorldCom was converted into one share of WorldCom...
BlackstoneBlackstone announced Elaine Moncayo has joined its marketing department as marketing coordinator. In her new position, she will be responsible for internal marketing, including newsletter, brochures, Web site updates and presentations. She will work with both Blackstone employees and distributors in Miami and across...
GENEVA-How the mighty have fallen. British Telecommunications (BT), once ranked among the world's most powerful carriers, is finding itself buckling under a crippling mountain of debt in a climate where raising equity in the telecom/information technology (IT) sector has hit an all-time low. In...
Editor's Note: As part of its celebration of 20 years covering the wireless communications industry, RCR Wireless News each month will take a look back at crucial points in the history of mobile telecommunications. This month, RCR revisits the early days of Nextel and...
AWRApplied Wave Research appointed Ronald Patston as vice president of marketing. Prior to joining AWR, Patston held several positions in various companies in the wireless and EDA industry including Agilent Technologies, Verticom Inc. and Hewlett Packard. As VP of marketing, Patston will lead AWR's...
