EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.-Metromedia International Group Inc. and its subsidiary Metromedia International Telecommunications Inc. have completed two transactions overseas-one to enter the wireline and wireless phone market in Russia, and another entering the paging business in Ukraine, announced Metromedia.MITI formed a joint venture with Tyumen...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to vote this month to resolve most of the remaining issues regarding the tortured refarming docket.The refarming docket began several years ago as a way of consolidating and better coordinating private wireless spectrum usage. Refarming allows for more...
WASHINGTON-Qualcomm Inc. is waging a major court battle against the Federal Communications Commission to gain recognition of Code Division Multiple Access technology innovation in personal communications services and the potentially lucrative prize that comes with it. The Qualcomm case will be briefed in the...
NEW YORK-Wristwatch maker Swatch introduced Swatch the Beep Box-a FLEX-enabled numeric pager shaped in a circle.Customers can buy the round pager, which features a trackball activation system, from Swatch's Web site. The pager alone sells for $75, and the prepaid service package of 1,000...
SANTA CLARA, Calif.-iReady Corp. said Seiko Instruments Inc. licensed its Internet Tuner technology to enable a line of next-generation liquid crystal displays in consumer electronics devices that can cheaply link to the Web.Under the licensing agreement, SII and iReady engineers will work together to...
NumereX Corp. announced Cellemetry L.L.C. signed an agreement with Bell Atlantic Mobile, expanding its Cellemetry Data Service footprint into the Eastern corridor. Gordon Ray, chairman, president and chief executive officer of NumereX, said the agreement adds 50 million pops to its coverage, including areas...
NEW YORK-Propelled by its Digital One Rate plan, AT&T Corp. said total revenue from wireless services increased 19.4 percent for the third quarter compared with last year.AT&T Corp.'s third-quarter earnings were $1 per share on a diluted basis. Earnings increased 67 percent on the...
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint Spectrum L.P. said it added 381,000 customers during the third quarter, compared with 260,000 customers during the second quarter, ending the three-month period with 1.75 million subscribers.Average revenue per unit dropped from $60 during the second quarter to $55 for the...
Microsoft Corp. last week announced plans to enter the smart-card market with a new standards-based operating system called Smart Cards for Windows.The system will allow smart-card developers to take advantage of a common run-time environment, a language-neutral development environment and familiar tools such as...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission has released traditional specialized mobile radio operators from local number portability requirements.Portability refers to telephone subscribers keeping their telephone number when switching service providers. The FCC has said number portability is essential for competition to develop.The decision shows the FCC...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. announced it has signed a multiyear contract with U S West Wireless L.L.C. to expand U S West's personal communications services coverage into more than 10 new markets.The contract, estimated to involve sales of at least $50 million, calls for Qualcomm's...
WEST POINT, Ga.-Powertel Inc. reported a net loss of $64.3 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, or $2.47 per share, compared with a net loss of $45.9 million, or $1.71 per share, during the same period last year.For the first nine months,...
BALTIMORE-At the end of a day-long hearing last Thursday, a bankruptcy judge made sure everyone, including himself, could go home happy.DCR PCS Inc., the subsidiary of Pocket Communications Inc., was able to make its provisional election effective; the federal government can get the ball...
NEW YORK-Plantronics Inc., a Santa Cruz, Calif., manufacturer of hands-free telephone devices, reported its second quarter was a record-setter for the company in income, revenue and cash flow."Both domestic and international business grew, with especially good increases in distribution, , retail and the...
WASHINGTON-Dan Phythyon, top mobile communications regulator at the Federal Communications Commission, last week cautioned against overreaction to congressionally mandated private wireless auctions and urged licensees to lobby Congress for spectrum lease fee authority as an alternative."I know that many people have taken the impression...
Sprint Corp., citing poor market conditions, said it is postponing its planned public offering of its Sprint PCS venture.The Kansas City, Mo.-based long-distance carrier said it will continue to evaluate market conditions and may proceed with a public offering later. The carrier hoped to...
Western Wireless Corp. said it is considering spinning off its 80.1-percent ownership interest in its personal communications business VoiceStream Wireless Corp. to its shareholders on a tax-free basis.The company, which owns mature and profitable cellular properties, said it filed a request for ruling with...
WASHINGTON-Top Pentagon brass-angrily responding to new revelations U.S. military communications have disrupted wireless telecom operations abroad and major U.S. weapons have been rendered useless due to lackluster Defense Department frequency coordination-said the Clinton administration's auction-driven wireless policy is misguided and is compromising America's military...
DALLAS-Dobson Cellular Systems said it will install Nortel Networks' digital infrastructure equipment in Maryland, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania under a three-year, $30-million contract.Nortel will supply radio and switching equipment using Advanced Mobile Phone Service, Time Division Multiple Access Interim Standard-136 and cdmaOne (IS-95...
SAN FRANCISCO-The California Public Utilities Commission has ordered local telephone and electric utility companies to allow telecommunications firms and cable TV companies equal access to their poles, conduits and rights-of-way so they may install their facilities on these premises.Enabling competitor firms to become facilities-based,...
WASHINGTON-At a time other sectors of the telecommunications industry are urging the Federal Communications Commission to go away and leave them alone, Mark Crosby, president of the Industrial Telecommunications Association wants more attention. He wants an advocate fighting for private wireless spectrum inside of...
WASHINGTON-Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. Chairman George Carlo is expected to recommend early next year that basic scientific research be de-emphasized in the future in favor of post-market surveillance.Carlo announced that initial findings from radio-frequency radiation experiments do not appear to have identified a clear...
NEW YORK-Telecommunications carriers, equipment manufacturers, regulators and financiers are invited to attend the second steering committee meeting Nov. 9 of a new organization being formed to promote competitive markets and capital availability in developing nations.The Association for Competitive International Telecom is modeled after the...
Ben J. Kern Jr., president and chief executive officer of Natcom Inc., died Oct. 17 of complications from leukemia. He was 64.Mr. Kern founded Natcom, an authorized Motorola Inc. paging system dealer and paging distributor, in 1989. The company is located in Ridgeland, Miss.,...
