Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

CARACAS, Venezuela-Lucent Technologies Inc. announced it has received a contract from Telcel valued at $100 million to upgrade the Venzuelan cellular operator’s network. Telcel will upgrade its system from analog …

NEW YORK-InterDigital Communications Corp., King of Prussia, Pa., will field test its new wireless local loop product in northwest Iowa this fall in conjunction with Pioneer Holdings L.L.C. The agreement …

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Personal communications services provider Powertel Inc. has joined the other nearly 1,300 members of the Personal Communications Industry Association, said the trade association. Powertel, based in West Point, Ga., …

NEW YORK-Even if telecommunications giants seeking to combine with each other clear the myriad hurdles confronting their plans, the success of their bids to merge may depend ultimately on approval …

The personal communications services industry emerged almost unscathed in its quest for automatic roaming agreements with analog cellular carriers. Last year’s lawsuit, which subsequently was dropped, brought by AT&T Wireless …

NEW YORK-When it comes to American pure-play personal communications services IPOs, the million-dollar question is, “Where did they go?” Sprint Corp. may hold the answer with its planned initial public …

In the eyes of some, the Federal Communications Commission’s great experiment with personal communications services licensing has been a smashing success. Facilities-based competition is all around. Subscriber numbers and revenues …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission created a new “accelerated docket” for complaint resolutions between telephone companies. Complaints that are accepted for the docket will be resolved within 60 days. The FCC …

With personal communications services carriers reporting average monthly churn levels about twice as high as cellular carriers, bad debt increasingly is being blamed for PCS churn problems. Some PCS carriers …

WARWICK, R.I.-Cellular One of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Mass., launched its digital wireless network and is offering calling plans that provide for free long-distance wireless calls throughout North America, …

EL DORADO HILLS, Calif.-International Billing Services’ electronic billing solution will be offered to the entire client base of Cincinnati Bell Information Services, which provides billing and customer-support solutions to the …

Metapath Software Corp. today introduced its Cerve Provisioning Manager 2.0, which will be commercially available during the fourth quarter. The Cerve product is a real-time provisioning platform designed to decrease …

WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), turning the tables on the Clinton administration, has accused the Democratic-controlled Federal Communications Commission of running a do-nothing wireless bureau. McCain, angered specifically …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week released rules for the auction of Location and Monitoring Service spectrum. LMS is used to locate or monitor mobile radio units primarily located in …

HACKENSACK, N.J.-GoAmerica Communications Corp. announced it acquired the ZAP-IT business unit of DTS Wireless Inc. without disclosing the financial details of the transaction. ZAP-IT allows users to access e-mail, corporate …

The June 29 story titled, “Wireless should strive for bigger piece of total minutes,” should have stated residential landline subscribers use about 600 minutes per month while wireless subscribers use …

WASHINGTON-The Department of Commerce is expected to ask other federal agencies for advice on applications filed last week by leading computer firms to export a new form of strong encryption. …

WASHINGTON-New public-safety spectrum will be denied to police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel well into early next century because of delays claimed by broadcasters in moving from analog to digital …

WASHINGTON-The House Appropriations Committee last week approved the budget for the Federal Communications Commission for Fiscal Year 1999. The appropriation of $182 million is $5 million less than this year’s …

RESTON, Va.-American Mobile Satellite Corp. said it will provide network services and solution development to Checkpoint Systems Inc. for a nationwide wireless field-service application. Under the terms of the agreement, …

SALT LAKE CITY-AirTouch Communications Inc. said it is offering pay-as-you-go voice-mail services-designed to eliminate monthly fees-to customers in Provo and Salt Lake City who are not voice-mail subscribers today. The …

WASHINGTON-Legislation to protect companies from liability if they share erroneous information about solutions for the so-called millennium bug, proposed last week by President Clinton, won the support of the chairman …

WASHINGTON-A proposal from Western Wireless Corp. to receive universal-service support payments for providing telephone service to rural areas seems to have gotten a lukewarm response from the Federal Communications Commission. …

WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association scheduled a forum Aug. 18 in Washington, D.C., to deal with all aspects of number-portability requirements and implementation, said CTIA. Also, CTIA recently issued a …

NEW YORK-WinStar Communications Inc. agreed to purchase 850 megahertz of bandwidth in New York from CellularVision USA Inc. for $32.5 million in cash. The bandwidth is being disaggregated from CellularVision’s …