Airadigm Communications Inc. signed a contract to sell its entire tower inventory to SpectraSite Communications Inc., said the companies. The purchase price was not disclosed. The contract also includes a provision calling for SpectraSite to build about 125 additional towers throughout Wisconsin and Iowa....
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission plans to auction 528 multilateration Location and Monitoring Service licenses Dec. 15. LMS is used to locate or monitor mobile radio units, primarily located in vehicles, and is expected to be part of the emerging smart highways program being developed...
The race is on for local multipoint distribution service carriers to launch service, but many players remain confused about which services to offer and which markets to target."One of the most influential factors in delaying the LMDS market is the actual conceptualization of what...
NEW YORK-Geotek Communications Inc., a Montvale, N.J., provider of wireless communications geared to mobile workers, reported second-quarter and first-half results Aug. 17 that reflect the company's efforts to restructure for improved performance.Geotek said it reduced "engineering and development expenses related to enhancement of ...
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.-Ericsson Inc. last week introduced a snap-on wireless modem that allows users to browse the Internet and send or receive faxes and e-mail without cable hookups or a phone line.The DI 27 eliminates the need to connect a personal computer modem...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry and the hearing-impaired community appear headed on a collision course over the implementation of the 1996 telecom act's mandate that equipment and service be accessible and usable by persons with disabilities if it is "readily achievable."The readily achievable caveat, among other...
WASHINGTON-In comments filed late last week with the Federal Communications Commission, CTIA asked the regulator to provide nationwide liability protection for wireless service providers when their systems are used to connect callers to emergency services.The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association pointed out in its comments...
PALO ALTO, Calif.-Corsair Communications Inc. said it is developing a network-based wireless location system called PhoneTrack using elements of time difference of arrival and angle of arrival technologies.The system initially is being designed to locate wireless emergency calls from Advanced Mobile Phone Service and...
In the July 27 story about the Audiovox agreement with CommQuest, the wrong photo inadvertently was used. The photo that ran was of the LSI Logic baseband processor chip.In the Aug. 17 Paging Special Report, Paging Network Inc.'s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development...
NEW YORK-Moody's Investors Service has assigned a speculative grade rating of B2 to a proposed $1.21 billion in secured credit facilities that will be used to fund Centennial Cellular Corp.'s buyout and recapitalization by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and Blackstone Capital Partners.The new...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission plans to re-auction returned C-block licenses March 23. The announcement, made last Wednesday, means the FCC will not wait for various bankruptcy courts to determine the fate of C-block licenses held by firms in bankruptcy litigation but will go forward...
WASHINGTON-A decision to allow law enforcement access to location information as part of the digital wiretap upgrade may have an impact on which technologies are deployed under the enhanced 911 mandate even though all players in the two dramas maintain the issues are separate."Both...
In what is no doubt the single-largest transaction in the history of the paging industry, Arch Communications Group Inc. and MobileMedia Corp. confirmed they have completed a definitive merger agreement under which Arch will acquire MobileMedia for a combination of cash, stock and the...
FOSTER CITY, Calif.-Century Telephone Enterprises Inc. said it agreed to sell its Alaskan assets to financial investor Fox Paine & Co. L.L.C. and a management team led by Charles E. Robinson for $415 million in cash.The pact includes Century Telephone's local exchange, cellular, personal...
HICKSVILLE, N.Y.-American Alpha Dispatch Services announced it is offering operator-assisted text messaging to personal communications services users who subscribe to Sprint PCS nationwide.The 100-message package, which includes a toll-free number, is priced at $7 per month, according to American Alpha.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.-U S West Communications Inc. said it experienced about a half dozen cases of vandalism in the Albuquerque, N.M., area last week, one of which affected paging service to a nearby hospital.According to spokesman Jerry Brown, vandals cut phone lines used by several...
JACKSON, Miss.-SkyTel Communications Inc. announced it is offering a prepaid alphanumeric paging package in addition to its prepaid numeric paging product launched last fall.Prepaid alpha paging allows subscribers to pay for a set number of messages beforehand and renew as necessary. Two prepaid alpha...
CHICAGO-B-Side Carriers L.P., operating as MobiLink, and Ranger Wireless Solutions announced that Ranger acquired most of the assets and contracts of MobiLink for an undisclosed amount.Ranger Wireless Solutions is a services development company focused on wireless roaming. MobiLink was a development company owned by...
WASHINGTON-A petition by three trade associations representing railroads, utilities and the petroleum industry is being criticized soundly by other frequency coordinators, which claim the request for a separate "public service pool" would destroy refarming goals.The petition, filed Aug. 14, asked the Federal Communications Commission...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association last week convened the third annual wireless number portability forum to discuss ways to implement wireless number portability before the June 30 deadline.Portability facilitates telephone subscribers keeping their telephone number when switching service providers. The Federal Communications Commission has...
SARASOTA, Fla.-Pinnacle Holdings Inc. announced it no longer is pursuing its initial public offering due to unfavorable market conditions.Pinnacle provides wireless communications rental tower space in the southeastern United States. Since May 1995, Pinnacle has bought 598 towers and constructed another 48, the company...
CINCINNATI-Cincinnati Bell Wireless announced that it expanded its southwest Ohio operating region by launching personal communications services in Dayton.The launch coincides with the opening of four new Cincinnati Bell Wireless retail outlets. The launch is being coordinated through a management agreement with AT&T Wireless...
The recent commercial launch of PageMart Wireless Inc.'s facilities-based ReFLEX 25 narrowband personal communications services network has heralded in the new age of paging, in which all major paging players will operate some type of two-way network.SkyTel Communications Inc. no longer will be the...
Watching a cellular handset manufacturer that was once on top of the market exit from the U.S. handset business has broken Mal Gurian's heart.The one-time president of Oki telecom, since renamed Oki Telecom Inc., considered the company his family."We had all the top people...
