Arch Communications Group Inc. and MobileMedia Communications Inc. reportedly are extremely close to an agreement to merge, said sources close to the talks. Nothing definite had been decided by RCR press time Friday, however.No timetable has been disclosed as to when such an announcement...
WASHINGTON-The American Mobile Telecommunications Association filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission requesting a forbearance for non-commercial wireless from the type of regulation imposed upon mass-market communications.The request was made in response to an FCC notice of proposed rule making asking whether the agency...
CAMARILLO, Calif.-AML Communications Inc.'s board of directors approved a stock buyback of up to 400,000 shares of the company's outstanding common stock. Shares repurchased under the program will be issued in connection with future exercise of employee stock options. The stock will be repurchased...
MELBOURNE, Fla.-AirNet Communications Corp. said it received four new contracts amounting to more than $22 million to supply personal communications service wireless infrastructure equipment and services.CM-PCS L.L.C., Webtel Wireless Inc. and two undisclosed wireless telecommunications companies selected AirNet to provide their 1900 MHz Global...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission recently settled some outstanding issues regarding the 220 MHz (220-222 MHz) band in preparation for an auction of licenses scheduled to start Sept. 15.The FCC denied four requests to modify licenses because they were either not filed on time or...
NEW YORK-Sirf Technology Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif., company established in 1995, announced agreements last week with Ericsson Inc., Hitachi America Ltd. and Nokia Corp. designed to propel the use of global positioning system technology in wireless devices, including cellular phones."Sirf's objective has always...
BURLINGTON, Mass.-Symbio Systems Inc., a worldwide consulting and systems-integration provider, selected Lightbridge Inc. to provide local customer support for its FraudBuster clients in Taiwan, announced Lightbridge."An Asian Executives Poll conducted by the Far Eastern Economic Review ranked Taiwan as the strongest economy in Asia,"...
In the July 27 issue of RCR, the name of Mike Engle, vice president of international sales and worldwide marketing for Tadiran Microwave Networks, was misspelled. Also in that issue, Craig McCaw was given the wrong title at Nextel Communications Inc. McCaw is a...
NEW YORK-Celumovil S.A., Bogota, Colombia, plans to raise $680 million by a private debt sale and a revolving bank loan to refinance outstanding debt and fund capital expenses and customer-acquisition costs.Bavaria, a diversified Colombian industrial conglomerate, owns 86 percent of Celumovil. AT&T Corp. has...
WASHINGTON-The telecommunications industry last week again urged the Federal Communications Commission to extend the digital wiretap act compliance date to Oct. 25, 2000, instead of the end of the century, as is currently expected.The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the Personal Communications Industry Association, the...
The high bids placed for Brazil's eight A-band cellular companies late last month may cause some consortia members to rethink their positions.Reports already indicate Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Japanese trading group Itochu Corp. are reviewing their participation in a consortium led by Spain's Telefonica,...
LAS VEGAS-Beepers Plus Inc. announced its board of directors approved a stock buyback plan of up to 2 percent of its outstanding shares. The company said the move will take advantage of the company's undervalued stock price in anticipation of future mergers and acquisitions....
Stratus Computer Inc. and Ascend Communications Inc., which makes wide area networking solutions for telecom carriers and Internet service providers, announced plans to merge in a tax-free stock-for-stock exchange valued at about $822 million.The boards of directors of both companies have approved the planned...
WASHINGTON-The head of the Federal Communications Commission told RCR last week he believed assurances he received from Europeans that they would not discriminate against American companies on third-generation wireless standards were lacking.FCC Chairman William Kennard said the assurances were not "sufficient because basically what...
WASHINGTON-The Strategis Group Inc. announced it has acquired and will operate the business of Cellular Directions Inc. through its newly created Carrier Resources division.In particular, Strategis said it wanted Cellular Directions' Cellbytes electronic database product line, which consists of wireless coverage, pricing, roaming and...
Qualcomm Inc. said it has clarified its stance with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute on intellectual property rights it claims to own for W-CDMA technology.In January, ETSI chose W-CDMA technology, based on a Global System for Mobile communications platform, as a third-generation technology choice...
REDWOOD CITY, Calf.-Unwired Planet Inc. said Samsung Electronics Company Ltd. licensed its UP.Browser to integrate into the Code Division Multiple Access handsets of Samsung's Dallas-based subsidiary, Samsung Telecommunications America Inc.The deal calls for Unwired Planet to provide UP.Browser software releases and enhancements, enabling Samsung...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week issued service rules for using spectrum by local and state public-safety agencies, which included doubling the amount of spectrum available to some agencies.However, some key cities, such as Los Angeles, will not benefit from the FCC's action because...
ALEXANDRIA, Minn.-Rural Cellular Corp. said it received the regulatory approvals necessary to complete the purchase of the outstanding stock of Western Maine Cellular Inc.Rural Cellular paid about $7.5 million for Western Maine Cellular, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Utilities Inc. The company...
Research In Motion is expected to introduce a next-generation version of its Inter@ctive two-way messaging device, code-named Leapfrog, sometime this month.The new model is closer to the size of a traditional two-way pager than the original model and retains the full Qwerty keyboard style....
CLEVELAND, Ohio-Reltec Corp. announced it will acquire the assets of Evergood Telecom Enclosures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Walker Group Inc.Details of the transaction were not disclosed.Evergood designs, manufactures and markets power transfer devices and customer enclosures for wireline and wireless telecom applications.
New studies indicate cellular and personal communications services operators are beginning to segment the market by means of pricing.A survey from Toronto Dominion Securities in New York indicates cellular carriers such as AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and GTE Wireless in several markets clearly have...
WASHINGTON-The House Commerce subcommittee hearing last week on the Federal Communications Commission's controversial move to the Portals building was inconclusive, according to subcommittee Chairman Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas).The subcommittee expects to hold many more hearings before deciding whether there is a link between Tennessee...
WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association has taken another stab at urging the Federal Communications Commission to become less regulatory and less burdensome."PCIA is continuing to find ways to press for deregulation," said Mary McDermott, PCIA senior vice president and chief of staff for government...
