SAN DIEGO-Sony Corp. launched a $10 million advertising campaign this month in an effort to build awareness of the new wireless handsets created by Sony Personal Mobile Communications of America.The national campaign for the Digital Wireless Audio Visual Entertainment phones began with print ads...
CHARLOTTE, N.C.-Paging Network Inc. officially threw its hat into the narrowband personal communications services game last week when Glenayre Technologies Inc. announced thatPageNet has agreed to buy a two-way, ReFLEX 25 system.Under the terms of the agreement, Glenayre will install the necessary infrastructure and...
DALLAS-Aeris Communications Inc. and Orbcomm Canada Inc. announced an agreement to integrate their respective MicroBurst and Orbcomm services for hybrid wireless data and messaging products and services in Canada.The combined solution will combine MicroBurst's coverage in the Rogers Cantel cellular network in Canada with...
WASHINGTON-Members of the House Commerce Committee last month urged the Federal Communications Commission to delay or eliminate the requirement that commercial mobile radio service providers implement local number portability (LNP) next year.The letter signed by 22 members supports a petition filed late last year...
MURRAY HILL, N.J.-Lucent Technologies Inc. said it formed a new business venture that will provide products to help emergency crews respond to wireline and wireless 911 calls more quickly.The Lucent Public Safety Systems venture introduced the Palladium package, a line of product offerings developed...
FORT WORTH, Texas-Motorola Inc.'s Messaging Systems Products Group announced the Wireless Application Protocol Forum will support the FLEX and ReFLEX paging protocols in its specifications.The WAP standard is a common set of application protocols enabling application developers to create software for one standard that...
Now that paging carriers must make Universal Service Fund contributions, even though they are ineligible to withdraw money from it, many are adding new charges to customer bills to recoup those fees-and the charges are not just for end users.Some carriers have extended this...
MALVERN, Pa.-Triton PCS Inc. announced it received gross proceeds of about $300 million from its recently completed sale of 11-percent senior subordinated discount notes due 2008.The company plans to use the capital to fund both the buildout of its personal communications services network and...
ATLANTA-GTE Wireless and Baja Celular of Tijuana, Mexico, have partnered to use digital networks that allow U.S. and Mexican cell sites to serve calls simultaneously without signal interference, said GTE.Both GTE Wireless and Baja Celular contracted with Motorola Inc. to provide the networks for...
LAS VEGAS-General Magic Inc. said it plans to begin commercially offering July 30 its integrated voice and data virtual assistant network service via local, regional and national value-added resellers.The service, previously code-named Serengeti, is officially renamed Portico. The Portico brand name now will appear...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission believes the best reason auctions should be used to allocate spectrum is not the revenue the auctions generate but rather "getting the most use out of the spectrum by focusing bidders on the available spectrum," said Elliott Maxwell, deputy chief...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. last week introduced an aggressive national rate system that eliminates long-distance and roaming charges.The AT&T Digital One Rate plan includes three pricing options: 600 minutes for $90, 1,000 minutes for $120 and 1,400 minutes for $150. Those rates equate to per-minute...
WASHINGTON-The Republican congressional leadership plans hearings to investigate Clinton-administration approval of commercial satellite technology transfers from U.S. wireless firms to China that Pentagon and intelligence officials say were converted to improve Beijing's long-range nuclear missile capability.House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and House Majority Leader...
GREENVILLE, S.C.-Conxus Communications Inc. announced it successfully tested its Pocketext ReFLEX 25 data messaging service on its existing InFLEXion network.Conxus' Pocketalk voice paging service, launched last year, was the company's first product to use the InFLEXion network. The company plans to offer the Pocketext...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association remains concerned proposed guidelines for siting wireless antenna on National Park Service lands will not adequately protect sensitive commercial information about wireless carriers' future business plans, CTIA said in comments filed with the NPS recently.CTIA "vehemently opposes disclosure of...
WASHINGTON-With consolidation, affirmative action curbs and top-dollar licenses turning into barriers to entry, federal regulators are trying to create after-market opportunities for small businesses in a young but fast-maturing industry already dominated by a handful of wireless behemoths.But is the Federal Communications Commission fighting...
ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Telephone carrier LCI International Inc. will begin marketing Metrocall Inc.'s paging and wireless messaging services to business and residential customers through its direct sales force and other sales and distribution channels.Under terms of the three-year agreement, LCI also will become one of Metrocall's...
RESTON, Va.-American Mobile Satellite Corp. announced JS Express Inc. has signed a three-year contract extension for its Ardis wireless data network.JS Express, a one-hour, on-demand delivery service, uses the network for its wireless dispatch application that coordinates logistics for the 285 JS Express' drivers...
WASHINGTON-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Commerce Committee, has endorsed the Federal Communications Commission's request to delay until next year a spectrum auction for general wireless communication services (GWCS) slated for August, his staff said last week.McCain was one of several members to...
WASHINGTON-GTE Corp. filed a private antitrust lawsuit at a U.S. federal district court here last week in an attempt to block the planned $38 billion merger of WorldCom Inc. and MCI Communications Corp.The lawsuit alleges the merger would allow the combined company to monopolize...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's latest Semi-Annual Data Survey reported the industry gained 11.2 million wireless phone subscribers in 1997, which it said led to lower bills and increased revenues.CTIA estimated annual revenues increased 16.3 percent, to $27.4 billion, and that the average customer...
NEW YORK-U.S. District Court of Maryland Judge Alexander Williams Jr. has dismissed a breach of contract lawsuit Comsat Corp. had filed Jan. 30 against IDB Mobile Communications Inc., saying it is the court's opinion that the Federal Communications Commission is the appropriate forum for...
CINCINNATI-Cincinnati Bell Wireless said it has launched personal communications services based on Time Division Multiple Access technology in the Cincinnati/Dayton/northern Kentucky market.The launch is coordinated through a management agreement with AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which holds the personal communications services license. AT&T Wireless and...
Chatham Technologies Inc., a Dallas-based manufacturer of custom enclosures for electronic and communications equipment, announced it has acquired Innovation Inc. of Bothell, Wash., an engineering and design firm serving the wireless industry."Among other benefits, Innovation offers the ability to produce custom base station systems...
