DALLAS-United States Cellular Corp. selected Northern Telecom Inc. to build new Code Division Multiple Access and Time Division Multiple Access networks in its markets, said Nortel.Milwaukee will be the first market to be implemented, with commercial service scheduled to be available later this year,...
WASHINGTON-The Telecommunications Resellers Association last week defended its study that claims a "resale blockage" exists in broadband personal communications service and specialized mobile radio service.TRA President Ernie Kelly, in a March 24 letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard, lashed out at Personal...
TORONTO-TMI Communications announced it launched a new mobile packet data network available in all 50 states and in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean using its MSAT geostationary satellite.TMI said the service is aimed at mobile data users with people and equipment in remote areas...
Cellnet, a United Kingdom-based cellular operator, selected Brite technology to deliver its traffic information services to its subscribers. Cellnet's Traffic Line provides in-car traffic reports on a digital network direct to a mobile phone. A small receiver placed in the car notifies customers of...
WASHINGTON-No one was more surprised at the eventual outcome of the most recent Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction as was Thomas Jones, president of WNP Communications Inc., who walked away with the right to build in 30 of the top 50 markets.Auction 17, which...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry will be gearing up soon for cutover to a universal electronic licensing system that will consolidate 11 systems and databases into one and allow a one-day turnaround in a best-case scenario. The on-line, secure, private system, demonstrated earlier this month at...
MCLEAN, Va.-LCC International Inc. announced the opening of its Cellular Institute to the public worldwide.Established in 1991, the Cellular Institute offers a process-based, just-in-time job-skills curriculum, said the company.The Institute announced last year it plans to begin offering a group of courses online, to...
NEW YORK-U S West Communications Inc.'s long-term debt ratings were downgraded from Aa3 to A2 by Moody's Investors Service Inc. for several reasons.Moody's said it is concerned about public-policy issues, financial pressures associated with the restructuring of businesses within the U S West Inc....
Further extending its reach into the wireless industry, Sun Microsystems Inc. announced it has signed an agreement giving L.M. Ericsson license to use and distribute its PersonalJava platform and Java Application Environment.The Ericsson announcement comes less than two months after Motorola Inc. announced it...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc.'s cdmaOne Interim Standard-634 wireless network solution is scheduled to be available beginning in the second quarter of 1998.The system features Qualcomm's QCore base station controllers fully integrated with Alcatel Telecom's 1000 S12 switching center via the IS-634 open interface.The new architecture...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Iridium L.L.C. has 75 percent of its planned satellite constellation deployed after it successfully launched two more satellites into orbit, bringing the total number of operational satellites to 51, said Iridium.The two satellites were launched on a Chinese Long March 2C/SD rocket from...
WASHINGTON-Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), one of several House Republican leaders caught on a radio scanner in 1996 plotting to limit damage of an ethics investigation of Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), has sued Rep. James McDermott (D-Wash.) for allegedly leaking a transcript of the conversation...
DULUTH, Ga.-Astronet Corp. said it accelerated the development schedule of its new Time Division Multiple Access wireless Private Branch Exchange product by selecting Isotel's call-processing engine software."The luxury of using Isotel software with our hardware is that it quickly and easily integrates with our...
SAN RAMON, Calif.-U.S. Wireless Corp. announced it completed the acquisition of the minority interest in its subsidiary, Labyrinth Communication Technologies Group Inc.The merger will be implemented exchanging approximately 4.5 million shares of U.S. Wireless' common stock for 490,000 shares of Labyrinth's-49 percent of the...
Like the ugly duckling that was teased and spurned in its younger years only to mature into a beautiful swan, the two-way paging market is expected to someday spread its wings and lift the paging industry to new heights of subscriber growth and increased...
NEW YORK-It has been said that where you stand depends on where you sit. And so it was earlier this month when representatives of four wireless carriers and four equipment vendors offered their views at a BT Alex. Brown forum on the interplay between...
NEW YORK-Telephone and Data Systems Inc. announced it completed the merger of its wholly owned subsidiary, API Merger Corp., with American Paging Inc., effective March 20.TDS announced March 18 that its buyback program for its paging subsidiary's publicly held stock had expired. Through API...
WASHINGTON-House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) will hold a hearing Tuesday on wireless enhanced 911 services in advance of upcoming legislation that would give states revenue from federal property antenna siting fees to upgrade emergency wireless calling systems.Among the witnesses expected to testify...
Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. initiated coverage on the paging industry last month, issuing a report titled "Where's the Beep?"-written by company vice president Cynthia Motz.In the report, the company stated its belief that the industry will not experience significant subscriber or revenue growth...
WASHINGTON-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), in a fit of anger last week, threatened to eliminate the Federal Communications Commission if it continues to embrace Vice President Gore's goal of wiring all schools, libraries and rural hospitals to the Internet by 2000 at the expense of...
KIRKLAND, Wash.-AT&T Wireless Services Inc.'s Hong Kong venture, SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Ltd., signed conditional agreements with Star Telecom International Holdings Ltd. and Telecom Service Ltd. to acquire P Plus Communications Ltd. for about $95 million.SmarTone will gain additional spectrum through the acquisition, which will...
WASHINGTON-The House telecommunications subcommittee last week passed legislation to inject more competition in the international satellite market.The bill, co-sponsored by House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), would privatize the International Maritime Satellite Organization and the International Telecommunications Satellite...
WASHINGTON-As the Justice Department broadens its antitrust probe of WorldCom Inc.'s proposed $37 billion purchase of MCI Communications Corp., Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/Push Coalition is using the mega-merger as a springboard to advocate increased diversification in the booming telecommunications industry.Last week, Jackson, Federal Communications...
