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...
CONCORD, Mass.-Psion Dacom, a global manufacturer of PC Card communications products, announced it obtained a license for L.M. Ericsson's new cellular data interface.Psion and Ericsson's Mobile Communications Division based in Stockholm are developing Psion data interface kits for Ericsson products. Under terms of the...
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.-PriCellular reported revenue of $49.8 million and record net subscriber additions of 28,200, as well as a net loss of $7.6 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.Annual revenue grew about 60 percent, from $112.6 million in 1996 to $181 million...
WASHINGTON-Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) earlier this month asked President Clinton to help resolve a dispute over whether the Federal Communications Commission violated the 1997 budget law by licensing vacant frequencies to a paging carrier rather than a Southern California public-safety agency."Unless the president personally...
The Federal Communications Commission fined U S West Communications Inc. and a Western Wireless Corp. subsidiary $1.2 million each for discussing bidding strategy during the D-, E- and F-block personal communications services auction and failing to report the incident in a timely manner. The...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Bell Atlantic Mobile announced it equipped fourteen Washington, D.C., police cruisers in the Metropolitan Police Department's fleet with instant wireless access to criminal databases and Bureau of Motor Vehicle records, via laptop computers using the carrier's AirBridge wireless data network.The system uses Cellular...
NEW YORK-"The challenge for the paging industry is to reinvent itself so it can become a free cash-flow business, to put the brakes on capital expenditures and drive up revenues while unit growth is declining," said Brian G. Coleman, a director of Toronto Dominion...
NEW YORK-The merger spree in the paging industry during the past few years currently is at a lull, but acquisition activity is not over by any means."Among the top 10 or even the top seven, there is more consolidation to come," said Jeanine Oburchay,...
IRVING, Texas-Western PCS Corp. will buy Global System for Mobile communications network equipment, valued at $150 million, from Nokia Corp. for its Seattle and Phoenix network buildouts.Under terms of the contract, Nokia plans to deliver base stations and its base station controller, as well...
WASHINGTON-Major lenders to C-block personal communications services licensee Pocket Communications Inc. have struck a tentative deal with the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department to buy the bankrupt company's Dallas and Chicago clusters. Pocket's remaining licenses would be returned to the FCC, and...
Socket Communications Inc. and Motorola Inc.'s Messaging Systems Products Group announced an agreement to develop and support software that will allow FLEX-enabled palmtop computers powered by the Windows CE operating system to receive personal, group and broadcast wireless messages. The agreement combines Socket's data...
DENVER-The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is considering a plan to provide a new area code just for wireless phones and pagers despite a 1995 ruling from the Federal Communications Commission that prohibits such action.The CPUC believes Colorado will need a new area code by...
NEW YORK-Comsat Corp. signed a stock-purchase agreement valued at $116.5 million to sell most of Comsat RSI Inc. to a subsidiary of TBG Industries Inc., a New York-based private holding company.Comsat RSI, which was placed in discontinued operations last June, designs, manufactures and integrates...
ATLANTA-Northern Telecom Inc. received its first order for a 1900 MHz Time Division Multiple Access-based personal communications services network from Century Telephone Enterprises, said Nortel.Nortel's TDMA networks provide enhanced services including mobile sleep mode, short message service, authentication and one-button callback through Interim Standard-136...
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.-Metromedia International Group Inc. said it would pay in cash the previously announced dividend of about 91 cents per share on its 7.25-percent cumulative convertible preferred stock March 15 to shareholders of record March 10.Metromedia is involved in paging and various telephony...
FORT WORTH, Texas-Motorola Inc.'s Messaging Systems Products Group announced the latest upgrade to the FLEX protocol, called the FLEX G1.9.According to the company, the upgrade allows FLEX pagers to recognize geographic locations-so it can keep the correct time when moving through time zones-and enables...
WASHINGTON-Real competition will not succeed in the marketplace until "realistic rates" can be reached and subsidies cut back or restructured-including those earmarked for universal service, said three Wall Street analysts who testified before a Senate subcommittee last Wednesday.Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the...
WASHINGTON-Communications lawyers that practice before Federal Communications Commission's downtown headquarters have hired the powerful Patton Boggs lobbying firm to fight the agency's uncertain move to the Portals.Edward Newberry of Patton Boggs has been retained by the Federal Communications Bar Association on the FCC relocation....
MCLEAN, Va.-Nextel International Inc. has purchased a 21-percent interest in an unnamed Japanese wireless operator for approximately $32 million, according to its parent company, Nextel Communications Inc.According to Nextel reports, the Japanese company currently provides mobile radio services to approximately 40,000 subscriber units in...
