MexicoGrupo Iusacell inaugurated its new Code Division Multiple Access network with a phone call by the company's president, Fulvio del Valle, from its headquarters in Mexico City to a nearby community. The launch marks the first phase of Iusacell's $200-million network modernization plan to...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson announced it has signed a wireless local loop contract with Estonia Telephone Co. Ltd., valued at $18 million.The contract includes turnkey deliveries of Ericsson's RAS 1000 system, as well as operation and maintenance systems.The RAS 1000 connects subscribers to a fixed...
WAYNE, Pa.-Comcast Cellular Communications Inc. said it launched the Comcast International Roaming service to provide business customers with communications services in 70 countries.Customers use their existing wireless number, which is programmed into a Subscriber Identity Module card containing account information and relevant data that...
Tom Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, will have spent two weeks on the road before he returns home to Washington, D.C. Wheeler was scheduled to spend the first week in Cannes, France, at the GSM MOU conference and this week hosting...
WASHINGTON-The war of words between the wireless industry and law enforcement over the time frame and requirements of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act is becoming more strident as letters between those two entities, Congress and the Justice Department, continue to circulate in...
American Radio Systems Corp. completed its consent solicitation of its 11.38 percent cumulative exchangeable preferred stock with the majority of the stockholders giving the requested consent, ARS announced. ARS entered into a merger agreement with CBS Corp. on Sept. 19, under which its radio...
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.-ReadyCom Inc. launched its Responder portable two-way voicemail service in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina, said the company.ReadyCom said it has been conducting a paying trial using a prototype system since 1996.Responder, formerly called ReadyTalk Echo, is a pager-sized...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. and DeTeMobil of Bonn, Germany, said they are planning to offer Pegasos-QEDesign, a wireless network planning and deployment software suite for multiple technologies, including Code Division Multiple Access, Global System for Mobile communications and various analog standards.The combined software package produces...
WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission member Susan Ness said last week's ruling on the marketing of customer information by paging, cellular and telephone companies will benefit Baby Bells and their subsidiaries more than others.The agency's ruling restricts carriers from using customer data from one telecom service...
In 1983, there were about 40 cellular cell sites in the Los Angeles area, with just a few hundred countrywide. Early subscribers lined up to pay whatever the price was for a cellular phone-$2,000 to $3,500 was typical-and the question was not, "How much...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson signed a $200 million framework agreement with Telecommunicaciones Movilnet in Venezuela to expand its wireless network using Time Division Multiple Access Interim-136 technology. Movilnet is the only operator in the country offering digital wireless services. The carrier already has introduced digital...
GERMANTOWN, Md.-Telecommunications Techniques Corp. plans this quarter to release new test software that is client/server-based, enabling carriers to test their entire network from the network operators center. The product is designed to allow companies to provision rapidly and troubleshoot deployed networks, according to TTC."NetAnalyst...
SEATTLE-AirTouch Communications Inc. said Seattle police arrested two local residents for possession of stolen property and a third resident on suspicion of cellular fraud during a routine traffic stop.AirTouch credits the arrests to recent fraud training it provided to law-enforcement officials.One officer, said AirTouch,...
ARLINGTON, Va.-The Telecommunications Industry Association early this year published a new interim standard that details the fundamental capabilities for interfacing a personal communications switching center with one or more radio systems.Called the "SS7 (Signaling System 7) Based A-Interface," the TIA/EIA/IS-651-A standard will enable different...
VERNON HILLS, Ill.-Telular Corp. signed an agreement to supply Qualcomm Inc. with its patented interface card for Qualcomm's fixed wireless terminals.Telular's Borscht Daughter Card will enable Qualcomm's fixed wireless users to access 800 MHz and 1900 MHz Code Division Multiple Access networks from a...
NEW YORK-Australian telecommunications giant Telstra Corp. Ltd. announced Feb. 18 that its net profits for the six months ended Dec. 31 rose by 117 percent from the same period a year ago. Net profits totaled $1.08 billion, about $67 million ahead of median market...
COLUMBIA, Md.-Tecore Inc. announced plans to introduce its multiprotocol platform designed for smaller and rural networks at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association Wireless '98 convention in Atlanta this week.The AirCore switching platform has the capability to simultaneously interface between Global System for Mobile communications,...
PHOENIX-Novatel Wireless Inc. plans to exhibit at the Wireless '98 show in Atlanta a handheld personal computer with a built-in Cellular Digital Packet Data wireless and landline modem. This is the first such product on the market, according to Novatel.The Contact computer provides mobile...
Multinational Automated Clearing House U.S.A. said it signed agreements to provide roamer call data clearing services to Global System for Mobile service providers American Personal Communications, Powertel Inc., Microcell Connexions Inc., Aerial Communications, Airadigm Communications, DigiPH PCS, Conestoga Wireless and NPI Wireless. A subsidiary...
WETHERSFIELD, Conn.-Shared Technologies Cellular Inc. and its retail partner Direct To Retail Associates L.P. announced the launch of a program to provide prepaid cellular phones through major retailers.DTR is working with major retailers to secure floor space and national ads for the prepaid program,...
ALEXANDRIA, Minn.-Rural Cellular Corp. announced a definitive agreement to acquire the operations and related assets of Atlantic Cellular's Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts cellular telephone licenses.The cellular properties include all of Vermont, western New Hampshire, the northeast corner of New York and...
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.-Microwave Power Device Inc. said its wholly owned subsidiary, MPD Technologies Inc., will demonstrate its multichannel, multiprotocol, linear power amplifiers and single-channel, Code Division Multiple Access and Global System for Mobile communications, high-power amplifiers this week at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's convention...
Like a tsunami we don't see until it's too late, number portability is heading toward the wireless industry, and few companies seem prepared for the impending storm.While phones, technology and communication vehicles have changed dramatically through the years, one constant in the telecommunications industry...
NEW YORK-Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, N.J., has created a venture capital subsidiary to identify and invest in emerging technologies.Henry Schacht, who retired Feb. 18 as chairman of the parent company, has become chairman of the new, wholly owned subsidiary, Lucent Venture Partners Inc....
