A newly constituted Federal Communications Commission soon will get a chance to reconsider one of the thornier issues facing the agency in recent months. That is, how to deal with the personal communications services spectrum auctions where many of the biggest winners look likely...
WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association launched its "Agenda for a Wireless America" aimed at urging regulators and legislators at the local, county, state and federal levels to focus their efforts on smoothing the industry's path toward full competition.The program, unveiled Feb. 10 by PCIA...
DALLAS-3COM PalmPilot users can send numeric or alphanumeric pages and personal or group e-mail messages directly, using One-Touch software by JP Systems Inc., the software provider announced.The One-Touch application is a combination of software and cable products that integrate wireless communications with AccessLink two-way...
Paging Network Inc. last week disclosed a plan to dramatically restructure its U.S. operations, the most notable aspect of which includes a 30-percent reduction in work force during the next nine to 15 months.This reduction will affect about 1,800 employees in positions such as...
AirTouch Communications Inc. signed a contract with Ultimate Electronics stores nationwide to make AirTouch the exclusive wireless provider in all Audio King, SoundTrack and Ultimate Electronics stores in AirTouch markets, announced the company. Ultimate Electronics operates 31 stores in nine states nationwide under the...
WASHINGTON-With technologies converging, telecom giants merging and entrenched networks discouraging new competition, there is growing debate over the role of antitrust law in the Digital Age.In one camp are the Clintonites, lawyers and economists who emphasize the inherent power of embedded networks to keep...
Aiming to attract alphanumeric paging subscribers wary of dictating messages to a dispatch operator, GoComm Wireless Corp. created a device called the MessageSender, currently being shipped to distributors.The MessageSender is a portable Qwerty keyboard about the size of a checkbook on which users can...
HOLLYWOOD, Fla.-Vivox USA Inc. said it will distribute its products internationally through Tessco Inc. of Sparks, Md., under a new agreement signed between the two companies.The agreement covers Vivox's hands-free cellular car kit, the Vivox Lite VL-1, which uses a car's cassette player to...
Two developers of handset-based prepaid technology are headed to court over alleged patent and trademark infringement.Telemac Corp. has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., against Topp Telecom Inc. of Miami, charging the company with patent and trademark infringement and unfair...
WASHINGTON-Just who is WNP Communications Inc. in Earlysville, Va., and where did it come up with a $100 million upfront payment for the upcoming local multipoint distribution services auction, set for a Feb. 18 start date?This earnest-money payment eclipsed those forwarded by BCK/Rivgam L.L.C....
ITALYBusiness customers of Omnitel Pronto Italia now can call from Italy to Europe, the United States and Canada for the same price as local calls, announced Omnitel. "Italian telecommunications is evolving into a hyper-market, with multiple global players and a strong `customer pull' for...
In addition to $8.9 million AirNet Communications Corp. raised last year, the company announced it recently received $19.3 million in financing from a group of private investors, including a number of institutional venture capital firms. The funds are primarily designated to further develop AirNet's...
Look out, Craig McCaw! A low-earth-orbiting pie in the eye-Bill Gates a la mode-could be in your future once the world finds out you've joined forces with McCaw expatriates and Nextel mobile moguls to pummel bidders in the LMDS auction a la 800 MHz...
WASHINGTON-For Beverly Wilborn, being female and African American has not kept her from climbing the corporate ladder in a telecommunications industry dominated in all respects by white males.In that respect, she is the exception to the rule.Wilborn, 49, is senior vice president of marketing...
Bundling cellular equipment with a service plan played a significant role in the success of the wireless industry. People could justify penny phones, even if it meant signing up for two years of cellular service. No one can pass up a bargain and most...
WASHINGTON-The Vermont congressional delegation last week applauded Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard's rejection-for now-of federal pre-emption of local zoning regulation, but vowed to continue fighting for legislation to overturn antenna siting provisions of the 1996 telecom act.At the same time, it was announced...
NEW YORK-Seeking to crack down on what it considers abusive overseas transactions by American companies, the Internal Revenue Service recently published a warning of impending regulatory action in its bulletin.Notice 98-5, as the admonition is formally called, said the agency is looking askance at...
ArgentinaBrightpoint Inc. is expanding its international operations with the formation of Brightpoint de Argentina S.A. and plans to establish Brightpoint France, said the company. As part of its Argentine operations, Brightpoint opened a 10,000-square foot leased facility in Buenos Aires for distribution, value-added logistics...
While Global System for Mobile communications technology networks currently have more subscribers, technical and competitive advantages will propel Code Division Multiple Access into a market-leading position by early 2003, concludes a recent study by Datacomm Research Co.The 208-page "CDMA Wireless Business Opportunities" challenges the...
WASHINGTON-The General Accounting Office said last week the Federal Communications Commission will rack up $14 million in back-rental costs by the time it moves into its new Portals headquarters this July.However, there is increasing doubt about whether that move will take place.The GAO report,...
WASHINGTON-While call blocking may be the easiest and quickest way of preventing pay-phone operators and long-distance carriers from charging excessive access fees on toll-free calls to messaging providers, all three industries realize that implementing this feature may be impossible in a global sense, and...
WASHINGTON-FaciliCom International, a provider of wholesale international telecom services, announced that it completed a $300 million offering of senior notes. The notes will mature on Jan. 15, 2008, and interest on the notes will accrue at the rate of 10.5 percent per annum and...
Scott Schelle, former chief executive officer of American Personal Communications/Sprint Spectrum, and Anne Schelle, former vice president of external affairs, formed Telos Technologies L.L.C. to provide consulting services for the communications industry."It was an exhilarating experience to launch the nation's first personal communications services...
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint Spectrum L.P. said it anticipates signing up its 1-millionth subscriber this week. The company also said its personal communications services subscribers used more than 1 billion minutes of airtime during 1997.Sprint PCS' average minutes of use and revenue per subscriber figures...
