ROME-News reports from Italy said the country's communications minister, Salvatore Cardinale, will request the appointment of a government committee to select a fourth mobile phone operator.Cardinale reportedly asked the prime minister to select committee members who will choose an adviser to the process, then...
By the time Jan. 19 rolls around, newest Wireless Telecom Bureau Chief Tom Sugrue will be in for an education that goes far beyond the quirks and quarks (B.S. in physics) of his Ivy League schooling and his inside-the-Beltway experience.None of that will have...
Sweden-based L.M. Ericsson said it will cut roughly 10,000 employees as economic problems in Asia and Latin America squeeze some of the company's operations.Ericsson head Sven-Christer Nilsson announced last week the company's profits for 1998 will be lower than analysts expected-about 15 percent to...
Studies indicate the mobile phone industry may be in for more alarming churn figures as increased competition threatens to erode carriers' customer bases.Richard Siber, associate partner with Andersen Consulting in Boston, expects the industry's churn rate to average between 33 percent and 36 percent...
NEW YORK-Denmark-based Bosch Telecom Inc., which introduced the World 718 phone in June, has decided to close its Dallas office for U.S. sales and marketing, although it will continue selling the handsets here.The World 718 phone can operate on Global System for Mobile Communications...
Metawave Communications Corp. last week expanded its SpotLight 2000 product line to include a Code Division Multiple Access/Advanced Mobile Phone Service smart antenna system that works with Motorola Inc.'s SC 9600 base station.The SpotLight 2000 product also is compatible with Lucent Series II and...
WASHINGTON-Marcia Spielholz, the California woman whose emergency 911 cellular phone call went unanswered in 1994 during an attempted auto theft in which she was shot in the face, plans to amend her class-action lawsuit against Los Angeles Telephone Co. next week by adding new...
MCI Worldcom in published reports indicated it would be interested in buying a mobile phone service company in the coming years as competition drives down the value of wireless companies.MCI Worldcom management previously has insisted that wireless service was not a priority for the...
A move by the Chinese government is sure to develop a new wireless telecommunications landscape in China but also may create an uncertain future for foreign wireless infrastructure and handset vendors selling equipment there.The Chinese government is urging the country's wireless operators to purchase...
Ever since Nokia Mobile Phones Inc. introduced the first in a new class of mobile phones with its Nokia 9000 Communicator, the excitement surrounding the idea of devices that combine wireless voice and data has been growing.Nokia last week manufactured its 100 millionth mobile...
CHICAGO-Safco Technologies Inc., a division of Salient 3 Communications, said its VoicePrint voice quality measurement system is available for Global System for Mobile communications networks.VoicePrint helps carriers and infrastructure vendors determine the performance of GSM networks using Harvard speech sentences and a psychoacoustic model,...
Some analysts are expecting Code Division Multiple Access infrastructure spending to taper off in 1999 as cdmaOne infrastructure deployments in China remain questionable."I think China is the lynch pin for CDMA infrastructure going into next year and to a certain extent greater Asia," said...
SpainThe government of Spain reportedly may award its fourth mobile phone license to a consortium made up of two formerly separate consortia-Lince and Uni2. Both companies submitted failed bids during Spain's third tender for a Global System for Mobile communications 1800 MHz license earlier...
WASHINGTON-A wireless-industry proposal that would allow carriers to institute calling party pays is stalled at the Federal Communications Commission due to a lack of consensus among industry players, said Thomas Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association." hasn't done the necessary job to...
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-Powertel Inc. said it has begun offering personal communications services in Louisville, Lexington, Frankfurt and Bowling Green, Ky.Powertel said it now provides commercial mobile phone service to 32 metropolitan areas and major highway corridors throughout its 12-state license area.
With the Nov. 1 commercial activation of Iridium L.L.C.'s satellite-based global mobile phone network, the mobile satellite services industry proved it is technologically possible to extend cellular communications to virtually any point on the planet.With this validation behind it, the industry faces another, equally...
L.M. Ericsson disclosed its corporate vision for the future last week, a large part of which involved a new strategy for enterprise customers that focuses on converging communication networks with Internet Protocol technology.Recently, Ericsson announced reorganization plans to better serve what it called "fast-growing...
Robinson-Humphrey Co. L.L.C.'s third-quarter survey of U.S. mobile phone pricing indicates pricing overall has increased as carriers move from offering local calling plans to introducing one-rate plans that eliminate roaming and long-distance fees.One-rate plans "give the effect of increasing local pricing," said Perry Walter,...
Telecom companies from around the world are dashing to the Asia Pacific region as they begin to find willing sellers that need cash to expand their telecommunications services."It's definitely a buyer's market right now because of the economic conditions in the market," said Edward...
WASHINGTON-While consumer advocates and wireless lobbyists tie up the Federal Communications Commission in heated debate over 911 strongest-signal and text-telephone compatibility issues, Rome is burning.Phase I wireless enhanced 911 implementation is a disaster. And it appears the FCC does not have control of the...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. announced it established a software developers program for the pdQ smartphone.The program will provide applications developers with the resources and tools needed to create new applications for the phone, which is a combination Code Division Multiple Access mobile phone and Palm...
WASHINGTON-A critical European Parliament vote last week, which could effectively mandate a third-generation mobile phone standard dominated by Sweden's L.M. Ericsson and Finland's Nokia Corp. and lock out American technology, will ratchet up the stakes in upcoming negotiations here among U.S., European Union and...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week officially proposed rules that could lead to the end of spectrum caps. Additionally, the FCC announced rules to relocate incumbents in the 2 GHz spectrum band that has been allocated to mobile satellite services.Both decisions could have dramatic...
Nextel Communications Inc. is testing nationwide pricing plans that fall in line with high-end one-rate plans offered by national mobile phone competitors.Analysts say the company quietly is rolling out the plans, which eliminate long-distance fees, to test the market's demand for nationwide pricing."This is...
