Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. took a bold, albeit peculiar, step last week, announcing it is suspending indefinitely principal and interest payments on all its funded debt, including its credit facility, vendor financing agreements, senior notes, dividend payments and preferred stock.Globalstar was supposed to pay $45...
CHINAChina Unicom reported it had more than 12.7 million wireless customers at the end of last year, an increase of more than 300 percent from 1999. China's second largest wireless operator also said it added more than 1 million paging subscribers in 2000, bringing...
GENEVA-With just a few months to go until the next ITU World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-2000) on 8 May-2 June in Istanbul, Turkey, tensions are already running high as rival national delegations jostle to secure a bigger slice of the radio frequency spectrum to support...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-Globalstar could be the last hope for global mobile personal communications by satellite (GMPCS) survival in Africa. During a heated debate at the Satcom Africa '99 conference held recently in Midrand, South Africa, many participants concluded that after the setbacks experienced by...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week proposed earmarking a slew of spectrum bands for third-generation mobile-phone systems, while rejecting a petition to set aside some 3G-designated frequencies for mobile satellite service.The FCC missed the Clinton administration's Dec. 31 deadline for issuing the 3G proposal,...
BETHESDA, Md.-Satellite communications provider Comsat Mobile Communications joined the prepaid bandwagon with the launch of its new Prepaid Calling Card Service for satellite calls, which the company said will make card use easier and reduce customer costs.The company's new system features six-second decrement billing-aimed...
The Ice Man has cometh. Witness the high- tech meltdown on Wall Street, the bankruptcies, the layoffs, lower corporate earnings, reduced capital spending and overall loss in consumer confidence.The downward spiral that began with mobile satellite firms is now dragging down paging, mobile phone,...
WASHINGTON-2001: A Space Odyssey? Perhaps if you're working on the international space station or developing a Star Wars defense. But for wireless, it will be a year the industry comes back to earth and gets back to basics as carriers, manufacturers, dot-coms, government policy-makers and...
After months of uncertainty peppered with glimpses of hope, Iridium L.L.C. officially settled into its new home last week as a mobile satellite service provider for government and remote commercial operations.Now called Iridium Satellite L.L.C. and headquartered in Leesburg, Va., the company was purchased...
Globalstar USA, in desperate need of some debt relief, announced it launched Globalstar Data Services, which will provide 9,600 bit per-second Internet connectivity for the same per-minute rate as voice service.Customers can use a Globalstar phone like a wireless modem. The current model Globalstar...
BETHESDA, Md.-Comsat Mobile Communications said it launched direct Internet access for mobile satellite users.Customers connect directly to the Internet and e-mail, eliminating the need for an Internet service provider. Direct Internet access is free to CMC customers using Comsat A, B, M, Mini-M and...
WASHINGTON-As the FCC's Enforcement Bureau prepared to celebrate its one-year anniversary, the agency fined Qualcomm Inc. $25,000 for not complying with the 911 strongest-signal rules.The fine, which was agreed to as part of a consent decree, was the second one the Federal Communications Commission...
Mobile satellite services will shortly be available across the Middle East via the Thuraya network. United Arab Emirates-based Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications has announced the launch of its Thuraya-1 satellite. The turnkey mobile satellite communications system was provided by Boeing Satellite Systems as part of...
WASHINGTON-The Arkansas Broadcasters Association last week urged the Federal Communications Commission to require mobile satellite service operators to relocate broadcasters, regardless of their size, whose equipment cannot be reprogrammed, on the same basis as broadcasters in the top 30 markets. This would change the...
For more than six months the mobile satellite industry has been trying to polish its image after the well-publicized failure of Iridium L.L.C. tarnished the reputation of all those involved in the industry.While Iridium shuffled in and out of bankruptcy court and deliberated with...
NEW YORK-Wireless users may be free of the wire but not of the clutter. Despite the image of untethered communications, they are burdened with a bevy of devices.Only technology buffs are willing to carry around a bag full of wireless communicators that cannot interact...
WASHINGTON-If Al Gore becomes the next president of the United States, as polls increasingly are suggesting, Big Telecom could gain unprecedented access to the White House and have extraordinary influence on high-tech policy for the next four years.It's not that Big Telecom is any...
Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) postponed introduction of legislation to prohibit unsolicited advertising on mobile phones. Holt was to go forward with the mobile-phone spam measure Thursday, but pressing business delayed the introduction, said his office.A House transportation subcommittee scratched a hearing on digital driver...
The Federal Communications Commission released its service rules for the allocation of spectrum in the 2 GHz band for nine mobile satellite service providers, including Globalstar L.P., Celsat America Inc. and ICO Services Ltd.The rules allocate 3.5 megahertz of bandwidth in both the uplink...
The RCR editorial staff has realigned its beat coverage for Denver-based reporters in order to capitalize on the rapid changes taking place in the wireless industry.In addition, RCR reporter Antony Bruno has been promoted to senior writer in recognition of his contributions to the...
The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit to block the US$129 billion merger between WorldCom and Sprint, the second- and third-largest U.S. long-distance telecom carriers, respectively. The lawsuit, combined with European Union opposition, effectively killed the deal.ICO-Teledesic Global, a holding company controlling Craig McCaw's...
WASHINGTON-A major satellite export reform bill passed by the GOP-led Congress two years ago has blown up in the face of lawmakers at a time when Republicans and Democrats are frantically scrambling to champion the high-tech agenda.Since March 1999, when satellite export oversight was...
A running joke dogging the Wireless Application Protocol industry is that its initials, WAP, stand for "Where are the phones?"Applying that to the messaging industry, desperate to be included in the wireless Internet game, the question may be asked, "Where are the pagers?"All discussions...
A group of satellite technology experts, military officials and debt and operational restructuring professionals have submitted a proposal to acquire the assets of Iridium L.L.C. for $61 million, but according to Iridium, their bid is just another in a series of offers that have...
