In the eyes of some, the Federal Communications Commission's great experiment with personal communications services licensing has been a smashing success. Facilities-based competition is all around. Subscriber numbers and revenues are growing by leaps and bounds, with equipment and service prices falling just as...
A number of new licenses will be up for grabs early next year as the majority of C-block personal communications services licensees opted to return their licenses to the Federal Communications Commission.The FCC said 175 licenses will be returned in full. Another 130 portions...
MCI Communications Corp. apparently is selling cellular service to residential customers once again after customer service representatives had told potential customers MCI wasn't taking on new cellular subscribers after June 1.Kelly Seacrist, an MCI spokeswoman, said the company, which resells cellular service nationwide, never...
WASHINGTON-Notwithstanding the Federal Communications Commission's consistent call for Congress to pass legislation to protect FCC licenses from being held up by auction bidders in bankruptcy proceedings, it became apparent last week that such legislation is not on a fast track on Capitol Hill.The issue...
The shakeout continues.NextWave Telecom Inc.-which had the potential to be the nation's largest PCS operator-followed two of its C-block counterparts last week and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.It seems these bidders believe they can get more relief from the judicial system than they...
Dot Wireless Inc. today introduced an advanced development platform for the North American Code Division Multiple Access standard to provide manufacturers with outsourcing services for a faster product design cycle.The Interim Standard-95 development platform is designed to reduce time to market, simplify next-generation CDMA...
SBC Communications Inc.'s impending plans to add Ameritech to its growing stable of telecom acquisitions brings to the front burner the significance of the 45 megahertz cap on wireless spectrum.Say what you will about him, former FCC chairman Reed Hundt instituted the cap on...
WASHINGTON-With consolidation, affirmative action curbs and top-dollar licenses turning into barriers to entry, federal regulators are trying to create after-market opportunities for small businesses in a young but fast-maturing industry already dominated by a handful of wireless behemoths.But is the Federal Communications Commission fighting...
A ruling from a federal bankruptcy court in Dallas may have set a dangerous precedent for the Federal Communications Commission and further muddied the waters for C-block personal communications services licensees.In a lengthy bench ruling April 24, Federal Bankruptcy Judge Steven Felsenthal revalued 14...
DENVER, Colorado, United States-A ruling from a U.S. federal bankruptcy court may have set a dangerous precedent for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and further muddied the waters for C-block PCS (Personal Communications Services) licensees.In a lengthy late-April ruling, Federal Bankruptcy Judge Steven Felsenthal...
Personal communications services provider Omnipoint Corp. last week became one of the first C-block licensees to select options from the Federal Communications Commission's license rules.Omnipoint said it elected to return portions of its spectrum in a move it expects will reduce debt and accrued...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission, in a long-awaited and far-reaching policy call, is expected to rule within weeks on wireless resale policy for the future.The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is about to make a recommendation to the five commissioners on wireless resale policies that have been...
Twelve of the carriers featured in RCR's Top 20 Cellular operators list in 1987 either no longer exist or have substantially changed. It's not really that surprising since the list is more than a decade old.What is surprising is how next year's Top 20...
WASHINGTON-Despite recent Federal Communications Commission allusions to a prompt public notice detailing changes to its C-block personal communications services financial restructuring order, such a notice probably will not be released for weeks-perhaps months-and the election date for any of its options won't be until...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission late last week was close to approving a new plan to relax conservative parts of its C-block personal communications services debt-restructuring rules and to extend the election date for financing options by as much as 90 days beyond the current...
WASHINGTON-To say there is rancor in the ranks of C-block personal communications services licensees regarding the structure and timing of possible financial restructuring plans is akin to saying Maine residents are upset at several weeks with no power following a devastating ice storm. All...
NEW YORK-Allen B. Salmasi, chairman and chief executive officer of NextWave Telecom Inc., went to Wall Street on Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday to seek support for use of tax certificates to encourage minority business ownership of radio-frequency licenses.The occasion for Salmasi's presentation was...
To the Editor: Last week, in a letter to the editor, a former employee of Pocket Communications blamed me for Pocket's demise. Well, he's right!Pocket neither qualified nor deserved to be a C-block licensee. And if the FCC had done its job, there would have...
WASHINGTON-NextWave Telecom Inc. is poised to begin a technical trial in Las Vegas of what it describes as the first F-block personal communications services network built to date. The company also has built test networks in San Diego, San Antonio and Washington, D.C., but...
WASHINGTON-Western Wireless Corp., parent company of personal communications services provider Western PCS Corp., was granted permission by the Federal Communications Commission to boost its foreign ownership to a possible 39.9 percent.The FCC's International Bureau ruled it "would serve the public interest" if an indirectly...
MCI Telecommunications, the communications services unit of MCI Communications Corp., has indicated some of its wireless employees in the Dallas/Fort Worth area may soon be looking for new jobs.In a letter obtained by RCR written to Dallas-area wireless companies, the wireless reseller giant announced...
1. Jan. 6NextWave awarded its PCS permitsIn a decision almost surely headed for the appeals court, the Federal Communications Commission last Friday conditionally awarded NextWave Personal Communications Inc. its C-block licenses after NextWave submitted a plan to bring its foreign-ownership percentages into federal compliance.2....
WASHINGTON-NextWave Telecom Inc. took Omnipoint Corp. to task over its Nov. 24 petition for reconsideration and clarification regarding proposed financial options for C-block personal communications services players.Comments on Omnipoint's opposition were collected Dec. 29 despite an effort at by Antigone Communications L.P. and PCS...
WASHINGTON-What's good for the goose should be good for the gander, commenters say, when it comes to personal communications services financial-restructuring relief offered by the Federal Communications Commission.Forwarding an option menu to C-block winners was a good start, entrepreneurs said, but that plan also...
