The sixth largest PCS carrier (by pops) went bankrupt long before it ever got to market. Pocket Communications has $1.5 billion in liabilities, most of which is a large debt to the federal government.When people buy a typical business franchise, they pay an up-front...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week declared that commercial wireless competition is developing, despite growing indications that funding problems, consolidation, operational snags and regulatory delay may be undermining the robust marketplace envisioned by policymakers."Our examination of the commercial mobile radio services industry indicates competition...
WASHINGTON-A University of Maryland economics professor who assisted the Federal Communications Commission in setting up parameters for simultaneous, multiple-round spectrum auctions, such as that conducted for C-block personal communications services licenses, has determined that NextWave Telecom Inc.'s bidding strategy affected all bidders, not just...
If reports that Cable & Wireless plc is considering a takeover bid of Sprint Corp. are true, the wireless industry is seeing a sign of things to come.The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Cable & Wireless met with Sprint's 10-percent owner France...
WASHINGTON-Cash-strapped wireless telecommunications firms could get a big boost by free trade telecom legislation introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Michael Oxley (R-Ohio).The legislation, following on the heels of the new World Trade Organization telecom accord, would allow unlimited foreign investment in...
VIENNA, Va.-Cable & Wireless Inc. and NextWave Telecom Inc. have signed a letter of intent to negotiate CWI's resale of wireless minutes from NextWave's digital personal communications services networks."Our success in today's competitive marketplace is based on listening closely to our customers, and then...
USCI Inc. named Albert Bodamer senior vice president of Ameritel Communications Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of USCI. He will be responsible for all operational aspects of Ameritel. Bodamer previously served as vice president and general manager for PriCellular Corp.'s southern New York region....
NEW YORK-Qualcomm Financial Trust I, wholly owned by Qualcomm Inc., San Diego, plans to sell a $450 million issue of convertible preferred stock due 2012 to help finance the parent company's expansion.In an announcement Feb. 18, Moody's Investors Service Inc., New York, assigned a...
WASHINGTON-The formal memorandum opinion and order regarding the award of NextWave Personal Communications Inc.'s long-awaited personal communications services licenses creates more questions than answers about the licensee's foreign capitalization and its equity vs. debt.The order, written by the commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, tasked with...
WASHINGTON-Sen. Ernest Hollings (R-S.C.), in what amounts to a showdown with the Clinton administration, is mounting a campaign to condition Senate confirmation of U.S. Trade Representative-designate Charlene Barshefsky on passage of an amendment requiring legislation to implement the new global telecom pact and future...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.-"Until a few weeks ago, I was under the impression that the outlook for TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) was quite different than it is today," said investment banker Brad Peery at last week's TDMA Global Summit here."Qualcomm (Inc.) has done...
WASHINGTON-Following an almost seven-month hiatus, NextWave Telecom Inc. has submitted answers to 43 questions posed by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the S-1 form it filed in June 1996 in preparation for an initial public offering.NextWave consequently put that action on hold when...
WASHINGTON-NextWave Telecom Inc. filed an amended S-1 registration statement Feb. 3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission in hopes of jumpstarting its halted initial public offering that had been planned for last summer.Underwriters for the offering include Smith Barney Inc.; Bear, Stearns & Co....
Who's running the Wireless Telecom Bureau?It's not a rhetorical question.Over the past two years, or about as long as Reed Hundt has been FCC chairman and spectrum auctions the rage, the WTB has evolved into a curious creature.We know WTB, aided by Hundt and...
WASHINGTON-In light of the Federal Communications Commission's recent finding that NextWave Telecom Inc.'s foreign ownership exceeded the FCC's 25-percent threshold, forcing a company reorganization of that segment, C-block winner and defaulter National Telecom PCS Inc. has filed yet another pleading with the commission questioning...
RCR missed boat on NextWave storyDear Editor: RCR is a respected wireless trade publication known for its journalistic standards. It inexplicably departed from those standards in its Jan. 13 edition, which contains analysis and commentary on the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to conditionally grant...
WASHINGTON-According to company spokeswoman Jennifer Walsh, NextWave Telecom Inc. plans to amend its current S-1 filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission soon to get its stalled initial public offering off the ground. On Jan. 20, news agency Reuters America Inc. quoted a source...
WASHINGTON-Raking in a net total of $2.52 billion, the D-, E- and F-block personal communications services auction closed Jan. 14, bidding farewell to the last of the broadband spectrum that will be sold by the Federal Communications Commission."With the A, B, C, D, E...
The government's conditional grant of personal communications services licenses to NextWave Telecom Inc., despite finding the startup wireless firm in violation of foreign ownership limits, raises questions about process and policy in the high-stakes auction environment that has transformed the Federal Communications Commission into...
WASHINGTON-A federal appeals court last week overturned the Federal Communications Commission's rejection of Qualcomm Inc.'s pioneer's preference application, saying the agency was inconsistent in awarding licenses for innovative broadband personal communications services technologies.The court said there was disparate treatment of Omnipoint Corp., which received...
WASHINGTON-The restart of the D-, E- and F-block personal communications services license auction in the new year has begun not with a bang but with a trickle. New bids and new high bids have settled into a single-digit pattern for the 10 rounds per...
An ugly trend of rewarding those who break the rules is taking place in Washington. One need look no further than Congress, which appointed Newt Gingrich Speaker of the House after he admitted he gave false information to the House Ethics Committee.The Federal Communications...
Summa Four Inc. named Robert A. Degan president and chief executive officer, with responsibility for directing the company's growth and profitability. He has been a member of Summa Four's board of directors since 1984. Most recently, Degan was president and CEO of TyLink Corp.,...
WASHINGTON-In 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 compliance with federal rules.Wireless Telecommunications Bureau chief Michele...
