TOKYO-DDI Cellular Group is set to kick off its cdmaOne IS-95 service in mid-July in western Japan. The service gradually will spread across the nation. Once IDO Corp. kicks off the same service next year, the service will become nationwide. IDO offers cellular in...
TOKYO-NTT has decided to liquidate its PHS (Personal Handyphone System) business, run by NTT Personal Group, with cellular subsidiary NTT DoCoMo Group taking over by year-end. DoCoMo said it has not decided yet how to deal with PHS business. But a DoCoMo spokesperson said...
DENVER, United States-Personal Communications Services (PCS) carriers have made significant inroads into the U.S. wireless telecommunications industry, weakening the entrenched cellular carriers' net additions and driving down airtime prices.The total number of PCS subscribers in the States reached 3.1 million during the first quarter...
DUBLIN, Ireland-One application driving the increasing amount of data traffic on mobile networks is short message service (SMS), which allows phone users to send a message from one handset to another. But while SMS is undoubtedly a useful service-and can reach subscribers in areas...
DUBLIN, Ireland-As mobile phone technology continues to develop rapidly, users continually are encouraged by operators and manufacturers to upgrade their phones to the latest models to take advantage of advanced network services. This, however, leaves the question of what should be done with old...
The popularity of Internet Protocol (IP)-based wireless networks for voice and data has prompted several vendors to announced products to meet this new demand.MotorolaMotorola Inc.'s Worldwide Data Solutions Division introduced an IP-based solution called Private DataTAC 2.0, a dedicated wireless data network that uses...
DENVER, United States-L.M. Ericsson, Nokia Corp. and United Kingdom-based Psion Computers plc conditionally have agreed to form a joint venture called Symbian, and Motorola Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding to join, said Ericsson.Symbian aims to drive the convergence of mobile computing and...
DENVER, United States-Analysts from consulting firm Strategy Analytics debated the future of data transmission over cellular networks in a June conference call, concluding that while current usage levels are low in both Europe and the United States, there is great potential for such services.In...
"These things come together. You date and date and date and one day you decide to get married. One day you decide there's enough chatting and you say, `Let's get going.' "-TCI President Leo Hindery.Leo and I have different ideas of dating. Seems to...
In the end, all he could do from the far front corner of the spacious House Commerce Committee room he once ruled with an iron fist was sit silent, except for a few, hopeless entreaties for reason and fairness as Republicans prepared to cite...
Republicans, joyous over having launched Chinagate, are now writing the script for what they hope will be a best seller come 2000. We'll call it White House in the Unbalance for now.Al Gore, who scored political points as vice president embracing computers with personalities...
Jefferson, it is said, believed a revolution once every generation wasn't such a bad thing for the republic. Today, if you look around at everything from the two-party political system and the Big Money that controls it, to the failed telecom act, revolution starts...
The messaging industry (as it likes to be called) has an interesting public-relations dilemma on its hands.When the Galaxy 4 satellite lost contact with earth, millions of paging customers lost service. No matter how remote the possibility that so many paging users will lose...
Some truths are not self evident, but every once in a while, the dawn's early light shines through. Truth has no place in this city of self-serving factoids, where winning and whining make moral relativism king.Here, they are engaged in a folly of a...
Thanks to the Seinfeld Gang of Four, taxes, CALEA, CPNI, WTR, moratoria, universal service, E911 and swervey drivers have now been eclipsed as major headaches of the day for the wireless industry.Phone etiquette is now numero uno. For the few who missed the series...
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...
The bigger-than-life presence of Jim Brady at last week's press briefing was unexpected but oh so welcomed, this enduring symbol of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.Why was he here? The briefing was coordinated by House telecom subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.),...
Is it time the Federal Communications Commission be overhauled?Not in the disappearing (non)sense that Gingrichites from the Progress & Freedom Foundation advocate. The new-age digital libertarians have it completely backwards.In the future, why not have national communications and information policy made at a fully...
NEW YORK-U.S. District Court of Maryland Judge Alexander Williams Jr. has dismissed a breach of contract lawsuit Comsat Corp. had filed Jan. 30 against IDB Mobile Communications Inc., saying it is the court's opinion that the Federal Communications Commission is the appropriate forum for...
Are Judge Judy, Judge Koch and Judge Wapner behind this move in the wireless industry to settle disputes in court?Remember, it was Doug Llewelyn of People's Court fame, who spouted the wisdom that if you find yourself at loggerheads with someone else, "don't take...
Here's something to ponder: Is the FBI to blame for the current CALEA fiasco, as the wireless industry has long claimed? Or does this rather serious controversy reflect the wireless industry's failure to negotiate a better deal when the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act...
The European wireless community has been reasonably successful at being able to feel superior to its U.S. counterparts. Europe has a unified digital standard. It offers short message services. It introduced introduced PCN.But today I feel equal. A study by Strategy Analytics called Creating...
To the Editor: Regarding your opinion article on April 13, (It's time for small businesses to be creative) great insight; however, in order for the small operators to succeed we need more than money, brains and marketing skills. We need frequencies!But guess what? Someone stole...
Last week, conservative wordsmith and Baltimore Orioles baseball fan George Will cheered the recent federal appeals court decision to throw out FCC broadcast equal employment opportunity rules put on the books three decades ago in the twilight of Mays, Mantle and Clemente, before the...
