WASHINGTON-An FCC staff proposal for the implementation of calling party pays service is being heavily debated by the commissioners' offices-a debate that could lead to its removal from this week's Federal Communications Commission's Open Meeting agenda.CPP is similar to long-distance toll calling where the...
NEW YORK-Bell Atlantic Corp., GTE Corp. and Alltel Corp. signed an agreement last week to exchange wireless interests in 13 states, eliminating the overlapping cellular properties that would result from the combination of Bell Atlantic and Vodafone AirTouch plc, announced Sept. 21, the companies...
NEW YORK-Alamosa PCS Holdings Inc., a Sprint PCS affiliate, raised $182.1 million Feb. 3 in a 10.71 million-share initial public offering priced at $17 each, $2 above the maximum it anticipated.Salomon Smith Barney was lead manager of the IPO.Headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, the company...
WASHINGTON-Two attempts to stop litigation involving bankrupt wireless operator NextWave Telecom Inc. failed last week as both a federal appeals court and a bankruptcy judge refused requests to interpret a recent appeals court ruling in such a way that it would mean an end...
It is a generally accepted fact that today's dollar doesn't buy as much as it used to, but in the case of wireless airtime, it may actually buy more."Since the introduction of PCS, there is a whole new paradigm of wireless pricing. In most...
NEW YORK-As 1999 drew to a close, two mutual fund managers, one overseeing a diverse investment portfolio, the other specializing in telecommunications, offered contrasting views of the year-2000 stock market outlook.Peter M. Donovan, president of Wright Investors' Service Inc., Bridgeport, Conn., sees the big...
NEW YORK-The discriminatory patchwork of state and local taxes on telecommunications carriers imposes a roadblock to providers of the highways over which all Internet traffic travels, according to recent testimony before a federal commission.To remedy that disparity and confusion, the vice chairman of the...
At the end of each year, the RCR editorial staff looks back on the news events that made RCR headlines and decides which were the most significant, industry-impacting stories of the past 12 months. Here are our picks for 1999 in chronological order.1. Jan....
SAN DIEGO-Leap Wireless International Inc. announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase personal communications services licenses in Denver and Pittsburgh for an undisclosed amount.The agreement, if completed, will give Leap the right to add nearly 5 million pops for its domestic subsidiary,...
WARSAW, Poland-France Telecom placed a binding offer for a strategic stake in Poland's majority state-owned telecom operator Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA), Reuters reported. Following SBC Communications Inc.'s withdrawal from the tender last month, the French operator is the only bidder for a 25-percent to 35-percent...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry will enter the third millennium A.D. as the envy of the telecommunications industry. It is arguably the most competitive sector. It is innovative, with three different digital standards and third-generation wireless becoming reality. And it has conquered a huge nemesis: cloning."Cloning is...
Vodafone AirTouch plc Friday launched a hostile takeover bid for Mannesmann AG after the German company flatly rejected an earlier all-stock bid of about $106 billion."We made a friendly approach to Mannesmann last Sunday," said Chris Gent, Vodafone AirTouch's chief executive officer. "That proposal...
NEW YORK-Not unexpectedly, the multiservice telecommunications giants led the way in revenues and profits for the first half of this year.Profit leadersBell Atlantic Corp. led in profits for the period, posting $2.315 billion, a 19.5-percent increase from the same period of 1998. It traded...
It could have been an isolated path for TDMA operators going forward as they struggled for economies of scale in their businesses, but with a new agreement with the GSM Association, the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium hopes to gain access to the worldwide equipment...
LOS ANGELES-Econ One Research's latest monthly survey of wireless-phone service prices showed that some carriers charge up to twice as much for the same service in one city as they charge in another.The economic research and consulting firm's October survey covered the 18 service...
The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) had the biggest coming-out party of its 20-month lifespan during Telecom '99 in Geneva, with more than 100 carriers, vendors and content providers displaying WAP and WAP-related products-warts and all.While WAP's momentum has grown all year, many consider Telecom...
WASHINGTON-U S West Corp. and AirTouch Paging have signed an interconnection agreement that pays terminating compensation at U S West end-office rates to AirTouch for local traffic originated by U S West.The 27-month contract will be effective in each of the nine states as...
The Wireless Application Protocol had the biggest coming-out party of its 20-month life span during Telecom '99 in Geneva, with more than 100 carriers, vendors and content providers displaying WAP and WAP-related products, warts and all.While WAP's momentum has grown all year, many consider...
CHICAGO-Cellular One of Chicago, north central Illinois and northwest Indiana introduced Digital Edge Midwest and Digital Edge USA-new regional and national wireless rate plans that include free long-distance and roaming services, said SBC Communications Inc./Ameritech Corp., which operates as Cellular One in the Midwest....
WASHINGTON-The merger train rolled through the Federal Communications Commission last week as the FCC reacted to a number of telecommunications industry-changing mergers.The FCC does not officially review mergers but has to review the transfer of licenses, considered to be a key part of any...
MCI WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp. last week agreed to a definitive merger agreement that will combine the second- and third-largest U.S. long-distance carriers and give MCI WorldCom a much-needed nationwide wireless presence.According to the agreement, each share of Sprint will be exchanged for...
NEW YORK-The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce is engaged in a monumental juggling act with significant implications for levies on telecommunications in general, judging by comments at its two-day hearing last week.Charged by Congress with recommending whether and how Internet transactions should be taxed,...
NEW YORK-Bell Atlantic Corp. confirmed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Sept. 13 its engagement in discussions to forge a mobile telephony alliance with Vodafone AirTouch plc.Bell Atlantic at first refused to comment on this possibility when the British carrier acknowledged the negotiations...
Moving on its promise to step up promotion of Time Division Multiple Access technology worldwide, the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium said it recently met with Chinese government officials to promote TDMA technology."This was an introductory meeting for different organizations in China to reintroduce China...
