How it came to pass that AT&T let its cellular licenses slip away during its 1984 divestiture is the stuff of wireless industry urban legend. Some say AT&T was less-than-concerned about giving up its cellular business, believing industry forecasts that at the time predicted...
At the end of bidding last Thursday, total bids among the five Canadian companies still vying for 40 megahertz of additional spectrum in the 2 GHz frequency band had reached about $557 million.A second company dropped out last week, leaving only five of the...
NEW YORK-A host of players behind the scenes is pulling the complex strings required to amplify and simplify the end-user experience with billing and customer relationship management for the increasing variety of wireless services.With six or seven operators in each major market, price no...
MMTAAnne-Rivers Forcke was appointed chairman of the MultiMedia Telecommunications Association's Media Relations Committee. Forcke is a relationship marketing strategist for the Global Small Business group at IBM Corp., where she is responsible for managing the marketing program worldwide. Forcke has more than 15 years...
WASHINGTON-House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) has called for a hearing next month to examine complaints about how Internet addresses are selected, an issue that takes on added significance for the wireless industry as it combines with the Internet to pursue mobile commerce."There...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry last week suffered two stunning legal setbacks in health-related litigation, capped by the decision of wealthy Baltimore superlawyer Peter Angelos to take control of an $800 million mobile phone-cancer lawsuit in Maryland.It was an unprecedented week that left the industry in...
After nine rounds of bidding, Industry Canada's auction of 62 individual personal communications services licenses covering 16 markets across Canada garnered $142.3 million in total high bids.Seven companies qualified for the bidding, including the country's four incumbent operators, Bell Mobility Inc., Rogers Wireless Inc.,...
North American GSM operators finally are presenting a united front to the rest of the world when it comes to roaming into the United States and Canada.European and other GSM international operators, anxious to offer their customers roaming in North America, have been frustrated...
BUCHAREST, Romania-In the early 1990s in Romania, paging terminals came to be well-known. Since then, the market has gone through a period of quick penetration, followed by market uncertainty and consolidation.In the beginning, the paging market was represented by a few small operators and...
BulgariaOte Telecom won Bulgaria's third mobile-phone license for US$135 million, beating out Telecom Italia Mobile through an auction. Ote plans to partner with Bulgarian Telecommunications Co. (BTC), the country's fixed-line provider, to build out the GSM network.FranceMartin Bouygues, chairman of Bouygues Telecom, called on...
To the Editor: On the front page of your Christmas day issue was an article headlined "Judge largely dismisses RF health lawsuit." The lawsuit asks for damages from brain cancer supposedly caused by cellular telephone use. The news that a federal district judge essentially dismissed...
WASHINGTON-The EMR Network-a grassroots organization of people opposed to wireless facilities due to a fear of the impact of radiation-has come out strongly against a recent publication of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that is meant to help in siting stealth antennas and...
BrazilBrazil expects bidders to pay at least US$3.4 billion total for the nine personal communications services (PCS) licenses it will auction, beginning in January. Base prices for each license are different, with the Band C license price tags, the first licenses to be auctioned,...
NEW DELHI, India-The Indonesian cellular phone market, which witnessed strong growth during 2000 despite political turmoil, is set for further expansion in 2001 when two more GSM players join the race.The country has seven cellular operators today. Three of them-Telkomsel, Satelindo and Excelcomindo Pratama-operate...
PRAGUE, Czech Republic-During the 11 years since the fall of communism in Central Europe, the region's countries have rapidly embraced mobile telephony, including the ubiquitous GSM networks now blanketing the region. And operators are beginning to plan for next-generation mobile telephony in countries where...
WASHINGTON-Baltimore superlawyer Peter Angelos confirmed he may take over mobile phone-cancer litigation in Maryland that was dealt a major legal setback recently, but he distanced himself from press reports last week that said his law firm intended to file lawsuits around the country against...
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...
WASHINGTON-The C-block auction isn't a cheap date.Bids topped more than $1 billion in early rounds of an auction taking place largely because a previous winner was unable to pay the steep amounts it pledged.The Federal Communications Commission began auctioning 422 personal communications services licenses...
PHOENIX-White Electronic Designs Corp. announced it received a $1.1 million order for its memory solution supporting wideband CDMA base station applications.The company said its shipments would begin immediately and would be complete in the next seven months."This order, and many others we have received...
NEW YORK-In this year's RCR Wireless News Major Players Vendors listing, Nokia Corp. and Ericsson Inc. each moved up a notch, rising to first and second place respectively among equipment vendors that are net income leaders.Lucent Technologies Inc., which had previously topped the charts...
While most larger carriers are still feeling their way through the abundance of third-generation hype, a small carrier in Oklahoma is getting ready to deploy a GPRS network using AirNet Communications Corp.'s software-defined platform.MBO Wireless Inc. announced it will use AirNet's AdaptaCell and AirSite...
BEIJING-At an extraordinary general meeting on 10 November, China Mobile (Hong Kong) shareholders approved the company's plan to purchase seven networks from its parent, China Mobile Communications, for US$32.84 billion. The company's profit is expected to increase 2.6 percent per subscriber after the acquisition.According...
Digital PagingDigital Paging Co. released its new Hit plus pager, which the company said can carry three different frequencies. The pager also features a hands-on screen programming function, and has an inputted pass code option for resellers. The Hit plus, as well as all...
WASHINGTON-A major personal injury lawsuit is expected to be filed this week in Illinois against Motorola Inc. and possibly others by a former technician with the company who claims his brain tumor was caused by mobile-phone radiation.The suit, the second in the past four...
