WASHINGTON-A merger between long-distance giant AT&T Corp. and local telco stalwart SBC Communications Inc. would raise wireless competition questions and face legal and regulatory hurdles that could prove insurmountable, according to antitrust policy experts.At $50 billion, an AT&T-SBC marriage would be far and away...
In the beginning, it was Reed Who?But by last week's resignation announcement, the only question was, When?Arguably the most controversial, yet most constructive Federal Communications Commission chairman in history, Reed Hundt's decision last week to step down was not unexpected. It just came a...
As any business owner stuck with cartons of obsolete business cards and letterhead can attest, "portability"-at least in terms of a phone number-can be a real headache. That's because changing service from one local phone carrier to another also involves the added hassle and...
MCLEAN, Va.-Nextel Communications Inc. signed a roaming agreement with Clearnet Communications Inc. of Canada, which will allow Nextel customers to access service wherever Clearnet offers integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network service.An employee trial is planned for July, and commercial roll out is scheduled for September.Clearnet's...
Lodestar Towers Inc., a developer and manager of multi-use transmission sites, broke ground on its Mt. Harvard facility in Southern California.Lodestar said the facility is the nation's first multi-use facility equipped to provide turnkey transmitter plant facilities for digital television in the Southern California...
NEW YORK-Taxicab, overnight mail delivery and other fleet vehicle drivers may soon be doing double duty as remote monitors of wireless telecommunications networks, according to a plan by LCC International Inc., McLean, Va.The radio-frequency engineering firm recently acquired European Technology Partner, a company based...
Coherent Communications Systems Corp. announced its chief financial officer, Michael Gendron, has left the company to pursue other interests. Gendron's responsibilities will be assumed by Joan Cominski, corporate controller, while the company searches for a new CFO.Cellexis International Inc. promoted Gary Paisley to president...
The Mexican government will resume auctioning key service segments of wireless frequency bands, with three sets of auctions scheduled for the latter half of the year.The bands, to be auctioned by Mexico's Federal Communications Commission equivalent, the Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones, include: the personal...
NextWave Telecom Inc. said it successfully made the $12.5 million second down payment on its new 10 megahertz licenses, and now the company wants a little respect for the network construction it has accomplished during the last year."We have made substantial progress in our...
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.-InterDigital Communications Corp. has dismissed its chief executive officer, Gregory Webb, after only seven months in the position.Prior to joining InterDigital, Webb was corporate vice president of Qualcomm Inc., where he was responsible for marketing, sales and strategic business relationships.During the...
PLAYA del REY, Calif.-PortaCom Wireless Inc. has signed agreements in principle to acquire a controlling interest in a paging telecommunications venture in India.Under terms of the deal, PortaCom will secure an aggregate 65 percent interest in Microwave Communications Ltd., which owns and operates seven...
DENVER-Wireless carriers in Denver now are required to take proactive steps with the community if they want their towers and antennas placed in certain areas of the city.The Denver City Council approved last week a new zoning ordinance that requires wireless operators to notify...
WASHINGTON-Overarching economic, trade and political policies evolving in the United States and abroad are likely to eclipse telecommunications policy as the key drivers of wireless commerce in the next century.The trend toward telecommunications deregulation around the world is making telecom policymakers less relevant and...
WASHINGTON-Dan Phythyon, acting chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, does not want to characterize himself or his staff as "the James Brown of the commission." He modestly holds that his domain is "a hardworking bureau like other hardworking bureaus" contained within...
RICHARDSON, Texas-Ericsson Inc. and the University of Texas at Dallas will jointly develop curriculum for electrical engineers specifically for the wireless telecommunications industry.Stephen Gibbs, an Ericsson employee of seven years, will teach at the University's Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, and...
WASHINGTON-Joel Klein, the Clinton administration's choice for Justice Department antitrust czar, appears headed for Senate confirmation despite mild grilling at last week's hearing for approving the Bell Atlantic Corp.-Nynex Corp. merger without the kinds of conditions imposed by some New England states on the...
States' rights advocates are claiming victory for an appeals court decision that overturned a preliminary injunction set by a lower court that barred a state from considering a rate discrimination claim against cellular carriers. But others are saying the decision has made the interpretation...
NEW YORK-SK Telecom Co. Ltd., South Korea's primary cellular and paging carrier, sold $230 million in Yankee notes April 24, partly to finance its Code Division Multiple Access digital cellular rollout.Seoul-based SK Telecom, whose stock is listed on the London and Korea stock exchanges,...
Billing and customer care are hailed by industry analysts, vendors and service providers as keys to success in a highly competitive wireless market. The recent focus in this area has been on making better software, training personnel, integrating systems and ultimately how these components...
BALTIMORE-A creditors' committee made up of the seven largest owners of unsecured debt in C-block winner Pocket Communications Inc. was chosen by the U.S. Trustee's Office in Baltimore April 16 to address the direction Pocket's Chapter 11 bankruptcy will take and to suggest solutions....
"This is a fight for the total telecommunication system, and we're not going to play defense," said John E. Rooney from his new office as president of Ameritech Consumer Services.Rooney has been president of Ameritech Cellular and Paging since 1992. But a recent, rapid...
WASHINGTON-Despite the optimism expressed fewer than two weeks ago by Daniel Riker, chairman and chief executive officer of Pocket Communications Inc., regarding the financial future of his C-block personal communications services company, things apparently were not as rosy Riker described them.Citing the preservation of...
Norway's Ministry of Transport and Communications announced plans to award three national Digital Cellular System 1800 licenses, perhaps by this summer. However, the winners will not be required to build networks nationwide.The new personal communications network operators will be required to provide service in...
