As 1996 drew to a close, we took a look back at some of the most impacting and industry- defining stories of the year. Here are the RCR editorial department's picks for the Top 20 stories of 1996.1. Jan. 29Omnipoint nets $112M in IPONEW...
WASHINGTON-Sprint Spectrum L.P., which began offering personal communications service in Washington a year ago through partner American Personal Communications, has converted its marketing from a big-bang effort to one resembling a continuous rumble.During the last 13 months, the carrier has attracted more than 100,000...
WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration's 15-month-old executive memorandum mandating tower siting on federal lands not only is not being implemented quickly, it is being filibustered by land-management agencies, according to a Dec. 2 letter to President Clinton from Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association President Tom Wheeler.On the...
WASHINGTON-Neither federal regulators nor lawmakers are likely to approve sweeping pre-emption of local-state taxation of wireless licenses, according to sources, but policymakers could strike down discriminatory levies on a case-by-case basis or make technical changes in the law to accomplish the same on a...
Lucent Technologies Inc. has agreed to finance infrastructure equipment for NextWave Telecom Inc., in a deal the companies value at $200 million for the first two years.Lucent will not receive an equity position for the investment. Payment terms will run for a number of...
NEW YORK-Compania Anonima Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela, the country's monopoly telecommun-ications conglomerate, was scheduled to become a publicly traded company Nov. 22 with an offering outside the country of 34.2 million American Depository Shares.The IPO, lead managed by Lehman Brothers, New York, was expected...
PARAMUS, N.J.-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said it reduced wireless telephone fraud in metropolitan New York City by 90 percent so far this year, using its authentication system and Corsair Communications Inc.'s PhonePrint radio frequency fingerprinting system.The company also announced it has reduced the lifespan...
The Romanian Ministry of Communications awarded two 900 MHz Global System for Mobile communications licenses to the consortia of Mobil Rom, led by France Telecom International Mobiles, and to MobiFon, led by Montreal-based Telesystem International Wireless Services. AirTouch Communications Inc. is a minority partner...
The sale of Bellcore to a high-tech California information company will sever one of the final threads binding the former Bell empire, and mark an era of possessive competition between the regional Bell operating companies.Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego was rumored to...
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.- Abacus Communications L.P. has won the competitive bid to provide operator-assisted text messaging services to BellSouth Mobility DCS, the personal communications services arm of BellSouth Corp.Abacus, which has operated telemessaging and other call center services for a decade, will handle BellSouth...
Hughes Network Systems Inc. aspires to accomplish a great deal more than just to supply $1 billion of network equipment to NextWave Telecom Inc."This goes beyond equipment supply. That's why we took the equity position," said Pradeep Kaul, executive vice president of Hughes Networks...
The fervent growth of the wireless industry has turned into a gold mine of opportunities for Safco Technologies Inc.The Chicago-based company develops and provides automated signal strength testing products and has seen its business grow at a rate of 42 percent for the last...
Twelve of the 84 companies that won C-block licenses for personal communications services are still waiting to receive their license in hand.The Federal Communications Commission has issued 10-year licenses to 78 companies for 30 megahertz of spectrum at 1.9 GHz.The conditional licenses were granted...
The Mexican government has almost finished its first ever auction of radio spectrum for communications services.Mexico's new Federal Telecommunications Commission began taking bids on Oct. 21 for 36 paging licenses-nine nationwide and 27 regional-in the 900 MHz to 932 MHz range, said Gina Dalma,...
MEMPHIS, Tenn.-Skywire Corp. and Ameritech Cellular and Paging will jointly provide wireless monitoring for vending machines throughout the Midwest.The service will combine Skywire's software package, called Vendview, and Ameritech's cellular network to provide vending companies with daily information from their machines. Operators can determine...
WASHINGTON-Antitrust policy is adapting to sweeping pro-competitive, deregulatory telecommunications reforms mandated by Congress, but not abandoning traditional oversight safeguards, one of the nation's top regulators said.The Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission are all shifting their missions, noted...
Geotek Communications Inc. has launched the data portion of its network, hoping to satisfy higher-than-expected demand for data and low subscriber numbers."We introduced with voice service, but data was what they really wanted," said Randy Miller, a Geotek spokeswoman.Only about 2,000 subscribers use the...
Powertel, a wholly owned subsidiary of InterCel Inc., launched its personal communications services network in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and plans to launch service by Oct. 30 in Memphis, Tenn. PCS service began in Montgomery, Ala., and Jacksonville Fla., earlier this month, the company said. Several...
NEW YORK-Cellular subscribers said they are most satisfied with customer service from AT&T Wireless Services Inc., according to J.D. Power and Associates' second annual survey of customer satisfaction in the cellular telecommunications sector.AT&T's move to market services as AT&T Wireless contributed to its higher...
Editor: Quentin Hardy's article, "Jacobs' Patter," in the Sept. 6 edition of The Wall Street Journal claims that "some of the biggest names in telecommunications" have invested perhaps $20 billion based on my promises about Code Division Multiple Access technology. This might be flattering if...
International consortium Polkomtel started Global System for Mobile communications cellular service in Poland just seven months after receiving its license and two weeks after its key competitor, Polska Telefonica Cyfrowa, introduced GSM service.Polkomtel, operating as Plus GSM, launched service in Warsaw and is expected...
Luis M. Larralde is the new international area manager for Hutton Communications Inc. His responsibilities will include establishing new accounts and generating business in the South Florida market as well as in Central and South American and in the Caribbean. He has been involved...
Northern Telecom Ltd. announced Telemig, a Brazilian telecommunications provider, has signed two contracts valued at $95 million to purchase Nortel cellular network infrastructure equipment. According to the first contract, Telemig will buy DMS-MTX SuperNode switching, cell site equipment and voice channels to expand its...
NEW YORK-LCC International Inc., an independent provider of radio frequency network design for wireless telecommunications, went public Sept. 25 with a 5.25 million share offering of Class A common stock at $16 each.The new issue was increased from the 5 million share initial public...
