WASHINGTON-Stepped-up lobbying by city, state and county officials and support from a top House Republican likely will weaken the Klug-Manton antenna siting amendment in the House-Senate conference on telecommunications reform legislation this fall.Rep. Thomas Bliley, R-Va., chairman of the Commerce Committee and chief sponsor...
Launching personal communications services with a multitude of standards may be the way for industry to sort out the benefits of each technology, but it could set consumers up for chaos and confusion, said longtime wireless architect Jesse Russell.The AT&T Bell Laboratories engineer is...
WASHINGTON-The entrepreneur block auction for personal communications services licenses that was to begin next week has been postponed again in what has turned into a legal quagmire and an embarrassing setback for the Federal Communications Commission.A lawsuit filed last month by Omnipoint Corp., which...
WASHINGTON-Congress is studying different approaches to spectrum reform in light of the $14 billion that lawmakers and the Clinton administration hope to extract from the airwaves during the next seven years.The Federal Communications Commission has raised $9 billion to date from selling licenses for...
DALLAS-Northern Telecom Ltd. will provide Star Digitel with a Time Division Multiple Access digital cellular phone system valued at $24 million under the terms of a three-year supply agreement. Star Digitel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Star Paging (International Holding) Ltd."Star Digitel will...
A new company led by industry veteran Allen Salmasi is poised to bid in the entrepreneurial auction for personal communications services licenses, with plans to build a network based on Code Division Multiple Access technology.NextWave Telecom Inc. is headed by Salmasi, who recently resigned...
WASHINGTON-Commercial wireless carriers last week fought off a challenge by two Virginia congressmen and local government officials to kill the antenna siting amendment in the House telecommunications reform bill.The legislation, significantly revised at the request of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., on behalf of...
No one can dispute the convenience of carrying a cellular phone, but should cellular phone users be prevented from accessing-for free-those wonderful and convenient 1-800 toll free numbers that landline telephone users enjoy-free?Up until now, cellular users were charged both long-distance and airtime fees...
WASHINGTON-New telephone number policies embraced by federal regulators will benefit the wireless telecommunications industry, which accounts for two of every three new telephone numbers established. The wireless community previously has had to rely on an entity controlled by the seven regional Bell telephone companies...
WASHINGTON-The cellular industry continues to be shaped by the forces of deregulation and regulatory parity mandated in 1993 legislation passed by the then Democratic-controlled Congress and implemented on an on-going basis by the Federal Communications Commission.The same trends are expected to continue as the...
WASHINGTON-House and Senate Republican budget bills envision billions of dollars in telecommunications revenue from expanded auctions, higher user fees and additional pioneer's preference license payments in coming years.Both chambers intend to balance the U.S. budget by 2002, a lofty goal requiring federal spending cuts...
WASHINGTON-U.S. District Judge Harold Greene will decide whether AirTouch Communications Inc., a wireless spin-off of Pacific Telesis Group, is held to restrictions imposed on the seven regional Bell telephone companies by the 1982 consent decree that broke up AT&T.San Francisco-based AirTouch, a top paging...
Putting behind what it calls "the roller-coaster year of 1994," specialized mobile radio operator Pittencrieff Communications Inc. intends to strengthen its market presence and its financial situation by merging with Advanced MobileComm Inc. and a number of unrelated SMRs.PCI entered into a letter of...
WASHINGTON-In a major setback for states, the Federal Communications Commission ruled public utility commissions cannot regulate local rates of commercial wireless carriers.The FCC on May 11 rejected petitions from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, New York and Ohio seeking to retain rate regulation of...
In India, where basic telephone service is scarce and telecommunications unfamiliar, the introduction of paging technology promises new opportunities for both service providers and consumers.After the Indian government opened the paging market last year, granting 94 licenses in 27 cities among 15 companies, partners...
Cellular telephones improved communications at the Oklahoma City tragedy when public-safety groups' two-way radios-all on different frequencies-couldn't connect."At the site of a disaster, radio channels max out immediately with just tactical communication," said Ron Baker, director of wireless services for McCaw Cellular Communications Inc.'s...
WASHINGTON-The telecommunications reform bill introduced in the House last week would give the seven regional Bell telephone companies more freedom to offer wireless long-distance service than offered by the waiver granted late last month by U.S. District Judge Harold Greene.The House measure, sponsored by...
Culminating seven years of development and fine-tuning, American Mobile Satellite Corp. has launched the country's first satellite for mobile communications, giving lift-off to a new form of wireless services.Hughes Communications Inc., a division of GM Hughes Electronics, built AMSC's geostationary satellite, supporting mobile voice...
Editor's Note: Portions of this article will be submitted to the Federal Communications Commission in a White Paper by the Industrial Telecommunications Association.I have been reading Fred Day's book, "Policies and Practices in the Regulation of Private Radio Communications Systems," lately. My favorite chapter is...
The decision by the California Public Utilities Commission to allow bundling of cellular telephones gives the commission a card to play as it seeks permission from the Federal Communications Commission to maintain control of cellular rates."It is one way we can show that California...
Arch Communication Group Inc. said it has acquired Professiona Paging & Radio Inc., a privately owned paging business with operations in Florida, for $3 million in cash. PoePage's operations will become a part of Arch Southeast Communications Inc. TEh acquisition incresases Arch's total cousomer...
An international cellular operator and a U.S. paging equipment provider have cellular and paging service up and running in Bulgaria, despite the former Eastern bloc government's sluggish efforts to privatize business.A Bulgarian joint venture led by Cable & Wireless plc purchased a cellular license...
Cellular One of Ohio and Michigan announced Lindsay Notwell has been appointed director of wireless data, heading up this new department. Notwell will be responsible for building and managing the wireless data group and supervise the rollout of various wireless programs. Prior to Cellular...
Hail the birth of broadband PCS! Hail more competition in the marketplace! And hail to what likely will be continued growth for the wireless industry!But while the industry revels in its inaugural week of auctions to award broadband PCS licenses, some techno-types are working...
