As the popularity and penetration of wireless communications spreads throughout North America, wireless carriers increasingly will use mass-market retail outlets and their own direct channels to distribute handsets and services. Wireless consumers might put a cellular phone on their shopping list along with a...
HANNOVER, Germany-Groupe Sagem licensed Unwired Planet Inc.'s UP.Browser to provide Internet access for its wireless handsets.Sagem is a French group of high-technology companies employing about 14,000 people. Sagem's Mobile Communication business manufactured 1 million units in 1997 and expects to triple that number this...
IRVINE, Calif.-AirTouch Southern California said it expanded its "all-Southern California home calling area," called California Connection, to its digital customers in San Diego.AirTouch customers can talk on their wireless phones from San Luis Obispo to the Mexico border at their local airtime rates, the...
PHOENIX-AG Communication Systems introduced Incoming Call Screening, an application that enables wireless service providers to offer enhanced call-management services to their subscribers, said the company.INgage ICS is a wireless intelligent network application that allows subscribers to filter incoming calls before the call reaches their...
A new niche segment of the wireless industry-build-to-suit-is attracting a lot of attention, both from carriers and Wall Street.The idea behind the build-to-suit concept is to shift all aspects of tower siting-including zoning, construction and maintenance-to a third party. Carriers, increasingly burdened with competitive...
What does wireless have in common with toothpaste? Maybe not much now, but perhaps the toothpaste industry has learned a marketing secret that wireless carriers could benefit from.Toothpaste companies have learned to pick a customer segment they want and market their brand to that...
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint Spectrum L.P. introduced a new personal communications services phone manufactured by Samsung Telecommunications America. The Samsung SCH-1900 is the second digital Code Division Multiple Access handset from Samsung to be offered to consumers through Sprint PCS.The co-branded phone has an active...
NEW YORK-Several billing and customer-care providers have announced new products in recent weeks, among them, American Management Systems Inc., International Telecommunications Data Systems Inc., Kenan Systems Corp. and Subscriber Computing Inc.AMSTapestry from AMS, Fairfax, Va., is the company's next-generation platform, which uses object-oriented, client/server...
NEW YORK-Look no further than North American borders for the biggest near-term opportunities to provide billing and customer care systems.In recent years, the focus of procurement contract competition has been on supplying operations support systems, which include billing and customer care, to the green...
SUNNYVALE, Calif.-Microsoft Corp. made a minority equity investment in General Magic Inc. and licensed some of its technology, making a payment of $6 million to General Magic, the companies announced.General Magic is developing integrated voice and data applications, and has and upcoming network service...
PRINCETON, N.J.-Nearing completion of an intense three-year effort with major equipment manufacturers and European regulators, Intek Global Corp. said its proprietary linear modulation technology complies with the Europe-wide narrowband specification recently approved and released for member comment by the Technical Committee of the European...
It is much more expensive to recapture a wireless customer who has churned than it is to keep a customer on your network, say some customer service experts. Providing good customer service not only keeps customers happy, but it also is becoming a differentiator...
Coverage is king, says Iridium North America, which is aiming to help cellular and personal communications services operators offer wireless coverage anywhere in the world.Iridium L.L.C. is a Motorola Inc.-led consortium expected to offer global voice, paging and fax services via a constellation of...
Many telecommunications companies are banking on the fact that consumers want their long-distance, local, Internet, wireless and cable TV services-or some combination of these-bundled on one bill.Regional Bell operating companies, as well as long-distance and wireless companies slowly are moving toward the process, offering...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry accomplished much last year on the regulatory road to competition, but the task of creating parity with wireline services and eliminating old monopoly-related regulations is far from complete.Cellular carriers, personal communications services licensees, private radio providers, messaging companies and other wireless...
WASHINGTON-For the wireless telecom industry, 1998 will be a pivotal year.A continuation next year of this year's policy retreats and defeats at the Federal Communications Commission, on Capitol Hill and in the courts could make the wireless industry even more wobbly on Wall Street...
MONTVALE, N.J.-The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority awarded Geotek Communications Inc. a $2 million contract for a mobile data communications system to be used by a fleet of 400 vans and sedans that transport disabled and senior citizens.The Geotek system will equip SEPTA with real-time,...
ATLANTA-Powertel Inc. launched its Global System for Mobile communications personal communications services network in Atlanta, bringing to 22 the number of metropolitan areas and major highway corridors in which the company provides service.Powertel is offering Atlanta customers rate plans ranging from $20 per month...
One month from now, the holiday gift-giving frenzy will have subsided and holiday gift recipients will be well entrenched in the traditional return and exchange of gifts. With wireless service touted this season as the perfect holiday gift, will wireless phones be on the...
NEW YORK-When looking for the causes of customer churn, executives of cellular and personal communications services carriers should "start with the man in the mirror," to borrow words from pop singer Michael Jackson."In many ways, it's not the customers who have caused churn; it's...
WICHITA,Kan.-Western Wireless Corp. said it launched VoiceStream personal communications services in Wichita.The VoiceStream Wireless network uses equipment supplied by Northern Telecom Inc. and operates on the Global System for Mobile communications 1900 MHz technology."Nortel's GSM 1900 digital wireless technology is proven in extensive service...
NEW YORK-As the new year approaches in the horse race that is commercial deployment of low earth orbit mobile satellite systems, "we're still at the first half-mile, with the finish line at 2000," said Timothy Logue, a satellite analyst for Coudert Brothers, Washington, D.C.There...
NEW YORK-The Federal Communications Commission adopted policies Nov. 25 that permit non-United States licensed satellites to provide services in this country.As a result, the FCC said it expects new satellite providers to begin offering services in the United States early next year.The agency said...
