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FIXING THE NETWORKS WILL STOP THE CHURN

Three quarters of the way into 1999, we are inundated with good news from many of the wireless carriers showing record numbers of new customers added to their networks. These numbers are impressive and, in spite of local resistance to towers and the controversy...

BUDGET SHOWDOWN COULD HURT WIRELESS BILLS’ CHANCES

WASHINGTON-With just two weeks left in the fiscal year and many appropriations bills still pending, Congress and the White House once again are on a collision course for a budget showdown that could change the dynamics of wireless provisions wrapped up in spending legislation.Entangled...

BELL ATLANTIC CONFIRMS VODAFONE ALLIANCE DISCUSSIONS

NEW YORK-Bell Atlantic Corp. confirmed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Sept. 13 its engagement in discussions to forge a mobile telephony alliance with Vodafone AirTouch plc.Bell Atlantic at first refused to comment on this possibility when the British carrier acknowledged the negotiations...

VIEWPOINT: ARE WE THERE YET?

About the time PCS licenses were first up for grabs, industry prognosticators predicted that four or five mega-carriers would one day rule the U.S. wireless industry.Are we there yet?As Bell Atlantic admits it is talking with Vodafone AirTouch plc about a link-up between their...

AMERICAN TOWER NABS AT&T CONTRACT, BUYS MORE TOWERS

American Tower Corp. signed a $260 million agreement with AT&T Corp. to acquire approximately 1,942 microwave towers and build 1,000 new wireless communication sites for AT&T Wireless Services Inc. during the next five years.Dave Johnson, spokesman for AT&T's Network Services Division, said the microwave...

NEXTWAVE BANKRUPTCY SAGA CONTINUES ON ALL FRONTS

WASHINGTON-The saga of the NextWave Telecom Inc. bankruptcy, like a hurricane in the ocean, kept churning last week as a variety of activities here and in New York had players of all sizes scrambling to keep up.On the business front, the company's unsecured creditors'...

VODAFONE CONFIRMS BELL ATLANTIC TALKS

NEW YORK-Vodafone AirTouch plc confirmed Sept. 7 its intentions to forge a mobile telephony alliance with Bell Atlantic Corp., which has refused to comment on this possibility.Other options for Vodafone include buying wireless operators in markets that would fill out the company's domestic footprint...

BLILEY DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM FCC ON NEXTWAVE DEAL

WASHINGTON-After weeks of refusing to publicly explain its deal with Nextel Communications Inc., the Federal Communications Commission is being forced to tell all to the top House telecommunications policy maker by Sept. 27.Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, sent a...

VODAFONE, BULLETIN TEAM ON E-MAIL APP

ATLANTA-Vodafone Retail and bulletIN.net Ltd. announced they launched a marketing campaign for bulletIN e-mail service through promotional offers, bill inserts and in-store displays.The bulletIN e-mail service allows customers to access, originate and forward e-mail from their existing digital wireless phones, said the companies. Customers...

WIRELESS ABSENT FROM KENNARD’S SOUTH AFRICA EVENT

WASHINGTON-In what a spokeswoman for the Personal Communications Industry Association termed a "comedy of errors," the wireless industry and the Federal Communications Commission last week missed an opportunity to tout the wonders of wireless technology in developing countries.FCC Chairman William Kennard and key FCC...

EASTERN EUROPE BRIEFS

AlbaniaIn the country's largest move to privatize to date, the Albanian Privatization Ministry said it is prepared to sell between 51 percent and 85 percent of Albanian Mobile Communications, the state mobile phone monopoly, to investors, according to a Reuters report. AMC began offering...

LICENSES/TENDERS

AustraliaThe Australian government will auction a further 30 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 1.8 GHz band early next year. The auction, which will be conducted by the Australian Communications Authority (ACA), is expected to reap up to $200 million (US$130 million). The government...

SENATORS VOICE CONCERNS ON NEXTEL DEAL

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission received two rebukes from the Senate last week regarding the agreement its general counsel signed Aug. 10 that seemed to pave the way for Nextel Communications Inc. to buy personal communications services licenses held by NextWave Telecom Inc.Also, notwithstanding a...

SPRINT PCS TURNS OUT INTERNET-ACCESS PACKAGE

Sprint PCS's awaited introduction of nationwide commercial Internet-access services will begin in late September, announced the company.Targeting business users and a wide range of consumer customers that are heavy Internet and e-mail users, Sprint PCS will hit the market with Sprint PCS Wireless Web,...

AMERICAN TOWER SETS SIGHTS HIGH WITH VODAFONE SITE PACT

American Tower Corp. last week made its first large carrier transaction through a master sublease agreement with Vodafone AirTouch plc.The deal gives American Tower the sublease rights to 2,100 AirTouch towers in the United States for $800 million in cash, which works out to...

NISSAN TO EXIT CELLULAR BUSINESS IN JAPAN

Nissan Motor Co. said last week it will sell its stakes in nine Japanese cellular operators, a move that is sure to pave the way for consolidation in a wireless industry crowded with eight operating groups, say analysts.Choosing to focus on its ailing automotive...

WORLD BRIEFS

FranceFrance Telecom said it signed a partnership agreement with the Sonae group in Portugal. The two already have a working relationship as stakeholders in Optimus, the third mobile operator in Portugal. The new partnership would be held 43.33 percent by France Telecom and 56.67...

BELL ATLANTIC SHUTS DOOR ON VODAFONE AIRTOUCH RELATIONS

Any hopes Vodafone AirTouch plc had in linking up with Bell Atlantic Corp. to create a nationwide wireless footprint in the United States were likely dashed last week when the two agreed to split up jointly owned PCS operator PrimeCo Personal Communications and dissolve...

POWERFUL GLOBAL PLAYERS TO DOMINATE NEW MILLENNIUM

The worldwide wireless industry is expected to pass a significant milestone sometime during 2000.With total mobile subscribers at the end of last year of about 315 million and a growth rate of nearly 8 percent this year, mobile subscribers are expected to surpass the...

BT TO BECOME CELLNET SOLE OWNER

LONDON-British Telecommunications plc said it will acquire for $5 billion Securicor's 40-percent shareholding in BT Cellnet, the United Kingdom's second-largest cellular operator-behind Vodafone AirTouch plc-with about 5 million subscribers. British Telecom already owns 60 percent of BT Cellnet, so the acquisition would give it...

VODAFONE AIRTOUCH, GTE ENTER CDMA DATA SERVICES MARKET

Two Code Division Multiple Access carriers launched limited data services last week that involve linking wireless phones to laptop computers via a cable, allowing the phones to act both as a voice device and wireless data modem.Such a solution has been available from Global...

INTELLIGENT AGENTS CLAMOR TO FIT WIRELESS MODEL

Intelligent agent technology has been long considered a potential boon for messaging applications looking to provide meaningful content to wireless devices.Agents are small bits of code capable of monitoring data, recognizing what information is valuable to its user and then transmitting it to a...

RURAL CARRIERS ATTRACTIVE AFTER VODAFONE’S COMMNET BUY

The industry has seen AT&T Wireless Services Inc. pick up smaller cellular carriers in order to fill in gaps and avoid paying high roaming fees, and Vodafone AirTouch plc's acquisition of rural cellular carrier CommNet Cellular Inc. indicates other carriers are feeling the roaming-fee...

VIEWPOINT: THE CASE AGAINST COMPETITION

Yet another study has been done on the merits of reselling wireless service. This one, conducted by Professor John Mayor of the Georgetown University School of Business, Mark Burton of Marshall University and David Kaserman of Auburn University, concludes that reselling wireless services contributes...