WASHINGTON-James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said last week Congress should intervene if mobile-phone carriers continue to refuse to offer early-alert warnings for natural disasters and other local emergencies."If we can't get private industry doing this, then I think Congress...
WASHINGTON-The importance public image holds for competitive wireless carriers was highlighted last week when a major daily newspaper here-pointing to the lack of mobile-phone service in underground subways that run through some poor black and Latino neighborhoods-questioned whether Verizon Wireless was engaged in redlining...
While wireless operators worldwide have formed joint ventures and made strategic acquisitions and investments, Japan's NTT DoCoMo has remained in Japan, developing wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology and bringing wireless data services to the masses.Now it appears the world's largest mobile-phone operator is...
WASHINGTON-Justice Department antitrust lawyers reportedly oppose the proposed $115 billion merger between WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp., a major snag that-if true-could kill the deal and spark bidding wars for top wireless carriers not yet claimed.The Justice Department did not return calls for comment...
STOCKHOLM-Ericsson Inc. said VoiceStream Wireless Corp. awarded the vendor a multi-year contract for equipment and services to expand its Global System for Mobile communications network in the eastern United States.The contract is valued at $350 million, with provisions for an additional $90 million. The...
Personal communications services operator Powertel Inc. reached positive operating cash flow in the first quarter and added a company-record 110,000 subscribers.The Southeast PCS company, which analysts suspect soon may be gobbled up by VoiceStream Wireless Corp., said its growth in prepaid customers helped propel...
NEW YORK-United States Cellular Corp. and Aerial Communications, the two wireless subsidiaries of Telephone and Data Systems Inc., Chicago, reported strong growth during the first quarter.U.S. Cellular reported net income of $47.14 million, an increase of more than 69 percent from the same period...
Sprint PCS announced better-than-expected results in customer growth, revenues and cash-flow losses for the first quarter and released some long-awaited information about customers using its wireless Web offering.The nationwide personal communications services carrier said it added 831,000 net subscribers, ending the quarter with about...
WASHINGTON-The White House is expected shortly to release a belated report advocating the integration of wireless technologies into the nation's Emergency Alert System, a policy that industry, federal regulators and Congress have not aggressively pushed despite the fact that millions of mobile phones today...
A corporate merger is not unlike a marriage. Two separate parties enter the union with two individual identities, and emerge from the ceremony as one entity, committed to achieving common goals and bearing a common name.The wireless industry witnessed the engagement last week of...
HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. and VoiceStream Wireless Corp. signed a multi-year supply agreement that will enable VoiceStream to expand its Global System for Mobile communications 1900 network and services, and bring Wireless Application Protocol-based mobile Internet services to consumers.The system delivery includes the entire range...
The flurry of consolidation in the wireless industry leads the industry observer to believe a nationwide presence is a necessity to compete in this market going forward.AT&T Wireless Services Inc. raised the bar in 1998 offering its nationwide plan, the Digital One Rate plan....
BELLEVUE, Wash.-VoiceStream Subsidiary IV Corp., a subsidiary of VoiceStream Wireless Corp., received tender and consents from holders of all the outstanding series A zero coupon notes due 2006 and the series B zero coupon notes due 2008 of Aerial Communications Inc., a personal communications...
NEW YORK-George Schmitt, formerly president of Omnipoint Communications Inc., has joined competitive local exchange carrier e.spire Communications Inc., Herndon, Va., as its chairman and interim chief executive officer.Schmitt also was executive vice president of Omnipoint Corp., the parent of Global System for Mobile communications...
Since its exit from the highly competitive U.S. mobile handset market in late 1998, Siemens AG has vowed to return.The German manufacturer will make its comeback this summer, but to a mobile-phone market that is even more crowded and competitive than ever before. Rapidly...
WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association said Thursday that it is eliminating 10 positions as it "recharges its organization to further advance wireless industry.""In 1999, PCIA had the best fiscal year in its history. To continue this success, we are setting a new strategic...
Financial analysts are beginning to conservatively incorporate potential wireless data revenues into their valuations of wireless carriers, and many are looking to the future, realizing wireless operators should be evaluated like Internet stocks.This measurement will have huge implications for the wireless industry. Investors have...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-Omnipoint Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of VoiceStream Wireless Corp., reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 1999.Total revenue for the company increased in the fourth quarter from $54.1 million in 1998 to $135 million in 1999....
NEW YORK-Shareholders of VoiceStream Wireless Corp., Omnipoint Corp. and Aerial Communications Inc. have "overwhelmingly approved" the merger of the three Global System for Mobile communications carriers.The VoiceStream-Omnipoint merger is expected to close "shortly," while the Aerial-VoiceStream merger is anticipated to close during the second...
The Federal Communications Commission approved the merger of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and Omnipoint Corp. last week and noted the Department of Justice and the FBI delayed its decision, a problem that may grow as U.S. operators hook up with international carriers.The DOJ and the...
General Packet Radio Service technology is a powerful proposition for Global System for Mobile communications operators anxious to comb in the huge revenues packetized wireless Internet access promises. That's why they want GPRS handsets this year.Product delays have been part of the wireless industry...
Qualcomm Inc. on Friday officially asked the Federal Communications Commission to grant it spectrum in the upcoming channel 60-69 auctions.Qualcomm wants the commission to quickly award it spectrum to make up for the pioneer's preference license it repeatedly denied Qualcomm in the last decade...
After months of speculation over what would happen to Sprint PCS' GSM network in Washington, D.C., Omnipoint Corp. and VoiceStream Wireless Corp. have agreed to purchase the network for an undisclosed amount, saving their Global System for Mobile communications customers from a potential black...
Omnipoint and VoiceStream Wireless have agreed to purchase Sprint PCS' GSM network in Washington, D.C., for an undisclosed amount, saving their GSM customers from a potential black hole in that market.Sprint PCS, after converting GSM customers to the CDMA network it launched last year...
