WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said it has signed up 29 co-sponsors for the Indian Telecom Training Initiative (ITTI 2000) to be held Sept. 25-28 in St. Paul, Minn.Co-sponsors include Alltel Corp., AT&T Corp., Ericsson Inc., Globalstar L.P., Lucent Technologies Inc., Lukas, Nace, Gutierrez &...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Telecom joint venture Broadwave Communications, consisting of five international partners, intends to invest $1.5 billion over a 10-year period to develop a third generation open mobile network in Sweden.The partners, including Swedish broadband operator Telel Europe; U.S. mobile operator Western Wireless International Corp.;...
OSLO, Norway-Seven groups plan to participate in Norway's selective tender or "beauty contest" process to award four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses. The licenses will be awarded by the end of October.Incumbents NetCom ASA and Telenor AS applied to participate in the UMTS license...
WASHINGTON-Wireless carriers wishing to receive universal-service support do not have to provide service in order to receive eligible telecommunications carrier status.ETC status is necessary for carriers to receive universal-service support subsidies."We find that to require the provision of service throughout the service area prior...
WASHINGTON-Sprint PCS last month became the first wireless carrier to ask a state commission to base the amount BellSouth Corp. pays Sprint PCS for connecting calls on the costs Sprint PCS incurs rather than an amount set by BellSouth."Sprint PCS is entitled to receive...
BOSTON-Western Wireless Corp. and Nortel Networks will conduct a rural fixed wireless access trial using cdma2000 third-generation digital radio technology.The trial, scheduled to take place in Minnesota and South Dakota, is expected to accelerate commercialization of wireless enhanced voice and high-speed data services from...
WASHINGTON-John Stanton, chairman and chief executive officer of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and Western Wireless Corp., was named chairman of the board of directors of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.Stanton served as chairman of CTIA from 1998 to 1999, and will replace former CTIA chairman...
Alcatel.Benin. With Office des Postes et Telecommunications (OPT) for a GSM network, along with fiber-optic and switching equipment.Value: US$32.8 millionKenya. With KenCell for a 50,000-subscriber capacity GSM network.Value: UndisclosedMorocco. With Maroc Telecom for mobile switching centers.Value: UndisclosedPortugal. With Portugal Telecom's TMN for a GPRS network.Value: UndisclosedQatar. With Q-Tel...
Fires, floods, avalanches, carjackings. Disaster at every turn. This is everyday Americana?Yes, according to CTIA head Tom Wheeler at last week's CTIA's Wireless Foundation Awards dinner honoring 51 VITA Award winners. (OK, Wheeler didn't say it exactly that way.)Wheeler was praising-as well he should-51...
DALLAS-Western Wireless Corp., a provider of wireless communications services, signed a three-year, $200 million supply agreement with Nortel Networks Corp. to support subscriber growth in existing markets, service deployment in new markets and evolution to wireless Internet services.The agreement also includes Nortel's digital subscriber...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-Western Wireless Corp. unveiled a competitive local telephone service in several rural communities in Kansas and Minnesota after receiving Eligible Telecommunications Carriers status for purposes of federal and state universal service support by Minnesota's Public Utilities Commission and Kansas' Corporation Commission.Customers who request...
DUBLIN, Ireland-A Supreme Court decision ended a two-year-old dispute over Ireland's third cellular license. U.S.-Irish consortium Meteor can now establish Ireland's third wireless network to compete with established operators Esat Digifone and Eircell.In June 1998, the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation (ODTR),...
One advancement in technology can change everything. Likewise, a change in policy can turn everything topsy-turvy. Witness the Clinton administration's decision last week to no longer purposely degrade GPS signals, which overnight had the end effect of making GPS devices more accurate. The adjustment...
WASHINGTON-Wireless technology increasingly is seen as the end-all, be-all to the digital divide issue. But will it get here soon enough?The Clinton administration, through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service, said last month that wireless solutions to the digital...
WASHINGTON-A proposal from the Federal Communications Commission to fund telephone service for Native Americans has come under fire from both inside the commission and the wireless trade associations.FCC Chairman William Kennard and FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani joined President Clinton last week in Shiprock, N.M.,...
WASHINGTON-Both state and federal regulators received lots of advice last week on whether wireless carriers should be granted eligible telecommunications carrier status, a necessity if they want to receive universal-service support.Small rural telcos fear that subsidies they have come to rely on will go...
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...
Rural cellular carriers have been reaping generous roaming revenues from nationwide operators since the advent of one-rate plans, but investors in recent weeks have been concerned that this trend is slowing.Rural cellular stocks, which recorded spectacular gains in 1999, have taken a hit since...
WASHINGTON-Slowly, but surely, the picture is getting brighter for wireless carriers that wish to obtain federal universal service support subsidies as two states recently joined the list of those that have granted wireless carriers eligible telecommunications carrier status.Kansas gave ETC status to Sprint PCS...
WASHINGTON-The task force examining universal-service issues in rural areas is creating a subgroup that will focus on competition and portability, said William R. Gillis, chair of the Universal Service Rural Task Force and a member of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.This subgroup will...
WASHINGTON-Even as wireless carriers begin paying nearly 6 percent of their interstate and international revenues to the federal universal-service fund, they are gearing up on a number of fronts to fight the program.Celpage Inc. said it expects to know by the end of March...
NEW YORK-The discriminatory patchwork of state and local taxes on telecommunications carriers imposes a roadblock to providers of the highways over which all Internet traffic travels, according to recent testimony before a federal commission.To remedy that disparity and confusion, the vice chairman of the...
LOUISVILLE, Colo. - The Federal Communications Commission approved seven additional cellular carriers to use AirCell Inc.'s air-to-ground communications system, which is targeted at general aviation aircraft and regional airlines."We are very pleased with the latest round of authorizations," Jim Stinehelfer, president and chief executive...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association last week sent letters to the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration urging that wireless carriers be given eligible telecommunications carrier status. Carriers must obtain ETC status before they can receive universal-service support.Both letters tell...
