SBC Communications Inc.'s impending plans to add Ameritech to its growing stable of telecom acquisitions brings to the front burner the significance of the 45 megahertz cap on wireless spectrum.Say what you will about him, former FCC chairman Reed Hundt instituted the cap on...
The wireless telecommunications industry has grown up more quickly than many other industries in the United States. The industry likes to boast of its relatively quick acceptance in the marketplace, comparing its acquisition of 50 million customers in just less than 15 years to...
Pricing has stabilized in the majority of U.S. markets, say analysts.While the name of the game last summer was to get the phone in the hand of the user with price offerings like $50 for 1,000 minutes per month, carriers this year are likely...
NEW YORK-"A lot of what you're hearing about voice over the Internet, about having actual, real-time conversations, is hype," said Ralph Tomeoni, president and chief executive officer of TekNow, Phoenix."The Internet is a great big packet switching network, and it should be used for...
MALVERN, Pa.-Triton PCS Inc. announced it received gross proceeds of about $300 million from its recently completed sale of 11-percent senior subordinated discount notes due 2008.The company plans to use the capital to fund both the buildout of its personal communications services network and...
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. last week introduced an aggressive national rate system that eliminates long-distance and roaming charges.The AT&T Digital One Rate plan includes three pricing options: 600 minutes for $90, 1,000 minutes for $120 and 1,400 minutes for $150. Those rates equate to per-minute...
CINCINNATI-Cincinnati Bell Wireless said it has launched personal communications services based on Time Division Multiple Access technology in the Cincinnati/Dayton/northern Kentucky market.The launch is coordinated through a management agreement with AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which holds the personal communications services license. AT&T Wireless and...
DALLAS-"It's an exciting time in the industry. It's a time of growth and rebirth."So said Konstantin Zsigo, president of Zsigo Wireless Data Inc., at the opening session of Wireless Developer '98, formerly known as CelluComm Expo, last week in Dallas.This evangelism is nothing new...
Conductus Inc. announced two agreements providing up to $4.5 million in financing to support the commercialization of its new ClearSite wireless products next year. Conductus also said it concluded the first phase of a field trial of the ClearSite superconductive receiver subsystem with RadioFone,...
Midway through this year's legislative session, many states have considered and passed bills to provide a cost-recovery mechanism for wireless carriers deploying enhanced 911 systems.Phase I of the Federal Communications Commission's E911 mandate requires carriers to be able to transmit to emergency dispatchers the...
NEW YORK-Cue Data Corp. formed a strategic alliance with ZipLink L.L.C. of Lowell, Mass., to provide nationwide Internet connectivity featuring seamless integration with Cue Corp.'s nationwide wireless messaging network.Cue Data is part of Cue Corp., Irvine, Calif., which provides nationwide and regional messaging throughout...
Cincinnati Bell Inc. said it will separate its billing and customer-management businesses into a new subsidiary and then spin it off in a tax-free distribution to Cincinnati Bell shareholders after taking the company public in May.The company also announced John T. LaMacchia, Cincinnati Bell's...
NEW YORK-The California State Board of Equalization decided April 30 to postpone voting until at least late June on a permanent extension of the state sales taxes to wireless devices sold in a bundle with services.The proposal would require retailers to pay sales, or...
WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and the Personal Communications Industry Association, unable to get wireline carriers and manufacturers on board, moved forward on their own last week with a lawsuit against the Justice Department and the FBI over the implementation of the 1994 digital...
HONG KONGHong Kong's SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Ltd. announced agreements with Star Telecom International Holdings Ltd. and Telecom Service Ltd. to acquireP Plus Communications Ltd., a PCS operator, for about US$95 million. The news did not come as a surprise; it has been rumored for...
NEW YORK-Standard & Poor's Corp., an international debt rating agency based in New York, estimates there will be US$1 trillion in wireline and wireless telecommunications capital needs before the new millennium arrives."Because of the low number of telephone lines worldwide, much of the growth...
TOKYO-The number of Personal Handy Phone System (PHS) subscribers in Japan has decreased for six straight months since last October. Suffering from a total of 590 billion yen (US$4.42 billion) in accumulated deficit, the PHS industry is being required to take drastic restructuring measures.Top...
GlobalStar Telecommunications Ltd. announced that China Telecom Group Ltd. has agreed to invest $37.5 million to become a full partner in Globalstar L.P.China Telecom, which provides fixed and wireless services in China, along with China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corp., will retain the sole rights...
Just as analysts had predicted, dual-mode/dual-band handsets are an important strategy for most U.S. personal communications services operators as they build out their networks. Yet some carriers are not actively encouraging customers to buy these handsets, and drawbacks exist when customers roam on analog...
NEW YORK-Triton PCS Inc., a startup Time Division Multiple Access carrier based in Malvern, Pa., was expected to sell privately late last week its first debt issue, which comprises $300 million in senior subordinated discount notes due 2008.AT&T Wireless Services Inc. contributed 20 megahertz...
FALLS CHURCH, Va.-Spectrum Resources Towers L.P. announced it has acquired the tower assets of Tower Industrial Park, which is based in the Cleveland area.Major tenants include Ameritech Corp., AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Paging Network Inc. and PageMart Wireless Inc., said Spectrum.The purchase was made...
Switzerland last week awarded national licenses to two of five rival consortia-diAx mobile and Orange Communications SA-to operate wireless networks in competition with the country's single operator, Swisscom.The winning consortia beat out Unilimitel, which partnered Deutsche Telekom with France Telecom; Fortel SA, a venture...
NEW YORK-Consorcio Ecuatoriano de Telecommunicaciones S.A., Ecuador's largest cellular carrier, announced last week it had scrapped plans to go public.Instead, the Quito-based company said it will seek to meet its capital requirements "through an alternative financing strategy in the high-yield (debt) and private-equity markets...
Due to incorrect information provided to RCR, Rick Bakosh's name was misspelled on RCR's Top 20 Cellular Markets list. Bakosh is the area vice president for Ameritech Cellular's Chicago market.Also, due to incorrect information provided to RCR, the wrong carrier was listed as the...
