WASHINGTON-New truth-in-billing rules under consideration at the Federal Communications Commission could be devastating to wireless carriers, which see the mandate as another instance of wireline regulation being imposed on the wireless sector in the name of fairness. The FCC is expected to address the matter in April, FCC Chairman William Kennard told reporters March 19. [...]

NEW YORK-Because of strong demand for its debt, AT&T Corp. increased to a record-setting $8 billion the size of its global bond offering before selling the issue March 23. The transaction broke the record set last August by the $6.1 billion debt offering of MCI WorldCom. AT&T will use proceeds to help repay commercial paper [...]

PARIS-With the expiration of the 15-day waiting period required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, Alcatel announced it will proceed with its acquisition of Xylan Corp. As previously announced, Alcatel and Xylan are parties to a merger agreement under which Alcatel tendered a purchase offer on March 8 for all of the outstanding shares of [...]

NEW YORK-World Access Inc. announced March 22 it completed the sale of its manufacturing operations in Alpharetta, Ga., to U.S. Assemblies in Georgia Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Matco Electronics Group Inc. “Outsourcing the manufacturing function is consistent with (our) long-term plan to enhance (our) competitiveness and is an integral component of our [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Wireless Data Forum announced six new members joined the organization. Aether Technologies International L.L.C., Global Wireless Data L.L.C., ICE Wireless Group L.L.C., TeleCommunications Systems Inc., NotiCom L.L.C. and TeleResources Pty. Ltd. are the new members.

SAN JOSE, Calif.-VLSI Technology Inc. last week rejected Royal Philips Electronics’ hostile takeover bid to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of the company for $17 per share. VLSI’s board said the offer “is not adequate and not in the best interests of it stockholders, and therefore unanimously recommends that VLSI’s stockholders reject the [...]

DULLES, Va.-TracSat, a business unit of Orbcomm Global L.P., announced it launched full commercial service providing end-to-end asset tracking and monitoring solutions to the heavy equipment industry worldwide. “When you have a fleet of heavy equipment dispersed at job sites around the world, your most important need is up-to-date information about the security and performance [...]

LOS ANGELES-Technocel unveiled several new programs designed to enhance accessory sales for carriers nationwide. Nokia Mobile Phones and Technocel reached an agreement appointing Technocel an authorized distributor of Nokia-branded wireless accessories. Technocel began shipping Nokia products in Nokia packaging on March 15. Technocel also introduced its e-commerce Web Fulfillment Program allowing customers to “clone” resource [...]

Silicon Wave Inc. announced it is developing a Radio Modem Control integrated circuit for Bluetooth applications, using an advanced silicon-on-insulator technology known as BiCMOS. Silicon Wave hopes to combine Bluetooth radio, modem and controller functions into a single RMC chip using direct conversion and fully integrated synthesizers. The chip then would communicate with another microcontroller [...]

LINCOLN, Neb.-Transcrypt International Inc. began shipping mobile radios to Intek Global Corp. in compliance with an agreement it made with Intek, which calls for Transcrypt’s EFJohnson division to manufacture spectrum-efficient linear modulation technology-based 220 MHz land mobile radios. Transcrypt said it expects to ship the order, valued at more than $1.8 million, during the next [...]