BROWSING: AT&T

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse has consistently indicated one key to growing wireless market share is targeting the youth market. The carrier is hoping its new nationwide prepaid offering becomes a low-end version of its popular Digital One Rate plan...

WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association last week urged regulators to question certain aspects of an agreement by giant wireline telcos on how to reduce the amount long-distance companies pay local exchange carriers to connect their customers' calls.The agreement by the Coalition for Affordable Local...

Water and power outages more than violent wind affected wireless networks as Hurricane Floyd skirted the East Coast last week.AT&T Corp. Friday apologized to customers for wireless network outages in parts of metropolitan New York and New Jersey caused by the hurricane.The company said...

Moving on its promise to step up promotion of Time Division Multiple Access technology worldwide, the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium said it recently met with Chinese government officials to promote TDMA technology."This was an introductory meeting for different organizations in China to reintroduce China...

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...

WASHINGTON-The wireless industry is on the verge of arguably its biggest victory since congressionally mandated state deregulation in 1993: liability protection.Congress is poised this fall to give wireless carriers liability protection on par with wireline carriers across the country.In California state court, carriers have nearly...

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...

NEW YORK-Those who think Internet-based services provision will reduce overhead should remember the conventional wisdom once was that computers were heralds of a paperless society.Nevertheless, Web-based customer care promises its own rewards over the longer term for companies that meet its unique challenges, said...

A number of Internet sites have popped up in recent months offering side-by-side wireless services pricing comparison and purchasing. But some are evolving to become much more.The wireless industry soon could see a total of eight to 10 Web sites offering consumers the ability...

The need to add a wireless play in global telecommunications alliances became clearer last week as AT&T Corp. and British Telecommunications plc announced a strategic alliance designed to create seamless mobile communications services worldwide."In general, we've seen a lot of domestic consolidation," said Bob...

NEW YORK-In fulfilling a commitment made earlier this year, AT&T Corp. announced it had priced a three-year $450 million all-minority lead and underwritten bond offering.The company said the bond offering consists of three-year notes due Sept. 15, 2002, carrying a coupon rate of 6.5...

NEW YORK-The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce is engaged in a monumental juggling act with significant implications for levies on telecommunications in general, judging by comments at its two-day hearing last week.Charged by Congress with recommending whether and how Internet transactions should be taxed,...

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...

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-Motorola Inc. has appointed Fred Kuznik president of Motorola's operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Kuznik returns to the region after six years in the United States, where he served as President of Motorola's Personal Communications Sector.A native of the Czech...

BELLEVUE, Wash.-Buyphone.com, a comparison shopping service for wireless phones, said it signed an Internet marketing agreement for nationwide marketing and distribution of wireless services with AT&T Wireless Services Inc.Under terms of the agreement, Buyphone.com will market AT&T Wireless' service plans, including the Digital One...

CHICAGO-Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. raised Rogers Cantel Inc.'s senior secured debt rating from "BB+" to "BBB," and the rating of Cantel's subordinated public debt from "BB-" to "BBB-." Both ratings were removed from Rating Watch-Up and their outlook is stable, said DCR.The...

U.S. TDMA operators must make some critical decisions about competing in the wireless data market during the next year as they witness their CDMA counterparts begin to launch circuit-switched data services in large scale.Time Division Multiple Access operators-which in the late 1980s banked on...

Craig McCaw and his crew at NextLink knew what they were doing, even if the rest of the world wasn't as sure.Long characterized as a competitive local exchange carrier, NextLink is just beginning to be recognized for the full scope of its ambitions. In...

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...

WASHINGTON-A cellular provider that wants universal-service subsidies played tug-of-war last week with the incumbent local exchange carriers receiving those funds.The scene was the CEO Summit on Rural Telecommunications sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.The summit was moderated by William Kennard,...

WASHINGTON-A recent agreement by giant wireline telcos about how to reduce the charges long-distance companies pay to local exchange carriers to connect their customers' calls may end up costing the wireless industry, said the Personal Communications Industry Association."Wireless is not part of the problem...

LONDON-British Telecommunications plc and AT&T Corp. each acquired a 15-percent stake in Japan Telecom for a total of $1.9 billion, completing BT's strategic and operational partnership with Japan Telecom and AT&T, which commenced in April.BT said it has taken a 20-percent stake in the...

Ericsson Inc. said last week its displacement from AT&T Wireless Services Inc. as the majority vendor hurt the company and conceded part of the reason it lost AT&T Wireless contracts was because of problems supplying equipment throughout the year."It hurts," said Gary Pinkham, vice...

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. introduced new pricing plans last week that could build on the success of the carrier's Digital One Rate plan by adding more phones into the home. Bell Atlantic Mobile also introduced a group calling plan for the Southeast.AT&T Wireless unveiled...