BROWSING: FCC

WASHINGTON-Industry participants in a Jan. 21 open forum to review the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's rules and performance during the past two years agree that while the WTB has come a long way in coping with a new and diverse competitive scenario, it still has...

Grumbling about wireless ways and means at the FCC. First, there is the claim the bureau is tinkering with its 931 MHz paging database in order to free up more spectrum to auction later this year. FCC says it's following interim rules governing the...

NEW YORK-Some interesting twists are ahead on the road to roaming for personal communications services carriers as they seek to emulate their cellular counterparts, which reap between 15 percent and 20 percent of their gross revenues from long-distance wireless calls.Last year, subscribers of all...

While the personal communications services industry is characterized as up and running, a host of PCS carriers have yet to launch service, raising questions about whether they will survive in the marketplace.Twenty-six out of RCR's 40 top PCS operators (ranked by pops) have yet...

As the federal government struggles to implement its universal service fund program, the state of Texas has been quietly collecting fees from telecom providers there under a similar assessment program for two years.Texas' Telecom Infrastructure Fund, created Sept. 1, 1995, has collected about $239.1...

Manufacturers are under pressure to finance independent personal communications services companies, but recent financial turmoil surrounding some C-block carriers highlights the risk involved in extending credit to companies whose only assets sometimes are licenses not yet paid for."There is an inordinate amount of pressure...

Metrocall Inc. announced it has filed formal complaints with the Federal Communications Commission's Common Carrier Bureau enforcement division, charging several regional Bell and independent telephone companies with continuing to violate the commission's recently clarified interconnection rules.Included as defendants are GTE Corp., Southwestern Bell Mobile...

WASHINGTON-Key House and Senate lawmakers last week signaled plans to address antenna siting moratoria in 911 legislation this year, setting up a showdown with competing bills in what appears to be a retreat by the wireless industry from its unsuccessful campaign to win sweeping...

WASHINGTON-With the federal deficit giving way to an anticipated surplus, congressional and White House number crunchers are less apt to be as preoccupied with spectrum budget policy as they have been in recent years.Spectrum auctions became a hot topic of debate during budget battles...

WASHINGTON-The wireless industry again has told the Federal Communications Commission that mandatory automatic roaming agreements between commercial mobile radio services carriers are unnecessary at this time, due to cooperation between those that are offering such service and to the nature of the business itself.In...

WASHINGTON-To say there is rancor in the ranks of C-block personal communications services licensees regarding the structure and timing of possible financial restructuring plans is akin to saying Maine residents are upset at several weeks with no power following a devastating ice storm. All...

First, the nation's capital gave you the Million Man March. Now, the Million-Dollar Question.It's just a matter of time now before subpoenas go out to one or more of the Gore gang connected with the FCC Portals lease.The House Commerce Committee is none too...

WASHINGTON-Wireline telecommunications carriers are gearing up to offer two phases of number portability this year, after successfully winning a time extension from the Federal Communications Commission. Some in the wireless industry would like the same to happen.Wireless number portability is scheduled to begin June...

Growing up, my best friend in the whole world was named Wilma. She moved to Montana in eighth grade. I can still remember her phone number, 2-3476. (It wasn't until several years later that our town was so populous that seven-digit dialing was required).Like...

WASHINGTON-The wireless industry accomplished much last year on the regulatory road to competition, but the task of creating parity with wireline services and eliminating old monopoly-related regulations is far from complete.Cellular carriers, personal communications services licensees, private radio providers, messaging companies and other wireless...

To the Editor: Last week, in a letter to the editor, a former employee of Pocket Communications blamed me for Pocket's demise. Well, he's right!Pocket neither qualified nor deserved to be a C-block licensee. And if the FCC had done its job, there would have...

WASHINGTON-When Congress returns next week, battle lines will begin forming for a highly charged antenna siting debate that is likely to be shaped as much by election-year politics as by colliding national telecom and land-use policies.The midterm election this fall could turn into a...

WASHINGTON-The Justice Department is investigating whether Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, in her role as a White House aide during President Clinton's first term, sold political clout to win Federal Communications Commission approval for a global satellite phone license for Mobile Communications Holdings Inc. last...

NEW YORK-Allen B. Salmasi, chairman and chief executive officer of NextWave Telecom Inc., went to Wall Street on Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday to seek support for use of tax certificates to encourage minority business ownership of radio-frequency licenses.The occasion for Salmasi's presentation was...

WASHINGTON-Fulfilling another congressional directive under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission last week released its report and order governing the reallocation of broadcast channels 60-69."The first beneficiaries of the FCC's plan for transition to digital television are the police, fire and...

WASHINGTON-Western Wireless Corp., parent company of personal communications services provider Western PCS Corp., was granted permission by the Federal Communications Commission to boost its foreign ownership to a possible 39.9 percent.The FCC's International Bureau ruled it "would serve the public interest" if an indirectly...

In the new global telecom market, the World Trade Organization is king-the United Nations for global telecom free trade as it were.For the United States, having rules of the road in a free trade environment and a credible international body to monitor, arbitrate and...

WASHINGTON-A total of 21 states have pending legislation regarding emergency service and its parameters scheduled for votes this year, according to a survey performed by wireless E911 equipment manufacturer Xypoint Corp. Respondents to the poll included wireless carriers, public-safety entities and state legislative aides...

WASHINGTON-C-block personal communications service licensees will have an additional seven weeks to file with the Federal Communications Commission their choice-if any-of the four financial restructuring options offered by the commission last September.The Jan. 15 election date has been pushed back to Feb. 26, due...