BROWSING: Pocket Communications

Leap Wireless International Inc. (LEAP), which operates its wireless business under the Cricket Communications Inc. brand, posted lumpy first quarter results as the carrier continues to manage changes in its operations. The carrier said it added 331,000 customers during the first quarter of the...

Leap Wireless International Inc. (LEAP) added 430,000 customers in the fourth quarter, the majority of whom came from Leap's acquisition of Pocket Communications in October. The flat-rate carrier ended the year with about 5.52 million customers, up 18% from the 4.4 million it counted...

Leap Wireless International Inc. LEAP), desperate for a positive spin following two disastrous quarters, released preliminary fourth quarter operational results highlighted by growth in its customer base and positive trends in customer churn.The regional operator said it added 435,000 customers to its network during...

Acision said it secured $100 million in new funding led by existing shareholders Access Industries, International Investment and Underwriting, and Atlantic Bridge. The company said it will use the funding to build on its position in the mobile data market.Following an announcement that Intel...

While they may lack the name recognition of their larger competitors, regional carriers are tweaking their rate plans ahead of the holiday shopping season.Qwest Communications International Inc. introduced a set of wireless plans emphasizing messaging and data use.The Messaging and More plans are aimed...

San Antonio-based carrier Pocket Communications introduced a pair of new rate plans, including one that starts at $25 per month, in an attempt to attract users to its flat-rate calling service. Pocket has a track record of shaking up the south Texas market with...

Regional carrier Pocket Communications said its customer base in south Texas reached 170,000 subscribers, 17 months after the company began offering a flat-rate wireless service that competes with larger carriers such as Leap Wireless International Inc. Pocket, which serves the greater San Antonio area,...

Pocket Communications, a regional flat-rate carrier in Texas, said it will soon begin offering national roaming. Pocket said that as of April 1, all of its phones will be able to roam "through an agreement with one of the nation's largest wireless service providers."...

Pocket Communications, a small, all-you-can-eat carrier in San Antonio, said it has surpassed 85,000 customers in that market and is touting that fact in new radio advertising the company launched to help it compete with the large national carriers.The company claims it sells more...

A tiny Texas carrier is launching a second service market after apparently prompting price changes by Leap Wireless International Inc.'s Cricket service in its debut market. Local wireless operator Pocket Communications Inc. is rolling out its budget-friendly unlimited calling service in Laredo, Texas,...

SAN ANTONIO-Local wireless carrier Pocket Communications Inc. is rolling out its budget-friendly unlimited calling service in a second market. The company said it launched service in Laredo, Tex., after debuting in San Antonio earlier this year. Pocket will publicize the offering during official launch...

Leap Wireless International Inc. filed a lawsuit claiming that MetroPCS Communications Inc. had stolen its business plan-only to be accused of stealing in its own right. The lawsuit could be part of a major legal assault by Leap against small- and mid-sized wireless carriers...

As if the Texas wireless market wasn't hot enough-with Leap Wireless International Inc. launching its Cricket Communications service left and right, and T-Mobile USA Inc. responding aggressively-a new, flat-rate wireless carrier recently set up shop in San Antonio and hopes to expand service elsewhere...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.-Although Alltel last week announced it will sell 20 of its personal communications services licenses to Verizon Wireless, it will keep another 42 licenses. The company also plans to buy some of NextWave Telecom Inc.'s licenses during the auction scheduled for next...

WASHINGTON-In what appears to be a win for bankrupt PCS carriers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans has ruled in favor of Metro PCS (formerly General Wireless Inc.) and against the Federal Communications Commission.The current and future fate...

WASHINGTON-Cook Inlet/VoiceStream bid $195 million for 12 licenses owned by a Pocket Communications Inc. subsidiary in a private bidding war with Leap Wireless International Inc. However, Cook only expects to keep a few of the licenses, selling the others to Leap.On a separate front...

WASHINGTON-Some see the eventual fate of license winners in the 1996 personal communications services C-block auctions as one of strategy and planning; others see it as the Federal Communications Commission treating everyone the same in a way that negatively hurts everyone.Which views are expressed...

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is expected this week to issue a public notice that will include in the July 26 scheduled re-auction of personal communications services C- and F-block licenses the licenses of most, if not all, of the bankrupt C-blockers.At press time, a...

Talk all you want about the wonderful telecom revolution, but don't mention it around District of Columbia pols. They're irked. Big time. First it was mobile-phone towers in Rock Creek Park, which opponents decried as a blight on the landscape and an affront to...

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission appears to be preparing to take back 63 personal communications service licenses held by NextWave Telecom Inc.Action could come as early as this week as NextWave is set to go to court for its final reorganization hearing. Objections to NextWave's...

WASHINGTON-With only a month until President Clinton sends his 2001 budget plan to Congress, White House and congressional number crunchers face the daunting task of putting a dollar figure on spectrum whose value is increasingly determined by factors other than market forces.Bankruptcies, litigation, legislation,...

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission expects to continue to set the regulatory agenda for 2000, believing a philosophy of anticipating problems and setting regulation is better than letting the market monitor itself.The FCC is "very quick to point to wireless as an example of competition,...

FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani said last week that she will remain at the Federal Communications Commission rather than run for Congress."I viewed the U.S. Congress as an opportunity to serve the people of New Mexico every day. However, the administration has asked me...

WASHINGTON-The saga of the NextWave Telecom Inc. bankruptcy, like a hurricane in the ocean, kept churning last week as a variety of activities here and in New York had players of all sizes scrambling to keep up.On the business front, the company's unsecured creditors'...