March 1997

Globalstar Canada was granted approval by Industry Canada to provide mobile wireless services throughout Canada using the Globalstar satellite-based telecommunications system. It is the first big low-earth-orbit license to be granted in Canada, the company said. The service is part …

Siemens Wireless Terminals, a unit of Siemens Business Communication Systems Inc., will supply Global System for Mobile communications handsets to Western Wireless Corp. Siemens values the contract at $35 million. Siemens g1050 handset and accessory products will be available in …

WEST POINT, Ga.-InterCel Inc. said it will let the bond market settle down before it offers a new issue of $300 million of Senior Notes due 2007. InterCel announced March 17 it would offer the notes, then five days later …

QUEBEC CITY-Microcell Telecommunications Inc. will activate its personal communications services network April 3 in Quebec City, which initially will provide service in 23 municipalities of the greater metropolitan area, said the company. The network, built by Microcell Connexions, is the …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission accepted 27 applications for participation in its Wireless Communications Services auction of 128 licenses, scheduled to begin April 15; 16 other applications have been returned for correction, and they are due no later than April 4. …

NEW YORK-“Right now we are on the cusp of major breakthroughs in the inter-operability of different applications on smart cards for [personal communications services],” Mark Ferdinands, product manager for G&D America, Reston, Va., said March 25. Earlier in March, specifications …

Aerial Communications Inc. launched its first U.S. personal communications services network in Columbus, Ohio. The company’s Global System for Mobile communications service is available through company-owned retail stores as well as several national retailers, including Best Buy, Office Max, Radio …

If you look at maps of the United States that depict the 1900 MHz coverage for the nation’s three primary digital standards, it appears each standard will cover a great deal of the country. In the future, that is, because …

ATLANTA-Preferred Networks Inc. introduced its Priceless Page caller-pays paging service in Chicago. The program allows Preferred’s customers to offer a paging service with no monthly fee. The program is being introduced with a marketing and advertising campaign including retail product …

Architel Systems Corp. will provide its Automatic Service Activation Program to L.M. Ericsson for use in Ericsson’s service activation product to allow service providers and network operators to activate service more quickly. According to the agreement, Ericsson will re-license Architel’s …

REDMOND, Wash.-Metawave Communications Corp.’s Network Services Group will provide installation services to Cox California PCS Inc., according to an agreement Metawave values at $500,000. Metawave said it will provide rigging crews and project management services for Cox’s 80 new personal …

Motorola Inc. said it has filed a motion in federal district court for the Southern District of California seeking a dismissal of an action Qualcomm Inc. initiated in San Diego. Earlier this month Motorola announced its intention to file a …

Logic. So the Federal Communications Commission is willing to modify the C-block payment plan to allow license holders to make one annual payment rather than four quarterly payments. That makes a lot of sense! If they don’t have some of …

If one were to ask Congress for a written transcript of the Feb. 2, 1993, Capitol Hill briefing on alleged health risks from portable wireless phones, the reply would be that it doesn’t exist. The omission speaks volumes-figuratively and literally-about …

LUXEMBOURG-Millicom International Cellular S.A. said it plans to restructure its operations in an effort to maximize shareholder value. The company will spin off its Asian operations under the name Sanbao Telecommunications. Sanbao will own and operate Millicom’s cellular telephone systems …

WASHINGTON-A U.S. district court judge in New York ruled March 12 that Joseph Viggiano, a principal of telemarketing concern Micom Corp., was guilty of selling fraudulent Federal Communications Commission paging license application services, forcing Viggiano to post a $500,000 performance …

WASHINGTON-House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.), reacting to continuing thefts on the information superhighway, is expected this spring to sponsor comprehensive legislation that bolsters wireless privacy and security. The coming Tauzin bill will likely serve as a companion to …

NEW YORK-With just 0.04 mobile telephones per 100 people today, Russia is fertile ground for an expanding wireless industry, said Alexander Nyago, general director of AO North-West GSM, a St. Petersburg cellular carrier. Of the 200,000 wireless subscribers in the …

WASHINGTON-The worldwide market for cellular and personal communications services will reach more than 500 million subscribers by 2002, predicted The Strategis Group in its “World Cellular and PCS Markets: 1997” report. The company noted there were 140 million subscribers to …

Austria’s Ministry for Science and Transport announced a tender for a Digital Cellular System 1800 personal communications network license, according to the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. Interested parties that requested tender documents and submitted a $2,200 fee by March 27 …

NEW YORK-Prime Matrix Wireless Communications, a California-based cellular reseller, plans to sell publicly an $80 million issue of senior notes due 2004. Prime Matrix, headquartered in Calabasas, will be the largest cellular reseller in California after completing its announced acquisition …

NEW YORK-Telecommunications projects overseas, while exceedingly complex, follow the simple tenets of an old adage: Education is what you get when you follow the rules; experience is what you get when you don’t. “The aspect that bedevils many and generates …

HELSINKI, Finland-At its annual general meeting, Nokia Corp.’s board of directors declared a 70 cents per share dividend for 1996. The dividend will be payable on April 7 to shareholders of record on April 1. It also adopted a bonus …

BERKELY HEIGHTS, N.J.-Lucent Technologies Inc.’s Microelectronics Group announced it will provide semiconductor chips for several Motorola Inc. two-way messaging units, in development. The chip’s marked features include low-power consumption and the integration of more functionality, said Lucent. The new mixed …

Motorola Inc. has won what it calls the largest cellular infrastructure contract in the world to date. The company’s Cellular Infrastructure Group announced Japanese carriers DDI Corp. and Nippon Idou Tsushin Corp. (IDO), two of Japan’s leading cellular service providers, …