December 1997

PARIS-Sony Corp. joined the UMTS Alliance in support of its proposed next generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications System wireless standard, which combines key elements of Time Division Multiple Access and Code Division Multiple Access technologies, said the company. To date, the …

What, you haven’t had enough paparazzi already? Mohamed Al Fayed, owner of Harrods and the man who might have been father-in-law to the late Princess Di, is back in the news. He’s in court challenging a 70-foot mobile phone tower …

ORLANDO, Fla.-Northern Telecom Inc. introduced an integrated text messaging system that simultaneously sends text to both wireless and wireline text-message compatible phones. Nortel demonstrated the system at the Code Division Multiple Access North American Regional Congress Conference in Orlando, Fla., …

DALLAS-PageMart Wireless Inc. announced it has reached an agreement in principle to provide pagers and paging services to more than 660 OfficeMax Inc. retail locations nationwide. The arrangement is aimed at the small office/home office market, OfficeMax’s primary demographic target …

DULLES, Va.-Orbcomm Global L.P. now covers the entire South American continent after signing a service license agreement with Damos SudAmerica S.A. Orbcomm, a provider of global low-earth-orbit satellite data and messaging communications services, plans to deliver services to Brazil, Argentina, …

DALLAS-PageMart Wireless Inc. announced it has signed an agreement with Nicaragua’s telecommunications service provider, Jamar S.A. of C.V. to expand its international roaming footprint beginning next January. “The partnership with Jamar is an integral component of our overall international strategy,” …

Western Wireless Corp. filed a complaint against GTE Hawaiian Telephone Co. Inc. seeking an order compelling GTE to implement arbitrated interconnection agreement rates between the companies. Gene DeJordy, director of regulatory affairs for Western Wireless, said following the passage of …

ATLANTA-Powertel Inc. launched its Global System for Mobile communications personal communications services network in Atlanta, bringing to 22 the number of metropolitan areas and major highway corridors in which the company provides service. Powertel is offering Atlanta customers rate plans …

WASHINGTON-The House Commerce Committee, claiming its probe of the Federal Communications Commission’s relocation to The Portals is being deliberately thwarted, is considering subpoenaing the Portals developer who paid $1 million to lobbyist and former Clinton-Gore campaign manager Peter Knight to …

LOS ANGELES-Sprint Spectrum L.P. announced the launch of its personal communications services wireless network in Los Angeles, using Lucent Technologies Inc.’ Code Division Multiple Access network infrastructure equipment. Sprint PCS is offering its customers three rate plans. The Diamond Plan …

NEW YORK-Price Communications Corp. announced a common stock split in the form of a 25-percent stock dividend payable Dec. 22 to all shareholders of record as of Dec. 10. The cellular operator recently acquired Palmer Wireless Inc., adding to its …

DALLAS-PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. launched its PrimeTravel service, which allows subscribers to roam throughout the nation using dual-mode/dual-band handsets manufactured by Sony Corp. The company also announced it has implemented over-the-air activation. PrimeCo has signed roaming agreements with its parent …

ATLANTA-BellSouth Mobility DCS is offering its customers in the Carolinas, eastern Tennessee and coastal Georgia the Nokia 9000 Communicator, a digital wireless handset capable of sending faxes, accessing the Internet, sending and receiving e-mail messages, retaining addresses and phone numbers …

DALLAS-MCI Communications Corp. announced the completion of its new dispatch system that uses wireless technology to send technicians to customer sites. The new system, called Dispatch.Mgr, is a computerized wireless dispatch system that allows MCI’s field technicians to receive work …

DALLAS-SpaceCom Systems said it plans to install an additional geographically diverse uplink system at the Dallas-Fort Worth Teleport so its customers can achieve a quick recovery for their satellite networks if a catastrophic natural disaster occurs at the primary uplink …

FALLS CHURCH, Va.-Spectrum Resources Tower L.P. announced yesterday that New York-based Veronis, Suhler and Associates Inc. has agreed to invest $60 million in the company. Along with bank debt, the investment gives Spectrum well over $100 million to use in …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Saying “profitability is not satisfactory,” the Business Area Infocom Systems division of L.M. Ericsson plans to lay off another 10,000 employees worldwide in 1998, bringing the number of displaced workers in that sector to 20,000 during the past two …

WASHINGTON-As key House and Senate GOP lawmakers probe whether licenses valued at more than $1 billion were given away to Teledesic Corp. and Teligent Corp. as part of a back-room deal that policy makers justified on national security grounds, questions …

ATLANTA-Digital Transmission Systems Inc., a telecommunications equipment maker, recently announced that it received a $5.4 million order from a national wireless carrier. The order, which the company says is the largest in its history, is for more than 6,000 FlexT1 …

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-General Magic Inc. unveiled its first product in the DataRover family of handheld communications devices. The DataRover 840 is a handheld computer, weighing 18 ounces, in a tablet design. It uses General Magic’s Magic Cap 3.1 operating system, which …

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.-GTE Wireless plans to launch an 800 MHz digital cellular phone system in San Diego using the cdmaOne infrastructure equipment supplied by Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Infrastructure Group, announced Motorola. Motorola said GTE’s San Diego system represents its 34th …

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-The city of Hialeah, Fla., approved the $6.4 million purchase of a trunked, two-way public-safety radio system from Motorola Inc.’s Land Mobile Products Sector, announced Motorola. Motorola’s SmartZone analog system will replace the existing VHF/UHF communications systems used by …

Editor’s Note: The companies listed below represent the 21 through 40 largest personal communications services operators in the United States. Since many carriers have not launched service yet, company rankings are based on total population base. Information was obtained from …

SANTA MONICA, Calif.-Angellcom said it began shipping its new line of alphanumeric and numeric pagers. The Platinum is a four-line alphanumeric unit available in nine languages and has 100 mail drops. Its suggested retail price is $140. The two-line alphanumeric …

Cupertino, Calif.-DSP Communications Inc. announced an agreement to develop and supply Interim Standard-95 baseband processor chipsets for Kyocera Corp.’s dual-mode handsets. Connected through simple interfaces to the RF/IF unit, host microcontroller, audio codec and keypad, the Code Division Multiple Access …