December 1998

ORLANDO, Fla.-Brite Voice Systems announced it entered into a two-year contract with U S West Wireless to supply BriteDebit prepaid calling for U S West’s personal communications services business. This service, initially launched Nov. 23 in the Phoenix/Tucson market, will …

Three Granger Telecom employees and an independent contractor have been killed in Chechnya, a breakaway republic of Russia located north of Georgia. Granger Telecom employees Darren Hickey, Rudolph Petschi and Stan Shaw, and independent consultant Peter Kennedy, were taken hostage …

WASHINGTON-Oral argument in the appeal of the Federal Communications Commission’s 1996 radio-frequency radiation exposure guidelines has been postponed until February or March. The case, Cellular Task Force v. FCC, had been scheduled to be heard last June and, after numerous …

WASHINGTON-The most conservative member of the Federal Communications Commission last week said the current microscopic review of telecommunications mergers is unfair given the lack of attention the FCC is expected to give to the merger between oil giants Exxon and …

MELVILLE, N.Y.-In-Touch Management Systems Inc. and TSR Wireless announced the In-Touch II system has been successfully installed in 17 markets for TSR Wireless. The integration benefits TSR Wireless by giving the carrier one database from which to manage its business.

BOSTON-American Tower Corp. and Triton PCS announced they entered into a contract in which American Tower will build 115 build-to-suit tower-development sites in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. In addition, Triton PCS has contracted American Tower’s acquisition and zoning …

WASHINGTON-Those wishing to bring to market new and updated technologies, including access to the Information Superhighway, should look at the wireless industry to provide that access, said Kathryn Condello, vice president of industry operations for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. …

JACKSON, Miss.-SkyTel Communications Inc. announced its two-way messaging subscribers can send text messages from their pagers to any telephone in the country, using text-to-speech technology to read the message to the recipient. Called Text-To-Voice, the service works with both landline …

DULLES, Va.-Orbcomm Global L.P. said the European Regulatory Commission issued two rulings positively affecting the company’s effort to bring mobile satellite-based data services to the continent. First, the ERC decided to allow the introduction of satellite communications systems to the …

NEW YORK-The boundaries between internal and external computer networks are disappearing due to the warp-speed incursion of the Internet, raising security concerns within enterprises that want to exploit this promising opportunity safely. “Security is one of the inhibitors. It has …

FORT WORTH, Texas-Motorola Inc. announced it licensed its FLEX protocol decoder chipset to Korean equipment manufacturer Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The agreement is expected to speed the transition from POCSAG to FLEX paging technology in the Asian market. Samsung reportedly …

MALVERN, Pa.-Triton PCS Inc. said it selected Systems/Link Corp. to provide its RoamEx fraud control platform and FraudTec2000 system to help Triton PCS combat cloning and subscription fraud. “Systems/Link’s applications work together effectively to combat fraud, meeting a critical need …

BOSTON-Wireless Internet service provider GoAmerica Communications Corp. announced it will provide an end-to-end sales force automation outsource solution that bundles hardware and software products from several companies. It includes Practical Sales Tools’ UnwiredContact Web-based customer management and tracking system, Sharp …

MIAMI-Topp Telecom announced it signed a licensing agreement with Motorola Inc. to incorporate Topp Telecom’s prepaid software into select Motorola phones, including the StarTac model. The prepaid Motorola phones will be available off-the-shelf and will not require any signed contracts, …

WASHINGTON-A Government Accounting Office report says the U.S. Postal Service has “put on hold” plans to expand an antenna-siting program, which could have significant impacts on efforts to get antenna-siting and enhanced 911 legislation passed next year. UniSite Inc., an …

ATLANTA-Telecom Wireless Solutions Inc. announced it obtained $17 million in financing for strategic acquisitions, new ventures and product development initiatives. As a part of this strategy, TWS also added four new board members. They include: Hugh Sawyer, chief executive officer …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau will begin immediately using the Universal Licensing System for all licensing activity in the cellular radiophone service. Use of ULS for the cellular service is part of the wireless bureau’s ongoing phased development …

Sierra Wireless said it has brought together 17 other companies in an alliance formed to work together to offer more complete solutions so the general public will adopt wireless data devices more quickly. The WirelessReady Alliance is an invitation-only collaborative …

Research companies predicting wireless handset market share have ruffled a few industry feathers. Qualcomm last week issued a statement disputing Dataquest research that had Qualcomm’s market share dropping from 17.4 percent in 1997 to 8.2 percent for the first three …

Unwired Planet Inc. announced it reached an agreement with Siemens Information and Communication Networks Group of Munich, Germany, to integrate its Wireless Access Protocol compatible software into Siemens AG’s Global System for Mobile communications infrastructure. Specifically, Unwired Planet has licensed …

WASHINGTON-Congress declined to act on two spectrum fee approaches crafted by the Congressional Budget Office that likely would have drawn opposition from commercial wireless operators and private wireless licensees. The recently released CBO memorandum, requested by the Senate Budget Committee …

By the time Jan. 19 rolls around, newest Wireless Telecom Bureau Chief Tom Sugrue will be in for an education that goes far beyond the quirks and quarks (B.S. in physics) of his Ivy League schooling and his inside-the-Beltway experience. …

ROME-News reports from Italy said the country’s communications minister, Salvatore Cardinale, will request the appointment of a government committee to select a fourth mobile phone operator. Cardinale reportedly asked the prime minister to select committee members who will choose an …

DALLAS-CAI Wireless Systems Inc., Heartland Wireless Communications Inc. and CS Wireless Systems Inc. announced a master agreement under which CAI acquired Heartland’s approximate 36-percent equity interest in CS Wireless. CS Wireless and Heartland also agreed to exchange certain spectrum assets …

MALVERN, Penn.-Triton PCS Inc. selected Lightbridge Inc. to provide integrated solutions for customer activation, retail management and fraud prevention. Triton PCS is building and will operate a digital wireless network in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, enabling AT&T …