December 1998

Northeast Communications of Wisconsin Inc. announced it acquired U.S. Cellular’s Marathon County operations. Cellcom, the company’s wireless subsidiary, will provide cellular and paging services. Marathon County will be the fifth Wisconsin county served by Cellcom and the second metropolitan service …

Olivetti S.p.A. and Mannesmann AG last week signed an agreement to acquire U.S.-based Cellular Communications International Inc., giving the companies an increased stake in Italian mobile operator Omnitel-Pronto Italia S.p.A. Cellular Communications’ primary asset is a nearly 15-percent interest in …

L.M. Ericsson’s offer to compromise on third-generation technology may not change the International Telecommunication Union’s action on Dec. 31. The ITU is likely to halt any work on Code Division Multiple Access-based proposals unless intellectual-property-right issues are resolved by the …

DALLAS-Aethos Communication Systems Inc. announced it has agreed to provide its Odyssey RF Planning Tool to Paging Network Inc., the first time Aethos has entered the paging sector. According to the company, PageNet will use the tool to plan and …

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-ADC Metrica, a unit of ADC Telecommunications, said it signed an original equipment manufacturer agreement with Unica Technologies Inc. to integrate Unica’s data mining technology into new products.

WASHINGTON-People flying New Year’s Eve 1999 should wonder if their airplanes will be able to navigate safely if the pilots cannot see wireless antenna facilities-especially 200-foot towers. If the millennium bug strikes the electric power grid, the lighting on antenna …

SEATTLE-Thirteen states passed enhanced 911 legislation this year, according to Xypoint Corp., a wireless intelligent network services provider that tracks legislative efforts on E911 across the country. A total of 27 states have adopted some form of E911 legislation since …

Slovenia, Romania Omnipoint Communications Inc. said it signed roaming agreements in Slovenia and Romania, with Mobitel d.d. Slovenia and Mobilrom S.A., respectively. Both countries are new territory for Omnipoint’s roaming footprint. The company has roaming agreements throughout Europe and parts …

WASHINGTON-CIA officials last week were expected to appear before a federal grand jury here in connection with new revelations that intelligence officials may have broken the law by contacting Hughes Electronics Co. about the Senate Intelligence Committee’s probe of high-tech …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission this week plans to begin reviewing comments on what technical capabilities are necessary to implement the digital wiretap act. The comments are expected to better focus the FCC’s attention on cost, said Steven Berry, senior vice …

SAN JOSE, Calif.-RangeStar International announced it has made deals with Let’s Talk Cellular & Wireless and Everything Wireless to increase the RangeStar PCS Antenna’s availability to consumers. Let’s Talk Cellular & Wireless, an independent retailer of wireless products, services and …

SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. said it signed a contract with Mauritius Telecom to supply and install a cdmaOne wireless local loop network. The network, using Interim Standard-95 Code Division Multiple Access technology, initially is expected to add 50,000 subscribers nationwide to …

DENVER-U S West expanded its Advanced PCS wireless service territory west from Denver to include the major ski resorts and mountain communities that reside along Colorado’s Interstate 70 corridor. The service expansion encompasses Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Silverthorne, Frisco and Avon, …

effrey Silva Can your beer do that? The National League of Cities, which just wrapped up its 75th annual meeting in Kansas City, boasts to members of forcing the withdrawal of the cellular industry’s petition before the FCC seeking to …

BOSTON-American Tower Corp. has purchased Bracket Master Inc. for approximately $1.5 million. Bracket Master Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of tower hardware based in Jupiter, Fla., formed in 1994 to meet the growing demand for antenna-mounting hardware. American Tower owns …

KANSAS CITY-Sprint Corp. announced it completed the recapitalization of its common stock into two separate classes and the restructuring of Sprint Spectrum L.P., branded Sprint PCS. With the recapitalization, each share of Sprint’s publicly traded common stock has been reclassified …

Supra Products Inc. won a contract from AT&T Wireless Services Inc. to provide its TRACcess electronic access control system at AT&T Wireless cell sites in its central region, said the companies. The contract follows a previous contract with AT&T Wireless …

LONDON-Orange Personal Communications Services Ltd. said it has become the first United Kingdom mobile service provider to offer roaming in Israel. The service in Israel was launched as Orange in October 1998, as a result of the licensing of the …

Orbcomm Global L.P. announced its $500 million constellation of 28 low-earth-orbit satellites is complete and able to offer full commercial service worldwide. Orbcomm has offered limited service capabilities for more than two years on the two satellites it launched in …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson announced Nov. 25 it signed a contract to provide a turnkey Global System for Mobile communications network to OOO Tomsk Cellular Communications in central Russia. The network, with a first-phase capacity of 3,000 subscribers, will permit OOO …

DALLAS-Paging Network Inc. announced it will be the exclusive provider of ESPN sports information to its paging subscribers, according to an agreement the two companies signed. Initially, PageNet subscribers will get general sports information updates and limited customization of categories, …

Palm Computing Inc., an affiliate of 3Com Corp., introduced the Palm VII personal digital assistant at the Palm Computing Platform Worldwide Developer Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., featuring out-of-the-box wireless connectivity to the Internet, World Wide Web and instant two-way …

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The Personal Communications Industry Association announced the formation of the PCIA Mobile Computing Advisory Group with Microsoft Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., Oracle and Philips Consumer Communications. The PCIA MCAG’s main goal will be to promote wireless mobile computing. The …

MELVILLE, N.Y.-Northeast Digital Networks Inc., and its wholly owned subsidiary, Personal Communications Networks, announced it has received an equipment supply and vendor-financing offer from Nortel Networks. The offer is subject to, among other things, the company securing an irrevocable commitment …

PREFERRED NETWORKS Preferred Networks Inc. announced its founder, president and director, Michael Saner, will retire Dec. 31. Saner previously held upper-management positions at several paging companies, such as Paging Services Inc., a paging repair, maintenance, installation and sales company he …