1999

NEW YORK-Orbcomm Global L.P., Dulles, Va., announced March 1 that Conatel, the Venezuelan government regulatory agency, has granted operating and frequency licenses to Telecomunicaciones de Caracas, the exclusive provider of …

EMERYVILLE, Calif.-Several technology companies announced they have created an alliance to develop an interface connecting consumer and small-business appliances to Internet services, called the Open Service Gateway specification. Its backers …

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Glenayre’s Wireless Access Group and Golden Eagle Credit Corp. have teamed to lease pagers directly to the end user. The new leasing arrangement will allow more companies to …

DALLAS-Paging Network Inc. last week signed agreements with LottoNet and Yahoo!, furthering its goal to provide various Internet-based information services to its paging subscribers. LottoNet is an Internet-based lottery information …

WEST POINT, Ga.-Powertel Inc. announced a new service plan for business customers that combines the use of multiple customers to provide a consistent and predictable wireless plan costing 10 cents …

WASHINGTON-Let the lobbying begin. Now that the Federal Communications Commission has decided to think some more about its position on whether to auction private wireless spectrum, lobbyists are gearing up …

Intelligent roaming is guaranteed to change the face of the wireless industry, and smaller carriers that have built their businesses on making money from roaming better pay attention, say experts. …

WASHINGTON-The fallout over alleged technology transfers, increasingly testing the mettle of fledgling mobile satellite firms, has prompted new bills to aid the U.S. space launch industry and to ban satellite …

KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint PCS announced short messaging service is available to its wireless customers. All Sprint PCS customers who have voice mail have the additional option of receiving numeric pages …

WHEATON, Md.-A recent report from Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd. examines the reasons why Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Subscriber Sector lost market share to Nokia Corp., which today is the leader in …

WASHINGTON-If the inside-the-beltway crowd thinks the issue of antenna siting is slowing down-or perhaps going away altogether-they should have attended a telecommunications forum on Feb. 28, sponsored by the National …

Helsinki-based Sonera Group plc, Finland’s largest telecommunications carrier, plans a $1.1 billion issue of medium term notes to help finance its expansion plans. The partially privatized carrier, owned 78 percent …

KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Sprint PCS engineers have developed standard specifications that enable interoperability between two major components of wireless networks-mobile switching centers and base station subsystems-from two different vendors of Code …

NEW YORK-Vodafone Group plc, based in Berkshire, England, announced it signed up its 10 millionth proportionate customer March 1. Vodafone, which is acquiring AirTouch Communications Inc., said the subscriber count …

SAN RAMON, Calif.-U.S. Wireless Corp. and Allen Telecom Inc. announced an agreement to form a joint venture that will offer an integrated line of geolocation equipment and solutions based on …

Like their counterparts in the wireless service and infrastructure arenas, telecom equipment vendors are consolidating and reorganizing at an increasing pace. Most segments seem to be affected, from tower companies …

NEW YORK-Venture capitalists are beating a path to the door of those who would build a better mousetrap for the burgeoning telecommunications/wireless sector, according to results of the quarterly PriceWaterhouseCoopers …

Royal Philips Electronics launched a hostile bid Friday to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of VLSI Technology Inc. after VLSI declined to respond to Philips’ merger proposal by …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.-AT&T Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc. and Motorola Inc., among others, have joined to create a standard that will allow users to access Web-based information via mobile or landline …

WASHINGTON-Telecommunications networks are expected to pass the coming of the new millennium without catching the dreaded millennium bug, said a group representing local exchange carriers and a congressional report last …

NEW YORK-Moody’s Investors Service has changed to stable from negative its outlook on $279 million in Ba1-rated debt securities issued by SK Telecom Co. Ltd., Seoul, South Korea. “The change …

SAN DIEGO-Pegaso PCS, the Mexican operating company of Leap Wireless International Inc., last week launched its first market in Tijuana, Mexico. The company plans to build a nationwide network in …

BURLINGTON, Mass.-Lightbridge Inc. announced it changed the accounting for its acquisition of Coral Systems Inc. in November 1997. The restatement results in an increase in net income for the fourth …

TOKYO-Anticipating the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU’s) scheduled March decision regarding key characteristics for the third-generation cellular, IMT-2000, Japanese carriers are mounting efforts to be able to kick off their 3G …

Sources close to International Telecommunication Union activity on third-generation technology say standards likely will not be set during the 31 March meeting in Brazil. The ITU had hoped ideally by …