1999

My family went out to eat the other night at a fondue restaurant. My sister, who works in the insurance industry, kept wondering aloud about the restaurant’s exposure to risk. Scalding-hot metal pots on high-heat burners were the centerpiece of …

Nokia Corp. and Palm Computing Inc. have entered into a joint development agreement under which the two will cross-license their respective technologies to create a new category of wireless phones featuring Palm’s pen-based user input method and personal information management …

American Tower Corp., Boston, completed a private placement of $584 million in debt securities, which it will use primarily for acquisitions and construction, the company said Oct. 8. The deal comprised $300 million in 10-year notes, sold at face value …

WASHINGTON-The Senate on Friday passed a District of Columbia appropriations bill that includes a provision to foster antenna siting in Rock Creek Park and on other federal property in the nation’s capital. The House, following a Clinton veto, passed a …

ORLANDO, Fla.-The term convergence means different things to different people. To some, convergence means bundling and selling more than one product to a customer. To others, convergence means merging different companies together for size and scope. So how do carriers …

PARSIPPANY, N.J.-Phillips Group-InfoTech projects the U.S. in-building wireless voice market will grow at an average annual growth rate of 34 percent to reach $815 million in revenue by 2003, up from $191 million in 1998, the firm said. Two new …

NEW YORK-In a recent survey conducted in 10 European countries, Infratest Burke InCom, a London-based market research company, found that most people would pay up to $16 a month for unified messaging services. Infratest performed the survey on behalf of …

GENEVA-Hewlett-Packard Co. announced at Telecom ’99 a new company initiative focused on the mobile electronic services industry that combines products, a subscription- and transaction-based payment model, and centers for product development and testing. The company is targeting wireless carriers with …

NEW YORK-Western Wireless Corp. plans to begin offering competitive local exchange services in a few Minnesota towns by year-end now that it has become the first mobile carrier to gain eligibility for Universal Service Funds. “We will make things up …

British Telecommunications plc and Microsoft Corp. announced they have agreed to work together in developing mobile Internet and multimedia applications and equipment. Specifically, the two said they intend to develop handheld interactive wireless devices based on Microsoft’s Windows CE platform, …

NEW YORK-Denver-based Formus Communications Inc. hopes to raise $150 million in an initial public offering of stock to help finance its deployment of fixed wireless data, voice and Internet access services in Europe. The three-year-old company has launched commercial broadband …

GENEVA-The GSM Association announced it plans to establish a roaming forum to address roaming issues among wireless protocols. Approval of the World Roaming Forum will be discussed at a GSM Association meeting in Montreal next week, said Michael Stocks, chairman …

AirGate PCS and Lucent Technologies Inc. announced a three-year supply contract valued at up to $150 million, calling for Lucent to supply Code Division Multiple Access equipment for deployment throughout AirGate’s North Carolina and South Carolina footprint. AirGate, an affiliate …

Dear Editor, Studies of possible harms to the brain from cell phone use by the Wireless Technology Research Group, meant to be a definitive, industrywide effort, focus on cancer and genetic damage but miss other, more likely, harmful effects. If …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week asked a federal appeals court in Denver for a rehearing of a recent decision that vacated agency rules on consumer privacy rights. “The majority decision expands the reach of the First Amendment to protect …

Scandinavia As expected, the European Commission approved the merger of Telia of Sweden and Telenor of Norway. To secure the approval, the two companies have consented to sell their cable TV operations and eliminate overlapping activities in Sweden, Norway and …

GENEVA-Nortel Networks and Telia Mobile announced a cooperative development effort to enable subscriber-managed services that can span multiple, dissimilar networks, including traditional wireless and wireline networks, as well as cable, satellite and all types of multimedia Internet Protocol networks. The …

GENEVA-The European Telecommunications Standards Institute and the Wireless Application Protocol Forum signed a cooperation agreement designed to drive interoperability of standards for wireless mobile Internet, according to the WAP Forum. The organization said this new agreement underlines the importance of …

GENEVA-Motorola Inc. and America Online Inc. announced plans to integrate the AOL Instant Messenger application into Motorola wireless devices, including both handsets and two-way pagers. The goal of the agreement, they said, is to allow near real-time two-way text communications …

WATERLOO, Ontario-Research In Motion Ltd. commenced with its public offering of 5 million common shares last Thursday in both Canada and the United States. The shares will be sold in the United States at $30.75 per share and in Canada …

Harris Harris Corp. previewed its ClearBurst 2.5/3.4/10.5 GHz point-to-multipoint system, the newest addition to the Harris broadband wireless access product line, which is intended for deployment by public service providers as well as private network operators. The ClearBurst product offers …

German manufacturer Siemens AG invested a 15-percent stake in San Diego-based Neopoint Inc., the maker of a CDMA smart phone that integrates a personal digital assistant and mobile phone. The investment will give Siemens much-needed expertise in Code Division Multiple …

Fueled by United States Cellular Corp.’s strong financial results, parent company Telephone and Data Systems Inc. increased revenues and operating cash flow by 17 percent and 28 percent, respectively, in the third quarter. U.S. Cellular said service revenues, compared with …

WASHINGTON-The Network Reliability and Interoperability Council is recommending that wireless carriers voluntarily report when a mobile telephone switching office fails, preventing transmission of new calls for 30 minutes or more. Making the reporting requirement voluntary is a win for the …

MIAMI-Topp Telecom Inc. said it filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Miami against Telemac Corp., U.S. Intelicom Inc. and PrePaid Solutions Inc. Topp is the owner of a U.S. patent that broadly covers automatic debit …