March 2001

The traditional paging industry is dead, many analysts and paging veterans agree. But there is an escape route for the few companies left fighting, though many industry observers agree more consolation will take place and not everyone will make it …

WASHINGTON-A new day appears to be dawning for FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell. This new day will have Powell greeting four new colleagues by the end of the year, reforming an agency that some on Capitol Hill have said cannot …

WASHINGTON-Whether the nation is plagued with daunting deficits or buoyed by gushing surpluses, spectrum auctions remain a lightning rod for controversy as the revenue-generating wireless licensing tool becomes inextricably intertwined in national budget policy. This was inevitable. Spectrum auctions grew …

LINCOLN, Neb.-Transcrypt International Inc. ended the year with revenues totaling $42.2 million compared with annual revenues of $53.5 million for 1999 and is evaluating a sale of part or all of the company. The losses are due to a weaker …

DENVER-Daniels & Associates, a provider of financial services to media, Internet and telecommunications clients, set an all-time company record in 2000 by completing 115 transactions, totaling more than $22.7 billion. The firm completed 84 mergers and acquisitions. Also included in …

WASHINGTON-The Bush administration last week retreated from its proposal to overhaul the schools and libraries Internet discount program and may be forced to backtrack on proposed budget cuts to telecom programs administered by the departments of commerce and agriculture. Education …

A great political stroke of genius of Team Bush has been the creation of the moderate tone implied by the “compassionate conservative” banner. Why, you’d think George W. would suffer from repetitive-motion injury for all the many times he’s mouthed …

WASHINGTON-Government testing of potential interference between the global positioning system and ultra-wideband devices seems to be politically inconclusive, while an UWB-industry funded study shows that UWB devices do not interfere any more than other unlicensed RF-using products. “The report documents …

Following news of huge job cuts at Intel Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc., the Nasdaq tumbled 115.95 points Friday to land at 2,052.78, its lowest close since December 1998. A strong employment report, which could cause the Fed to lighten …

WASHINGTON-Congressional opponents of the proposed $30 billion acquisition of VoiceStream Wireless Corp. by Deutsche Telekom AG have struck again, just weeks after VoiceStream was successful in getting members of its congressional delegation to urge support for the deal. “In recent …

Motorola Inc.’s miserable journey into the realm of mobile satellite communications with Iridium L.L.C. worsened last week when a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in New York ruled that creditors of Iridium could proceed with plans to sue Motorola for $2 …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo released a new Java-enabled handset, which is manufactured by NEC. The handset will be put into the market on 3 March. The NEC handset will be the third handset for NTT DoCoMo’s Java-based services called iAppli. NTT DoCoMo …

NONTHABURI, Thailand-Shin Satellite of Thailand and BayCom of Malaysia announced they signed a national service operator agreement for Malaysia in advance of the launch of iPSTAR-1 in 2003. The agreement is valued at US$60 million for two-way bandwidth capacity over …

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia-Mobilkom Austria acquired a 49-percent stake in Si.mobile, a GSM operator in Slovenia, according to international press reports. An additional 26 percent plus one share will be acquired by Teleimpuls, a Slovenian company in which Mobilkom owns 49 percent. …

ATHENS, Greece-Greece plans to determine the number of third-generation licenses to be auctioned and the appropriate spectrum for the services in late March. The country began a public consultation period regarding 3G licenses on Feb. 23. Following the consultation period, …

Chilean regulator Subtel announced it will award three national PCS licenses through a beauty contest in the second quarter of 2001. The 10 megahertz blocks will be available only to operators that currently hold less than 30 megahertz in the …

LONDON-Sema Telecoms announced a contract to install a convergent billing and customer care solution for Telemig Celular Participacoes S.A. and Tele Norte Celular Participacoes S.A. in Brazil. Sema said its solution will consolidate the two existing installations into one centralized …

REDMOND, Washington, United States-Metawave Communications said it received an estimated $22 million order from Grupo Iusacell, Mexico’s second-largest mobile carrier. Under the terms of the agreement, Metawave will supply Iusacell with additional CDMA smart antenna systems, including installation and optimization, …

SAO PAULO, Brazil-Harris said that during the second half of 2000, it supplied microwave systems and products totaling $6.9 million to Americel, a Brazilian mobile operator. The equipment is part of Americel’s program to expand its network and improve services, …

PLEASANTON, Calif.-Mobileum Inc., which provides wireless and mobile-commerce solutions, announced it has joined the Openwave Developer Alliance Program. The Openwave Developer Alliance Program aims to promote the concept of wireless information access and to coordinate the exchange of ideas and …

NEW YORK-Vaultus, a mobile platform company, announced it closed $32 million in second-round financing, bringing the total invested in the company to more than $57 million. The top investor in this round was First Union Capital Partners. Other investors included …

Now that the United States appears to be entering a recession, the economics behind deployments of third-generation wireless systems are even trickier than new math. Carriers and vendors are walking a tightrope trying to find the proper balance between offering …

HILSBORO, Ore.-Wireless e-mail company Etrieve Inc. announced an enhancement to its current service and a new deal with Dell Computer Corp. Under its agreement with Dell, Etrieve’s e-mail service will be offered through Dell’s Mobile Office Server, allowing users to …

MELBOURNE, Fla.-AirNet Communication Corp. has deployed and received customer acceptance for what it said is one of the first U.S. wireless GPRS systems. AirNet’s AdaptaCell base stations and its AirSite Backhaul Free base stations are included in the GPRS system …

NEW YORK-The Wireless Multimedia Forum, which recently celebrated its first birthday, is on schedule in building a framework for content that must be written just once for delivery to any device over any network. Earlier this year, the WMF released …