Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Time Machine is a way to take advantage of our extensive history in covering the wireless space to fire up the DeLorean and take a trip back in time to re-visit some of the more interesting headlines from this week in history. Enjoy the ride!
Sprint PCS to test HDR on Lucent platform
Lucent Technologies Inc. and Sprint PCS announced they will conduct a joint trial of 1XEvolution technology, a third-generation technology based on High Data Rate technology. The trial will begin over the Sprint PCS network in the first half of 2001 and involves testing and verification of the 2.4-megabit-per-second capability using Lucent’s Flexent wireless network platform. … Read More
TV bill could moot 700 MHz clearing plan
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission’s decision last week to encourage rather than mandate band-clearing arrangements at 700 MHz could be moot if a powerful lawmaker’s plan to get high-speed access to the Internet is approved. The FCC said late Thursday it will presume arrangements between broadcasters and wireless carriers to clear the spectrum in TV stations 59-69 are in the public interest. … Read More
AT&T Wireless adds three Verizon markets to coverage area
AT&T Wireless Group announced it entered agreements with Verizon Wireless to acquire wireless systems in San Diego, San Francisco and Houston for approximately $3.3 billion. … Read More
Portable Internet to `burst’ onto scene next year
WASHINGTON-A group of wireless and telecommunications executives are planning to roll out a new service they hope will lead to residential wireless broadband service with what could be megabit data rates. The market for Burst Wireless Inc. are those customers that cannot get access to either digital subscriber lines or cable modems. … Read More
Analyst says EBITDA not meaningful in hi-tech world
NEW YORK-A senior executive of Moody’s Investors Service Inc. has issued a stern warning to securities analysts that a widely used measure of financial health is misleading and inadequate, particularly in industries subject to technological change. … Read More
U.K. 3G auction frenzy set to spread through Europe
Europe is embarking on a third-generation license auction frenzy the rest of this year, and operators are not happy about it. Since the United Kingdom raked in a whopping $35 billion earlier this year, other countries are moving away from the traditional method of granting licenses, via beauty contests, opting for auctions and stiffer license fees. … Read More
Nortel lays out wireless data strategy
PARIS-Nortel Networks introduced a wireless data initiative and noted its commitment to the European market here last week. Included in the announcements was a partnership with Hewlett-Packard Co. to integrate Nortel’s wireless data technology into HP’s wireless hardware. … Read More
Administration split on rooftop access
WASHINGTON-While lobbying intensifies in Congress and at the Federal Communications Commission over whether real-estate landlords should provide nondiscriminatory access to fixed broadband wireless carriers, an apparently divided Clinton administration is quietly considering an executive order that would mandate such connections as a prerequisite for federal government building leases. … Read More
Sukawaty leaves Sprint post on top
Not many 44-year-olds can put on their resum, that they built a nationwide wireless business from the ground up with a capital infrastructure budget larger than the Boston freeway project. Nor can many people boast that they successfully brought their company to the public market, where the stock was one of the top performing large-cap stocks on the S&P 500 in 1999. … Read More
Brazil chooses GSM for PCS
The GSM community, which has struggled to make inroads in Latin America, was ensured access to an important market as the Brazilian government granted personal communications services licenses in the 1800 MHz band. Last week’s decision caught many mobile-phone carriers and infrastructure providers off guard. In choosing the 1800 MHz band, Anatel, the Brazilian telecom regulatory authority, made Global System for Mobile communications the mandatory technology for the PCS market. … Read More
