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!
Nextel to offer Internet service with Unwired Planet, Netscape
1999 could be a key year for many carriers in determining if wireless users want to access the Internet from mobile devices. Nextel Communications Inc. announced it will begin rolling out limited mobile Internet access service to six East Coast markets during the fourth quarter, while other carriers have announced technical trials of high-speed data access. Nextel hopes to become the first to commercially roll out Internet access in early 2000 in conjunction with Unwired Planet Inc., Netscape Communications Corp. and its handset and infrastructure vendor, Motorola Inc. … Read More
Motorola, Cisco team on IP
Following a trend of convergence between the wireless and Internet industries, Motorola Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. last week announced the first phase of a strategic alliance to develop and deploy a framework for Internet-based wireless networks. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding calling for them to cooperate to deliver the first completely Internet Protocol platform for the wireless industry and introduce an open Internet-based platform for integrated data, voice and video services over wireless networks. Definitive agreements are expected to be completed soon. The architecture of the Internet framework will be designed to work across all wireless standards, said the companies. … Read More
Nextel’s tower sale to SpectraSite sets mark for future carrier deals
Nextel Communications Inc. last week agreed to sell its portfolio of towers to independent tower company SpectraSite Communications Inc., ending months of speculation about which tower company the specialized mobile radio carrier would select for the sale. The $560 million cash deal has been eagerly anticipated by the wireless and tower industries, which largely expected Nextel to be the first nationwide wireless carrier to sell its tower assets to a third-party company. The purchase-leaseback trend is being driven by carriers’ need to monetize their tower assets and use those funds to compete in an increasingly crowded wireless market. SpectraSite in August purchased Airadigm Communications Inc.’s tower portfolio in what it said was the first sale of a carrier’s entire tower inventory to a third-party company. … Read More
Telematics expected to see bold growth as prices fall
Telematics services are becoming increasingly popular in the United States, with at least five automotive original equipment manufacturers and several after-market vendors offering telematics hardware and services to customers. The telematics market supports just more than 60,000 customers today, but it is expected to grow to nearly 1.3 million customers by 2003, according to research conducted by Driscoll/Wolfe Marketing & Research Consulting, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. A similar study by The Strategis Group predicts telematics customers will grow to about 1.23 million by 2003. The trend toward telematics being offered as a standard feature on new vehicles is growing. Mercedes-Benz, for example, will offer telematics as a standard feature on its S-Class models this spring. Protection One Mobile is providing the response center services. … Read More
ITU says 3G harmonization rests with carriers
International Telecommunication Union members did not reach any consensus in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, on harmonizing the various radio transmission technology proposals received by the ITU for third-generation technology. The ITU has decided harmonization efforts will rest with carriers and has asked them to put pressure on vendors to harmonize the standards. Carriers are set to meet in the next few weeks in London to discuss convergence in a meeting similar to one held in Beijing early last month involving 14 operators from Asia, Europe and the United States. … Read More
Nokia announces infrastructure package at CTIA show
Nokia Corp. last week announced an infrastructure package that should reduce costs and increase efficiency for Global System for Mobile communications carriers, now will be available in the United States. The package components already are in use in Europe, said company officials. The services, tools and products were announced at Wireless ’99. Nokia’s new High Capacity GSM System-for the Americas market-offers more capacity, power and efficiency for GSM networks, according to the company. … Read More
Microsoft, BT trial wireless data apps
In a move designed to further its interests in the wireless environment, Microsoft Corp. announced it has formed an agreement with British Telecommunications plc to develop a set of services to make various types of Internet-and intranet-based applications and information available to mobile device users overseas. The agreement is expected to allow users to access e-mail, calendar programs, personalized Web content and online information services via mobile phones, pagers or handheld/laptop computers. While Microsoft has made similar advancements in North America via its Wireless Knowledge L.L.C. joint venture with Qualcomm Inc., the British Telecom announcement marks the first time such applications will be available outside North America, the company said. … Read More
Kennard endorses calling party pays
William Kennard, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, told a receptive Wireless ’99 General Session crowd on Tuesday he believes calling party pays will lead to wireless competing with wireline for minutes of use. “Only 5 percent of phone calls now are made on mobile phones. I think that number would increase dramatically with a calling-party-pays system,” Kennard said. A CPP notice of proposed rulemaking will be on the agenda of a “Wireless Day”-a regular FCC meeting that will have
only wireless items on the agenda-in May or June, said Kennard’s legal adviser Ari Fitzgerald. The NPRM will focus on customer notification and billing issues associated with CPP, Fitzgerald said. “It will be a difficult proceeding, but [Kennard] has laid a stake in the ground.” … Read More
UWCC and GSM aim for interoperability
The Universal Wireless Communications Consortium and the GSM North American Alliance announced plans to work to achieve interoperability between TDMA and GSM technology, a move that could facilitate national and global consolidation among carriers with incompatible technologies and in particular allow SBC Communications Inc. to fill out its wireless footprint by purchasing GSM operators. Adding on to their previously announced collaboration on data specifications, the two groups said they plan to develop ways to allow a fully integrated set of features-such as short message service and customer profiles-across the two technologies to create a global footprint. … Read More
Court upholds 800 MHz auction, strikes down differing buildout rules
A federal appeals court here rejected a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s auction of 800 MHz specialized mobile radio licenses in 1997, but struck down rules imposing tighter buildout requirements on firms that got licenses before the auction than on those that bought dispatch radio permits. The Feb. 5 ruling removes a big legal cloud hanging over the 1997 auction, which was dominated by the country’s No. 1 SMR operator, Nextel Communications Inc. Still, the court’s opinion appears to keep the door open for incumbent 800 MHz SMR licenses to exercise their rights relative to their relocation from the upper 200 SMR channels to the lower 230 channels at 800 MHz. … Read More
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