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!
Carriers combating ‘clone ‘n roam’ fraud in markets
Some big-city markets saw a decrease in cloning fraud last year after implementing personal identification numbers, but the effort hasn’t beat the bandits. Cloning criminals have hit the road, scanning for numbers in one market, reprogramming and selling handsets in another-what industry has termed roaming fraud. Some hackers even have eclipsed the PIN safeguard. Roaming fraud has taken carriers by storm. According to Phillip Redman, an analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston, cloning accounts for about half of all cellular fraud. And most cloners are using a roaming approach, he added. … Read More
Increased churn, growth mark ’95 SMR industry
The specialized mobile radio industry grew 13 percent last year, but operators reported a steady increase in industry churn during 1995, says a new market study produced by Economic and Management Consultants International Inc. and the American Mobile Telecommunications Association. The report indicates industry churn increased from 17 percent in 1994 to about 21 percent in 1995. One leading reason for the trend is a soft economy in the private sector, said AMTA President and Chief Executive Officer Alan Shark. … Read More
PCS stakes get too rich for some C-Block bidders
Are the prices being paid for C-block broadband personal communications services licenses getting to be too rich for even the richest blood? If the recent exit of U.S. AirWaves Holdings Inc., PersonalConnect Communications Inc. and TeleCorp Inc., is any indication, second-squad bidders should get ready to come up with the cash for major and middle-tier markets as more varsity-team players take themselves out of the game. … Read More
Companies deny squabble in Sprint-cable TV venture
Sprint Spectrum L.P. denies any discord among its member companies, despite revisions to the venture’s original plans to launch cable telephony with its wireless service. But telecommunications analysts are split on what the modification means. Sprint Spectrum said its business plan remains the same: to build a nationwide wireless network using personal communications services licenses and to offer local telephone service through cable TV lines. A recent agreement change gives the cable companies more flexibility in upgrading their coaxial, non-telephone systems. … Read More
Metawave tries to claim stake in multi-beam antenna market
Using a novel approach to antenna design, Redmond, Wash.-based Metawave Communications Corp. plans to tackle the wireless communications industry with promises of increased channel capacity and improved call quality. The SpotLight Multibeam Antenna Platform is Metawave’s launch product, currently targeted at analog cellular operators because of their immediate need for more calling capacity, but the product also can be used for enhanced specialized mobile radio and personal communications services systems. PCS providers that install the antenna platform will be able to reduce infrastructure costs because they will need to build fewer sites, the company said. … Read More
FCC prepares to tackle 80 rule makings under new telecom law
Despite fiscal uncertainty and a daunting workload, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt has vowed to “meet or beat” congressional deadlines to implement the recently signed Telecommunications Act of 1996. Calling the bill the “Invest in America Act of 1996,” Hundt said the commission’s timetable for carrying out the majority of some 38 bill-related mandates this year will be based on promoting competition and proliferating the public interest. Eighty new rulemakings commission-wide will be introduced between now and 1998, according to a preliminary implementation schedule released last week. … Read More
Wireless E911 available in steps under joint plan
The location problems inherent to enhanced 911 calls made by wireless users could be solved within the next five years if the Federal Communications Commission adopts a new plan forwarded by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and several public-safety concerns. “Eighteen million times a year, a wireless subscriber uses his/her mobile phone to call public-safety agencies,” said CTIA President Thomas Wheeler. “Because of the mobile nature of such communications, however, it is not always possible to know the location of the calling party. This agreement establishes a process which, over the next five years, will enable greater accuracy in pinpointing the location of an emergency call.” … Read More
FBI offers CTIA digital wiretap implementation requirements
The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this month responded to Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) request for key data on digital wiretap implementation. The 13-page document explains the methodology behind calculating capacity requirements for wiretapping and currently is being reviewed by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Determining carriers’ capacity requirements addresses one provision in the implementation of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act charted by Leahy. CTIA said it anticipated rules and procedures on costs for recovery, a separate provision under CALEA, would be issued in the Federal Register last Friday. The provision addresses reimbursement procedures. … Read More
N.Y. antenna site lease at heart of AT&T lawsuit
On a clear day, you can look south and see the Manhattan skyline from the landmark hilltop house of Steve Preston, who owns and leases towers for wireless transmissions. But Preston has his sights set north where he sees the chance for significant tower sublease income disappearing over nearby Jackie Jones Mountain. In late 1991, Preston Communications Inc. received a signed contract from AT&T Communications Inc. in Atlanta authorizing the lease of Preston’s tower site high atop Jackie Jones Mountain. AT&T owns the site, considered a premium one because of its height and location in an area near to and facing New York City. Local zoning codes in Rockland County severely restrict tower placement. … Read More
Lightbridge products provide carriers capability to analyze
Lightbridge Inc. is introducing a new modular line of analytical products and services designed specifically for wireless carriers. The Wireless Intelligence decision support system provides carriers with detailed information about their distribution channels, customers and sales trends, the company said. Lightbridge said it uses data warehousing technology to provide fast access to a large variety of information, analyzing and categorizing data so the average business executive can easily identify patterns and trends to aid in decision-making. … Read More
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