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!
Jacobs defends CDMA despite launch delays
Expenses were significant for Qualcomm Inc. in the second quarter, deeply affecting its earnings and sending its stock down 10 points. The San Diego company said it expects to build up its supplier side and manufacturing capabilities in coming quarters, and it defended the ability of its Code Division Multiple Access technology from Wall Street doubters. Qualcomm is an inventor of CDMA technology that opted to build a factory and become a manufacturer of CDMA infrastructure and handsets. Last fall, the company also created a business unit to provide Application Specific Integrated Circuits for CDMA products. … Read More
Paging revenues are expected to triple during the next decade
Operating outside the limelight cast by telecom deregulation and the Federal Communications Commission’s C-block auction for personal communications service, the paging sector is pursuing its own profitable agenda in the changing wireless environment. By 2006, paging revenues are projected to more than triple to $11 billion and pagers in service almost quadruple to nearly 100 million, compared to 1994 numbers, according to Sharon Armbrust, vice president and senior analyst for Paul Kagan Associates Inc., Carmel, Calif. Armbrust served as moderator at a Kagan conference titled Wireless Telecom Values and Finance, held last week. … Read More
Wireless network equipment sales up from network upgrades
Sales of wireless network equipment in the United States grew more than 72 percent in 1995 to $5.44 billion, up from $3.16 billion the previous year, according to a new report from Northern Business Information. In U.S. Wireless Network Equipment Markets: 1995 Edition, NBI said that cellular equipment accounted for the majority of the market in both years, but that revenues from personal communications services equipment sales will grow to nearly half those of cellular by the end of the decade. … Read More
Nextel wins 177 licenses
Nextel Communications Inc. said the 177 licenses it won at auction are a “relatively small thing” considering the enormous holdings it has already. Nextel has been quiet for the last year, silently building out digital networks, completing large acquisitions and swapping properties with other specialized mobile radio operators. It received thousands of channels from Motorola Inc. It traded away 120 900 MHz channels to Geotek Communications Inc. and received 74 channels at 800 MHz in New York in return. It bought 43 channels at 800 MHz in Philadelphia from Comcast Corp. And the deals continue. … Read More
Deep pockets dominate
After reaching an exhausting seven rounds per day, the 900 MHz specialized mobile radio auctions finally ended last week, with the predicted big spenders-Paging Network of America, Geotek Communications Inc., FCI 900 Inc., Motorola SMR Inc. and Fleet Talk Inc.-leading the pack. Of the 128 bidders who qualified for this event, 60 small-business players survived 168 rounds to win 26 percent of the licenses. Twenty-two auctions have been scheduled by the Federal Communications Commission, 10 of them taking place this year. … Read More
First health-related suit could be filed in Britain
Public alarm over potential health risks from mobile telephones that reached fever pitch in the United States several years ago may be about to seize Great Britain, following publication in the London Sunday Times of new evidence that radio frequency radiation from handheld communicators may pose more of a threat to consumers than what the wireless telecommunications industry has led the public to believe to date. An April 14 Times’ article, which the U.S. wireless industry and its research arm have criticized as inaccurate and misleading, has created a stir in England and may prompt the first health-related lawsuit against a cellular firm in that country. … Read More
Canadian PCS licensees move forward with plans
Rapid progress to market for Canada’s personal communications services licensees is marked by Industry Canada’s recent release of license conditions and Bell Mobility’s announcement to use Code Division Multiple Access technology. Canadian Minister of Communications John Manley announced guidelines for PCS, including stipulations for the two nationwide cellular carriers that won PCS licenses-Mobility Canada and Rogers Cantel Mobile Inc.-in aims to create a level playing field. … Read More
Speculation of European mergers continues while players wait
Lately Western Europe is a tourney of anticipation and waiting where players are evaluating merging options and calculating the competition’s next move. The first domino may fall if Cable & Wireless plc and British Telecommunications plc join forces. Weeks ago the London companies acknowledged the possibility of merging, but have declined to comment further. Talks continue. Also eyeing Cable & Wireless is Deutsche Telekom of Germany. … Read More
Authentication solution to stop ping phone fraud
The Telecommunications Industry Association wrote the standard for authentication technology five years ago and in March 1995, Tom Berson, a noted cryptologist and president of Anagram Laboratories, completed a study for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s Fraud Task Force that determined “in an authentication environment, cloning fraud as we know it today will be eliminated.” The Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm projected authentication has a 20-year fix, said Tom McClure, CTIA director of fraud management. In other words, the sophistication of the technology is expected to take criminals an estimated 20 years to defeat. … Read More
Auction comments for next PCS blocks drawn
Comments submitted last week regarding new rules for the D-, E- and F-block personal communications services auctions generally support simultaneous auctions, keeping the definition of “small business” as is and the extension of small-business perks to D- and E-block bidders. There are, however, bones of contention where previous auction winners, and issues of race and gender, cellular cross-ownership and full disclosure are concerned. The Federal Communications Commission still believes it can fast-track this docket in time to begin the next rounds of bidding sometime in July, with the goal of finishing in August. An aggregate 1,479 licenses will be awarded as a result of the three-block sale. One commenter, DCR Communications Inc., believes the auctions should not start until after C-block licenses have been awarded. “C-block applicants cannot realistically focus on the D-, E- and F-blocks until the C-block process is complete,” it wrote. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
