A fresh spectrum auction and ground-breaking legislation sets the stage for a new telecom era … 19 years ago this week
Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
New telecom era now taking shape
Overarching economic, trade and political policies evolving in the United States and abroad are likely to eclipse telecommunications policy as the key drivers of wireless commerce in the next century. The trend toward telecommunications deregulation around the world is making telecom policymakers less relevant and shifting the balance of power into the hands of trade czars, finance ministers, central bankers, diplomats, industrialists, financiers and, of course, the free market. The foundation for this new economic order is beginning to take shape. … Read More
New study links cancer to phones
A major Australian study has found significant cancer in rodents exposed to digital wireless phone radiation, dramatic findings that offer compelling new evidence of potential health risks from phones and further undercut long-standing cellular industry claims about phone safety. The research results, which have been known and tightly guarded for two years, were published in Charlottesville, Va.-based Radiation Research last week and reported in Australian newspapers. CNN carried the story in the United States. … Read More
Canada’s local market opens, provides wireless opportunity
Canada’s Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission opened the market for local phone service last week, which has wireless players ecstatic. The CRTC has “issued a strong endorsement of the role wireless carriers will play” in the local market, said Microcell Telecommunications Inc. of Montreal. “What you will ultimately see is people ripping the phone off the kitchen wall, throwing it away and then turning to wireless PCS. You will call people, you won’t call a home or a place,” said Robert Simmonds, chairman and vice president, regulatory and technology, Clearnet Communications Inc. … Read More
Still decrying IS-95 standard, Ericsson seeks W-CDMA market
Swedish telecommunications giant L.M. Ericsson is promoting the application of wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology, and recently announced a partnership with Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corp. of Japan to develop commercial uses for W-CDMA. The announcement has raised a few eyebrows for a number of reasons. The Japanese government recently selected CDMA as the nation’s pocket phone standard, casting a vote against the Ericsson-supported Global System for Mobile communications standard. The decision was a critical blow to Ericsson because Japan is a heavily populated, expanding wireless market. … Read More
Industry leverages Internet protocols to give mobile data a boost: CDPD networks expand coverage
More than a year after the Internet burst into the wireless space, the big story in mobile data continues to be how the industry is responding to this communications phenomenon. While circuit-switched cellular still is the standard for wireless data connectivity-offering near-universal access for dial-up wireless communications-we’re becoming a packet-switched world driven by the Internet and the access it provides to the larger world of computer networking. Circuit-switched data transmission requires setting up a dedicated two-way link while packet-switching breaks up the transmission into small data packets that share the channel with other packets or, in some cases, voice transmissions. … Read More
Motorola Inc. executives rearrange top positions
An executive shuffle is taking place at Motorola Inc. In the company’s annual report for 1996, Hector Ruiz is titled executive vice president of Motorola Inc., and president of the Semiconductor Products Sector, located in Mesa, Ariz. Ruiz currently is executive vice president and general manager of the Messaging Systems Product Group. Succeeding Ruiz is Frank Lloyd, previously senior vice president and general manager for MSPG. Ruiz and Floyd will assume their new posts in the next few weeks. Motorola’s MSPG includes the Advanced Messaging Group, Paging Products Group, Derivative Technologies Division and Core Technology Systems Division. … Read More
Ex PCS player blames lost license on US West
BDPCS Inc. last week filed a lawsuit in a Colorado court against U S West Inc., claiming U S West’s last-minute refusal to loan the former C-block auction winner $37 million last year for a down payment required by the Federal Communications Commission led to the company’s downfall. BDPCS, a wholly owned subsidiary of BDPCS Holdings Inc. (formerly known as Questcom Inc.) doing business as Best Digital, was forced to give up the 17 personal communications services licenses it purchased at auction for $873.7 million because it could not meet its down-payment requirement. Damages include a $67 million fine imposed by the FCC for the company’s failure to pay and losses arising from the ruined value of BDPCS’s business. Wall Street bankers had estimated the value of the company at more than $1 billion, based on the value of the licenses and BDPCS’s anticipated revenues, said the complaint. … Read More
One-of-a-kind company enjoys personal communications dawn
Metrica says it holds the sole championship title in its corner of the global telecom industry, network performance management. The United States is especially promising right now for its business, as personal communications services licensees start up their networks. The company is just one of a kind, say Kay Mackay and David Freedman, public relations counterparts for the United States and Europe. Metrica’s U.S. headquarters are in Winchester, Mass. … Read More
Stocks clamor for Wall Street favor with conservative approach
Belt-tightening, steady growth of one-way services and advances in two-way and voice paging are winning the paging sector renewed interest on Wall Street. “I think there are people in the investment community beginning to kick the tires,” stated Jeanine Oburchay, paging analyst at Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., New York. “Few of those have stepped up to the plate yet, but I think that’s about to change.” Across the board, paging stocks are down dramatically since 1995. … Read More
More consolidation yet to come in shrinking paging industry?
When it comes to further consolidation in paging, the industry in the United States has taken a deep breath and is waiting to exhale. During 1995 and early 1996, the paging industry underwent rapid consolidation. “Public stock prices have been off considerably over the last nine to 12 months, and this puts a damper on some of the things operators in the industry can do,” said Brad Busse, chief operating officer of Daniels & Associates, Denver. “There will be a slowdown until the financial markets get comfortable again.” By the end of 1996, the top 10 paging companies had about 80 percent of the 34.1 million subscribers, with the other 300 or so carriers dividing up the remaining slice of the pie, said Iain Gillott, manager of wireless communications research for IDC/Link Resources, Austin, Texas. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
