Sprint awarded $3B in contracts to AT&T and Nortel for CDMA network build, while carriers targeted in-building services to bolster revenues … 21 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!
STV picks AT&T, Nortel for $3B CDMA build
Sprint Telecommunications Venture has awarded contracts to build its personal communications services network to AT&T Network Systems Inc. and Northern Telecom Inc. with roughly a 60/40 split of STV’s markets. The contracts are valued at more than $3 billion. “Today’s announcement is a key step in bringing next-generation wireless services quickly to customers coast to coast,” said Ronald LeMay, STV’s chief executive officer. STV said it plans to introduce PCS service in 20 to 25 major metropolitan areas-covering more than 100 million people-by the end of this year. The venture hopes to complete the rest of the network by December 1998. The system will use digital Code Division Multiple Access technology. … Read More
Carriers to gain revenue from in-building wireless
Offering customers wireless access inside and outside the office will enable wireless carriers to gain new subscribers, retain current subscribers and generate increased airtime revenue, said Jerry Kaufman, president of Arizona-based Alexander Resources. Kaufman believes cellular and personal communications services providers that supply “dual domain wireless telephone systems” will do well in the increasingly competitive U.S. marketplace. Dual domain systems offer users mobility at work via wireless access to the office’s private branch exchange, Key or Centrex switch, and outside the workplace on a wide-area cellular network, all from one handset. In the office, most systems operate in the 1.9 GHz unlicensed PCS band. … Read More
CDMA receives a cool reception in South Korea
A cellular network using Code Division Multiple Access technology is live in South Korea, but so far enduring only a lukewarm reception. Current analog operator Korea Mobile Telecommunications Corp. introduced CDMA service Jan. 1 in Inchon, a port city west of Seoul, and plans to open the network in Pusan and Seoul this spring. “There’s no noise at all,” said Ahn Kun Young at the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication, referring to his experience using the new CDMA digital service. Ahn is the Ministry’s deputy director of international cooperation, United States and Europe. … Read More
CDPD still a hard sell for vendors, but applications show promise
Just as Cellular Digital Packet Data has been slow to take off in the United States, it looks like it will take a little pushing and shoving for the technology to thrive in Latin America as well. So far only a few hundred CDPD terminals are deployed commercially in the region, and they are all through one carrier-Tele 2000, which is the B-band operator in Lima, Peru. In October, Tele 2000 became the first company in Latin America to commercially deploy CDPD. The only other installation is by Grupo Iusacell S.A. de C.V. in Mexico, whose CDPD network is now commercial but only has trial customers. Iusacell has 22 cell sites installed with CDPD and projects it will have 2,000 to 3,000 end users by year-end 1996, according to project leader Rolando Espimosa. … Read More
Calling party pays raises cellular use, says carriers
“Calling party pays” cellular, already a reality in Europe, Japan and Australia, is a growing trend throughout Latin America. In most places in Latin America, the cellular subscriber still pays for the airtime on incoming as well as outgoing calls. But this is changing as carriers realize the advantages of having the calling party pay. Carriers are finding this pricing structure actually increases revenues in the long run. They say the “subscriber pays” pricing structure discourages subscribers from freely giving out their cellular telephone numbers-which means lost potential airtime revenue. … Read More
Spectrum auction’s fate entwined in fed’s budget
The federal budget will play a large role in determining the future of spectrum auctions, according to several panelists taking part in “Spectrum Auctions: Pay or No Play?” last week during the ComNet ’95 conference. “The budget will be the driving issue in American politics for the next decade. Congress continually will wonder how it can fund things with spectrum auctions,” said Donald Gips, director of strategic policy at the Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Plans and Policy, “The political process on the Hill has overtaken everything. The thought is, `When can we expect our next $7.7 billion check?’ This all will end when the spectrum does, and then we probably will be looking at user fees,” agreed Gary French, an economist and principal of Telecommunications Research Inc. … Read More
Company fights roaming fraud by verifying I.D. of subscriber
Authentix Inc., a new Calif.-based company, said it developed a fraud detection method aimed at stopping bandits who clone phones and then roam. Current fraud fighting tools detect invalid mobile identification number-electronic serial number combinations or identify unusual calling patterns. Authentix detects cloners who roam by verifying a subscriber’s identity, not just the phone’s identity, said Peter McCoy, Authentix vice president of marketing and planning. When a customer wants to roam, a cellular provider in that roaming market signals the customer’s home market. Once the home market validates the customer’s MIN-ESN, the phone is ready to use. This has encouraged a high rate of fraud because cloners scan MIN-ESN numbers in one market and roam with them in another, McCoy commented. … Read More
Auction update: C-Block auction bids top $4B, while SMR auction nears end
After more than 30 rounds of bidding, it looks like the current auction of 900 MHz specialized mobile radio spectrum may be entering the home stretch. Because of competitive reasons, however, the players aren’t talking. Net revenues excluding withdrawal payments at the end of Round 28 reached $83.4 million. The number of new bids and the number of new high bids posted after each round coupled with changes in net revenues of less than one percent are symptoms of a possible topping out as far as auction participants are concerned. The top five most active bidders-Paging Network of America Inc., FCI 900 Inc. (Nextel Communications Inc.), Geotek Communications Inc., Motorola SMR Inc. and Fleet Talk Inc.-have not changed since the early rounds. … Read More
Cellular One expands scope of brand name
The Cellular One Group intends to expand the scope of the Cellular One brand name to paging, local and long-distance service, and will offer licensing to B-side cellular carriers, personal communications services operators and resellers as well. “Customers want to turn to Cellular One for all of the communications products and services they need,” said Richard Lyons, executive director of the Dallas-based group. Expanding the brand will allow current Cellular One members to integrate offerings they already provide, such as paging. An affiliate of Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems plans to offer local exchange service in Chicago in conjunction with Cellular One operations. … Read More
CMRS carriers could offer fixed services under FCC proposal
While enforcing rules to move microwave users off new broadband spectrum, federal regulators have proposed letting commercial carriers offer wireless local loop and other fixed services. The extent to which cellular, specialized mobile radio and personal communications services can offer fixed services has created uncertainty and confusion for both the wireless telecommunications industry and the Federal Communications Commission in recent months. “Our original purpose in limiting this spectrum to mobile and related services was to ensure that adequate spectrum was available for these services, which cannot feasibly be provided at higher frequencies,” said the FCC, but “it appears that the characterization of permissible use in our rules may be inhibiting carriers intending to use radio links to replace existing wireline service or to rural or less attractive areas not being adequately served by wireline providers.” … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
