AT&T

WASHINGTON-Just when it appeared the United States and China were on the verge of a major trade agreement promising huge wireless export opportunities and Chinese membership in the World Trade Organization, a high-tech espionage controversy has erupted that throws both …

The state of Utah awarded Applied Cellular Technology Inc.’s Communications Infrastructure division a $6.1 million contract to provide infrastructure and construction improvements for the 10 buildings on the University of Utah campus that will be used to house Olympic athletes, …

Aether Technologies announced it is joining BellSouth Wireless Data L.P. and Research in Motion Ltd. to bring financial market data via wirelessly connected handheld and laptop computers to the Atlanta, Los Angeles and New Orleans markets. Datalink.net announced it can …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.-AT&T Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc. and Motorola Inc., among others, have joined to create a standard that will allow users to access Web-based information via mobile or landline phones, called Voice eXtensible Markup Language. The group, called the …

Intelligent roaming is guaranteed to change the face of the wireless industry, and smaller carriers that have built their businesses on making money from roaming better pay attention, say experts. “Intelligent roaming opens up competition, and will require carriers to …

WASHINGTON-In the public forum, Nextel Communications Inc. speaks earnestly of a brave new wireless world in which it could compete more favorably against AT&T Corp., Sprint Corp. and others if not for an outdated 1995 antitrust decree designed to foster …

WASHINGTON-Continuing its strategy to get some of Pocket Communications Inc.’s personal communications services licenses, National Telecom PCS Inc. last week offered to pay $13 million for the 12 C-block licenses. NatTel sent a reorganization plan to Judge E. Stephen Derby, …

DENVER-In response to aggressive moves made by its competitors, U S West Inc. announced it is committed to spending an additional $300 million in 1999 to support earlier deployment of network enhancements, eliminate bottlenecks because of increasing data traffic and …

Sprint PCS is attempting to change the way the industry does business with affiliate companies, but the task has not been without its difficulties as some affiliate companies struggle to obtain financing. To date, Sprint PCS has signed on 16 …

Personal communications services network buildout is largely complete in the nation’s largest markets, and carriers this year are beginning to focus their attention on filling in coverage and building out secondary markets, say industry experts. Brian Cotton, research manager for …

PISCATAWAY, N.J.-The Wireless Information Network Laboratory at Rutgers University is working to set a research agenda that will facilitate deployment of General Packet Radio Service, a new wave in wireless data communications. GPRS is a large, complex system that merges …

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme Court last week allowed a case involving AT&T Corp.’s practice of rounding up minutes for wireless calls to proceed in state court. Borrowed from the long-distance industry, rounding up refers to the practice of billing in full-minute …

WASHINGTON-The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions said Year 2000 interoperability testing conducted by the Network Testing Committee indicated no Y2K related anomalies within U.S. interconnected telecommunications networks. ATIS said the NTS tests focused on call processing, mass calling events and …

The fourth quarter of 1998 marked both highs and lows for the various carriers that make up the paging industry, with companies meeting both significant milestones and facing continued challenges. Perhaps deserving of the most attention are SkyTel Communications Inc. …

While the fourth quarter typically is the most competitive quarter of the year for mobile phone operators, a recent pricing study from Robinson-Humphrey Co. L.L.C. concludes that increased industry competition did not lead to dramatic price declines in the fourth …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission approved the $57 billion merger between AT&T Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc. As expected, TCI must divest its interest in Sprint Corp.’s personal communications services business as part of the deal. The Department of Justice already has …

WILMINGTON, Del.-A bankruptcy court here last week approved Nextel Communications Inc.’s $150 million purchase of Geotek Communications Inc.’s 191 dispatch radio licenses, setting the stage for a fierce fight in the coming months over whether a 1995 antitrust consent decree-which …

NEW ORLEANS-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 …

NEW YORK-Boston Communications Group Inc. launched a prepaid wireless service called Passport, which it said is the first in the United States to permit calls from any wireless phone to anywhere in the world. Rogers Cantel Inc., Canada’s largest wireless …

NEW YORK-Moody’s Investors Service Inc. has downgraded its long-term investment grade ratings of AT&T Corp. debt and preferred stock while upgrading those of cable television company Tele-Communications Inc., which AT&T has acquired. The rating changes affect about $18 billion in …

Never has an industry been so vastly underestimated as the cellular industry in its formative years. When the industry celebrated its 10th birthday in late 1993, industry watchers joked about how wrong the early subscriber forecasts were, while putting out …

The domestic telecom market is abuzz with mergers, acquisitions and mega-deals. The industry is consolidating again, not so long after AT&T Corp. was broken up into Baby Bells; cellular and then personal communications services licenses were awarded, and carriers of …

WASHINGTON-The President’s Export Council, confronting the Clinton administration on third-generation wireless policy, urged the White House against endorsing convergence of wideband mobile phone technologies being evaluated by the International Telecommunication Union. The export body, headed by AT&T Corp. Chairman Michael …

Roaming charges and long-distance fees increasingly are becoming a thing of the past as one-rate plans like the one AT&T Wireless Services Inc. offers take over the domestic wireless market. Several carriers last week announced new pricing plans that nix …

“Certainly 1996 is not that long ago chronologically, but for technology, it was a lifetime ago. When Congress put that final stamp with that digital pen and signed the act into law, I don’t think they even could have imagined …