AT&T

PCIA The Personal Communications Industry Association appointed Brent Weingardt vice president of government relations. Weingardt previously was regulatory counsel for Iridium LLC where he gave legal advice on regulatory matters and provided guidance regarding compliance with U.S. wireless and common …

WASHINGTON-With a panoply of prickly issues tied to major telecom policies of local competition, disability access, spectrum management and digital wiretap compliance, the future could not be cloudier for the wireless industry in 1999. Besides the fact wireless policy is …

At the end of each year, the RCR editorial staff looks back on the news events that made RCR headlines and decides which were the most significant, industry-impacting stories of the past 12 months. Here are our picks for 1998. …

SEATTLE-Go to any trade show where mobile phone operators congregate, and you will hear grumbling about how AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s Digital One Rate pricing plan has wreaked havoc on business plans. The play for the high-end business user seems …

NEW YORK-Metrocall Inc., Alexandria, Va., was expected to place privately last week a $250 million issue of 10-year senior subordinated notes that cannot be redeemed by the paging carrier for at least five years. Proceeds of the new issue will …

WASHINGTON-The most conservative member of the Federal Communications Commission last week said the current microscopic review of telecommunications mergers is unfair given the lack of attention the FCC is expected to give to the merger between oil giants Exxon and …

NEW YORK-MapInfo Corp., Troy, N.Y., agreed to acquire On Target Mapping, a Pittsburgh, Pa., provider of mapping data solutions for telecommunications companies, including AT&T Corp., Cable & Wireless plc, MCI WorldCom and Sprint Corp. On Target Mapping will add telecommunications …

MALVERN, Penn.-Triton PCS Inc. selected Lightbridge Inc. to provide integrated solutions for customer activation, retail management and fraud prevention. Triton PCS is building and will operate a digital wireless network in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, enabling AT&T …

Sierra Wireless said it has brought together 17 other companies in an alliance formed to work together to offer more complete solutions so the general public will adopt wireless data devices more quickly. The WirelessReady Alliance is an invitation-only collaborative …

NEW YORK-The boundaries between internal and external computer networks are disappearing due to the warp-speed incursion of the Internet, raising security concerns within enterprises that want to exploit this promising opportunity safely. “Security is one of the inhibitors. It has …

Studies indicate the mobile phone industry may be in for more alarming churn figures as increased competition threatens to erode carriers’ customer bases. Richard Siber, associate partner with Andersen Consulting in Boston, expects the industry’s churn rate to average between …

WASHINGTON-CIA officials last week were expected to appear before a federal grand jury here in connection with new revelations that intelligence officials may have broken the law by contacting Hughes Electronics Co. about the Senate Intelligence Committee’s probe of high-tech …

WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) late Friday blasted Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard and his press office for staff statements to the press suggesting the agency might block pending telecom mega-mergers even if they are approved by …

WASHINGTON-Marcia Spielholz, the California woman whose emergency 911 cellular phone call went unanswered in 1994 during an attempted auto theft in which she was shot in the face, plans to amend her class-action lawsuit against Los Angeles Telephone Co. next …

PREFERRED NETWORKS Preferred Networks Inc. announced its founder, president and director, Michael Saner, will retire Dec. 31. Saner previously held upper-management positions at several paging companies, such as Paging Services Inc., a paging repair, maintenance, installation and sales company he …

WASHINGTON-Justice Department antitrust czar Joel Klein, sending a mixed message, predicts Baby Bells will face local competition from wireless and wireline firms over time, even if mega-mergers among dominant telecom players are approved. Pointing to forces of deregulation, technology and …

WASHINGTON-In an exclusive interview provided to RCR, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition plans to announce aggressive opposition against pending telecom mega-mergers at the Federal Communications Commission’s Dec. 14 meeting if negotiations with company executives on the AT&T …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission on Friday named Thomas J. Sugrue chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau effective Jan. 19. Sugrue replaces Daniel Phythyon, who was slated to leave the post on Dec. 1 for special project assignments within the …

NEW YORK-The recent privatization of Telecomunicaciones de Guatemala S.A., doing business as Telgua, was the largest such transaction in Central America to date and offers encouragement for similar plans contemplated in nearby Nicaragua and Honduras. “Obviously, Telgua would be interested …

Supra Products Inc. won a contract from AT&T Wireless Services Inc. to provide its TRACcess electronic access control system at AT&T Wireless cell sites in its central region, said the companies. The contract follows a previous contract with AT&T Wireless …

NEW YORK-TeleCorp PCS Inc., Arlington, Va., an AT&T Wireless Services Inc. affiliate, selected the GTE Telecommunication Services Inc. prepaid wireless solution as part of its commercial service launch expected early next year. TeleCorp plans to offer Time Division Multiple Access …

More legal issues have fallen in the way of Venezuela’s plans to tender a personal communications services license earlier this month. Conatel, Venezuela’s telecom regulatory agency, was set to tender a license by Nov. 4, but protests from three cellular …

NEW YORK-The wireless telecommunications business may account for a minority of Bell Atlantic Corp.’s revenues, but its entrepreneurial example has influenced profoundly the incumbent carrier’s entire strategy, according to Ivan G. Seidenberg, the company’s president, chairman and chief executive officer. …

Robinson-Humphrey Co. L.L.C.’s third-quarter survey of U.S. mobile phone pricing indicates pricing overall has increased as carriers move from offering local calling plans to introducing one-rate plans that eliminate roaming and long-distance fees. One-rate plans “give the effect of increasing …

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. is testing a new pricing plan in Texas aimed at the consumer considering a second phone line in the home. The trial offer in Plano allows customers to choose from two digital pricing plans-one for $40 …