AT&T

WASHINGTON-Telecom mergers, traditionally seen as threatening by organized labor, have become major platforms for unions and civil-rights groups to push their agendas and try to leverage concessions. As the Communications Workers of America and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/Push Coalition weigh in …

WASHINGTON-CTIA last week at its fourth annual Cellular Telephone Industry Association Foundation Achievement Awards Dinner paid tribute to Dennis F. Strigl, Newt Gingrich and the 50 winners of its Vita wireless samaritan awards who all used wireless phones to help …

A wave of activity between carriers and tower management firms appears to be developing, signaling a growing trend toward carriers selling off their tower assets in purchase/leaseback arrangements. In such transactions, carriers sell their towers to a tower management company …

WASHINGTON-In a stunning setback for the Clinton administration that bodes well for the wireless industry, a bipartisan group of top telecom lawmakers last week ordered the Federal Communications Commission to scrap plans to subsidize Internet connections for schools, libraries and …

Despite uncertainties surrounding the process, the Brazilian government is pushing ahead with plans to sell its stake in telecommunications giant Telebras. The sell-off, originally slated for July 15, now has been pushed to July 29. Telebras is scheduled to split …

Topp Telecom Inc.’s TracFone prepaid cellular phones now can be purchased in 7-Eleven stores in Phila-delphia and southern New Jersey. Charles Fortner, president of Island Page, was recognized last week by Vice President Al Gore as the National SBA Young …

WASHINGTON-The public-safety community received good news last week. When the new millennium arrives, two-way radios will still work. This message was delivered by the manufacturers of public-safety equipment at a forum sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission to alert public-safety …

Some truths are not self evident, but every once in a while, the dawn’s early light shines through. Truth has no place in this city of self-serving factoids, where winning and whining make moral relativism king. Here, they are engaged …

CINCINNATI-Convergys Corp. has filed paperwork for an initial public offering of stock expected to raise $435 million. Convergys, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell Inc., filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the IPO. The …

WASHINGTON-Paging service providers that want the Federal Communications Commission to institute a coin-in-the-box mechanism for toll-free calls placed at pay phones may have a tough time convincing the major players involved in the pay-phone compensation debate, according to sources at …

Corsair Communications Inc. said it completed installing its PhonePrint system for AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in its Pittsburgh market. AT&T Wireless already had the fraud-prevention system installed in its New York-New Jersey; Las Vegas; and Santa Barbara, and Oxnard-Ventura, Calif., …

WASHINGTON-TeleCorp PCS Inc. signed an exclusive contract valued at $280 million with Lucent Technologies Inc. to supply the infrastructure for its Time Division Multiple Access network. TeleCorp entered into a joint venture with AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in January and …

WASHINGTON-Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), chairman of the Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, last week expressed strong reservations about SBC Communications Inc. Chairman Edward Whitacre Jr.’s pledge that his company’s $62 billion proposed merger with Ameritech Corp. will benefit competition and consumers. “This …

Metawave Metawave Communications Corp. appointed Scot B. Jarvis to its board of directors. Jarvis helped build McCaw Cellular Communications cellular business through aggressive acquisitions of cellular licenses. During his nine years with McCaw, Jarvis held many positions including vice president …

The SBC Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. merger means two major cellular markets may be up for grabs. Both companies own cellular licenses in Chicago and St. Louis, Mo., as well as surrounding licenses in Illinois, Indiana and Missouri. SBC …

The announced merger of SBC Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. has raised speculation there may be another paging unit on the sale block sometime soon. SBC will be the controlling company after the merger. Given SBC’s lack of any real …

SBC Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. last week announced a stock-for-stock merger agreement valued at about $62 billion that would give the combined company a local and wireless presence in the West, Southwest, Midwest and parts of the Northeast. The …

For the cellular industry, it’s the morning after. Sort of. The industry was deregulated significantly in 1993, a high mark for the powerful cellular lobby in Washington, D.C. Life was good. Congress had put states out to pasture. Growth was …

NEW YORK-Pathnet Inc. hopes to raise $100 million by going public to help finance its goal of becoming a national carrier’s carrier in smaller markets by upgrading existing wireless infrastructure to develop a synchronous optical network (SONET) system. Pathnet intends …

The number of digital wireless subscribers is expected to increase rapidly this year as more cellular carriers begin to push digital service aggressively. While many cellular carriers last year offered digital service as a way to offer products similar to …

The wireless telecommunications industry has grown up more quickly than many other industries in the United States. The industry likes to boast of its relatively quick acceptance in the marketplace, comparing its acquisition of 50 million customers in just less …

Pricing has stabilized in the majority of U.S. markets, say analysts. While the name of the game last summer was to get the phone in the hand of the user with price offerings like $50 for 1,000 minutes per month, …

NEW YORK-“A lot of what you’re hearing about voice over the Internet, about having actual, real-time conversations, is hype,” said Ralph Tomeoni, president and chief executive officer of TekNow, Phoenix. “The Internet is a great big packet switching network, and …

NEW YORK-Led by dramatic expansion of television, mobile telephony and multimedia services, global satellite industry revenues will skyrocket to $171 billion in 2007 from $38 billion in 1997, according to projections by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., New …

MALVERN, Pa.-Triton PCS Inc. announced it received gross proceeds of about $300 million from its recently completed sale of 11-percent senior subordinated discount notes due 2008. The company plans to use the capital to fund both the buildout of its …