AT&T

NEW YORK-After many delays, Brazil’s B-band cellular license auctions, which will be open to foreign bidders, are likely to begin early next year. The Brazil Senate last month ratified telecommunications deregulation legislation already approved by the House, thereby opening satellite …

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. has acquired the Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn., 1900 MHz personal communications services licenses from SBC Communications Inc. In addition to acquiring the two major trading area licenses, AT&T said it also will gain control …

Sprint Spectrum L.P. said it is facing the same problem in Oregon experienced by its personal communications services competitor, Western Wireless Corp.-an attempt by the state to tax its personal communications services license. “This tax puts PCS operators at a …

Preferred Networks Inc. said it has signed an agreement with NationsBank for a $20 million revolving credit facility. The money will be used primarily to finance the acquisition of paging networks and capital expenditures for the company’s nationwide network construction, …

NEW YORK-The establishment of Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Commission by Aug. 10 heralds the advent of significant new foreign ownership opportunities south of the border for wireless services companies. “Joint auctions for personal communications services and local wireless access are contemplated …

Lucent Technologies Inc. said it doesn’t expect to renew its original equipment manufacturer contracts with Nokia Mobile Phones and Oki telecom at the end of the year when the agreements expire. Lucent said it is making good progress on establishing …

3607 Communications Co. launched its Code Division Multiple Access digital cellular phone network in Las Vegas and is offering the service to new and existing customers. The system, which covers 85 percent of the company’s analog traffic areas, will allow …

Gearing up for the influx in demand for customer care and billing, Cincinnati Bell Information Systems Inc. and American Management Systems announced the expansion of their businesses. CBIS said it has opened a data center in Orlando, Fla., that will …

Comsat RSI Mark Antennas signed agreements with several contractors to supply antennas for Sprint Spectrum L.P.’s personal communications services network. The contractors include Black & Veatch and MFS Network Technologies, said Comsat. Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile has signed intercarrier agreements …

Gearing up for the influx in demand for customer care and billing, Cincinnati Bell Information Systems Inc. and American Management Systems announced the expansion of their businesses. CBIS said it has opened a data center in Orlando, Fla., that will …

NEW YORK-TeleTech, a Denver-based customer care service provider, planned to go public last week with 4 million shares of common stock priced from $14.50 to $16.50 each. At the end of the first quarter, AT&T Corp.’s cellular unit was TeleTech’s …

Anne Bingaman, the government’s antitrust czar who reviewed huge telecommunications mergers and took on computer software giant Microsoft Inc., said she will leave the Clinton administration later this year. “The time seems right for me to tell you and the …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission’s adoption last week of a sweeping local-competition docket at best opens the door for some wireless carriers to become true head-to-head competitors with local exchange carriers, and at least will help lower prices wireless carriers and …

Hong Kong’s dominant cellular operator Hongkong Telecom said it deeply regrets that the government failed to award it one of six new wireless licenses, and intends to discuss the matter with Hong Kong officials. Fourteen companies bid for the 10-year …

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and GTE Mobilnet Inc. signed an agreement to interconnect their wireless data networks. Both networks use Cellular Digital Packet Data technology and combined can provide data service to more than 65 million potential customers in 34 …

WITCHITA, Kan.-IFR Systems Inc. has begun shipping its new Interim Standard 136 Time Division Multiple Access digital cellular radio protocol analyzer. The analyzer is the first test platform available to verify TDMA standards compliance for wireless cellular radio equipment, said …

Not wanting to be elbowed aside by rival new suitors, cellular carriers are beginning to serenade subscribers with their own chorus of “Digital! Digital! Digital!” But unlike emerging personal communications services networks that are digital by design, incumbent cellular carriers …

From Wall Street to Main Street, the outlook for the cellular industry remains positive, especially for major players abroad and minor players at home that exploit markets with lower competition and penetration levels. The new Telecommunications Act has unleashed forces …

NEW YORK-Cellhire Global Phone Rental plc, headquartered in York, England, will open its first office outside the United Kingdom, Aug. 1, on Broadway near Wall Street in the financial district of New York City. The wholly owned American subsidiary, Cellhire …

WASHINGTON-At night, when most people are asleep, Dan Akerson thinks about Rubik’s Cubes. Relating the colors and squares on the device to possible marketing strategies, he toys with going beyond the colored surfaces and into the deeper relationships that connect …

WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration is on a collision course with Congress over encryption policy, as policymakers try to balance law enforcement and national security needs with privacy and commercial interests. The latest White House proposal, outlined by Vice President Al Gore …

DALLAS-MobileWare Corp. and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. announced an agreement to participate in joint sales and marketing activities for MobileWare software and wireless data services from AT&T’s Wireless Data Division. Under the agreement, MobileWare and AT&T Wireless will train sales …

SEATTLE-Xypoint Corp. is developing enhanced 911 applications that will help wireless carriers and emergency dispatchers determine the location of wireless callers. These groups don’t have to reinvent the wheel, said Kenneth Arneson, president and chief executive officer of Xypoint. Arneson …

I received a phone call at home one evening from an AT&T long distance salesman. How was I doing, and what long-distance carrier did I use? “Sprint,” I told him. Then I thought to myself, “Is it Sprint? No wait, …

PCS eyes cable TV’s line Competitive times call for innovation. During the energy crunch of the mid-1980s, The Williams Cos. of Tulsa, Okla., wanted to take advantage of its unused gas pipelines. The company ran fiber optic cable through its …