BellSouth

NEW YORK-The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce is engaged in a monumental juggling act with significant implications for levies on telecommunications in general, judging by comments at its two-day hearing last week. Charged by Congress with recommending whether and how …

Portals have a hidden agenda to capture the wireless e-commerce market. Carriers had better beware. Greek mythology chronicles the fall of the once-prosperous city of Troy, misled by the promise of a gift in the form of a Trojan horse. …

Bell Atlantic Mobile purchased six 10-megahertz personal communications services licenses from Rivgam Communications L.L.C. to increase voice capacity and prepare for the onslaught of high-speed data applications. The cellular operator purchased D- and E-block licenses in Buffalo, N.Y., Philadelphia, Atlantic …

U.S. TDMA operators must make some critical decisions about competing in the wireless data market during the next year as they witness their CDMA counterparts begin to launch circuit-switched data services in large scale. Time Division Multiple Access operators-which in …

WASHINGTON-A recent agreement by giant wireline telcos about how to reduce the charges long-distance companies pay to local exchange carriers to connect their customers’ calls may end up costing the wireless industry, said the Personal Communications Industry Association. “Wireless is …

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. introduced new pricing plans last week that could build on the success of the carrier’s Digital One Rate plan by adding more phones into the home. Bell Atlantic Mobile also introduced a group calling plan for …

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.-Wynd Communications Inc. announced it has completed the beta testing of its AAA Emergency Roadside Service for deaf and hard of hearing users, and said the service is now available to all WyndTell users. The solution allows …

Ericsson Inc. said last week its displacement from AT&T Wireless Services Inc. as the majority vendor hurt the company and conceded part of the reason it lost AT&T Wireless contracts was because of problems supplying equipment throughout the year. “It …

BANGALORE, India-Foreign investors are reconsidering their investments in India, with press reports naming several European and U.S. companies lining up to back out of operations there. Swisscom, the Switzerland-based telecommunications operator, decided to pull out of its joint venture with …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-PCS arrived in South America a year ago, and various signs already point to its success. Already, one PCS operator in Chile has surpassed the number of subscribers held by a traditional cellular operator in the country. In …

Aether Systems Inc. announced it will acquire mobeo Inc., a company that provides financial news and stock updates on wireless devices such as pagers. Formerly called DocuPro Inc., mobeo delivers quotes on more than 150,000 stocks, options, futures, treasury, foreign …

ATLANTA-BellSouth International Wireless Services launched BellSouth Net eXchange, a Web-based interface that facilitates the upload and download of customer data files, said the company. BellSouth Net eXchange can transfer encrypted data files, detailing carriers’ financial position with their cellular roaming …

SAO PAULO-Brazilian cellular operator Telesp Cellular S.A., operating in the state and city of Sao Paulo, announced today it launched a new prepaid product, “Peg & Fale,” designed to meet the needs of lower income segments. Peg & Fale has …

The paging industry made further progress toward implementing content services last week, as both Motorola Inc. and Arch Communications Group Inc. introduced products and services targeting the space. Arch said it will offer personalized information services to customers via an …

WASHINGTON-A federal appeals court has thrown out recently changed rules on how telecommunications carriers use information about their customers. The court issued the ruling as the wireless industry celebrated the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to relax some of its rules …

The Ginger Media Group, owners of U.K.-based Virgin Radio, is collaborating with L.M. Ericsson in early trials of wireless third-generation technology that would allow local or national radio stations to reach global audiences, said Ericsson.The manufacturer’s concept is to allow …

Lucent Lucent Technologies Inc. introduced software that will turn down transmitter power levels when the user is not speaking into the handset, effectively increasing talk time by extending battery life up to 30 percent. The discontinuous transmission feature will be …

The economy is rolling along, wireless subscriber additions are climbing and merger and acquisition activity is heating up. This is good news for the personal communications services industry, which last year found itself suffering from tight financing and a general …

Analysts have long criticized operator-assisted dispatch as the weak link in the alphanumeric paging chain, citing its inherent lack of privacy and potential for misinterpreted messages. But users have accepted these faults because there was no other way to get …

A Baltimore-based company called reachNET introduced a wireless messaging solution that provides a direct connection between a wireless device and the telephone teletype machines commonly used by the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Called Wireless TTY, the service uses the Inter@ctive …

ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. began offering residential and small business customers a suite of communications products and services on one bill, including Internet access, wireless, paging and local phone service with calling features. Called BellSouth Solutions, the offering marks the first time …

HOUSTON-Crown Castle International Corp. announced it filed a preliminary prospectus supplement covering up to 5 million shares, worth approximately $115 million, of its common stock owned by Robert and Barbara Crown. Additionally, Crown Castle said it closed on two notes …

NEW YORK-w-Trade Technologies Inc., which developed the w-Trade wireless trading system, introduced a new product called w-Bank. Much like the way w-Trade allows brokerages to offer wireless access to their online trading systems, w-Bank allows financial institutions to offer wireless …

AirCell Inc. received favorable decisions from the Federal Communications Commission that will enable it to move forward with its air-to-ground communications system, targeted for use by general aviation aircraft and regional airlines. Louisville, Colo.-based AirCell has been developing and testing …

Coherent The Coherent original equipment manufacturer division of Tellabs launched a complete design verification kit for its CEC-128 Integrated Echo Canceller multichip module. The kit consists of a CEC-128 plug-in module and a CD with full operating software, application notes …