CTIA

The proposed combination of SBC Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. could create a big obstacle to the implementation of calling-party-pays service in the United States. Speaking last month at a luncheon sponsored by Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp., Sam …

WASHINGTON-Local government representatives and the wireless industry appear to be close to announcing procedures for local governments and industry to resolve disputes about siting wireless facilities. The Federal Communications Commission’s Local and State Government Advisory Committee hopes to announce a …

WASHINGTON-The wireless industry last week urged the FBI to revise its definition of key words in rules implementing the digital wiretap act. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association asked the FBI to reconsider its definition of the word “deployed” and to …

WASHINGTON-The American novelist Edith Wharton once noted the only thing that distinguishes vice from virtue is point of view. Some might say her comment is an apt description of the current debate about whether the U.S. wireless market should adopt …

WASHINGTON-The Department of Justice and the FBI filed with the Federal Communications Commission a legal analysis of the controversial punch-list items law enforcement says are necessary to maintain electronic surveillance capabilities. The punch list refers to nine capabilities the telecommunications …

Like a teenager desperately trying to find the right “look,” industry associations focused on the mobile data field continue to tweak their strategies for marketing the enigmatic technology. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association recently announced it renamed its annual mobile …

WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) will oppose a universal-service proposal endorsed by the Personal Communications Industry Association last week that would earmark half of the 3-percent telephone service excise tax for discounted school and library Internet connections. Pia …

Republicans, joyous over having launched Chinagate, are now writing the script for what they hope will be a best seller come 2000. We’ll call it White House in the Unbalance for now. Al Gore, who scored political points as vice …

WASHINGTON-A hearing on an E911 bill backed by a cellular industry-public-safety coalition and championed by House telecom committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) backfired last week when the measure’s supporters were forced to defend their opposition to independent cancer research and …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission needs to rule on when call-identifying information is “reasonably available” to be given to law enforcement by carriers implementing the digital wiretap act, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association was expected to tell the FCC in comments …

WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association last week went on the offensive to put in place a technical standard that will allow carriers to alert subscribers of an impending natural disaster or weather emergency. Also, James L. Witt, director of the …

As RCR reported last week, the General Services Administration is giving the Federal Communications Commission the boot. Time to move out of the downtown offices and out to the Portals. By fall. Leases have been canceled. The $17.6 million loaned …

WASHINGTON-The Telecommunications Industry Association rejected the strongest-signal proposal for completing E911 calls, saying it was not technically feasible. The strongest-signal proposal would require cellular carriers to program cell phones to send 911 calls to the A- or B-side system that …

WASHINGTON-In the midst of such weighty issues as antenna siting, taxes and digital wiretap implementation, the cellular lobby has chosen to lock onto a lesser-known-albeit important-matter involving a proposal to steer 911 calls from analog phones to the strongest signal. …

WASHINGTON-In two unrelated developments that could reignite the debate over whether wireless technology poses health risks, a new Swedish survey has found possible links between mobile phones and illness symptoms, while a female executive with a brain tumor has retained …

Thanks to the Seinfeld Gang of Four, taxes, CALEA, CPNI, WTR, moratoria, universal service, E911 and swervey drivers have now been eclipsed as major headaches of the day for the wireless industry. Phone etiquette is now numero uno. For the …

WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association filed comments at the Federal Communications Commission requesting a national calling party pays plan be implemented. Some sort of national framework must exist before wireless carriers can implement calling party pays, and the trade group …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week said wireless carriers could indeed use customer information to market mobile handsets and so-called information services to customers who originally purchased these items from the carrier. The FCC left in place rules that restrict …

WASHINGTON-Comments filed last week at the Federal Communications Commission prove no one in the debate over digital wiretap has changed their tune as to how they believe the FCC should rule on the sticky questions of the suitability of an …

Many wireless carriers last week participated in Wireless Safety Week by encouraging subscribers to help out in emergency situations and use their wireless phones responsibly while driving. Carriers used everything from radio public-service announcements to celebrity endorsements to spread the …

WASHINGTON-House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.), straddled by cellular industry representatives and health-care activists, last week introduced E911-federal land antenna-siting legislation and signaled he would negotiate with Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) on privacy concerns but probably not on cancer-research …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is evaluating a proposal that would require cellular carriers to program cell phones to send 911 calls to the A or B side system that offers the best signal. The so-called strongest signal proposal has placed …

WASHINGTON-As the compliance deadline for the digital wiretap law looms ever closer, policy makers last week again attempted to gain advantage on the legislative, regulatory and standards fronts. On the legislative side, the fallout from an aborted attempt by a …

WASHINGTON-Brad Clark, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, resident used his cellular phone three times to help people in emergency situations. His actions won him the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s 1997 VITA Wireless Samaritan Award for the state of Iowa. Driving to …

WASHINGTON-Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), ranking minority member of the House telecommunications subcommittee, will not engage in the controversy surrounding antenna siting in Rock Creek Park, said Colin Crowell, a member of his staff. “The (National) Park Service was told at …