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VALENTINE EXPLAINS INTERFERENCE STANCE

In her Jan. 15 "Viewpoint" column, Tracy Anderson Ford presented her views regarding the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's new certification requirements for personal communications services handsets, which are designed to prevent interference to hearing aids. Ms. Ford discussed her interpretation of my position on...

VIEWPOINT

Look for "clustering" to become a common word in tomorrow's wireless dictionary as companies continue to refine their strategies amid an increasingly competitive marketplace.GTE Mobilnet Inc. announced last week plans to sell its PCS license for the Denver market to Western Wireless Corp. As...

`TARGETED APPROPRIATIONS’ STRATEGY COULD HAMPER FCC FUNDING

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission, one of the government agencies GOP lawmakers beat up on much of 1995, could be brought to its knees this year if stalled budget talks collapse completely and Republican congressional leaders shift to a strategy of fully funding programs they...

VIEWPOINT

Budget talks between the Clinton administration and the GOP-controlled Congress are stalled, the chances that any budget agreement will be worked out by the end of this week-when Shutdown III is set to start-look dismal.The concept of a flat tax is all the rage,...

VIEWPOINT

Rules. It seems as soon as we enter this world, we're forced to comply with a blanket set of rules that someone else has decided for us.You can't have dessert until you finish your vegetables.Turn off the light when you leave a room.Balance the...

VIEWPOINT

Congress was expected last Friday to pass a measure that would allow 280,000 furloughed federal employees to return to work this week and start paying 480,000 "essential" employees, who have been working without a paycheck since Dec. 16.Federal workers involved in the auctions for...

FCC TIGHTENS GRASP IN 800 MHZ AUCTION

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission's recently adopted orders and a further notice of proposed rulemaking lay out new and prospective strictures regarding auctioning the "upper 10 megahertz block" of 800 megahertz specialized mobile radio spectrum along with the "lower 80" SMR and general category channels.The...

VIEW POINT

Happy New Year!The mark of a new year tradition ally brings resolutions for the fu ture and reflections on the past. That holds true for the wireless industry as well.What will 1996 bring this indus try? Some early economic indicators the most publicized being...

GOVERNMENT PLAN SAYS ALL PCS WILL SHARE BURDEN OF RELOCATION

WASHINGTON-A government plan for personal communications services licensees to share microwave relocation costs has received qualified support from both carriers and fixed users, while providing the two warring factions a public forum to continue fighting.The Federal Communications Commission's proposal would enable initially licensed PCS...

VIEWPOINT

Lest anyone forget how many billions of dollars stand to be made - and lost - from teh emerging personal communications services equipment market, just listen to a panel of manufacturers touting teh benefits of CDMA technology over GSM, or vice versa.I got that...

PCS AUCTION A `GO,’ RADIOFONE IS SUE REMAINS

WASHINGTON-Radiofone Inc., in what amounts to a new stay request, wants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati to decide whether the Federal Communications Commission is breaking the law by holding the C-block personal communications services auction before re-examining PCS-cellular...

VIEWPOINT

Psst, don't let any lawyers know, but a government auction of spectrum is scheduled to begin tomorrow.The 900 MHz specialized mobile radio auction has captured the interest of 128 bidders planning to compete for more than 1,000 SMR licenses sold by the federal government.The...

VIEWPOINT

Well, it's finally here. American Personal Communications, doing business under the Sprint name, has introduced personal communications services in the Washington, D.C., market.Broadband PCS is a reality.One small step for wireless, one giant leap for the future?We'll see. It sounds like the company has...

VIEWPOINT

The nation's major cellular handset manufacturers caused a little commotion on Wall Street recently when they noted handset sales hadn't grown at the phenomenal rate that analysts and industry execs are used to seeing.Does this mean the cellular marketplace is finally slowing down? Should...

PLAYING FIELD IS NOT LEVEL FOR SMALL SMR BUSINESS

Editor's Note: This letter was sent to several U.S. Congressmen by the owners of Americell Communications.To the Editor: Americell Communications is a medium- to small-sized specialized mobile radio company operating in the 800 MHz frequency spectrum. We started our business on May 25, 1991, with a...

MAYBE IT'S TIME TO TAKE A LOOK AT FLAWS IN THE AUCTION PROCESS

As a native Washingtonian, I always become suspicious when Democrats and Republicans jointly embrace anything. My suspicions heighten when the executive and legislative branches-and the "independent" Federal Communications Commission-all rush to claim credit for their particular contributions to the field of communications. In this...

BARTON’S RESALE STRATEGY MAY HAVE BACKFIRED

WASHINGTON-Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, having failed to win support for switched wireless resale at an oversight hearing he chaired earlier this month, might pursue the issue as a member of the House-Senate conference committee on telecommunications reform."We're not ruling it out; we're considering it,"...

UBIQUITY HAS ARRIVED!

No, I'm not saying personal communications services are here yet. Obviously they're not. But, by any reasonable standard, Ubiquity-anytime, anywhere communications-is already here, delivered by one network or another or a network of networks to those who are willing to pay the toll.The arrival...

AUCTION SET FOR DECEMBER

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, acting swiftly, lifted the stay of the entrepreneur block auction for personal communications services licenses and opened the way for bidding to begin Dec. 11.The court's 2-1 ruling on Sept. 28-issued only hours...

VIEWPOINT

Marriages and divorces are accenting the wireless telecom industry today.The biggest telecom provider of them all, AT&T Corp., announced late last month it would split its businesses into three different companies. Chairman Robert Allen said the company wanted to avoid the perceived conflict in...

VIEWPOINT

The wireless industry is certainly capturing a few people's attention these days.The House has designed legislation that would supersede arguments on the legalities of an entrepreneur auction. If the bill is passed-and it obviously would have to pass both Houses and receive the president's...

VIEWPOINT

I don't envy FCC Chairman Reed Hundt.Yes, only a few short months ago he was the golden boy of Washington, as should be anyone who delivers the president a check for $7.7 billion to be used to reduce the nation's budget deficit.In fact, the...

FCC FACES REDUCED WORK FORCE TO MEET NEW TECHNOLOGY NEEDS

WASHINGTON-The union representing Federal Communications Commission employees has accused Chairman Reed Hundt of reneging on a staff reduction plan agreed to by labor and management earlier this year that required forced layoffs.Under a proposal unveiled last month by Hundt, 50 employees from FCC field...

VIEWPOINT

Oops!Someone told the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors about language included in the House's version of the telecom reform bill that could take away some local authority over where antenna towers are placed.The associations...