PCIA – Wireless Infrastructure Assoc.

WASHINGTON-The Personal Communi-cations Industry Association and Paging Network Inc. last week submitted proposals to the Federal Communications Commission to take the proposed conditions of the SBC-Ameritech merger, “currently `wireless-free’ and make them helpful not only for wireline competitors, but for …

WASHINGTON-The major trade associations representing mobile phone carriers are staying out of the legislative battle over whether the Federal Communications Commission should be able to take back radio-frequency spectrum licenses from carriers when they go bankrupt, including the licenses held …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission this week is expected to start struggling with the definition of competition as it reviews comments submitted in its competitive networks docket. Is it competition that allows a renter to choose between different apartment buildings based …

Soon my constant companion will leave me-no I don’t mean my husband or my adorable bulldog-rather I mean my Sprint Spectrum phone. I (along with all of the other Sprint Spectrum subscribers) am being “upgraded” to Sprint PCS. In other …

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 …

WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc. is charging that private wireless receives a subsidy because it does not pay for its licenses. The enhanced specialized mobile radio operator made the remarks in reply comments filed at the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is …

WASHINGTON-Whether the spectrum cap should stay or go-one issue that distinguishes incumbent cellular operators and upstart personal communications services operators-“will hopefully” be decided by the Federal Communications Commission at its September meeting, said Thomas Sugrue, chief of the FCC’s Wireless …

WASHINGTON-Whether a recent appeals court ruling on universal service will have a positive or negative impact on wireless carriers depends on how you interpret a footnote in the decision. Footnote 31 of the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals …

WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association said last week the PCIA Microwave Clearinghouse had identified more than $100 million in reimbursable costs for microwave relocation. Additionally, the Microwave Clearinghouse signed an agreement with the unlicensed personal communications services ad hoc committee …

WASHINGTON-The telecommunications industry and the Federal Communications Commission late Thursday held off an attempt by two members of Congress to allow states to make decisions regarding the allocation of telephone numbers. The allocation of telephone numbers is a critical issue …

WASHINGTON-With telephone penetration as low as 20 percent on some Indian reservations, the Federal Communications Commission last week began exploring ways to extend telecommunications services to tribal lands. The lack of telecom services on tribal lands stunned the FCC. By …

WASHINGTON-The pace of technological change-rapid and frenzied-will have an impact on regulation, and in turn, how regulation impacts the wireless industry in the next millennium, most policy makers agree. The Federal Communications Commission already is changing the way it conducts …

WASHINGTON-Associations representing private wireless users do not see a need for the petition, filed late Friday by the American Mobile Telecommunications Association, urging the Federal Communications Commission to auction large chunks of spectrum in the 450-470 MHz band. “[The Personal …

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The Personal Communications Industry Association Foundation announced the winners of its 1999 Leadership Awards, to be held at a reception at PCS ’99 in New Orleans in September. The awards recognize individuals and companies that have shown outstanding leadership …

WASHINGTON-A wild flurry of lobbying on telecom appropriations bills late last week ended with Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) withdrawing an amendment to relax the spectrum cap and House subcommittee members deciding against bankruptcy changes advocated by the Federal Communications Commission …

WASHINGTON-What began this spring as a congressional effort to restructure the Federal Communications Commission in the post-telecom act era could end up as a major rewrite of wireless policy. Wireless lobbyists and others see FCC reform as a vehicle to …

WASHINGTON-The Personal Communications Industry Association last week applauded a new Federal Communications Commission’s ruling that Ameritech Corp.’s imposition of local number portability end-user charges on commercial wireless carriers is illegal. “We consider this a big victory for all carriers that …

WASHINGTON-New allegations surfaced last week that the Federal Communications Commission is giving Nextel Communications Inc. preferential treatment, claims that come on the coattails of a proposed antitrust settlement between Nextel and the Justice Department that many dispatch operators strongly oppose, …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week rejected a telecommunications industry proposal to use a product-line approach to make telecom products accessible to the estimated 54 million Americans with disabilities. The FCC “certainly rejected the product-line approach by name, but what …

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The Federal Communications Commission needs to “strike the proper balance” between regulation and forbearance, the Personal Communications Industry Association told a congressional task force on July 2. PCIA was responding to a request from Rep. Paul Gillmor (R-Ohio) for …

WASHINGTON-Admitting the disabilities provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 are arcane, but saying the “impact is huge,” the Federal Communications Commission this week is expected to adopt rules allowing the disabled community to participate in the telecommunications-dominant world. The …

WASHINGTON-Congress sent the White House a bill on Thursday designed to limit liability stemming from the onset of the millennium bug. President Clinton is expected to sign the measure. The Personal Communications Industry Association hailed the bill’s passage as a …

WASHINGTON – Nextel Communications Inc. last week met stiff opposition to efforts to secure private wireless spectrum and approval for the transfer of 900 MHz dispatch licenses from bankrupt Geotek Communications Inc. “Because of the inter-category sharing freeze and the …

WASHINGTON-A technical committee for Code Division Multiple Access technology development is working on an adjunct standard of the technology that could be used for Phase II enhanced 911. The specification would “put part of the global positioning system receiver in …

WASHINGTON-Outspoken Federal Communications Commission member Harold Furchtgott-Roth joined the wireless industry on June 4 in blasting the agency’s latest plan to fund discounted Internet connections for schools and libraries and in criticizing the overall administration of the universal service program. …