PCIA – Wireless Infrastructure Assoc.

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission June 7 announced it will auction 2,499 licenses for paging services on Dec. 7. The licenses are in the upper bands (929-930 MHz and 931-932 MHz). There are approximately 14,000 licenses in the lower bands that …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week began investigating various issues fixed wireless carriers believe make it difficult for them to offer facilities-based competition to landline incumbent telcos. The Personal Communications Industry Association has been at the forefront of this battle, …

The subject of organ donation is rarely a casual conversation. It’s a frightening subject because it forces you not only to confront your own mortality, but the mortality of your loved ones. And yet, educating the public about organ transplants …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is in full preparation for the paging license auction set to begin before the end of the year. Meantime, the FCC must grapple with a host of other issues of interest to paging carriers, including interconnection, …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau told private wireless advocates it is inclined to grant 54 waivers by Nextel Communications Inc., which would allow Nextel to use private wireless spectrum commercially. Senior WTB officials including Chief Thomas Sugrue told …

WASHINGTON-Two powerful telecommunications lawmakers have brought the wireless industry into the debate about the amount of funding for Internet connections for schools and libraries, known as the e-rate. Reps. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, and Billy …

WASHINGTON-The fallout of last week’s Federal Communications Commission decision on solving the dead-zone problem saw the chairman’s office denouncing the industry’s response and consumers advocates split. As expected, the FCC did not mandate technical requirements for how wireless carriers address …

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The Personal Communications Industry Association announced Omnipoint Communications Inc. President George Schmitt was elected chairman of the PCIA board of directors. Formerly the association’s treasurer, Schmitt succeeds Metrocall Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William Collins.

WASHINGTON-The PCIA Foundation last week bestowed its annual awards on two significant telecommunications policy makers. The Personal Communications Industry Association’s 1999 Eugene C. Bowler Award was given to Thomas S. Tycz, chief of the Satellite and Radiocommunications Division of the …

WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association blasted Rep. Charles Bass’ (R-N.H.) pro-local antenna siting bill, saying it would undermine public safety and competition and potentially make local zoning authorities hostage to anti-tower activists. “We urge Congress not to enact the Local …

WASHINGTON-The General Accounting Office, the investigative unit of Congress, is looking into the internal controls of how the Federal Communications Commission collects regulatory fees, the GAO confirmed last week. Regulatory fees are a separate assessment from filing fees. Regulatory fees …

Intellicell Intellicell Corp. announced Mike Hedge and Michael King, both previously with CellStar Corp., are heading up Intellicell’s sales and marketing group. Hedge will be responsible for the implementation of an overall strategic growth plan to increase revenues and King …

“To see what competitive telecommunications will look like tomorrow, look at wireless today,” read a banner at CTIA’s Wireless ’99. That’s not the way Ernest Kelly, president of the Telecommunications Resellers Association, sees it. “I wish I had more encouraging …

The Personal Communications Industry Association supported Cook Telecom Inc. in its continuing battle for interconnection rights and termination compensation from Pacific Bell Inc. Cook Telecom is a one-way paging carrier in California that has been in a legal duel with …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission was given some advice on FCC reform last week as Michael Kennedy of Motorola Inc. suggested the FCC create a spectrum management board comprised of bureau chiefs to examine the “impact of domestic and international spectrum …

WASHINGTON-As the Federal Communications Commission moves closer to setting guidelines to make telecom equipment and services accessible to disabled individuals, the wireless industry is pressing regulators to back off proposed rules that it claims are too restrictive and burdensome and …

WASHINGTON-Wireless telephones will work when the new millennium arrives-right? Well, maybe. The Federal Communications Commission last week refused to give a clean bill of health to the wireless industry regarding the millennium bug because only 31 percent of 300 companies …

WASHINGTON-As the private wireless industry prepares to enter the battle against auctioning spectrum, competing private wireless groups are fighting over how spectrum should be coordinated. At the middle of two disputes is the Personal Communications Industry Association, which has been …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission late Friday adopted proposed rules to implement the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The long-awaited notice of proposed rule making does not “even render tentative conclusions” about the use of auctions in private wireless licensing, said …

WASHINGTON-Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.), in the latest effort to strengthen state and local oversight of antenna siting, has introduced legislation to shift the burden to wireless carriers to ensure transmission towers meet with approval of local residents. The Local Zoning …

WASHINGTON-The cellular industry apparently knew what it was doing when it waited for Reed Hundt to retire as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission before asking that the spectrum cap be lifted. “Let’s not talk about lifting the spectrum cap. …

SAN DIEGO-If you are a small specialized mobile radio operator, which trade association, if any, should you belong to? Three trade associations, all based in the Washington, D.C., area, purport to represent the SMR industry: the American Telecommunications Mobile Association, …

WASHINGTON-The Department of Justice has signed a letter of intent with a telecommunications manufacturer to buy software and give it to carriers to implement the digital wiretap act, Attorney General Janet Reno told a congressional panel last Thursday. “We have …

WASHINGTON-Telecommunications networks are expected to pass the coming of the new millennium without catching the dreaded millennium bug, said a group representing local exchange carriers and a congressional report last week. While other areas of the national economy, such as …

WASHINGTON-Let the lobbying begin. Now that the Federal Communications Commission has decided to think some more about its position on whether to auction private wireless spectrum, lobbyists are gearing up efforts. Private wireless representatives, who consistently have opposed the notion …