SBC Communications

SAN FRANCISCO-Pacific Bell Mobile Services, the wireless subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group, announced it will conduct business as Pacific Bell Wireless and Nevada Bell Mobile Services will use the name Nevada Bell Wireless beginning Oct. 1. “The names Pacific Bell …

ORLANDO, Fla.-The North American GSM Alliance L.L.C. and the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium last week said they will join forces to collaborate on next-generation technology and to provide a unified lobbying force on Capitol Hill. “We’ve agreed on a set …

WASHINGTON-NAACP President Kweisi Mfume last week called for a boycott of two top wireless firms-AirTouch Communications Inc. and AllTel Corp.-for inadequate representation of African Americans in employment and contracting practices, a backlash becoming more pronounced as a result of affirmative-action …

LONDON-The Wireless Application Protocol Forum announced 23 companies have joined the organization since May, and it recently expanded and elected new officers to its board of directors. Formed last summer by Ericsson Inc., Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp. and Unwired Planet …

MOBILEMEDIA MobileMedia Corp., dba MobileComm, promoted several people in management positions. Steven Gross was named executive vice president of sales and marketing. He joined MobileComm as senior vice president of sales and marketing in 1996, and since has been responsible …

WASHINGTON-Imagine for a moment law enforcement is able to convince the Federal Communications Commission to approve all the items it is asking for to implement the digital wiretap act. And, then imagine you are a law enforcement officer wishing to …

WASHINGTON-A powerful Senate resolution that was to promote third-generation wireless harmonization was thoroughly diluted by U.S. backers of European-based mobile phone technology last week, a bizarre turnabout that drew a mix of new faces into the escalating controversy and further …

Compared with defining-and keeping-the same wireless strategy over the years, gambling is beginning to look like a sound way to sock some money away for retirement. In today’s frenetic telecom environment, it increasingly is difficult to decide which strategy to …

The first half of this year has produced several landscape-changing events in the wireless industry. If completed, the proposed mergers between SBC Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. and Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. could put several significant cellular markets …

NEW YORK-Amid a broader trend of increasing mergers and decreasing initial public offerings among information technology, communications and media companies, carriers seized both options with gusto during the first six months of this year. The number of individual IPOs in …

In this Clintonian Age of Relativity, there is always-for everyone here-a way out: denial. Having an extramarital affair with a girl your twenty-something daughter’s age. Deny it. Soliciting campaign contributions from a Buddhist temple or from the White House. Deny …

CROWN COMMUNICATIONS John P. Kelly was named chief operating officer of Crown Communications, the domestic operating subsidiary of Crown Castle International Corp. Robert Crown will continue as president and chief executive officer of Crown Communications for the next several months, …

WASHINGTON-The proposed marriage between Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. was met with skepticism from Washington telecommunications policy makers, most of whom do not believe the companies’ claims that the merger will lead to more competition. The pre-eminent telecom policy …

NEW YORK-Even if telecommunications giants seeking to combine with each other clear the myriad hurdles confronting their plans, the success of their bids to merge may depend ultimately on approval by the little guy. Holding what may be the ultimate …

NEW YORK-The $61.4 billion purchase of Ameritech Corp. by SBC Communications Inc., the second-largest merger in history, accounted for the lion’s share of communications carrier consolidation activity during the last quarter. The remaining $7.6 billion in announced carrier mergers during …

NEW YORK-A Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association group is developing recommendations for handset manufacturers that would reduce fraud potential and facilitate over-the-air customer activations for non-Global System for Mobile Communications carriers. The CTIA Fraud Technology Assessment Group, charged with evaluating and …

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-BellSouth Corp. told the Federal Communications Commission last week that since a majority of personal communications services customers in Louisiana said they use their PCS phone to make or receive calls at home, the company should be allowed to offer …

DENVER, United States-Personal Communications Services (PCS) carriers have made significant inroads into the U.S. wireless telecommunications industry, weakening the entrenched cellular carriers’ net additions and driving down airtime prices. The total number of PCS subscribers in the States reached 3.1 …

DENVER-The top man of Ameritech Corp.’s cellular and paging services unit is leaving the company to become president and chief operating officer of Verio Inc., a small Internet service provider in Colorado that recently went public. Herbert Hribar, 46, is …

A request by Connecticut’s attorney general and state utility regulators that a combined SBC Communications Inc./Southern New England Telecommunications Corp. reduce its local telephone rates could put the planned merger in jeopardy. SBC reportedly said it might scrap the planned …

SecurFone America Inc., a company specializing in prepaid communications, said it plans a major market expansion of its Buy-the-Minute prepaid cellular handset solution. Bill Stueber, president and chief executive officer of SecurFone, said the company during the next 45 days …

Despite uncertainties surrounding the process, the Brazilian government is pushing ahead with plans to sell its stake in telecommunications giant Telebras. The sell-off, originally slated for July 15, now has been pushed to July 29. Telebras is scheduled to split …

NEW YORK-Wall Street and stockholders so far have been the biggest beneficiaries of federal deregulation of the telecommunications services industry, which is intended to benefit consumers by fostering competition. “Whatever the government splits up, the market puts back together,” said …

WASHINGTON-Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), chairman of the Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, last week expressed strong reservations about SBC Communications Inc. Chairman Edward Whitacre Jr.’s pledge that his company’s $62 billion proposed merger with Ameritech Corp. will benefit competition and consumers. “This …