IP: The Wireless Week in Review

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
>
> The Wireless Week in Review
>
> Top news for the week of December 17-21, 2001.
>
> 1. TOPPING THE NEWS THIS WEEK
>
> --Well, what happens now? Will any of the players involved in the 
> FCC/NextWave settlement walk away from the deal now that Congress has 
> decided to table the issue until next year, despite the deal's December 31 
> exit clause? We tend to agree with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), 
> who believes if the deal was good today, it still will be good tomorrow, 
> which is why Congress decided to adjourn for the year without falling prey 
> to a forced deadline.
>
> That doesn't mean things will go well for the bankrupt carrier once 
> Congress reconvenes next year. Despite perceived House approval of the 
> deal, the Senate is a different story, with at least two high-powered 
> officials saying they will fight the plan tooth and nail.
>
> But, as usual, NextWave is of good cheer this holiday season, saying it 
> will "continued to construct its wireless network during the settlement 
> proceedings, and we will be in a position to start providing service to 
> the public in the new year." Ho, ho, ho.
>
> --You can bet the California Public Utilities Commission now will make 
> clear to anyone in the running for commissioner what "telecom carrier" and 
> "conflict of interest" mean, long before an appointment takes place. 
> Commissioner Henry Duque, a four-year PUC veteran, is being taken to task 
> by consumer groups because he invested $10,000 in ESMR carrier Nextel two 
> years ago, admitting he "thought Nextel may have had something to do with 
> telecommunications," but he wasn't aware the PUC oversaw such companies. 
> The 700 shares were sold last year, but the groups still want him out.
>
> --In this edition of "Crank Calls," we now can tell you what QEII carries 
> around in her purse: her first cellphone, a gift from her Number Two son. 
> Apparently, Her Majesty was so impressed by the device that Carphone 
> Warehouse in the U.K. was tapped for a warrant that will allow it to 
> display the royal arms and the words "By Appointment" on its stationery, 
> buildings, vehicles and advertising.
>
> In other parts of the U.K., cellphones aren't being given such royal 
> treatment. Orchestra conductor Jac van Steen, who was leading the Halle 
> Orchestra in Brahms' Symphony Number 4, was so disturbed by a ringing 
> handset in the audience that he threw down his baton and shouted, "If that 
> is my wife, tell her I'm not here."
>
> 2. CELLULAR/PCS
>
> --A new next-gen association formed by heavy-hitters AT&T Wireless, 
> Cingular Wireless, Compaq, Ericsson, Lucent, Motorola, Nokia, Openwave 
> Systems, Rogers AT&T Wireless and Siemens says its mission is to work 
> together for a smooth transition to next-gen services in North and South 
> America. All access technologies will be addressed -- GSM, TDMA, GPRS, 
> EDGE, and W-CDMA (UMTS) -- and the yet-to-be-named group also says it will 
> work closely with the GSM Association. One wonders as to what CTIA or PCIA 
> thinks about this?
>
> --Things just keep going downhill for Motorola, which now says it must 
> send out 9,400 more pink slips because the market for network and 
> subscriber gear continues to tumble. The company has lost money for the 
> last four quarters, resulting in its first annual operating loss in at 
> least 45 years. It even admits to worse 1Q02 aggregated losses than even 
> First Call predicts.
>
> Looking on the bright side, an upcoming report from The Strategis Group 
> says more than 483 million wireless subscriber units will be sold in the 
> United States next year alone, and one third of the world's population 
> will own a wireless device by 2008. In addition, TSG analysts predict such 
> next-gen services as multimedia messaging will drive this consumer demand 
> at least into 2003, which could bode well for Motorola and others down the 
> line.
>
> --U.S. Cellular has made the commitment to change out all of its markets 
> to CDMA by sometime next year, and it will spend between $400M and $450M 
> to do so. On the other side of the world, China Unicom picked New Year's 
> Eve as the day it will flip the switch on what it says is the country's 
> first nationwide CDMA network, rivaling incumbent GSM carriers.
>
> --Little by little, interesting facts continue to surface regarding 
> communications service following the September 11 terrorist attacks. One 
> of them concerns NextWave's frequencies, which were turned over to AT&T 
> Wireless and VoiceStream after the two carriers asked NextWave for 
> permission to use its channels following the disasters. The FCC approved 
> wholeheartedly of the temporary plan, and AT&T Wireless used the extra 
> channels through November 27, and VoiceStream used them through October 12.
>
> --Are incumbent carriers shooting themselves in the 3G foot when they 
> introduce such 2G services as GPRS? Strand Consult in the U.K. seems to 
> think so. Calling such a move "suicide," Strand says would-be 3G operators 
> will find out subscribers who have been getting 3G-like content and 
> services for free on 2G networks will refuse to pay for them when carriers 
> migrate to a higher level.
>
> --Bidders are getting ready to ante up for several auctions scheduled for 
> New Zealand next year. On the block will be channels suited for WLL, LMDS 
> and 900 MHz cellular along with some 2G spectrum left over from a past auction.
>
> --NTT DoCoMo is finding out a done deal may not always be done forever. 
> Following AT&T Wireless's decision to acquire TeleCorp PCS, the Japanese 
> carrier, which owns 16% of AT&T Wireless, found out it will cost an 
> additional $380M in AT&T Wireless stock to maintain that level of ownership.
>
> 3. SATELLITE
>
> --Globalstar takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. The bankrupt MSS 
> carrier now is offering satphone service to media, medical and 
> humanitarian personnel in Osama bin Laden Land through Russian partner 
> GlobalTel. Hmmm, such tracking capabilities could prove handy.
>
> --Africa, which just a few years ago was begging ITU members to help it 
> provide even the most basic of telecom services to its people, now is 
> seeing satellite services handling wireless communications in several 
> countries, including Angola and the Congo. interWAVE Communications, which 
> designs compact wireless voice communications systems and broadband 
> wireless data networks, signed a strategic integration and distribution 
> agreement with Global Telephone & Telecommunications SA (GT&T), a 
> Belgium-based satellite and last-mile access integrator, to deploy GSM 
> cellular networks with satellite backhaul throughout Africa.
>
> --Galileo, an EC initiative to compete with U.S.-based GPS, may die a 
> quick death if the 15 member companies can't play nicely together. Six 
> countries, including Germany and the U.K., say the system not only costs 
> too much, it's redundant. Despite the projected $32M cost, EC officials 
> stand behind Galileo, saying it is needed for scientific programs, and 
> that it would create a new market for telecom gear and services along with 
> some 140,000 new jobs during the next 15 years. EC officials say some sort 
> of decision must be made by next February.
>
> --An enhanced locating system geared toward parents is being offered by a 
> partnership of GlobeXplorer Inc., a technology company that delivers what 
> it says is the world's largest collection of interactive aerial images via 
> the Internet, and personal-location provider Wherify Wireless Inc. Wherify 
> wants to use the photo database to provide aerial imagery for its GPS 
> Personal Locator for Children, which is worn by the child on his or her wrist.
>
> 4. WLL
>
> --Winstar now has a new owner, and IDT Corp. has fulfilled plans to own a 
> piece of the wireless telecom action. A bankruptcy judge gave the nod to 
> IDT's $40M cash and/or stock bid for the financially challenged carrier 
> after it proved it had enough cash in the bank to finance the takeover; no 
> other suitor, including a group of former Winstar executives, could pass 
> that test. Earlier this year, IDT had tried for a full takeover of 
> bankrupt Teligent, going so far as to take control of its board, replace 
> its management team and pare down its operations. Teligent's creditors, 
> however, would not agree to IDT's final offer.
>
> --Chile now has a WLL operation up and running, with Empresa Nacional de 
> Telecomunicaciones SA (Entel) building and launching what could end up 
> being a $150M system.
>
> --Like China, parts of India are transitioning to CDMA, and South Korea's 
> Hyundai Curitel was tapped to supply giant BSNL with 300,000 CDMA handsets 
> and an additional 30,000 wireless local loops for an undisclosed price. 
> The state-run CDMA service will cut over sometime during 2Q02.
>
> 5. TELEMATICS
>
> --Citing upcoming "Homeland Security" safety measures that surely will 
> come to pass post-September 11 as the reason for signing a MOU to buy the 
> businesses and assets of privately held Andromeda Leasing Inc., Los 
> Angeles-based LiteWave Corporation now plans to market ways of tracking 
> and verifying boxed shipments. Andromeda installs equipment designed to 
> track industrial containers, to monitor transmissions of sensor readings 
> and to send command signals. At first, LiteWave will focus on refrigerated 
> packaging, but it also thinks wireless tracking of all types of containers 
> will become more prevalent in the foreseeable future. The merged company 
> says it can provide such data as when the container had last been opened 
> and confirmation of contents.
>
> 6. PRIVATE RADIO
>
> --Nextel struck a deal with Aleph Inc. that has the two combining dispatch 
> software and wireless networks to match limousine service with potential 
> customers. Aleph says this partnership will allow it to scrap plans to 
> build and maintain its own pricey private data network.

For archives see:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/