News

WirelessNorth selects Motorola CDMA equipment for deployment of PCS in four North Central states WirelessNorth, Plymouth, MN, has selected Motorola Pan American Wireless Infrastructure Division (PWID) to provision about $35 million in digital code-division multiple-access (CDMA) equipment to support a personal communication services (PCS) offering throughout the Midwest.

WirelessNorth will begin rolling out initial PCS sites mid-to-late 1997, offering wireless telephone communication to business and residential customers located in parts of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota. This targeted coverage area incorporates about 110,000 square miles and has a potential customer population of 2.4 million. This multimillion-dollar investment includes purchase and installation of Motorola’s SC 604 and SC 601 compact CDMA radio base stations. A high-capacity EMX 2500 (electronic mobile exchange) mobile switch will also be deployed under this contract.

Securicor group acquires control of Midland USA Securicor Communications (Securicor), Surrey, UK, has acquired a controlling interest in Midland USA, Kansas City, MO, as the result of a transaction involving Midland’s parent company and a Securicor subsidiary, Securicor Radiocomms (Radiocomms). Intek Diversified, Los Angeles, which owns Midland USA, issued stock to Securicor to purchase its Radiocomms subsidiary. Securicor received enough Intek stock to give it a controlling interest in Intek and, therefore, control of Midland USA. This type of transaction is known as a “reverse merger.” Included in the transaction is indirect ownership of $10 million in preferred stock of E.F. Johnson, Burnsville, MN.

Securicor has agreed to lend Intek as much as $15 million to operate Intek’s consolidated businesses, which include Midland USA’s land mobile radio distribution business; the specialized mobile radio airtime services business of Roamer One, Torrance, CA; and manufacturing operations of Radiocomms.

Securicor’s core businesses include security services, parcels and freight distribution, and fixed and mobile telecommunications, including a 40% interest in Cellnet, a UK cellular operator.

AMTA statement approves release of 220MHz rules The American Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA), Washington, DC, has welcomed the March 12 release by the FCC of new licensing rules for the 220MHz-222MHz wireless service.

The rules called for licensing remaining 220MHz spectrum on a geographic-area basis using competitive bidding. The association stated it is thankful that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chose to retain the current contiguous and non-contiguous channel allocations, providing incumbents and new entrants alike with a choice of service opportunities.

The association was disappointed by the FCC’s decision to severely limit protection of existing operations, but stated that most provisions of the new rules appear to promise successful development of the spectrum.

Radio Club of America elects leaders for 1997 Members of the Radio Club of America, Union, NJ, elected officers and directors on Nov. 22, 1996. Raymond C. Trott, P.E., president of Trott Communications Group, Dallas, and the club’s vice president in 1996, advanced to president by automatic succession. “With the new officers, the Radio Club of America is set to tackle long-range planning, expand membership services and increase its membership,” Trott said. “1997 will witness the club’s evolution to be the foremost club in the wireless and broadcast industries.”

John E. Brennan, president of Activated Communications, New York, was elected as executive vice president. John P. Hart Jr., vice president of implementation, AT&T Wireless, Paramus, NJ, was elected as vice president.

Joseph S. Rosenbloom, a retired IBM attorney, Bluffton, SC, was re-elected as vice president/counsel. David E. Weisman, an attorney with Meyer, Faller, Weisman and Rosenberg, Washington, DC, was re-elected as vice president/co-counsel. Eric D. Stoll, Ph.D., P.E., senior staff engineer at Allied Signal, Teterboro, NJ, was re-elected as treasurer. Gilbert R. Houck, consultant, Houck & Bowen Engineers, New Cumberland, PA, was re-elected as secretary.

Directors who were elected on Nov. 22 include: Don Bishop, editorial director, Intertec Publishing, Overland Park, KS (re-elected for two years). Maxine Carter-Lome, principal, MCL Wireless, West Orange, NJ; and partner, Wireless Marcom, Morrison, CO (re-elected for two years). John E. Dettra Jr., president, Dettra Communications, Washington, DC (re-elected for two years). Archibald C. Doty Jr., investor, Fletcher, NC (re-elected for two years). William E. Endres, president, Tele-Measurements, Clifton, NJ (elected for two years). Endres was the club’s executive vice president in 1996. Loren R. McQueen, president, Communication & Control, Campbell, CA (re-elected for one year). Raymond Minichiello, founding chairman, Guglielmo Marconi Foundation, Bedford, NH (elected for two years). Stanley Reubenstein, manufacturers’ representative, Aurora Marketing, Aurora, CO (elected for one year). Edward F. Weingart, vice president, AT&T Wireless, Hampstead, NC (re-elected for two years).

FCC licenses Teledesic’s ‘Internet-in-the-sky’ Teledesic, Kirkland, WA, which is building a global, broadband “Internet-in-the-sky,” has been granted a license by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide advanced, two-way telecommunications services via a constellation of low-Earth-orbiting satellites.

Teledesic said that it is the first satellite communications network approved by the FCC that will enable affordable, worldwide access to “fiber-like” telecommunications services such as broadband Internet access, video conferencing and interactive multimedia.

The license allows the company to build and to launch the Teledesic Network, as well as to make use of 500MHz of domestic radio frequency in the 28GHz band_the uplink portion of Ka-band_and a corresponding 500MHz of downlink spectrum. In July 1996, the FCC adopted a domestic band plan that designated that spectrum for primary use by non-geostationary fixed satellite services (NGSO FSS) such as Teledesic’s.

This is the same radio spectrum the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union identified internationally for use by NGSO FSS at the 1995 World Radio Conference.

Chadmoore Communications is awarded 41 license preferences The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has awarded Chadmoore Communications, a subsidiary of Chadmoore Wireless Group, preferences to obtain licenses for 41 additional channels in its southeastern United States operating area.

Chadmoore Communications, Las Vegas, also began operation in two additional markets that serve as links between Memphis, TN, and Little Rock, AR, which are existing service areas in the mid-South. The linking operations expand the service areas available to customers, enabling its customer base to use the company’s service in travel over a larger geographic area.

The company has obtained marketing agreements in 10 markets in seven eastern seaboard states.

Rattler publisher establishes World Wide Web home page Merrill T. See, a Michigan radio communications equipment dealer and publisher of the Rattler newspaper in the 1980s, has established an electronic source of information in the form of a home page on the World Wide Web of the Internet. The site is intended to publicize “watchdog” activities on a variety of topics, See said, including the FCC. The Web site address is http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/1849.

PageNet launches advertising campaign for voice pager PageNet, Dallas, has launched a broad-based advertising campaign to support the introduction of VoiceNow, a voice paging service that is expected to have mass-market appeal among both consumer and business audiences. The multimedia campaign began in March with television, radio, local newspaper, regional print and outdoor advertisements in Dallas-Fort Worth, where the service debuted commercially in February. The campaign will expand to more than 50 metropolitan markets as VoiceNow is rolled out nationwide throughout 1997. Total spending is expected to exceed $20 million.

With VoiceNow_offered at rates as low as $4.95 per month for service_subscribers are able to receive voice messages that can be sent wirelessly to the palm-size VoiceNow pager from any telephone. The pager’s push-button operation allows the user to play the message, rewind, fast-forward, control volume and more.

RF Industries’ Neulink division joins with Sonik Technologies RF Industries’ Neulink Division, San Diego, has established a strategic alliance with Sonik Technologies, San Marcos, CA, a privately held wireless products manufacturer.

“In recent years, Neulink and Sonik have often duplicated design and marketing efforts. This formalized relationship now enables Sonik to concentrate on the development of new products and Neulink to focus on its strengths in marketing and sales,” said Kevin Slatnick, president of Sonik Technologies. “Currently, we are improving and adding features to Neulink’s Neulink 9600 series of transceiver modems and our Skyline RTU, a miniature wireless data acquisition module. We are also developing a new digital paging exciter and advanced narrowband products for this fast growing segment of the wireless data market.”