1995-1997

1995

• It's a year of partnerships, alliances, mergers and agreements. Watch closely.
• The FCC has more than its share of problems: lawsuits; influence peddling; claims of favoritism and "donation" acceptance all seem to tarnish the Commission's image.
• The FCC lifts the ban that prevents traditional telephone companies from holding SMR system licenses. Hardly anyone notices.
• PCS still isn't here.
• ESMR still isn't here.
• Reed Hundt is in charge of the FCC.
• MCI, PageNet, and SkyTel enter into agreements to provide nationwide, wireless messaging to MCI customers.
• Glenayre and Western Multiplex merge.
• Racotek and Ericsson enter into an agreement to implement wireless data and voice on the Ericsson EDACS network.
• Glenayre and MobileComm form a partnership to develop a two-way wireless messaging service.
• Geotek and Hughes Network Systems ally to develop products for frequency-hopping multiple-access (FHMA) systems.
• Ericsson and Uniden forge a cross-licensing agreement.
• 800MHz is still waiting for the rulemaking.

1996

• Pressure mounts to reduce the 20-odd radio services to four-or three-or two. (Wonder why.)
• MTA-EMCI projects over 60 million U.S. cellular subscribers and 20 million PCS subscribers by the year 2000. (And guess what? Most of them will be consumers!)
• Digital cellular. (Where? How? What happened?)
• Intertec Publishing buys Argus Inc.'s assets, picking up 36 magazines, including RFDesign and Satellite Communications, and trade shows including the International Wireless Communications Exposition (IWCE). Communications magazine, included in the purchase, is terminated, and its coverage is incorporated into MRT.
• Paging sees new technologies take on the status quo. ERMES and Motorola's Flex step up to the plate.
• Small Business in Telecommunications (SBT) is formed, with Lonnie Danchik as first chairman.
• David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, dies at age 83.
• IWCE celebrates is 20th anniversary.
• The FCC "downsizes." (This should be interesting.)
• Paging sees a new technology emerge. PACT (personal Air Communications Technology) promises two-way messaging and a messaging protocol. (We'll see.)
• MTA-EMCI is at it again. It prognosticates that there will be more than 60 million pagers in service by the year 2000.
• Midland is sold again-this time to Intek Diversified.

1997

• Telematics(?) hit the market to offer combined cellular, GPS, status messaging and voice communications for the automobile industry. (See "2005," below.)
• The first totally IS-136 digital cellular system that uses SMR frequencies is on line.
• Securicor controls Intek.
• New licensing rules for the remainder of the 220MHz-222MHz spectrum are released by the FCC.
• Voice messages come to pagers.
• Nextel has lost almost $900 million over the last two years.
• Trident Micro Systems forms "technology alliances" with multiple manufacturers for trunking technology.
• Reed Hundt leaves the FCC-eventually.
• Here we go again: ACT changes its name to AWCET. AWSI and SMRA merge to form MWCCA. (Whew! Good thing I cn spel.)
• The FCC threatens to auction 800MHz again-maybe.