Page 1 2 3 Page 1 2 3 | FRIDAY - APRIL 14, 2006 - ISSUE NO. 208 |
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging, The weather is Southern Illinois is wonderful right now. The temperature has been in the mid-seventies, the flowers are coming up, and the trees are all budding with a beautiful array of colors. Very appropriate for Easter weekend. My Easter greeting is at the end of page three. Two of the major events of the year, in the world of Wireless Messaging, are getting close. The EMMA conference in Athens, Greece will be April 26-27, 2006, and the AAPC conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (USA) will be May 31 – June 2, 2006. It doesn't look like I am going to be able to attend the EMMA conference, but I will definitely be at the AAPC conference. My contribution to the AAPC meeting will be to conduct a discussion panel on the topic: “Diversifying The Revenue Stream—Success Stories—What's Working In Marketing Wireless Messaging?” This should be of interest to everyone involved in Wireless Messaging. I promise some very good people on the panel. A Tentative Schedule of Events for the AAPC conference follows on this page. We have a couple of interesting articles this week from our friends at e*Message in Berlin, Germany. If you are interested in Broadband over Power Line (BPL) don't miss the ARRL report on page two. On page three, in the Letters to the Editor section, there is a VERY interesting letter from Tom Baur who (with his wife) runs an Answering Service in Florida. You may find some tips from Tom that will help you make your Answering Service or Wireless Messaging service more resistant to the effects of storms. The only exciting thing to happen around here this week was when I put one of those "sticky pads" out to catch a mouse and caught my dog instead. As soon as I heard him crying from another room, I knew what happened. He likes cheese too. No harm done. The mouse was smarter than my dog—he completely ignored the sticky pads with an enticing piece of cheese in the middle. An old-fashioned mouse trap, like my grandmother used, did the job. Just goes to show you that older—proven technology—often works better than the newer things. Now on to more news and views. |
A new issue of The Wireless Messaging Newsletter gets posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the Internet. That way it doesn't fill up your incoming e-mail account. There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world's major Paging and Wireless Data companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers—so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology. I regularly get reader's comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Data communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it. NOTE: This newsletter is best viewed at screen resolutions of 800x600 (good) or 1024x768 (better). Any current revision of web browser should work fine. Please notify me of any problems with viewing. This site is compliant with XHTML 1.0 transitional coding for easy access from wireless devices. (XML 1.0/ISO 8859-1.) MORE PAGES | |||||||||||
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| WIRELESS MESSAGING NEWS |
e*BOS Alerting Network Available in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein’s State Capital
Professional firefighters use the digital alerting network to react more rapidly and reduce the load on the analog network.
Kiel is the first German state capital to opt for e*BOS. e*Message’s digital network will be used to alert the city’s professional firefighters, rescue services and volunteer firefighting officers.
Kiel’s fire department chose e*Message’s digital network to alert the city’s professional firefighters, rescue services and volunteer firefighting officers. Because Schleswig-Holstein’s state capital covers both banks of an inlet, the various emergency services are scattered across the city: there are one fire station on the west bank and another on the east bank, plus three rescue stations and two emergency medical units.
No investments in obsolete technology or expensive infrastructure
“We were about to buy new analog receivers,” says Jochim Jahn, director of Kiel’s rescue command post, “but we preferred e*BOS: thanks to the digital network, we don’t need to invest in an obsolete technology or in a infrastructure that could be incompatible with the future civil defense network. Good functionality and reasonable costs made this solution particularly attractive for us.” Once various technical tests have been completed, the e*BOS technology is to solve an additional problem: “The alerting procedures over the analog network were much to slow, and sending messages impaired the voice channels,” said Jahn.
In January 2005, the digital network’s advantages over the conventional analog network also prompted Gelsenkirchen’s local authorities to choose the e*BOS technology. Gelsenkirchen is to host several football matches during the 2006 world cup, and its firefighters have been using e*Message’s digital network for several months already. Like Gelsenkirchen, Kiel’s fire department was looking for an alerting technology that could easily be integrated into the existing infrastructure. This was crucial since Schleswig-Holstein’s plans to reorganize its rescue services around four command posts. The central rescue command post, for example, will be the alerting hub for the cities of Kiel and Neumünster, as well as for two rural districts (Plön and Rendsburg-Eckenförde). There is still much to be done to reorganize Kiel’s fire brigade—a time-honored institution founded in 1896—but e*BOS simplifies the job considerably!
Contact for further information and press photos:
e*Message Wireless Information Services Deutschland GmbH
Schönhauser Allee 10-11
D-10119 Berlin, Germany
Tel.: + 49-30- 41 71 12 13
Fax: + 49-30-41 71 19 23
E-mail: presse@emessage.de
Internet: www.bos-alarmierung.de
e*Message Wireless Information Services GmbH
In 2000 e*Message took over DeTeMobil's and France Telecom Mobile's paging activities. The company, with headquarters both in Berlin and near Paris, is now the leader in the continental European paging market. e*Message's business paging services (e*Cityruf and Expresso*) and data broadcast services (e*Skyper, e*Skyper live and e*Broker) are using a wireless information platform (e*WIP). The company serves hundreds of thousands of customers working for public agencies and large companies such as ARD television, BMW, Colt Telecom, SAP, Siemens, HEW, the Charity Hospital, Munich’s police, Deutsche Bank and Quelle. Furthermore, e*Message is running a trunked radio network (DispatchFunk Berlin) in the Berlin region as of December 2005.
IM faces market shift, but won't change its spots
By Susan Taylor, Reuters 12 April 2006 09:22 AEST
WATERLOO, Ontario (Reuters)—Research In Motion (RIM) has no plans to tinker with its email-focused strategy, despite a hiccup in growth rates for its iconic BlackBerry and increasingly aggressive competition.
It may add gizmos like cameras or audio players to its gadgets, but secure, wireless e-mail will remain its main selling point.
"We're not going to change our spots," co-CEO Mike Lazaridis told Reuters in an interview.
"I think what's happening is the market is realizing that the BlackBerry encapsulates the kind of ... lifestyle that they're evolving to. We're becoming busier."
Analysts say the company, which makes the gold standard wireless email device for bankers, lawyers and bureaucrats, must push into the mass market to continue driving growth.
For RIM, whose claim last week that it had hit the 5-million subscriber mark was tarnished by disappointing growth forecasts, that strategy comes with risks.
Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff questions if a company so focused on the business world can reinvent itself to appeal to the broad market, and asks if a bigger consumer sector will mean lower profits.
BLACKBERRY BLUEPRINT
The blueprint for the BlackBerry has only been around since 1997, reached in what Lazaridis describes as a Eureka moment as he toiled on his basement home computer while music played.
"It's funny how in those three hours a decade worth of immersion in the wireless data field just poured out," he said. "It became the blueprint for what became BlackBerry."
The market has changed since then, but RIM says its technology is still so superior that customers simply need to recognize its value for the market to grow.
"We're redefining what this kind of service, what this kind of value, what this kind of device really needs to be," Lazaridis said, dismissing concerns about competition.
"We're not trying to look like them, they're trying to look like us," he added, showing a magazine article that praised the look and feel of RIM's latest and sleekest model.
But for all the company's confidence, some analysts say it must now prove itself again after stumbling in a patent fight with NTP. RIM last month paid the small patent-holding company $US612.5 million to settle the dispute.
"We think RIM becomes a 'show me' story," RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky said in a recent note, adding that some investors may interpret the weaker outlook as a sign that competitors like Microsoft, Nokia, Palm, Motorola and others are gaining ground.
TWO MORE YEARS
Analysts believe RIM will keep its market-leading position for a couple of years, but after that it's anyone's guess.
Merrill Lynch estimated in November that RIM is pursuing a core market of just 27 million, or a fraction of the world's 650 million email users and 2 billion wireless phone users.
Both CEOs argue that competitors have a long way to go to match its BlackBerry, which has always primarily been a wireless email device, and not a mobile phone.
"BlackBerry has literally carved a whole new market category segment." Lazaridis said. "It has set a very high bar."
RIM plans new products and more partnerships, like ones it struck with Yahoo and Google, to appeal to the mass market. "Oh ya. those guys are coming at us like crazy," co-CEO Jim Balsillie said of potential new partners.
RIM can be a cautious self-promoter, reflected in its modest corporate headquarters, which evokes an inexpensive chain hotel, in a small university town an hour from Toronto.
But the company, which initially rode the coattails of paging technology because the market wasn't ready for wireless email, said it embraces rivals.
"The fact of the matter is they're actually helping us accelerate because they're bringing huge credibility to the space and huge credibility to us by saying they're going to compete with us," Lazaridis said.
"The market is so big—it's nascent right now.
Source: iTnews.com.au
Teletouch Ends Contracted Call Center Help Desk and Answering Service Businesses; Company Exchanges Current Answering Service Accounts for Tennessee Paging Network and Cancels Remaining Term of GPSi Help-Desk Services Agreement
FORT WORTH, Texas—April 13, 2006—Teletouch Communications, Inc. (AMEX:TLL) announced today that it has ended its Answering Service and related Help Desk Services businesses, effective April 5th. In preparation for the completion of the previously announced sale of Teletouch's paging assets, the Company executed an asset exchange agreement with OnCall, a Tennessee-based paging and answering services company, to exchange all of Teletouch's answering service accounts for all of OnCall's paging assets and customer base. The asset exchange agreement became effective upon the completion of the telecommunications cutover from the current call center to OnCall. In addition, Teletouch agreed to cancel the remaining two years of its previously announced three-year call-center and help-desk services agreement with Pontiac, Michigan-based GPSi, a leading provider of Guidepoint™ consumer vehicle theft recovery services and commercial fleet management solutions. The financial impact of both operations on those of the Company was immaterial, and there would be no expected service impact on existing answering service clients or GPSi customers who have purchased vehicle tracking services through Teletouch or its affiliates.
Notwithstanding the above, Teletouch will continue to work with GPSi as a dealer and distributor of the Michigan firm's GPS technology and related services. In July 2005, Teletouch announced a comprehensive dealer agreement aimed at providing cost-effective fleet-management solutions for small- to mid-sized businesses and government vehicle fleets. Guidepoint provides Teletouch with a private-label fleet management solution, originally sold under the V100™: Powered by Guidepoint™ brand. GPSi products can also operate on Teletouch's own GeoFleet branded location based services application software.
"The answering business and related call center businesses were primarily eliminated under our continuing efforts to cut non-core business expenses," said T.A. "Kip" Hyde, CEO of Teletouch. "We are pleased to have assisted in Guidepoint's growth over the past few years, the opening of its new call and distribution center and look forward to continuing our relationship with GPSi, as a core distributor of its products and services to fleet operators, school districts, 12-volt retailers."
About Teletouch Communications, Inc.
Teletouch offers a comprehensive suite of telecommunications services to enterprise users, including cellular, two-way radio communications, GPS-telemetry and wireless messaging services throughout the United States. TLL acquires, bills and supports a large, primarily business and government base of subscribers, under its own network of FCC licensed spectrum in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Florida. Teletouch's common stock is traded on the American Stock Exchange under stock symbol: TLL. Additional information about Teletouch can be found at: www.teletouch.com.
All statements in this news release that are not based on historical fact are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (which Sections were adopted as part of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). While management has based any forward-looking statements contained herein on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may change. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to materially differ from such statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, but are not necessarily limited to, those set forth under the caption "Additional Factors That May Affect Our Business" in the Company's most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q filings, and amendments thereto. In addition, we operate in a highly competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks may arise. Accordingly, investors should not place any reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. We disclaim any intention to, and undertake no obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statement.
Source: The Auto Channel
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 | NEWS | ||
| Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 | News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 | ||
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). | |||
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 12, 2006 | NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: Chelsea Fallon (202) 418-7991 | ||
FCC ESTABLISHES PROCEDURES FOR ADVANCED WIRELESS SERVICES AUCTION SCHEDULED TO BEGIN JUNE 29, 2006 Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Public Notice that establishes procedures, minimum opening bids, and a reserve price for the FCC’s upcoming first auction of spectrum licenses for Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-1). This auction, Auction No. 66, is scheduled to begin June 29, 2006, and will include 1,122 AWS- 1 licenses in the 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz bands. In today’s Public Notice, the FCC established procedures designed to promote competition and efficiency in the AWS-1 auction. The FCC has decided that, unless a certain threshold level of likely competition among bidders exists before the bidding begins, as indicated by the level of upfront payments made by prospective bidders, it will not make the following information available until after the close of the auction: (1) bidders’ license selections on their short form applications (Form 175); and (2) the identities of bidders that placed bids in each round, as well as other information on bidder activity and eligibility. Under this approach, the FCC will disclose the identities of the bidders after the filing of the short form applications and the level of upfront payments of individual bidders after those payments are made. During the auction, with regard to individual bids, the FCC will disclose at the end of each round of bidding the gross amount of every bid placed in each round but not the identity of the bidder that placed any particular bid in that round. If the auction appears likely to be competitive in advance of the start of the bidding, that is, if there is a modified threshold eligibility ratio of three or greater, the anti-competitive bidding behavior that the proposal was designed to prevent is less likely to be successful. Under those circumstances, the FCC would make available all information that has customarily been made available during an auction. In the years since the FCC’s auctions were first developed, economists and analysts have observed that bidders can use the information revealed over the multiple rounds in an FCC auction to signal each other to coordinate bids, retaliate against bidders that do not cooperate, or engage in other undesirable strategic behavior. Such behavior distorts prices and may lead to an inefficient assignment of spectrum licenses. Therefore, the competitiveness and economic efficiency of the auction may be enhanced if certain information about the auction is withheld and competing bidders are prevented from coordinating their bids with one another. In past auctions, the FCC has established other procedures to limit coordination among competing bidders, such as requiring that bidders place bids in set amounts and limiting disclosure about the exact time at which bidders submitted their bids. Those procedures will continue to be used in Auction No. 66. In addition, all of the AWS-1 licenses will be auctioned in a single auction using the simultaneous multiple-round auction format. Package bidding will not be used in this auction. Finally, in today’s Public Notice, the FCC established a reserve price for all of the licenses in the auction in order to comply with a statutory requirement aimed at funding the relocation of federal government entities that currently operate in the 1710-1755 MHz band. The total winning bids for the complete licenses, net of any bidding credits applicable at the close of bidding, must exceed approximately $2.059 billion. The FCC will cancel the auction if the net winning bids at the close of the auction do not equal at least that amount. Today’s Public Notice also announced the other routine procedures that will be used to conduct Auction No. 66, such as the amounts of minimum opening bids and the method of determining minimum acceptable bids. Action by the Commission on April 12, 2006, by Public Notice (FCC 06-47). Chairman Martin and Commissioner Tate, with Commissioners Copps and Adelstein concurring. Separate statements issued by Chairman Martin, Commissioners Copps, Adelstein, and Tate. For additional information, contact William Huber, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, at (202) 418-2109, or William.Huber@fcc.gov; or Erik Salovaara, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, at (202) 418-7582 or Erik.Salovaara@fcc.gov. AU Docket No. 06-30 – FCC – News and other information about the Federal Communications Commission are available at www.fcc.gov. | |||
Source: FCC
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