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CTIA Daily News from WOW-COM - August 17, 1998
Snaptrack Launches First Public Trial of Software-Based 
Wireless Location Technology
Developed by Snaptrack, the technology will allow cellular phone users to transmit their locations to 911 emergency-system operators. The system involves the employment of special software inside the cellular handset that will permit a central office system to use global positioning technology to detect the location of the caller. The trial, influenced by the FCC mandate requiring wireless service carriers to provide accurate 911 information by October 2001, is being run by the city of Denver, Denver County, and Adams County, Colo. The product will be adopted by NTT, Japan's telecommunication giant, which will install it in a wireless palm computer set to be released in the second quarter of next year. AirTouch, Ameritech, Bell Mobility, GTE, PrimeCo, Sprint PCS, and U S WEST are collectively accessing the technology. (NEW YORK TIMES) - (YAHOO)

CTIA Asks for Liability Protection and Cost-Recovery 
when Wireless Companies Provide 9-1-1 Service
CTIA’s filing calls on the FCC to act to provide nation-wide liability protection for wireless service providers when their systems are used to connect callers to emergency services. (WOW-COM)

U.S. Cell-Phone Users Favor Digital Service; 
Ericsson Leads Makers
According to market researcher Dataquest, digital services' popularity continues to rise. According to the firm, digital phone sales--which quadrupled last year to 5.6 million--will account for half of all cellular phone sales this year. Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson of Sweden was the top maker of digital handsets last year, with 41 percent of the market share, followed by Nokia with 20 percent and QUALCOMM with 17 percent. However, some analysts expect Ericsson's market share to decrease because it does not produce one of the three competing types of digital-cellular phones. Nokia is the only company that makes all three, and Motorola has plans to produce all three by the end of the year. Dataquest also says that CDMA was the swiftest growing digital service last year, with approximately one-third of digital cellular phones being CDMA as compared to three percent in 1996. (WALL ST. JOURNAL) - (YAHOO)

34,000 Workers Strike at U S WEST
Despite intense last minute bargaining to avert a strike, negotiators were unable to reach agreement on overtime, health benefits, and the company's plan to link pay to performance. (NEWS.COM) - (TECH WEB) - (YAHOO) - (BOSTON GLOBE) - (USA TODAY)

Telecommuting to Benefit from Low-Cost Broadband/Cellular Revolution
Telecommuting will increase as the cost of broadband services becomes more affordable and, as hoped, cellular service prices become comparable to landline rates, according to author Ian Stokell. (NEWSBYTES)

Affordability and Availability Bring GPS Technology 
into the Mainstream, Frost and Sullivan Research Says
According to new strategic research conducted by Frost & Sullivan of North American GPS Markets, the total market hit almost $1.2 billion in 1997, mainly due to application growth in high volume consumer markets in GPS land and marine markets.  (YAHOO)

Nextel Joins Competition for Wireless Market Share 
in Buffalo, New York
Nextel is the fourth wireless provider in Western New York, joining Cellular One, Frontier Communications and Sprint PCS. (BUSINESS FIRST)

Toll Free Cellular in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
Company executives had hoped to sell the company's technology to a cellular carrier, but this week's filing suggests that couldn't be done. (PUGET SOUND BUSINESS JOURNAL)

Turning the PalmPilot into a Platform Makes It a Stronger Product
The PalmPilot is now compatible with scores of add-on software available at a variety of Web sites.  The devices can also be used with an array of hardware than can expand the machine's capabilities. (CHICAGO TRIBUNE)

Lucent to Take $145 Million Charge
Lucent plans to take a $80 million charge for in-process research and development related to its acquisition of SDX Business Systems. Lucent also plans to take a one-time $65 million charge related to the $115 million purchase of LanNet. (NEWS.COM)

Tokyo Digital to Add 200 More Base Stations 
for Cell Phone Service
Tokyo Digital hopes to complete the primary investment for its cellular phone service by the end of fiscal 1998, ahead of the Wideband CDMA advanced cellular phone service that is expected to be available in 2000. (NIKKEI NET)

Ericsson Supplies Networks to Six More Russian Areas
The D-AMPS IS-136 digital mobile phone networks will operate in Bashkortostan, Bryansk, Novgorod, Kostroma, Yaroslavi and Ivanovo by early 1999. (YAHOO)
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