The Federal Aviation Administration signed a $1.8 billion, 18-year contract with ITT to deliver satellite based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology to be used in the FAA’s next generation air transportation system, the FAA said Thursday. Under the contract, ITT must have the system ready by 2010, with it enabled to cover the nation by 2013. ITT will build the ADS-B ground stations and own and operate the gear. ITT will use existing infrastructure, including AT&T cellphone towers, and plans to have 300 ground stations in phase one, it said. The FAA will pay subscription charges for ADS-B broadcasts transmitted to aircraft and air traffic control facilities. ITT will use a dual-link frequency architecture comprising 1090 MHz and Universal Access Transceiver, said Vinny Capezzuto, FAA surveillance and broadcast services director. The FAA expects it to cost $50,000 to $70,000 to equip a plane that already has on-board GPS with ADS-B, FAA said. The FAA expects the system to cut delays and enhance safety by using satellite signals instead of those from traditional radar to pinpoint craft locations. Along with air traffic displays, ADS-B also will give pilots graphical weather information, terrain maps and flight data, including temporary flight restrictions and notices to aviators. ADS-B is about 10 times more accurate than radar, giving pilots and controllers precise locations of aircraft, resulting in more direct flight routes and airspace efficiency, FAA said. ITT’s team includes AT&T, Thales, WSI, Science Applications International Corporation, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Aerospace Engineering, Sunhillo, Comsearch, Mission Critical Solution of Tampa, Pragmatics, Washington Consulting Group, Aviation Communications and Surveillance Systems, NCR Corporation, and L-3 Avionics Systems and Sandia Aerospace.
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
Embroiled in four lawsuits spanning five courts, Vonage attorneys face a nuisance suit and cases that could put the company out of business, industry officials said. A SunRocket suit filed Aug. 23 alleging misuse of a customer list is mere “noise,” VoIP rival Nuvio’s CEO said in an interview. But patent litigation against Verizon, Sprint Nextel and Nortel could put Vonage out of business, an analyst said. Vonage’s legal woes probably go beyond bad luck, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said. “People make their own luck.”
The ACLU plans this fall to help rally opposition to the Protect America Act, which updated FISA just before Congress went on recess, said Caroline Frederickson, ACLU Washington legislative office director. The ACLU will meet with Congress members and community leaders across the country, run ads, work with bloggers, launch petitions and make phone calls, she said.
Two Motorola subsidiaries are seeking damages and an injunction against Aruba Networks, alleging infringement of four wireless local area network (WLAN) patents. Symbol Technologies and Wireless Valley Communications filed a complaint Monday in the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del. An Aruba spokesman said he couldn’t comment since the company hadn’t been served.
Opening FCC designated entity rules to wholesalers will be Frontline’s “No. 1 priority” on a petition for reconsideration filing due Sept. 24, Frontline attorney Jonathan Blake said in an interview. The filing follows an Aug. 22 meeting between Blake and FCC General Counsel Sam Feder on an FCC rule restricting wholesale businesses from designated entity status. Unless dropped, that rule would “handicap” Frontline and other wholesalers’ ability to take part in the 700 MHz auction, Blake said, suggesting that harm would come to open access if that is the case.
Jeff Pulver is shooting at telecom industry rumors that he’s distancing himself from VON and Pulver.com and looking to sell. “This ‘rumor’ is news to me,” he said Friday. Pulver still is owner of Pulver.com and chairman of PulverMedia, which produces the VON events, he said. “I sent out an e-mail a week or so ago announcing my Strategic Consulting Group,” he said. “Maybe some people misread the e-mail.” Blogger and Livingston Communications CEO Geoff Livingston said he heard the talk, calling it false. “I understand these rumors are making the rounds, but they are not true.”
Nokia added Windows Live services to its European handset line, under an arrangement with Microsoft, it said Thursday. Nokia customers in eleven countries with compatible S60 devices can now download the Microsoft suite. Next year, Nokia plans to give Windows Live access to Series 40 phones, it said. The suite includes Windows Live Hotmail, Messenger Contacts and Spaces, it said. Nokia customers with the Nokia N73, N76, N80 Internet Edition, N93i and N95 devices can get Windows Live in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Nokia said. Nokia hasn’t made a similar announcement in the United States, perhaps because U.S. carriers have more say about device partnerships than do their European counterparts, said Current Analysis’ Avi Greengart. Nokia probably teamed up with Microsoft because it noticed increasing popularity for devices “tightly tied to services” like Windows Live, Greengart said.
SunRocket wants damages and an injunction against Vonage for misuse of SunRocket’s customer list, it said in a Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit. Vonage got and used fallen VoIP company SunRocket’s 220,000-name customer list without permission, SunRocket said. Vonage denied the claim, saying it obtained legitimately from an established New York broker the only VoIP subscriber list it has been using. Vonage said it will fight the lawsuit, filed Wednesday. The complaint creates more work for Vonage lawyers, who are representing the company in patent infringement disputes with Verizon, Sprint Nextel and Nortel.
Xfone said Thursday it will buy competitive carrier NTS Communications of Lubbock, Tex., for $42 million. Xfone operates in Israel, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. NTS expects the deal to close in December or January, said Brad Worthington, NTS executive vice president. The companies filed SEC papers on the deal Wednesday, Xfone said. The deal also requires approval by the FCC and the public service commissions in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas, Worthington said. NTS has secured 85 percent shareholder approval and will hold a Sept. 5 meeting to take questions and seek more support, he said. Xfone is in talks with lenders to finance the transaction, the company said. Xfone expects the merger to “significantly expand” its service area and “dramatically enhance” its revenue, cash flow and profitability, it said. NTS senior management, including Worthington, Barbara Baldwin and Jerry Hoover, will join Xfone in “key management positions,” Xfone said. Also joining Xfone is NTS’s sales and operations team, Xfone said.
Calls for wireless market regulation that would make the U.S. more like Europe “are not based on sound empirical evidence,” according to an American Consumer Institute study published Wednesday. The U.S. leads Europe in wireless, contrary to popular belief, the free market nonprofit said: “The contention that concentration leads to higher prices, lower usage and decreasing consumer welfare does not appear to be a U.S. problem.” The noncommissioned report based its findings on “widely available” data from the FCC, CTIA and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, it said.