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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: w molloy who wrote (29996)	5/13/1999 4:33:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

Q Mentioned> FCC Approves Rules to Improve 911 Cell-Phone Calls Washington, May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Federal regulators approved new rules aimed at increasing the likelihood that emergency 911 calls made from cellular phones will be completed. Cellular phone customers' local calls are now carried only by their own service providers. If a life-saving 911 call is made in a dead-zone, it won't get through to emergency services. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved a plan requiring new cellular phones to have software within nine months to route 911 calls to another carrier if they can't be completed. Most areas are served by two cellular phone companies, so if one company couldn't put through a call because of buildings, terrain or the lack of cellular towers, the other might succeed. Every day 98,000 emergency 911 calls are made in the U.S. using wireless telephones, FCC Chairman William Kennard said. ''We've got to do everything we can to make sure the public has the confidence in these phones that the (911) calls are going to go through,'' he said. The new rules will apply only to analog cellular phones, and to dual-mode phones when they're operating in analog. It's not yet technically possible to switch 911 calls from one digital system to another. More than 50 million analog cellular phones are now in use, compared with about 20 million digital phones. The FCC's rules will only apply to new phones sold in stores, and not to those already in customers' hands. No Significant Cost Cellular phone manufacturers, such as Qualcomm Inc. and Ericsson AB, wouldn't incur any significant cost in making the software changes required by the FCC's new rules, according to the Telecommunications Industry Association, which represents equipment manufacturers. The technology already exists and software modifications are routinely made on next-generation products. The cellular phone industry praised the decision for not locking the industry and public safety officials into one particular technology for solving the problem. ''Today's decision acknowledges the strength of the overwhelming body of evidence presented over four years by the public safety community and wireless technology experts on how to best approach enhanced 911 call completion,'' said Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association President and Chief Executive Tom Wheeler. He said it was ''unfortunate'' that it take the FCC four years to rule. The U.S. Congress is also taking steps to improve emergency communications from wireless phones. The House in February approved a bill directing the FCC to help set up a single 911 emergency-response system for wireless and traditional phone service. Currently, states and municipalities often have separate emergency numbers for wireless phones. The Senate is considering a similar measure. Wireless Licenses The FCC also approved draft rules for wireless- communications licenses that'll be up for auction sometime after Jan. 1, 2001. The rules, once final, will deal with how many licenses, covering what areas, will be auctioned, as well as technical issues such as interference. The spectrum in question, now being used to air television channels 60 to 69, can be used for mobile wireless services such as paging or cellular phones, or fixed services such as wireless cable or local telephone service Separately, the FCC voted to exempt analog TV set-top boxes from rules that would open the door for consumers to purchase cable set-top boxes through retail outlets instead of leasing them from cable operators. Digital set-top boxes that can work with any cable system will have to be sold in stores beginning next July. Customers will get a so-called smart-card security decoding device from their cable companies to plug into the set- top box. The cable industry and set-top manufacturers asked for the exemption because analog boxes are being phased out and it would be too expensive to sell them without the embedded security device. Qualcomm shares fell 11/16 to 115 7/8. Ericsson's American depositary receipts climbed 3/16 to 28 1/16. May/13/ 99 16:22