Kudos

It's always a pleasure to bring attention to individuals who warrant it. Sometimes that's not a good thing. In my last few columns, I've attempted to bring attention to folks who deserve the negative end of it — Nextel and Nextwave. This month I'd like to bring positive attention to two individuals who richly deserve it.

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Mercy Contreras, our publisher, our mentor and our friend, recently received the prestigious Radio Club of America (RCA) President's Award. We received word of this too late to include it in the January issue of RF Design, but I didn't want to let the award go unnoticed. (See the News section for a description of Mercy's efforts with the RCA and about the award.) Kudos to you Mercy.

Kudos also to Nikki Chandler. Nikki has been promoted to managing editor of RF Design, as well as our sister publications Mobile Radio Technology and Site Management and Technology magazines. Nikki started with the company as an intern when she was attending University of Kansas. After graduating with a degree in journalism in 1997, she has worked her way “through the ranks” from editorial assistant to now our managing editor. Congratulations Nikki and thank you for all you do.

Comments

While many of us have bashed the dot.coms for leading the decline of tech stocks, including telecom, I was intrigued by a report I heard recently on National Public Radio (NPR). According to the commentator, more than 800 dot.coms failed after dot.coms became the drop.coms. Yet, the future success of telecom may be directly tied to the Internet. Scary thought, but I believe the commentator may be right.

I've mentioned in previous columns that to bring telecom out of its funk, we need to see both the service providers and the handset manufactures offer the consumer a “gotta' have” service and technology. I've been impressed by the handsets the Japanese have been using for some time. In essence, they are like PDAs with built-in handsets. Well, these are now beginning to see use in the United States. Samsung and others have developed what appear to be a real step forward in integration. Only time will tell if these devices are the “killer app” everyone is waiting for.

For me, fix the keyboard already. My fingers aren't getting any smaller, but the keys seem to be.

Concerns

I'm still concerned over Nextwave getting a $6 billion windfall. You may recall I put the dime on Congress to deny the FCC's effort to get rid of its problem by paying Nextwave off. Well, it appears a number of members of Congress are questioning this, including Sen. John McCain, (R-AZ). It will be interesting to see how this plays out.