In Brief

A survey by Harris Interactive concludes that three out of five Americans rank E-911 capability as the most important feature they'd like in their cellular phones. E-mail came in second, at 23%. Commissioned by wireless retailer LetsTalk.com, Harris Interactive polled approximately 1,000 Americans between Oct. 11 and Oct. 14.

Last Spring, Southern LINC urged the FCC to order Nextel into roaming agreements with Southern LINC and other non-affiliated SMR carriers. Recently, the two carriers signed a unilateral roaming agreement. Southern LINC customers will be able to roam on Nextel's national network, beginning 2Q02. Southern LINC serves approximately 225,000 subscribers in Alabama, Georgia, northwest Florida and southeast Mississippi.

A new Yankee Group m-commerce study predicts that by 2006, 50 million wireless subscribers will use their handsets to purchase goods and content, spending approximately $15 billion. Carriers will be able to increase monthly ARPU between 20¢ and $3, depending on how revenue is split with content providers.

A group of government, private-sector and non-profit professionals has formed the Human Firewall Council. The Council plans to help businesses and government agencies protect critical information by strengthening internal security policies and procedures.