May 2004

Tim Berners-Lee, widely credited with creating the World Wide Web, has spoken out against the wireless industry’s attempts to create a “.mobi” mobile-specific Internet domain listing. Further, the World Wide …

Removing concern over its future network coverage, T-Mobile USA Inc. agreed last week to acquire Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s California and Nevada operations for $2.5 billion, properties that are currently part …

DENVER and WASHINGTON-Arriving at the current state of post-deployed wireless enhanced 911 Phase II capabilities has been a feat in and of itself, but deployment does not mean success, and …

Public safety remains committed to the idea of a hard 2007 give-back date for TV broadcasters to relinquish their analog spectrum. But if that is not realistic, the public-safety community …

BERLIN-Siemens AG will discontinue its line of fashion-focused mobile phones sold under its Xelibri brand. Launched early last year, the line-up of phones included devices made to look like jewelry, …

WASHINGTON-A bill banning 16- and 17-year-olds from using mobile phones while driving passed the California Senate. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Debra Bowen (D), was approved by a 24-to-11 bipartisan …

MONTREAL, Canada-The wireless Web just got a little tastier. Wine magazine Wine Spectator announced a deal with wireless content company Airborne Entertainment to offer wine information along with its 130,000 …

The worldwide wireless local area network hardware market in the first quarter of this year trumped the fourth quarter of 2003 by 2 percent, with revenues of $696.4 million, according …

I was just out of college in 1993 when “Demolition Man” was released. Remember that movie? Set 40 years in the future, all personal freedoms had been removed in the …

SAN DIEGO-Indian carrier Tata Teleservices is the first operator to launch a push-to-talk service based on Qualcomm Inc.’s BREWChat solution. The technology enables person-to-person and person-to-group communication between subscribers at …

Several third-generation commercial launches were announced in markets across Western Europe last week, with market leaders Vodafone Group plc, Telefonica Moviles and Telecom Italia Mobile all beginning services in various …

GOTHENBURG, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson has sold its wireless data division known as Mobitex to a U.K. investment group. The major investors include two former executives of U.K Mobitex network operator Transcomm …

Fresh on the heels of Cometa Networks Inc. shutting down its Wi-Fi service because investors couldn’t find a way to make money from it, Wi-Fi provider Wayport said it would …

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent creation of a still-evolving homeland security regime in the United States probably did more for the wireless industry than all …

EDINBURG, Va.-Rural telecommunications provider Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. reported that its wireless subsidiary and Sprint PCS affiliate Shenandoah Personal Communications Co. signed an addendum to its management and services agreement with …

Kyocera Wireless Corp. said it is recalling an additional 40,000 mobile-phone batteries because they are potentially faulty. The company said the situation stems from the previously announced battery recall for …

REDMOND, Wash.-AT&T Wireless Services Inc. announced it recorded a total of 13.5 million text-message votes cast during the past season of reality TV show “American Idol.” The carrier said the …

Cingular Wireless L.L.C. used last week’s Lehman Brothers 2004 Global Wireless financial conference to announce its UMTS rollout plans, while rival carrier Sprint Corp. backed off earlier promises that it …

Camera phones are the most rapidly accepted consumer electronics device in history. Yet it appears that wireless carriers-a group many assumed would reap the rewards of a camera-phone revolution-are sitting …

Motorola Inc. has unveiled what it describes as the first cross-technology Push-to-Talk over Cellular solution rooted in wireless networks. The announcement comes against the background of an industry search for …

WASHINGTON-Harsh political and industry criticism of the California Public Utilities Commission’s bill of rights for telecom consumers likely signals the controversy will carry over into 2005, when pro-business GOP Gov. …

Bolstering its Ready Link walkie-talkie offering, Sprint PCS launched its fifth Sanyo handset for the service, which the carrier said now includes more than 275,000 users. Sprint also rearranged pricing …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Repeater manufacturer Avitec S.E. has acquired the technology assets of Littlefeet Inc., the provider of distributed coverage solutions for wireless carriers that went defunct in March. Littlefeet “synergizes very …

WASHINGTON-Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) wants excess revenue from a future third-generation mobile-phone auction to help fund deployment of enhanced 911 service, according to sources. The plan could …

At this writing, I haven’t a clue which bill of rights the California Public Utilities Commission will embrace or what plan the Federal Commissions Commission will adopt to remedy public-safety …