Nextel Communications Inc. affiliate Nextel Partners Inc. completed its 30,000-square-foot customer care center expansion in Panama City Beach, Fla., which the carrier said would help support its rapid growth. The expansion is located adjacent to the carrier’s existing 65,000-square-foot center that opened in 2002. The center employs more than 750 people, making it Nextel Partners’ largest customer care facility with plans to add 250 more employees by the middle of next year. The carrier also operates a customer care facility in Las Vegas that employs more than 700 people.
Cheryln Chin has been made corporate vice president of software market development for Motorola Inc.’s Personal Communications Sector. Chin joins Motorola from Sun Microsystems Inc., where she most recently served as vice president of global sales. In July, Motorola said Tom Lynch, executive vice president and president of the Personal Communications Sector, would leave the company at the end of the summer, citing personal reasons.
M7 Networks and U.S. Cellular will partner to boost the carrier’s wireless data services. M7 Networks’ SMS Hub Service will help deliver U.S. Cellular’s easyedge service, improving the functionality of certain applications including a mobile Mapquest service and eBay’s AwayAuction. “We are excited to announce our partnership with U.S. Cellular,” said William E. Erickson, president and chief executive officer of M7 Networks. “By adopting the M7SMS Hub Service, carriers like U.S. Cellular will not only help make applications more fun and useful for subscribers, but will also help make the promise of wireless data a reality of consumers, content owners and carriers.”
T-Mobile USA Inc. has launched Japanese handset maker Sharp Corp.’s first GSM mobile phone for the U.S. market, the TM-150. The tri-band (1900, 1800, 900 MHz) flip phone features a 1-megapixel camera and dual-color displays. The TM-150 is advertised on T-Mobile’s Web site for $350. T-Mobile confirmed that the TM-150 is also available in stores. Sharp has a deal with T-Mobile International under which Sharp is creating a line of phones for Europe.
