April 2005

WASHINGTON-Former Silicon Valley tech executive Steve Poizner, one of two nominees appointed by GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Public Utilities Commission last December, said he is removing himself …

MCI Inc.’s board of directors rejected Qwest Communications International Inc.’s latest acquisition proposal in favor of a previous and lower bid from Verizon Communications Inc. MCI’s board noted that the …

WASHINGTON-Legislation to make a bill of rights for telecom consumers a state law has moved forward in the California legislature, countering efforts by a state regulator to revise-and possibly overhaul-new …

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom-TTPCom said the Open Mobile Alliance has re-elected its senior software architect, Lars Brenk, as the chairman of OMA’s Game Services Working Group. Brenk will focus on interoperability …

Sprint Corp. is reportedly developing a new wireless service that will allow customers to seamlessly roam between the company’s wide area wireless network and ever-expanding wireless local area network. Sprint …

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. reported another solid quarter, although its results were pulled down by its settlement expenses with patent-holding company NTP Inc. and its higher-than-anticipated tax provisions. …

Fresh off its public launch at this year’s CTIA event, soon-to-launch mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile Inc. reported several content and marketing sponsorship deals with a number of action …

LONDON-Mobile music company Shazam Entertainment has teamed with Motorola to develop new music-identification software embedded in the manufacturer’s handsets. With the new technology, wireless users can capture music played from …

WASHINGTON-The voluntary negotiation period for the PCS band ended Monday 10 years after it began. As a result of the end of the voluntary negotiation period, the Federal Communications Commission …

Mobility Electronics Inc. announced it scored a $10 million investment from Motorola Inc. and RadioShack Corp. for the expansion of its itip power products for low-power mobile electronic devices. Mobility …

Verizon Wireless confirmed it will sell PalmOne Inc.’s Treo 650. Many in the industry had expected such a move, although neither Verizon nor PalmOne had officially announced the device for …

RA’ANANA, Israel-Israeli mobile communications operator Partner Communications Company Ltd., which operates under the Orange IL brand, launched Mobixell Networks’ Media Adaptation and Optimization Solution on its network. Mobixell’s Central Rich …

HERNDON, Va.-The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions sent representatives from its member companies to meet with the European Telecommunication Standards Institute TISPAN Committee last week in Herndon, Va., to discuss …

ATLANTA-Cingular Wireless and The U.S. Army announced a computer-aided dispatch solution enabled for Cingular’s nationwide wireless data network that allows the military and civilian police officers at Fort Hood in …

RICHARDSON, Texas-Navini Networks and Benson Online said Tuesday they’ve teamed to establish the first personal wireless broadband network in Africa. The new network was deployed in Tanzania, growing to 2,000 …

ESPOO, Finland-Aerospace and defense company EADS announced it is in advanced negotiations to acquire Nokia Corp.’s Professional Mobile Radio business. Financial details of the negotiations were not disclosed. “This move …

PISCATAWAY, N.J.-IEEE said it has approved work to begin on an amendment to the 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks. The project involves a WLAN standard amendment for WLAN …

PORTLAND, Ore.-H2F Media Inc. said it has changed its name to Prolifiq Software Inc. to better represent its focus on multimedia messaging services applications for businesses. The company’s software allows …

WASHINGTON-Consumer groups said federal regulatory approval of Sprint Corp.’s proposed $35 billion acquisition of Nextel Communications Inc. should be conditioned on the merged entity’s divestiture of 2.5 GHz wireless licenses. …

WASHINGTON-There are areas of the country that are too rural, too remote and cost too much to serve for telecommunications competition to be viable, said the author of a new …

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-Semiconductor supplier Advanced Analogic Technologies Inc. filed for a $172.5 million initial public offering. The company filed for the ticker symbol AATI. Advanced Analogic Technologies supplies application-specific power management …

ABC News announced ambitious plans to expand its 24-hour digital news operation, offering a suite of multimedia services through television, the Internet and mobile phones. The network will build on …

WASHINGTON-The mobile-phone industry asked the full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear arguments in class-action headset lawsuits sent back to various state courts by a divided three-judge panel …

NEW YORK-Banc of America Securities upgraded its communications equipment sector outlook from neutral/negative to positive, according to Forbes. The firm indicated it expects the sector’s stocks to rebound and that …

VIENNA, Austria-Mobilkom Austria, the largest Austrian wireless carrier, demonstrated High Speed Downlink Packet Access technology from Nortel Networks Ltd. At a retail store in Vienna, the HSDPA technology supported applications …