2005

TEMPE, Ariz.-First Cellular of Southern Illinois has tapped Excell Services to provide directory assistance and other offerings, the companies announced Tuesday. Excell will provide operator services and inbound customer service …

WESLEY HILLS, N.Y.-The creators of Answers.com announced the launch of a test version of its Internet search engine for wireless devices. GuruNet Corp., which owns Answers.com, announced Tuesday that users …

MELBOURNE, Fla.-AirNet Communications said it suffered a loss of $4.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2004, compared with a loss of $4.3 million in the year-earlier period. However, the …

BEIJING-China Mobile, the country’s largest wireless carrier, has signed a cooperation agreement with fixed-line carrier China Network, according to international press reports. The agreement aims to promote “rational competition” and …

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y.-Nearly half of all adults believe vocabulary skills among the nation’s youth are being corroded by instant messaging, e-mail and wireless phones, according to a new study by Reader’s …

LONDON-Middle East wireless carrier Mobile Telecommunications Co. has expanded into Africa with a $3.4 billion acquisition of African wireless carrier Celtel International. Kuwaiti-based MTC will buy 85 percent of Celtel …

Mobile video providers continued to target users in the Far East with two new announcements Tuesday. RealNetworks Inc. and mobile operator Hong Kong CSL launched a mobile media service enabling …

Clearinghouse vendor NeuStar Inc. hopes to raise up to $690 million in an initial public offering, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company filed for …

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday morning heard two cases with potential impacts on wireless data services. In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster Ltd., the court seemed to be skeptical that …

Three mergers have just taken place in the wireless vendor space, one in the broadband arena and two in the software business. Airspan Networks said it has signed a deal …

MCI Inc.’s board of directors elected to accept Verizon Communications Inc.’s increased bid for the business, again rejecting Qwest Communications International Inc.’s larger takeover offer. Verizon increased its bid for …

LONDON-In what appears to be a first for the mobile music market, U.K. subscribers can choose which part of a new single from hip-hop star Fabolous to use as their …

WASHINGTON-Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) often describes his state as having a lot of land between light poles. In other words, rural America by its very definition has fewer people and …

WASHINGTON-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), an outspoken wireless consumer advocate in Congress, is pushing legislation that would require mobile-phone carriers to give subscribers the ability to make 911 emergency calls in …

WASHINGTON-A nasty legal fight has broken out over control of the U.S.-based roaming group that assigns codes enabling foreign travelers to use their mobile phones in the United States. The …

What a difference five years can make. Who knew five years ago we’d have legislation that controls what messages come into our e-mail boxes. Five years ago, e-mail was just …

SANTA MONICA, Calif.-Data storage company Xdrive Inc. added a wireless component to its Internet-based storage offering and is looking to team up with wireless carriers or other industry players to …

Symbian announced it will license Microsoft Corp.’s ActiveSync wireless e-mail technology, a move aimed at making the Symbian platform more appealing to corporate users. Terms of the deal were not …

VIENNA, Austria-Telekom Austria said it paid $105.6 million to purchase MobilTel AD, a Bulgarian wireless carrier, as part of a call option agreement concluded in December 2004. The deal is …

As a tower operator, Crown Castle International Inc. is venturing into a less familiar environment as an enabler of what may grow into a major application in the wireless industry: …

WASHINGTON-The mobile-phone industry increasingly finds itself like the proverbial Dutch boy with his finger in the dike, drawn into courts, public utility commissions and other bodies around the country to …

Video-game behemoth Electronic Arts signaled its long-awaited-and perhaps long-feared-entry onto the mobile gaming playground earlier this month at GDC Mobile in San Francisco, unveiling plans to release as many as …

For U.S. carriers, the race to deploy ringback tones is on. Ringbacks-the clips of music a caller hears instead of a traditional ring before the person being called answers the …

A licensing disagreement between GSM phone maker Sendo Holdings plc and wireless technology giant L.M. Ericsson has blossomed into a full-blown legal battle, with Sendo arguing that Ericsson and the …

WASHINGTON-In a stunning 9-0 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court told Mark Abrams he is not entitled to attorney’s fees and other damages even if he wins a tower-siting case. “Liability …