Welcome to our Friday feature, Week in Review. Every Friday, RCR Wireless News will run through the major events of the past week, outlining what happened and speculating on what to look for in the coming weeks. Check below for news about carriers, handset makers, content companies, infrastructure vendors and more.
Carriers
–Financial results came fast and furious this week as Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA Inc., U.S. Cellular Corp., Leap Wireless International Inc., Dobson Communications Corp. and Centennial Communications Corp. all posted quarterly results. The numbers showed that Sprint Nextel is still stuggling to find its footing; T-Mobile USA continues to plug along as a strong No. 4; U.S. Cellular showed strong revenue growth, but slowing customer additions; Leap failed to meet analysts expectations and its stock took the brunt of the disappointment; Dobson was still a force to be reckenond with in its markets, though it was being acquired by AT&T; and Centennial showed modest growth in its domestic and Puerto Rico operations.
–The merger and acquisition fun continued this week as Verizon Wireless announced it was picking up assets from rural operator Ramcell in Oregon and Kentucky. The news following Verizon Wireless’ announcement last week that it was acquiring Rural Cellular Corp. and AT&T Inc.’s recent announcement that it was acquiring Dobson.
–International wireless giant Vodafone Group plc made the somewhat surprising announcement that it was joining the WiMAX Forum as a principal member. The company, which predominately relies on GSM-based technologies for its networks around the world, is expected to continue along the UMTS/HSPA/LTE evolution path of the technology. By joining the WiMAX Forum, the company seems to be keeping its options open.
Handsets
–Nokia Corp. announced a wide-ranging chip initiative with a number of companies to diversify the world’s No. 1 handset vendors supply of wafer. The deals included staying with Texas Instruments Inc. as its main supplier of chips across all technology protocols, Broadcom Corp. to provide EDGE baseband chips, Infineon Technologies to supply GSM chips and STMicroelectronics to provide 3G products. Nokia also said it would transfer around 200 research and development jobs to STMicroelectronics as part of the deal.
Content
–Speaking of Nokia, the company also announced a deal to embed Microsoft Corp.’s PlayReady digital rights management solution in its Series 60 and 40 handsets. The deal was seen as a step towards addressing the fragmented DRM market as well as a possible component of Nokia’s plans to launch a mobile music service.
Other
–The Federal Communications Commission mandated that wireless carriers must allow customers using similar technology be allowed to automatically roam on their networks when outside their home coverage areas. The mandate covered voice, text and push-to-talk services, but did not include wireless data services. The mandate also did not set any specific roaming rates, noting they must be “reasonable and non-discriminatory.”
COMING IN MONDAY’S ISSUE OF RCR WIRELESS NEWS
–Like cats, Amp’d Mobile Inc.’s management team lands on its feet at Clearwire Corp.
–Motorola Inc.’s plans to launch new devices could right its listing ship.
–Qualcomm Inc.’s battle against Broadcom at the ITC dims.
