Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
T-Mobile boosts subs to new high
Nationwide wireless carriers received a big push from their smallest player as T-Mobile USA Inc. posted robust third-quarter financials that helped propel the group well beyond last year’s growth. The industry’s three largest operators were only slightly ahead of last year’s growth before T-Mobile USA posted an impressive 1.059 million net customer additions. The result was well above the 901,000 customers the carrier added last year and surpassed most predictions. T-Mobile USA also pushed past the 20-million subscriber mark, ending the quarter with 20.3 million customers on its network. Highlighting an increasing reliance on prepaid subscribers, T-Mobile USA noted that 32 percent of its growth during the quarter came from non-contract customers. The carrier noted that its customer mix was similar to its second-quarter results but has changed dramatically from the 10 percent to 13 percent prepaid mix the carrier reported during most of 2004. … Read More
Cingular turns off, sells towers as part of integration plans
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. has identified more than 12,000 GSM sites that it plans to decommission as it integrates 30 of 63 GSM markets by the end of the year, according to Securities & Exchange Commission filings. In addition, the company said it had completed 30 of 47 major TDMA turndowns, removing radios from more than 6,000 sites of 10,000 that were planned. The moves were the final phase of Cingular’s network integration plan to eliminate redundant network facilities that arose when it purchased AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in 2004. The company said it would integrate its GSM networks, decommission redundant cell sites and core network elements, and swap vendor equipment in various markets in order to have like equipment in each operating market. The company said in June it would decommission approximately 7,600 cell sites, of which around 5,700 were acquired from AT&T Wireless. Cingular also is working to decommission its overlapping TDMA networks this year and next. About 85 percent of those assets were originally owned by AT&T Wireless. … Read More
MVNOs look high, low for customers
The potential breadth of the mobile virtual network operator model was evident last week as a pair of companies reported plans to enter the wireless space with services spanning the gamut from the loftiest of the high end to entry-level prepaid services. Seeking to go where few operators have dared tread, Japanese content provider Faith Inc. was getting set to launch its Voce wireless service designed to cater to consumers looking for more from their wireless experience. Steve Stanford, who previously worked at Boost Mobile L.L.C. and more recently at Amp’d Mobile Inc., was tapped by Faith to run its U.S. MVNO, which will use Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s network. Stanford explained that unlike a majority of MVNOs targeting the active youth or tech-savvy male demographic, the Voce service would target today’s high-end wireless users who already spend several hundred dollars per month for wireless services and are constantly looking for the latest high-end gadgets. … Read More
Alltel expands into Midwest for $1 billion
Alltel Corp. continued its rural expansion by gobbling up privately held Midwest Wireless for $1.075 billion in cash. The acquisition comes just months after Alltel closed on its $6 billion purchase of Western Wireless Corp. and follows its 2002 acquisition of CenturyTel Inc.’s wireless assets for $1.6 billion. Alltel said the Midwest Wireless deal includes the carrier’s 400,000 wireless customers, network assets, and 850 MHz and 1.9 GHz spectrum licenses covering southern Minnesota, northern and eastern Iowa and western Wisconsin. Both carriers operate CDMA-based networks and rely on Qualcomm Inc.’s BREW platform to deliver content. Midwest Wireless recently began to deploy high-speed wireless data services using CDMA2000 1x EV-DO technology and also offers a fixed broadband Internet service in select locations, which the carrier said offers network speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second for $100 per month. … Read More
Finally, light at the end of the W-CDMA hype tunnel
After years of hype and billions of dollars in network upgrades, the time has come for the worldwide W-CDMA market to take off. Perhaps the best indication that W-CDMA technology has reached the tipping point comes from Vodafone Group plc, one of the world’s largest wireless carriers. Vodafone recently announced it plans to have close to a dozen W-CDMA handsets ready for the holiday shopping season. The handsets span the gamut-from relatively inexpensive, voice-centric devices to high-end gadgets for heavy data users. With a range of handsets and a growing number of services, market watchers concur: W-CDMA has hit prime time. … Read More
Nokia’s Intellisync buy pushes it further into e-mail space
Just two months after launching its own branded wireless e-mail offering, Nokia Corp. is jumping head-first into the space with the $430 million acquisition of Intellisync Corp. The handset manufacturer last week announced plans to buy the San Jose, Calif.-based developer, offering $5.25 per share in cash for each share of Intellisync. Shares of Intellisync dipped 8 percent to $5.08 on the news before settling at $5.14 late in the week; Nokia’s U.S. shares slid 11 cents to $16.92, rebounding to $17.23 last Thursday. With the move, Nokia looks to become a far more prominent player on the crowded wireless e-mail playground. While Research In Motion Ltd. continues to dominate the space with its BlackBerry devices and platform, a half-dozen smaller players-including Good Technology Inc., Seven Networks Inc., Visto Corp. and Critical Path-are vying to gain traction in the largely untapped market. … Read More
Qualcomm, Nokia come to patent blows
The legal tussle over Qualcomm Inc.’s licensing practices turned into a full-scale war last week as Qualcomm took aim at longtime rival Nokia Corp. with a patent-infringement lawsuit. The charges come just a few short weeks after Nokia joined five other wireless heavyweights in accusing Qualcomm of anti-competitive behavior. The level of high-powered rhetoric surrounding this particular issue-as well as the size of the players involved-makes it stand out from the regular commotion within the industry. The case also brings up age-old animosity between CDMA and GSM proponents. … Read More
Group forms to ensure set of standards for Linux handsets
A group of Linux proponents announced today they have formed a new standards group aimed at promoting Linux software for mobile phones. “One of the key goals of the Linux Phone Standards Forum is to reduce Linux fragmentation,” said John Ostrem, lead scientist for Palm OS vendor PalmSource Inc. and a board member of the new standards group, which is called LiPS. “We think Linux can support phones well below the smart-phone threshold.” PalmSource joins ARM, Cellon, Esmertec, France Telecom/Orange, FSM Labs, Huawei, Jaluna, MIZI Research, Montavista and Open-Plug in founding LiPS. Although there are few well-known names among the list of member companies, Ostrem said the roster will grow over the coming months. … Read More
Motorola dominates U.S. mobile-phone market; Nokia in 4th place
The world’s No. 2 handset maker Motorola Inc. continued to dominate the fractured U.S. mobile-phone market in the third quarter, while the world’s largest handset supplier, Nokia Corp., sits at a distant fourth place. According to numbers from research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics, Motorola commanded a solid 36 percent of the U.S. mobile-phone market in the third quarter. Indeed, Strategy Analytics said Motorola “is possibly the only vendor that is profitable in the U.S. market and this advantage that has fueled its rise to the top of the market will help it remain there through 2006.” Strategy Analytics said Motorola has profited from strong interest in its Razr and iTunes-capable phones. Further, the company’s forthcoming holiday-season handsets-including the Slvr and Pebl-likely will firm the vendor’s already solid footing. … Read More
White House goes with Tate, Copps for FCC; leaves one seat unfilled
The timing of two nominations to the Federal Communications Commission could leave FCC Chairman Kevin Martin with an evenly split agency-or he could even be in the minority at the end of the year. The White House Wednesday nominated Deborah Tate and FCC Commissioner Michael Copps to the FCC, a five-member independent regulatory body that oversees telecommunications and media issues. Members serve five-year terms and are selected from both political parties. Three members, including the chairman, come from the president’s political party, while the remaining two come from the opposite party. The president nominates the members, and the Senate confirms the nominations after hearings. … Read More
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