1 year ago this week, T-Mobile targeted the enterprise, while TracFone tapped into Verizon’s 3G network
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 US targets enterprise in ‘Un-carrier 9.0’ move
T-Mobile US angled toward the enterprise market for its latest “un-carrier” marketing push, announcing new rate plans targeted at enterprise customers and a pair of consumer-facing initiatives. The move comes as the carrier admits its position in the enterprise space pales in comparison to its larger rivals. The enterprise push, which was part of its “Un-carrier 9.0” promotion, sees T-Mobile US expanding its current 10-line rate at $16 per line up to a total of 19 lines of service for that same $16 per line. For enterprise customers that need between 20 and 1,000 lines, the rate is cut to $15 per line; and further discounted to $10 per line for a company needing in excess of 1,000 lines of service. … Read More
TracFone taps Verizon Wireless 3G network for Total Wireless service
Prepaid mobile service provider TracFone Wireless is expanding its marketing presence with the recent launch of its Total Wireless brand exclusive to big-box retailer Wal-Mart. According to the provided coverage map, the service looks to run on Verizon Wireless’ network, which had initially powered TracFone’s Straight Talk brand that is also a Wal-Mart exclusive. TracFone is owned by Latin American telecom giant America Movil. … Read More
BT to offer mobile service to consumers
One day after the parent companies of O2 and Three agreed to merge the two British carriers, rival BT has announced its return to mobile. BT is already the U.K.’s largest provider of landline service, and earlier this year it agreed to buy EE, Britain’s leading mobile operator, for about $19 billion. BT sold its mobile assets in 2001. The company was reselling EE’s mobile service to corporate customers even before it announced plans to buy EE. … Read More
Huawei, China Mobile demonstrate cloud-based VoLTE service
The virtualization of mobile services continues to gain steam as Huawei, a Chinese equipment vendor said it has successfully demonstrated a virtualized voice over LTE solution designed to support China Mobile’s Cloudified VoLTE service. The solution is said to run on Huawei’s off-the-shelf hardware servers and cloud operating system, with the demonstration featuring NFV-based core network elements, a virtualized IP multimedia subsystem, virtualized packet core, virtualized subscriber data management, and virtualized policy and charging rules function. The combination allows customers to personalize their VoLTE service. … Read More
O2 U.K. to be sold for $15.2 billion
Mobile subscribers in the U.K. may soon be served by three major carriers instead of four. Billionaire Li-Kashing of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa, which owns Three, has reached a deal to buy O2 U.K. from Telefónica. Last summer, Li-Kashing’s Hutchison Whampoa bought O2 in Ireland, which was also owned by Telefónica. Three is owned by Hutchison Whampoa in both the U.K. and Ireland. If the $15.2 billion purchase goes through, it will be Great Britain’s second major wireless carrier acquisition announced this year. In February, BT said it will buy the nation’s largest mobile operator, EE, for $19 billion. … Read More
Verizon down in 2014 but execs way up
Despite a down year financially, Verizon Communications’ executive compensation packages increased in 2014. According to a proxy filing, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam pocketed $18.3 million in total compensation last year, including $12 million in stock options on top of his $1.5 million base salary. That was a nearly 16% increase in total compensation compared with 2013. CFO Fran Shammo picked up just under $6.5 million in total compensation, which was a 9% year-over-year increase, including $815,385 in salary and $4.3 million in stock options. … Read More
Ericsson to cut more jobs, this time in Ireland
After announcing plans to cut 2,200 jobs in Sweden earlier this month, networking/software company Ericsson last week told staff at its Dublin facility that 71 more cuts would impact its local workforce. Ericsson has about 1,500 employees in Ireland and reportedly hopes to achieve the reductions through attrition, according to The Irish Times. Traoloch Collins, managing director of Ericsson Ireland, said the reductions are part of an “ongoing transformation as an ICT company.” … Read More
T-Mobile US found to ‘chill’ employee rights
T-Mobile US had its labor practices dinged by the National Labor Relations Board, which found that wording in an employee handbook might prevent workers from organizing or discussing work-related problems. The National Labor Relations Board was looking into claims that T-Mobile US’ employee handbook contains conditions that limit employees from discussions of topics in the book with people not employed by the carrier. That wording states: “This Employee Handbook is for the sole use by employees of T-Mobile and its U.S. based affiliates and subsidiaries. This Handbook is a confidential and proprietary Company document, and must not be disclosed to or used by any third party without the prior written consent of the Company.” … Read More
Lessons learned from FirstNet early builders
The early pioneers in public safety LTE broadband shared some of their experiences in a panel discussion at IWCE 2015, and some of their pain points – probably unsurprisingly – sounded like those of commercial mobile operators, including opposition to tower siting impacting deployment timelines and anxiety from some first responders about exposure to radio frequencies from new sites. Each of the five agencies with spectrum lease agreements with FirstNet – including federal grantees LA-RICS; the states of New Mexico and New Jersey; Adams County, Colo.’s AdComm; and non-grantee Harris County, Texas, which participated in the panel – have specific areas of “key learning conditions” of their agreements that are supposed to provide useful planning information for the national network. … Read More
LightSquared could repay Dish chairman $1.5B
Three years into a bankruptcy filing, would-be wireless network operator LightSquared this week laid out a plan that would repay investor Charles Ergen, chairman of Dish Network, $1.5 billion. LightSquared raised significant financing for its plan to offer millions of people LTE service using a hybrid terrestrial/satellite network, but filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012 after it was unable to garner clearance from the Federal Communications Commission to use its 1.6 GHz spectrum holdings. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
