Sprint taps Google Apps to bolster enterprise service, while Broadcom announced plans to slash 2,500 jobs … 2 years ago this week
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!
Sprint bundles Google Apps into enterprise service
You can forgive the enterprise space for getting a big head as it seems a day has not gone by in which some new mobile enterprise partnership or solution has not been announced. The latest ego-boosting move was made by Sprint, which said beginning in August it will offer Google Apps for Business through the carrier’s business channels. Sprint said the deal will allow it to support business adoption of Google’s cloud-based services. … Read More
Broadcom to cut 2,500 jobs
With no buyer in sight for its cellular baseband unit, Broadcom (BRCM) has decided to wind down the business and lay off 2,500 people. The company made the announcement during its third quarter earnings call yesterday, noting that 250 sales and administrative employees have already been let go. Broadcom announced its plans to exit the baseband business early this summer, hiring J.P. Morgan to look for a buyer. The chipmaker has about 5% of the cellular baseband market, which is dominated by its California neighbor Qualcomm, and increasingly by Taiwan’s MediaTek. … Read More
FCC looks to generate more than $10B from AWS-3 spectrum auction
The Federal Communications Commission rounded out rules for the upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction, with reserved pricing for the 65 megahertz of total spectrum up for bid set at more than $10 billion. The auction will include a total of 1,614 licenses made up of 50 megahertz of paired licensed spectrum in the 1755-1780/2155-2180 MHz bands and 15 megahertz of unpaired spectrum in the 1695-1710 MHz band. The proceedings, which will be known as Auction 97, is scheduled to begin on Nov. 13, with those looking to participate having to turn in short-form applications by Sept. 12. … Read More
Facebook’s Q2 shows major move toward mobile
Facebook and its millions of users love mobile devices. The social media giant’s second quarter results showed a huge increase in mobile users — and mobile revenue. The company had a good quarter, beating market expectations with $2.91 billion in revenue, an increase of 61% over the the same quarter of 2013. An average of 829 million people used Facebook daily in June, an increase of 19% year-over-year. Impressive, but mobile Facebook users increased 39%, rising to an average of 654 million daily. … Read More
AT&T shows strong postpaid growth, finances impacted by Next, Mobile Share
AT&T reported solid customer growth for the second quarter, boosted by strong postpaid subscriber additions, through it saw its financial performance impacted by the robust adoption of its device financing and shared data plans. The carrier said it added 634,000 total connections to its network during the quarter, which was just a touch more than 632,000 connections added last year. The most recent growth was led by postpaid subscriptions, which counted more than one million net additions, or nearly double what the carrier posted during the second quarter of last year. However, a steep decline in direct prepaid net additions and “connected devices” resulted in the carrier’s flat year-over-year growth. … Read More
Bluegrass Cellular touts LTE roll out progress as part of Verizon Wireless rural program
Regional wireless provider Bluegrass Cellular touted significant progress in its LTE deployment plans, noting that at the end of the second quarter it covered 80.7% of its core network in central Kentucky with LTE services. That coverage equals more than 7,000 square miles and more than 620,000 potential customers covered.
Bluegrass Cellular’s initial LTE coverage is part of its LTE in Rural America agreement signed with Verizon Wireless back in late 2010. That agreement called for Verizon Wireless to lease upper C-Block 700 MHz wireless spectrum in the Bluegrass Cellular service areas where Verizon Wireless has not constructed a network. The program relies on tower and backhaul assets from rural operators, with Verizon Wireless offering up 22 megahertz of wireless spectrum and core LTE equipment. The deal also provides for a reciprocal roaming arrangement between the parties. Verizon Wireless has signed up more than a dozen operators to the program, which has helped the carrier expand its LTE footprint to cover more than 305 million pops. … Read More
Cell towers and the ‘silent majority’
What’s the best way to protest a proposed cell tower in your neighborhood? You could contact your city’s leaders by calling or emailing them. And if your first impulse is to do that from your smartphone, you see the problem your protest is likely to encounter. Across the country, citizens who would prefer not to see new cell towers near their property are running up against the reality of their own demand for mobile broadband. City officials hear protests about the risk to health and property values that cell towers represent, but they also hear complaints about poor cellular coverage from voters and businesses. … Read More
iPhone helps Apple ring in $7.7 billion profit
International demand for the iPhone led to another strong quarter for Apple. The company posted $37.4 billion in revenue and a net profit of $7.7 billion for its third quarter ending on June 28. The results both were increases from the same quarter last year when the company posted $35.3 billion in revenue and a net profit of $6.9 billion. In a conference call with investors, top executives at the Cupertino, Calif.-based, company attributed the growth to the sales of iPhones, Mac computers and Apple’s services such as iTunes. International sales accounted for 59% of the quarter’s revenue. … Read More
Policy: Open Internet proceeding draws more than 1M comments
The Federal Communications Commission’s ongoing Open Internet proceedings have drawn considerable interest from all sides. As of late last week, the FCC claimed it had received more than one million public comments, including those from telecom operators. The FCC had initially set a July 15 cut-off date for comments, but extended that to July 18, citing the impact the high number of public comments being filed was having on its systems’ ability to handle the load. “Because of high volume with the commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System, some parties are experiencing difficulties accessing ECFS,” the FCC noted. … Read More
Verizon Wireless reports strong Q2 growth
Following up on comments earlier this month, Verizon Wireless said it added 1.427 million direct customers during the recently completed second quarter, made up entirely of lucrative postpaid subscribers. That growth was a 40% improvement over Q2 2013 results and was the strongest quarterly growth posted by the carrier since late 2012. Verizon Wireless noted that it actually added 1.441 million postpaid customers during the latest quarter, but that it lost 14,000 direct prepaid subscribers. The prepaid defections could spell good news for rivals like AT&T Mobility, which recently re-launched its prepaid services under the Cricket banner, as well as Sprint, which has relied heavily on its numerous prepaid offerings to prop up operations. Verizon Wireless ended the quarter with 104.6 million total direct connections on its network. … Read More
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