Nokia asked a European court to strike down Qualcomm patents, while Sprint moved on expanding WiMAX and EV-DO Rev. A deployments … 10 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!
Nokia ratchets up legal tussle against Qualcomm with Euro filings
Nokia Corp. is asking European courts to declare Qualcomm Inc.’s patents in Europe “exhausted,” freeing the Finnish mobile phone maker to sell handsets in Europe containing chips by Texas Instruments Inc. on which Nokia otherwise would owe royalties to Qualcomm. Nokia cited a patent portfolio license between Qualcomm and TI, made in 2000, that appeared to be the legal justification for the phone maker’s request to two European courts, one in Mannheim, Germany, the other in the Hague District Court in The Netherlands. … Read More
Sprint Nextel pushes WiMAX, Rev. A deployments
Sprint Nextel Corp. and Nokia Corp. are partnering to launch the carrier’s mobile WiMAX network in four Texas markets to provide customers with wireless broadband access. Nokia said it will supply the WiMAX network infrastructure in Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. Service is expected to be available during the first half of 2008, and the network is expected to cover about 100 million potential customers by the end of next year. Along with network equipment, Nokia said it also will develop WiMAX-enabled mobile devices such as multimedia computers and Internet tablets, which will be available in 2008. … Read More
OnStar may bleed subscribers: Cellular providers drop analog for digital; Lexus and Mercedes are also at risk
General Motors must dump 10 percent of its OnStar subscribers-about 500,000 users-because OnStar must cut off service to vehicles equipped with outdated analog telematics equipment. Next year, cellular phone service companies-which provide OnStar with its communications link to customers-are completing the transition from analog to digital service. When the switch occurs on Jan. 1, OnStar risks losing customers who purchased a GM vehicle before the 2003 model year. That’s when OnStar introduced digital telematics service. … Read More
Silicon Valley group pushes for white space access: Provides compliant Wi-Fi device in attempt to sway FCC to make spectrum unlicensed
High-tech and electronic giants last week gave the Federal Communications Commission a Wi-Fi device to test that they said can operate in vacant television frequencies without disrupting high definition TV signals. Thus, the product could ratchet up the stakes in a battle between Silicon Valley and the powerful broadcast lobby over the possibility of injecting additional unlicensed spectrum into the market. The coalition is urging the FCC to conduct its own tests using the device, designed to operate across frequency bands 54 MHz to 698 MHz (TV channels 2-51). The upper end of the TV band is adjacent to spectrum being transferred from TV operators to public-safety agencies. … Read More
AT&T settles CPUC claims, agrees to pay $30M
AT&T Inc., which controls the nation’s largest mobile-phone carrier Cingular, agreed pay more than $30 million and withdraw a U.S. Supreme Court challenge to end a highly controversial, seven-year-old case at the California Public Utilities Commission. In addition to the record $12.14 million fine levied by the CPUC in 2004 and later upheld by state courts, AT&T, which acquired complete control of Cingular earlier this year when it purchased former joint-venture partner BellSouth Corp., will refund consumers approximately $18.5 million in early-termination fees collected from former customers from January 2000 through April 2002. AT&T also must contract with an independent claims administrator to review claims for refunds of additional ETFs paid by former customers to AT&T wireless agents for which records of payment no longer exist. ETFs-charged to subscribers to break service contracts-typically range between $150 and $200 per line. … Read More
Shentel settles with Sprint Nextel, scores Nextel stores
Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. announced it has settled its legal battle with Sprint Nextel Corp. The affiliate said it reached new agreements with the national carrier that include the transfer of former Nextel operations to Shentel, within its territory. Shentel said that the new agreement provides: a “greatly simplified, long-term plan” for settling revenue and expenses; the transfer of Nextel stores and employees within Shentel’s service area to Shentel, pending any required landlord consents; the ability for Shentel to sell iDEN products and services, as well as provide local iDEN customer service. … Read More
Nokia Siemens Networks to go live April 1
The infrastructure market will see another combined entity step onto the playing field April 1, the date Nokia Siemens Networks announced it will formally begin operations. Nokia Siemens Networks gets started just four months after the combination of Alcatel SA and Lucent Technologies Inc. launched its combined operations. “In the consolidating telecommunications market Nokia Siemens Networks will offer customers cost-saving, leading-edge solutions that will also optimally meet their needs with regards to convergence,” said Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. Nokia’s Simon Beresford-Wylie will head the joint venture. … Read More
Microsoft acquires Tellme for voice services
Software giant Microsoft Corp. announced it acquired voice-services company Tellme Networks Inc., which offers a variety of speech-recognition services for cellphones and other platforms. Microsoft said it will integrate the company’s offerings into its various desktop computer products as well as its nascent Live Search services, which are available on the Internet and cellphones. The deal had been hinted at in various media reports earlier this week. The companies did not release financial details of the transaction, but media reports indicate the purchase price was as high as $800 million. … Read More
Ericsson announces support for EDGE Evolution standard
L.M. Ericsson announced it will support the recently approved EDGE Evolution network standard, which the company said can support data speeds of up to 1 megabit per second. “EDGE Evolution builds on 3GPP’s industry standardization of agreed technology improvements and reflects Ericsson’s prediction that the current trend towards EDGE-capable GSM networks and terminals is set to continue,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, an Ericsson VP. Ericsson said it will launch commercial EDGE Evolution products by 2009. … Read More
Disney exec: Wireless to be part of multitasking future
Social networking sites and user-generated content have taken the driver’s seat in the world of digital media, Michael Stroud, CEO and co-founder of iHollywood Forum, said in opening remarks at the Digital Media Summit in Hollywood. “Hollywood’s stock and trade generally is passive content,” he said, but interactive, multitasking media is what’s leading the trend today. In his opening keynote address, Disney Online executive Paul Yanover said this new approach and desire for feature-rich, immersive content has “hit its stride very recently.” … Read More
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