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 those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Leap Wireless struggles with its debt
SAN DIEGO, United States-U.S. operator Leap Wireless International has retained UBS Warburg to help the carrier explore new sources of financing and restructuring for its debt and said it will begin discussions with creditor groups in the near future to address the financial challenges facing the company. Leap said it believes it should be able to continue to operate through the process. “In light of the company’s high level of debt and the restricted availability of the capital markets, we believe that hiring UBS Warburg and pursuing the alternatives available to us are in the best interest of the company and all of its stakeholders,” said Harvey White, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Leap. Further stressing its financial position, Leap also announced it intends to issue approximately 21 million shares to MCG PCS as part of an arbitrator’s settlement agreement concerning Leap’s purchase of spectrum licenses in Buffalo and Syracuse, New York. Leap said the issuance of shares to MCG will probably cause it to fail to comply with, and to require waivers of or amendments to, its vendor credit agreements in the near term. … Read more
Combatting mobile scams overseas
TOKYO and DUBLIN, Ireland-Mobile operators around the globe are feeling the negative effects of scam efforts by third-party companies. Operators and regulatory agencies alike are beginning to fight back against the increasing problem. NTT DoCoMo, the largest mobile operator in Japan, announced it will launch countermeasures against phone scam. Wangiri, or mobile-phone scam, is a big issue in the Japanese telecommunications market. Some ill-mind businesses dial phone numbers randomly using a computer system and hang up after one ring, leaving a number on the customer’s mobile handset. When a mobile-phone user sees the number and returns a call to the number, the line is automatically connected to a tape soliciting business. Because these businesses make so many free wangiri calls, NTT telephone networks have gone down a couple of times during the past months. … Read more
China sees a CDMA surge
BEIJING-The number of China Unicom’s CDMA subscribers broke the 2 million mark on 15 August, according to the company. On 10 June, Unicom counted 1 million CDMA users, showing a fast increase in subscriber figures. In July, the company added 460,000 subscribers. At the end of July, the number of fixed-line users stood at 201 million and mobile-phone users numbered 180 million. In the first seven months, 20.65 million new subscribers signed up for fixed-line services, while 35.1 million joined a mobile network. … Read more
Nearly 10 million mobile users access the internet
RESTON, Virginia, United States-According to new findings from ComScore Networks, the audience for the wireless Web is becoming big enough that digital marketers should stand up and take interest. According to the firm, almost 10 million U.S. wired Internet users also accessed the wireless Internet using a mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA). Although only 5.8 million online users who own mobile phones accessed Internet information using their phones out of a total of 67.2 million, a significant 5 million of the nation’s 19 million PDA owners accessed the Internet with their devices. … Read more
China sees a CDMA surge
BEIJING-The number of China Unicom’s CDMA subscribers broke the 2 million mark on 15 August, according to the company. On 10 June, Unicom counted 1 million CDMA users, showing a fast increase in subscriber figures. In July, the company added 460,000 subscribers. At the end of July, the number of fixed-line users stood at 201 million and mobile-phone users numbered 180 million. In the first seven months, 20.65 million new subscribers signed up for fixed-line services, while 35.1 million joined a mobile network. … Read more
China welcomes Russian mobile operators
BEIJING-Following the seventh regular meeting between Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and his Russian counterpart Michael Kasyanov in Beijing, it was decided “to create favorable conditions for information and telecom cooperation between the two countries and provide support for Russian mobile telecom operators to enter the Chinese telecom service market.” Other aspects of increased cooperation, as reported on the People’s Daily Web site on 22 August, were also outlined in a joint communique published at the end of Kasyanov’s visit. … Read more
Open Mobile Alliance releases its first specs for mobile content
ROME-The Open Mobile Alliance-a massive, overarching wireless standards group formed in June-released its first set of technical specifications for public review, covering the increasingly popular area of content downloading.In developing the specifications, OMA worked with other standards organizations from across the wireless spectrum, including the GSM Association, CDMA Development Group and the Java Community Process. The specifications outline the protocols for the distribution and download of content to mobile handsets. The specifications also cover protocols and rules for copyright protection.However, the group’s efforts may be a little late. Carriers across the world have already started offering downloadable content, using either Sun Microsystems’ Java 2 Micro Edition standard or Qualcomm’s BREW application download service. Sprint PCS and U.K. giant MmO2 are the latest to offer such services. … Read more
Bidding starts for 700 MHz C, D blocks
WASHINGTON-Aloha Partners LP has made the highest bids in the first two rounds of the 700 MHz C- and D-blocks auction, which began on Tuesday. Aloha Partners bid nearly $5 million for the Pacific economic area group license and more than $3 million for the Los-Angeles-Anaheim, Calif., consolidated (statistical) market area license. DataCom Wireless L.L.C. bid almost $3 million for the New York-Newark, N.J., CMA license. At the end of round two, gross bids totaled nearly $52 million with all bidders still active. Aloha has made 24 high bids totaling more than $11 million. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
