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!
Verizon takes LTE nationwide
Verizon Wireless is set to expand its recently unveiled HomeFusion Broadband offering nationwide beginning tomorrow. The service relies on the carrier’s LTE network and was initially announced earlier this year. For Verizon Wireless’ parent company, Verizon Communications, the service will allow it to expand broadband services outside of its current wired footprint. Verizon Wireless’ LTE network currently covers more than 200 million potential customers in 230 markets, and is set to expand to more than 280 million pops covered by the middle of next year. To use the service, consumers will need to purchase a $200 wireless antenna that resembles a metal cylinder mounted outside the home. That antenna will then transmit the LTE signal to an indoor router that will use Wi-Fi to connect up to 20 wireless devices or can be connected to up to four wired connections. Network speeds are marketed at 5 to 12 megabits per second on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink. The antenna has to be professionally installed, though that price is included in the device with Asurion handling the installation. … Read more
Clearwire scores a Qualcomm chip deal
NEW ORLEANS – Clearwire continues it march towards an LTE future, announcing this morning at the CTIA trade show that it had signed a deal with Qualcomm to produce a chipset supporting the carrier’s Band 41 radio frequency in the 2.5 GHz band. Clearwire and Qualcomm noted that the band support would show up in chipsets later this year, with Clearwire noting it expects smartphones embedded with those chipsets ready to hit the market by mid-2013. The move is expected to help Clearwire extend the availability of devices compatible with its planned TDD-LTE network that it’s scheduled to begin rolling out in early 2013. The move is also expected to bolster Sprint Nextel’s LTE plans as the carrier has announced a strong reliance on Clearwire’s LTE plans to provide capacity enhancements in densely populated areas. The announcement followed news earlier this week that Clearwire had reached an agreement with Sequans to work on TDD-LTE “ecosystem” development. Sequans was one of Clearwire’s first chipset partners in the WiMAX space. … Read more
GSMA’s OpenAPI gateway gets adopted in Canada
NEW ORLEANS – The GSM Association announced the commercial launch of its OpenAPI gateway, along with its adoption by a consortium of three mobile network operators in Canada – Bell Canada, Rogers and Telus. The gateway offers application developers the ability to connect to and use a standard set of application programming interfaces (APIs). Because the platform was adopted by several Canadian operators, the gateway will allow applications to operate regardless of which operator network and device the mobile subscriber is using. Per the GSMA, this will result in reduced time to market and integration costs related to designing and rolling out new apps. While the concept of open APIs is not new – Alcatel-Lucent has had an open API service available for nearly two and a half years, while individual operators such as Belgacom have already adopted an open API policy – the GSMA’s release does indicate that this is the first instance of multiple operators in the same market all agreeing to open their APIs in collaboration with each other. According to Lynnette Luna, Senior Analyst at Current Analysis, there are several meaningful implications to today’s news, “Obviously developers want to be able to write an application once and be able to port it across carrier networks and devices. In that sense, this is a positive development since three major Canadian operators have signed on.” Going further, Ana Tavaras Lattibeaudiere, Head of Connected Living at the GSMA told RCR Wireless News that this development in one in a broader context of activities designed to make interaction between carriers and app developers more efficient. … Read more
Scandal at TIM Brazil leads to CEO’s resignation
Luca Luciani, Telecom Italia’s CEO for Brazilian operations (TIM Brazil), has resigned in the wake of allegations that Telecom Italia exaggerated its customer base through the use of irregular SIM cards in Italy. Telecom Italia named its chief financial officer (CFO) Andrea Mangoni as interim CEO for Brazil, a clear indication of Brazil’s importance to the group. Luciani’s resignation occurs on the heels of strong earnings performance, which has bolstered expectations for the company. “Since January 2009, the market share of TIM Brazil grew 3.1%, while its revenue jumped 18.7% in 2011 alone – the largest growth of all operators,” said Marceli Passoni, research analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. “In addition, it has shown excellent results in long distance and data revenues.” However, Luciani’s departure leaves TIM Brazil in a very delicate situation. Luciani stepped down after Italian prosecutors targeted him in an investigation into Telecom Italia’s alleged use of fake client numbers and SIM cards to inflate the appearance of its Italian customer base. Luciani has not been charged with any crime, but his name emerged last month following the conclusion of a five-year probe into the fraudulent activation of about 37,000 SIM cards, some which were issued to deceased or fictitious users. … Read more
The future of chips: Embedded in human brains?
When Intel (INTC) commissioned management consulting firm Booz Allen to write a whitepaper on the future of mobile technology, the world’s largest chip maker probably expected information about voice recognition and “predictive” smartphone applications. But the firm’s research goes a step further, suggesting that in the future mobile devices may not need to “hear” our voices or “watch” our movements, because they may connect directly to our brains. The whitepaper, released to CNN, says that mobile devices will start “melding… directly into the human body” and that the “biological brain will be augmented exponentially.” Its release happened to coincide with Samsung’s launch of its new Galaxy S III smartphone, which Samsung touts as a product that “understands you, (and) share’s what’s in your heart.” Of course, even today’s blazing quad-core processors (produced by Intel’s competitors) are not yet as fast as the human brain. The report notes that processor speeds need to increase significantly before chips are ready to interact directly with the human brain. … Read more
Welcome, Galaxy S III
Describing its new flagship smartphone as “a human product that understands you,” Samsung today launched the Galaxy S III. The new phone will be available through 296 carriers in 145 countries. Samsung says its new phone, which features a huge 4.8 inch screen, will “see, listen, respond and predict our intentions,” and do all of this in 8 different languages. The phone “sees” with its front facing camera, registering whether a user is present or not. It keeps the screen active when it “sees” the user and its voice recognition software allows a user to verbally ask the phone for specific information, such as the weather forecast for a certain city. Samsung, recently crowned the world’s largest mobile phone vendor and leading smartphone maker, is beating Apple’s anticipated iPhone 5 to market by several months. So far the Korean company has yet to produce an iconic device that can capture the public imagination the way the iPhone has, but Samsung is clearly hoping that Galaxy S III will change that. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
