Many people who take time to look at their wireless phone bills have noticed the words "universal service" as a line item. This is often the highest tax on a phone bill. It's used to fund federal programs that support phone service for low-income...
IHS report found only a small percentage of telecom operators are running IMS in NFV environments
IP multimedia subsystems are seen by many as a stepping stone into the world of network functions virtualization, although a recent report from IHS found just 8% of global...
WASHINGTON – A new poll by research group Gallup indicates that most Americans keep their smartphone with them every second of their life.
According to the poll, which included 16,000 people across all 50 states, 81% said they kept their smartphone with them at all...
Spirent Communications launched a new test system for the connected car this week. The Automotive Record and Playback test system lets developers of automotive systems record real-world signals and plays them back in a lab environment, and Spirent said that the approach “complements the...
Soon to come: tweets from Mount Fuji
The demand to stay connected has reached new heights. After an avalanche of requests from hikers, the highest point in Japan will soon have a Wi-Fi connection as Japanese officials begin to install free hot spots on Mount...
IBM unveils 7-nanometer node chips
A partnership with Samsung, GlobalFoundries and the state of New York has helped IBM achieve a major advance in semiconductor technology. Today the company said that it has produced working chips using a 7-nanometer node process.
Smaller process nodes can dramatically...
WASHINGTON – Amid labor negotiations with some 38,000 union employees, Verizon Communications is prepping for a potential work stoppage by training more than 15,000 nonunion employees to take over in the event of a strike.
Verizon is working on a three-year contract with representatives from...
Airline partners with ViaSat to harness satellite-based Wi-Fi rather than ground-based connectivity
Airline Virgin America, owned by billionaire Richard Branson, this week announced a partnership with ViaSat that promises to bring in-plane Wi-Fi with enough throughput to support streaming-video applications like Netflix or HBO Go.
At...
It's been less than a year since SAC Wireless became part of Nokia, and the company has already executed its plan to expand its network services footprint with Nokia behind it. Illinois-based SAC now serves carrier customers on both coasts and in many markets...
Boost Mobile, Amp’d founder now heads action-camera startup
The domestic market’s infatuation with mobile virtual network operators looks to be on an upswing as mobile carriers look to partner with new brands in order to reach niche market segments and drive revenue from incremental usage...
Singapore regulators are poised to do what the Federal Communications Commission is reluctant to do in the U.S. In order to entice a fourth mobile operator to enter the market, Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority is proposing to lower the reserve price for a new...
AT&T working on PoC for software-defined storage using SDN, NFV and cloud
AT&T is looking to take advantage of its push into network virtualization using software-defined networking, network functions virtualization and cloud to bolster storage opportunities.
The telecom giant said it has created a proof-of-concept technology...
New report from Juniper Research predicts 55% increase in adult video consumption by 2020
Adult video content is set to explode across the mobile space, with a new report suggesting each smartphone user that accesses such content will watch nearly one adult video each day...
WiredWest trying to fund $79M build-out that would bring fiber to 32 towns
As entrenched cable companies, as well as disruptive new entrants, work to rollout fiber-to-the-home connections, 22 Massachusetts towns are taking control of their own destinies.
WiredWest is a cooperative put together to build...
Sierra Wireless announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MobiquiThings in a move to expand its presence in the European market. The acquisition is expected to be completed by August.
Although Sierra Wireless is a well-known name in the world of embedded...
Continuing RCR Wireless News' examination of some of the publicly available testing results for the co-existence of LTE over unlicensed spectrum, we look at testing done by the LTE-U Forum and CableLabs. For more information on the LTE-U testing performed by Qualcomm, Google and...
Brazil was chosen by Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi as the company’s first market outside Asia to hold operations and manufacturing locally, which will be handled by Foxconn. Xiaomi begins its operations betting on direct sales —at least for now, the privately held company will...
Jibe Mobile today announced its partnership with SFR to offer native RCS devices providing applications via the cloud. SFR said it will be providing rich communications suite-based native messaging for Samsung and Sony Mobile smartphones supported by Jibe’s communications cloud.
Native devices have been one...
The Indian telco currently offers 3G in almost 10,000 towns and cities; 4G LTE also expanding
Indian telecommunications operator Bharti Airtel plans to invest $1 billion during fiscal year 2015, ending March 2016, to expand its 3G network infrastructure and coverage across the country, according...
Pay phones are being replaced by Wi-Fi access points in LinkNYC project
An ambitious project to bring super high-speed public Wi-Fi to all five boroughs of New York City envisions replacing some 10,000 antiquated phone booths with so-called Links.
The LinkNYC project, which has the full...
It’s finally done. As of 2 a.m. the EU has brokered a deal to ban all EU roaming charges by 2017. The deal is part of the Europe 2020 initiative and belongs to an effort entitled Connected Continent. The Latvians led this compromise among the...
Elon Musk's SpaceX suffered a setback this weekend when its Falcon 9 rocket burst into flames just two minutes after takeoff. The cargo craft had no astronauts on board and no one was hurt by the explosion.
"There was an overpressure event in the upper...
Huawei launches 9 NFV and SDN platforms; Masergy goes live; and OpenDaylight unveils Lithium
Network infrastructure provider Huawei continued its push into the virtualized world, announcing nine software-defined networking and network functions virtualization platforms at the recent Open Networking Summit 2015 event.
Three of the platforms...
Lack of fiber availability brings radio and microwave solutions to the forefront
Densification in metro networks becomes increasingly challenging largely due to limited real estate and fiber access. This trend has forced the evolution of radio backhaul technology as evidenced by Fastback Networks’ IBR, which...