The Federal Communications Commission said 214 applicants qualified to bid in the 700 MHz auction set to begin Jan. 24. Internet search engine giant Google Inc. joins a mix of leading mobile-phone carriers, cable and satellite TV operators and rural telephone companies in competition...
Alltel Corp. unveiled a service that will allow customers to remotely synch their mobile phones with home digital music libraries. The offering, which is powered by Celltop and uses mSpot's Remix player, provides access to non-DRM protected songs on PCs. The media player downloads...
Alltel Corp. announced it is expanding its "My Circle" feature to be included in more calling plans. The feature, which allows customers to call wireless subscribers from any carrier of their choice without pulling from their monthly bucket of minutes, will now be available...
A judge has refused to grant a temporary restraining order that would have forced Alltel Wireless to drop an advertisement.The commercial, which hit the air last year, implies that Verizon Wireless (among other carriers) requires users to extend their contract in order to make...
Verizon Wireless filed a civil suit against Alltel Corp., accusing the No. 5 carrier of false advertising. Verizon Wireless' suit takes issue with an Alltel ad that claimed "only Alltel gives wireless customers the ability to change their calling plans without having to extend...
Mobile entertainment publisher Twistbox Entertainment Inc. plans to go public through a reverse merger with Mandalay Media Inc., a Los Angeles-based shell company.Twistbox boasts more than 100 carrier partners including Verizon Wireless, Alltel Corp., Orange and Vodafone Group plc., and specializes in "for prizes"...
The Federal Communications Commission said it received 266 applications for the 700 MHz auction, with small and rural telephone companies dominating a field that also includes leading mobile-phone operators, Google Inc., EchoStar Satellite L.L.C., and some surprises.
Click here for complete 700 MHz auction coverage.
Nearly...
Alltel Wireless launched its Voice2TXT service, which allows customers receive their voicemails in SMS format. The carrier announced in September that it had signed a deal with technology provider SpinVox to provide the voice-to-SMS conversion capability. Today marks the commercial launch of the service,...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Current Analysis' Avi Greengart, Jupiter Research's...
Consumers ranked wireless carriers as providing a less useful and enjoyable customer experience than retailers and credit-card companies, but better than TV service providers and medical insurance providers, according to a recent survey of nearly 5,000 consumers by Forrester Research.Among companies in nine industries,...
As ringtone revenues descend and full-track mobile music services spin their tires, ringback tones are quietly gaining steam. But they may not be quiet much longer.Ringbacks-audio content that a caller hears instead of a traditional ring before the person being called answers the phone-first...
Alltel Corp. introduced a free mobile shopping service for Research In Motion Ltd. Blackberry users through a partnership with mobile commerce provider Digby. The service gives Blackberry users access to products from a range of retailers including Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Godiva Chocolatier...
Welcome to our Friday feature, Week in Review. Every Friday, RCR Wireless News runs through the major events of the past week, outlining what happened and speculating on what to look for in the coming weeks, months and years. Check below for news about...
More than a dozen small- and medium-sized cellphone carriers raised concerns with key Senate lawmakers about a federal-state panel's recommendation on federal subsidies. The suggestions, made last month, were to temporarily cap federal subsidies for rural wireless deployment as part of a broader effort...
AT&T Mobility could pay up to $76 million in back taxes and legal fees as part of a tax settlement with Missouri cities that won preliminary approval by a state judge in St. Louis. The proposed settlement between AT&T Mobility and approximately 250 cities...
Comverse Inc. said it is teaming with Jamba to power an off-deck ringback tone service for T-Mobile Germany.The carrier will employ Comverse's Fun Broker, an off-deck service that allows content providers to sell ringback tones directly through their portals. The move allows T-Mobile to...
Public-interest and consumer groups asked the Federal Communications Commission to forbid mobile-phone operators from discriminatory interference with text messaging."For many people, texting has replaced calling as a way of keeping in touch," said Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge. "The FCC should...
Patent-holding company Acacia Research Corp. announced settlements with Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. after filing a lawsuit earlier this year through a subsidiary that claimed the operators were violating a patent on synchronizing information on wireless devices. Terms of the deals were...
In its annual rating of wireless service, Consumer Reports christened Verizon Wireless and Alltel Corp. its top picks-and largely panned service from Sprint Nextel Corp.Based on nearly 48,000 responses from Consumer Reports' online subscribers, the magazine ranked the five largest wireless carriers' performance in...
Alltel's 'Best Holiday'Alltel is running a series of animated holiday television advertisements that feature Chad, the Alltel Wireless salesman, as he squares off against the four "Sales Guys" who are trying to ruin Christmas for good boys and girls. In one spot, the Sales...
A federal-state panel recommended that the Federal Communications Commission cap government subsidies for rural wireless deployment as part of a broader effort to reform the swelling universal service fund, an action that if upheld could cost mobile-phone carriers billions of dollars of support.The Federal-State...
Two sources that track American consumers' online research into handsets paint a dual portrait of yearning and practicality this holiday season.While the data differs between the two sources in some respects, common themes arise. There's good news generally for AT&T Mobility and Apple Inc.,...
The Federal Communications Commission approved AT&T's Mobility's $2.8 billion purchase of Dobson Communications Corp., embracing less stringent divestiture requirements than those imposed by Justice Department and the same universal service wireless-cap condition federal regulators worked into the $27.5 billion acquisition of Alltel Corp. by...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier --Standard & Poor's Ratings Services placed the ratings of Leap Wireless International on CreditWatch with negative implications after the company said it plans to...
