Alltel Corp. selected Oz Communications Inc.'s mobile instant messaging solution to power its new Axcess Instant Messaging service. The BREW-based solution gives Alltel customers access to AOL's instant messaging service and Yahoo Inc.'s Messenger service in a mobile format that closely mirrors the PC...
MONTREAL—Alltel Corp. selected Oz Communications Inc.’s mobile instant messaging solution to power its new Axcess Instant Messaging service. The BREW-based solution gives Alltel customers access to AOL’s instant messaging service and Yahoo Inc.’s Messenger service in a mobile format that closely mirrors the PC...
NEW YORK—Speedus Inc., a holding company that owns wireless spectrum, has sued Alltel Corp. over alleged patent infringements involving the transmission of television to a wireless phone. According to Speedus, the technologies involved include those used to "transmit televison to wireless users over cellular...
Verizon Wireless announced that 95 percent of its customers are using location-capable handsets. Verizon Wireless is the first carrier using a handset-based approach to E-911 to meet the FCC's 95-percent threshold. However, it did so six months after the Federal Communications Commission's deadline of...
"News of my death has been greatly exaggerated," Mark Twain is said to have written in 1897, when he remained hale and hearty. Qualcomm Inc. has taken a page from Twain and added a biblical twist, as it hails its new incarnation of BREW...
The nationwide investigation into executive stock-option grants seems to be widening daily. And some major players in wireless are coming under the microscope. At issue is the practice of retroactively changing dates stock-option grants become effective. Stock options-allowing employees to purchase shares of the...
SAN DIEGO—U.S. Cellular Corp. signed on to use Qualcomm Inc.’s BREW-based handset customization interface, uiOne. Qualcomm’s uiOne is already in use at Sprint Nextel Corp, the nation’s third-largest carrier with more than 40 million subscribers, and at Alltel Corp., the nation’s fifth-largest carrier with...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission said it will not investigate whether telephone companies violated consumer-privacy laws by reportedly releasing millions of phone records to a U.S. spy agency. In a letter released Tuesday, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said an inability to obtain classified material would...
BEDFORD, Mass.—Prepaid services provider Boston Communications Group Inc. appears to be the latest wireless company to fall under suspicion for questionably timed stock-options grants. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, BCGI approved stock-options grants to senior executives three times during a...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission late Friday abruptly delayed the advanced wireless services auction until Aug. 9, saying applicants needed more time to prepare for the government's sale of 1,122 wireless licenses. The FCC made no mention of a petition for expedited reconsideration of DE...
During the past several years, the four national U.S. carriers have whittled away the number of price plans they offer to consumers, dropped low-end plans and largely come into lock-step with each other on service plan price points. On the other hand, the cost...
Verizon Wireless beat out the rest of the industry in serving business customers, landing at the top of J.D. Power and Associates' second annual survey of business wireless satisfaction. Verizon Wireless had an index ranking of 711 on a 1,000-point scale and had "particularly...
MOUNT VERNON, Ill.-Southern Illinois Cellular Corp., which does business as First Cellular of Southern Illinois, said that it had sold its interests in the Illinois RSA 6 and 7 Partnership to Verizon Wireless and Alhambra-Grantfork Cellular Telephone Co. The two RSAs cover 433,000 potential...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission abruptly delayed the advanced wireless services auction until Aug. 9, saying applicants needed more time to prepare for the government’s sale of 1,122 wireless licenses. The FCC was to have begun the AWS auction June 29, but intense controversy over...
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.—Verizon Wireless beat out the rest of the industry in serving business customers, landing at the top of J.D. Power and Associates’ second annual survey of business wireless satisfaction. Verizon Wireless had an index ranking of 711 on a 1,000-point scale and...
LEXINGTON, Ky.—Alltel Corp. and the Communications Workers of America union have signed a new three-year contract that covers about 350 employees in Kentucky. The current contract between Alltel and members of CWA Locals 3371 and 3372 expires June 7. The employees handle local telephone...
MT. VERNON, Ill.—A small carrier freshly acquired by Alltel Corp. announced that it sold its limited partnership interest in two Illinois rural service areas. Southern Illinois Cellular Corp., which does business as First Cellular of Southern Illinois, said that it had sold its interests...
WASHINGTON-With the advanced wireless services auction quickly approaching and companies largely silent about their bidding intentions, controversy and uncertainty are slowly beginning to dominate an event billed as one of the biggest and most import sales of public airwaves in years. Already a health-related...
PALM SPRINGS, Calif.-Data holds the promise of new services and new revenues, and speakers at last week's Rural Cellular Association conference emphasized the importance of those revenues-and the importance of small carriers not falling behind as national operators turn to ever-faster technology. CTIA President...
PALM SPRINGS, Calif.-Alltel Corp. last week expanded its role as the go-to roaming carrier, announcing major reciprocal roaming agreements with Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Sprint Nextel Corp. that put the nation's fifth-largest operator in a position to provide voice and data roaming for as...
WASHINGTON—The Sprint Nextel Corp.-cable TV joint venture today took the first step toward competing for spectrum at the advanced wireless services auction this summer, a move with implications for the No. 3 mobile phone carrier and cable TV operators as they attempt to strengthen...
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Rural carrier Alltel Corp. beefed up its coverage through a pair of nationwide reciprocal roaming agreements with larger rivals Sprint Nextel Corp. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. Alltel’s 10-year deal with Sprint Nextel begins July 1 and covers CDMA voice services along with...
Wireless drove revenue growth at Alltel Corp. and aided Qwest Communications International Inc. with success in bundling services in the first quarter of 2006, but regional wireless operator SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc. had a rough quarter and was roundly punished for it by Wall...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms. Click here for wireless ratings from past weeks from RCR Wireless News. CarrierRBC Capital Markets lowered its 2006 EPS estimate on Alltel Corp. to $3.36...
