BEDFORD, Mass.—Boston Communications Group Inc. said the settlement of all patent litigation brought against it by Freedom Wireless has been completed. The two companies announced a settlement in July that called for BCGI to pay $55.3 million for licensing rights to Freedom Wireless’ patents....
Sprint Nextel Corp. is doing a fair job of imitating a punching bag, getting pummeled left and right by sliding stock prices, gloomy predictions and integration issues. But while things look rocky for the carrier in the short term and analysts aren't holding out...
Freedom Wireless Inc. scored another licensing agreement as Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. agreed to use the patent holding company's prepaid wireless billing technology. The agreement resolves Freedom's claims of patent infringement against the mobile virtual network operator-a joint venture between Richard Branson's Virgin Group...
Mobile porn is slowly finding an audience among U.S. mobile users. And network operators are trying to figure out how to cash in. Adult wireless content is gaining substantial traction around the world as content providers find a market for everything from titillating mobile...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. raised the price it charges users to send a text message to 15 cents, up from a previous price of 10 cents. The carrier also added a cent to the cost of "casual" data usage, increasing the per-kilobyte price...
LONDON—Wireless giant Vodafone Group plc selected two U.S. companies to manage its application development and maintenance services around the world. Vodafone chose to outsource the operations to EDS and IBM Corp. after an eight-month process and 11 competitive bidders. The companies will write code...
It happens to nearly everyone: you check your wireless bill at the end of the month, and you've gone over your minutes. Maybe by a few, maybe by a few hundred. Perhaps you vow to cut down on calls, or switch to a calling...
WASHINGTON—GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation to allow California wireless and wireline telecom subscribers to contest unauthorized billing charges, including those arising from the theft or loss of mobile phones. Schwarzenegger's veto is a big victory for the mobile-phone industry, which opposed the bill...
Sprint Nextel announced that it will sell the Motorola Slvr, Krzr and Razr sometime in "early November." We're trying to figure out exactly why Sprint Nextel issued this press release. Why didn't Sprint Nextel just wait until the phones were actually available before they...
LONDON—Wireless giant Vodafone Group plc selected two U.S. companies to manage its application development and maintenance services around the world. Vodafone chose to outsource the operations to EDS and IBM Corp. after an eight-month process and 11 competitive bidders. The companies will write code...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
WASHINGTON—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) vetoed legislation to allow California wireless and wireline telecom subscribers to contest unauthorized billing charges, including those arising from the theft or loss of mobile phones. Schwarzenegger’s veto is a big victory for the mobile phone industry, which opposed the...
WASHINGTON-Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) chairman of the House Commerce Committee, shocked, surprised and pleased lawmakers during two days of hearings on pretexting by announcing that a long-stalled bill to make the sale of telephone records illegal could come up for a vote at any...
The brave new world of wireless advertising is giving rise to a wide variety of business arrangements between network operators, content owners and mobile marketing firms. And carriers are working to ensure their place in the value chain. Marketing messages on the wireless Web...
NASHVILLE, Tenn.-Tower industry officials last week said lessons learned from last year's horrific storms have made them better prepared for the next big one. Speaking at PCIA's wireless infrastructure convention, tower executives outlined how they have improved all aspects of disaster planning and response...
WASHINGTON—A California state appeals court has reinstated a wireless billing suit against Sprint Nextel Corp. A trial court threw out the case last year.The appeals court ruling turned on the determination that the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights had legal standing to pursue...
WASHINGTON--The recent scandal at Hewlett-Packard Co.--where executives collected the phone records of board members to ascertain who had been speaking with the news media--is the impetus needed to push a bill onto the House floor requiring carriers to better protect telecommunications customer call records...
WASHINGTON--The Federal Communications Commission and major mobile-phone carriers asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider last month's decision vacating agency truth-in-billing regulations that pre-empt states from regulating line items on subscribers' monthly bills. "The panel opinion improperly rejected the FCC's pre-emption...
WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin confirmed the agency is investigating AT&T Corp. in connection with deceptive means used to obtain the phone records of Hewlett-Packard Co. board members and journalists covering the company. The mushrooming scandal prompted HP Chairman Patricia Dunn to resign...
LOS ANGELES—Mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile announced it will begin selling advertising spots within its video content offerings. The carrier said it partnered with advertising vendor Rhythm NewMedia for the service. Procter & Gamble will be the first to advertise in the space....
Telecom operators around the world lose about 12 percent of their revenue on average to factors ranging from internal and external fraud to bundling and the billing complications that providing multiple services brings. That figure reflects a slight increase from 11.6 percent in 2005,...
WASHINGTON—Telecom-reform legislation likely won't pass this year, much to the delight of consumer advocates who urged lawmakers to remove language from the bill that would pre-empt states from regulating wireless services. "If you pass this, you will hurt the consumers you are trying to...
WASHINGTON—A new federal pre-emption battle has broken out at the Federal Communications Commission between two small wireless companies and Qwest Corp. The small carriers are asking telecom regulators to intervene by barring five state public utility commissions from further involvement in interconnection arbitration problems...
Valista Ltd. is vying for more space on the mobile payments playground with a hosted, WAP-based offering for carriers in the United States and Europe. The Dublin, Ireland-based developer this week plans to unveil a new platform designed to serve as a bridge between...
