WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said a Minnesota law requiring mobile-phone carriers to give subscribers 60 days' written notice of some proposed contract changes is pre-empted by U.S. law, a finding at odds with a recent district court decision. The statement is the agency's strongest...
ATLANTA-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to cut at least 10 percent of its newly combined staff, or around 7,000 of its 68,000-strong workforce, chief Stan Sigman said. In an interview with the Associated Press, the carrier's chief executive officer said Cingular will start making the...
Recurrent Software Solutions Inc. introduced its VersaBill automated bill formatting system. The product allows companies to streamline their electronic billing in a format that meets their specifications, said the company. Once the electronic format is established, VersaBill creates code to parse the format for...
WASHINGTON-Sprint PCS was granted eligible telecommunications carrier status for parts of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, making it able to collect universal-service subsidies for customers in some of the rural areas of those states. The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau...
Fed up with what it said were sluggish negotiations, Sprint network affiliate Alamosa Holdings Inc. took its bid to merge with fellow affiliate AirGate PCS Inc. public in order to score the approval of AirGate's investors. Wall Street appeared to cheer the move, sending...
Like a cat with full jaws and claws, GSM technology does not need to proclaim its strengths. The numbers tell the story. Up to 1.18 billion subscribers place and receive calls over GSM networks around the world, almost 10 times the next-largest competitor, CDMA...
It's no mystery why so many content and messaging providers are working so hard to pry the lid off the booming Chinese wireless data market. The question is how to do it. According to statistics released by China's Ministry of Information Industry last week,...
WASHINGTON-Wireless and wireline carriers serving rural America hailed congressional passage of a measure that prohibits the Federal Communications Commission from restricting universal-service subsidies to primary lines. "Now that the primary-line restriction is off the table, we look forward to working with the Hill and...
Colorado Mills is one of Denver's newest suburban malls. The warm, well-lit corridors are lined with like likes of Gap, Target, K-B Toys, Chili's and other clothing, eatery, trinket and curio shops. And in an indication of the growing importance of wireless in American...
Mobile instant messaging is expected to take another step forward this week with an announcement that Nokia Corp. will expand its offerings of IM-friendly handsets. The world's largest handset manufacturer will build on a two-year relationship with Oz, a Canadian software developer, to embed...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is abuzz these days with a new debate that seems to bring two familiar issues-competition and spectrum management-to the table at the same time. At issue: Can the FCC allow competition for wireless voice and broadband in the air-to-ground band...
WASHINGTON-Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D) has yet to signal whether he will sign or veto a bill some critics fear will undermine Philadelphia's planned Wi-Fi rollout. However, there is a possibility Rendell will direct city officials, telecom carriers and other stakeholders to work out...
One vendor's end-to-end strategy is another vendor's poison. Nokia Corp., Siemens AG and Motorola Inc. market their end-to-end strategies as one-stop shops for carriers. But Lucent Technologies Inc., Nortel Networks Ltd. and Alcatel Alsthom say end-to-end solutions actually limit choices for carriers. In between...
The stakes for Sprint Corp.'s 6,500 cell-phone towers rose as at least four bidders have offered proposals to buy them in an auction that could bring in as much as $1.2 billion, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.Liberty Media Corp. and...
WASHINGTON-It has been one year since the Federal Communications Commission ordered carriers to allow customers to churn and take their phone numbers with them. The FCC said Wednesday that twice as many people-more than 8.5 million-participated in wireless local number portability in its inaugural...
SINGAPORE-MobileOne, a Singaporean wireless carrier, said it will begin a one-month third-generation trial Thursday using data cards and involving mainly corporate customers.A second-phase trial, involving 200 customer and corporate customers, will use 3G mobile phones in December.M1 said its 3G network rollout is on...
HAMBURG, Germany-CoreMedia will provide digital rights management technology for Vodafone Group plc's new third-generation data offerings, the companies announced.CoreMedia's infrastructure, which was developed in accordance with the Open Mobile Alliance's DRM specifications, will offer differing levels of protection for the delivery of music, video...
BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Verizon Wireless expanded its content offerings with two announcements. The carrier launched a new service that allows music fans to view images of artists as they browse and download ringtones and voice tones. Through Track Magnet, which was developed by content provider Ztango,...
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is testing Audiovox's Windows Mobile smart phone for use on its network, a move indicative of the complications surrounding the carrier's combination with AT&T Wireless Services Inc. AT&T Wireless sold the Audiovox smart phone before the merger.Since its acquisition of AT&T...
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to cut at least 10 percent of its newly combined staff, or around 7,000 of its 68,000-strong workforce, chief Stan Sigman said. In an interview with the Associated Press, the carrier's chief executive officer said Cingular will start making the...
BONN, Germany-T-Mobile Deutschland became the first carrier in Germany to offer push-to-talk services. The service lets users simultaneously talk to up to 10 different parties. The service is free until April 30, after which the service will be billed by daily or monthly flat...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-CompTel/ASCENT announced that H. Russell Frisby Jr. will step down as chief executive officer of the telecom carrier association in 2005.Frisby, who has led CompTel/ASCENT since 1998, will remain CEO until a successor is found. Frisby also is serving as CompTel/ASCENT's acting chief...
Canadian officials Tuesday introduced wireless priority service for emergency communications in the North American country. In the United States, the nationwide GSM carriers and Nextel Communications Inc. all currently offering WPS. Rogers Wireless, which also uses GSM network technology, will be the first Canadian...
WASHINGTON-Wireless and wireline carriers serving rural America hailed passage of language in the Consolidated Appropriations Act that prohibits the Federal Communications Commission from restricting universal-service subsidies to primary lines."Now that the primary line restriction is off the table, we look forward to working with...
