TracFone Wireless Inc. agreed to settle a class-action suit alleging the top prepaid cellular company misled consumers by charging them at the roaming rate in their home calling area and refusing to extend the length of their prepaid service periods during repairs of defective...
U.S. Cellular Corp. executives told analysts that they continue to be skeptical about the value of upgrading their CDMA 1x RTT network to EV-DO, preferring to wait until they are certain to see a return on the network investment before doing anything more than...
What is it about the wireless industry that causes everyone outside the space to think that they can have their cake and eat it too?The most recent perpetrator is Skype, which has asked the Federal Communications Commission to declare that all devices should be...
Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that reversed a Federal Communications Commission decision pre-empting states from regulating line-item charges on wireless bills.With the Democratic-led Congress unlikely to move on highly controversial legislation that...
Some attendees at last month's 3GSM World Congress in Spain got an unexpected come-on as they entered the show: a Bluetooth-transmitted inquiry asking if they'd like to receive an official message from the event.Even in the tech-happy world of wireless, though, the effort received...
Wireless carriers providing government-subsidized service to high-cost rural areas have become the villains in the debate over how to rein in the ballooning universal service fund, a situation that could help explain why the Federal Communications Commission is sitting on a slew of wireless...
A TRIO OF WIRELESS VETERANS UNVEILED A NEW PLAN for a national public-safety broadband network that would use auctioned 700 MHz spectrum to supplement first-responder frequencies in the same band.Frontline Wireless L.L.C. filed its proposal with the Federal Communications Commission last week. Haynes Griffin,...
ED ZANDER, MOTOROLA INC.'S CEO, is under pressure. And it shows. The first statement is a widely recognized fact and the second is an impression-but both were palpable during Zander's appearance via an audio Webcast last Thursday at Goldman Sachs' 2007 Technology Investment Symposium...
Hedge*hog*ing v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.--Verizon Wireless put out two press releases March 1: One, that Verizon Wireless customers do not have to worry about the change in daylight saving time...
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced a public-safety broadband bill that veers from the approach advocated by Cyren Call Communications Corp., first-responder groups and even the maverick lawmaker himself. The "Spectrum Availability for Emergency-Response and Law-Enforcement to Improve Vital Emergency Services Act" calls for the...
Ed Zander, Motorola Inc.'s CEO, is under pressure. And it shows.The first statement is a widely recognized fact and the second is an impression-but both were palpable during Zander's appearance via Web cast this morning at Goldman Sachs' 2007 Technology Investment Symposium in Las...
Verizon Wireless rolled out a pair of new messaging plans to meet the growing popularity of text, picture and video messaging among its customers. The carrier's new $15 plan includes 1,500 messages instead of the previous 1,000 messages, and a new $20 plan gives...
Verizon Wireless has launched mobile TV service using MediaFLO USA Inc.'s technology and network, initially offering the service in 20 markets across the United States from Richmond, Va., to Portland, Ore. The service is priced at $15 per month for mobile TV only, which...
Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that reversed a Federal Communications Commission decision pre-empting states from regulating line-item charges on wireless bills.With the Democratic-led Congress unlikely to move on highly controversial legislation that...
Apple Inc. debuted its first television commercial for its forthcoming iPhone during the Academy Awards last night. The 30-second spot, which ran multiple times, reached an estimated 40 million viewers watching at home.Despite a continuing decline in viewership, ratings for the Academy Awards are...
The next couple of quarters will be rocky, Motorola Inc.'s CFO told investors and analysts at last week's Bank of America's 2007 Technology Conference in New York. David Devonshire, Motorola's CFO, used the term three times until an unidentified analyst asked him to clarify...
It's good to have friends in high places, the saying goes. Better yet are the friends who push you to pursue a promising, emerging business in the wireless industry. David Lowder met his entrepreneurial muse in longtime friend Willie Nelson.Lowder has been an active...
Madrid, Spain-based "social router" company Fon is hoping to drum up some interest in its unique Wi-Fi business by going head-to-head with Starbucks and thousands of other coffee shops that sell wireless Internet access within their stores. Fon is offering free La Fonera Wi-Fi...
The next few quarters will be "rocky," Motorola Inc.'s chief financial officer told investors and analysts at Bank of America's 2007 Technology Conference-a term the executive used three times until an analyst asked him to clarify it. Did "rocky" mean no margins or negative...
A glance at Motorola Inc. Krzr and Razr prices across carriers serves to tell a story about one handset vendor's product succession plans, as well as the fractured and cutthroat nature of the cellphone retail market.The Krzr's prices are all over the map, ranging...
Holding company Titan Global Holdings Inc. has agreed in principal to acquire prepaid mobile virtual network operator Ready Mobile L.L.C., which only began operations last year.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is expected to close by March 15. Titan subsidiary...
Brightpoint Inc. will acquire Danish cellphone distributor Dangaard Telekom in a deal valued at $300 million, making Brightpoint the largest distributor of handsets serving European and U.S. markets. The transaction is expected to be completed in June or July, according to the companies, and...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our Monday 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 Strategy Analytics' Chris Ambrosio, M:Metrics' Seamus...
Nothing wrecks a trip to Europe like work. And last week I was lucky enough to travel to Barcelona to cover the 3GSM World Congress. While the show is too big for its own good-not CES big, but more than double the size of...
