LONDON—Wi-Fi network operator The Cloud announced the launch of its Ultra Wi-Fi offering, an all-you-can-eat plan that offers Wi-Fi access in 9 U.K. cities and about 7,000 hotspots throughout the country. Bobby Sarin, The Cloud’s chief operating officer said the Ultra Wi-Fi service gives...
After entering the mobile virtual network operator space with naked ambition, a $500 Sanyo Corp. handset (the "MVP") and a take-the-world-by-storm marketing spend, Walt Disney Co.-owned Mobile ESPN L.L.C. has regrouped. Results have not met expectations for the lucrative sports news franchise-gone-mobile, or in...
WASHINGTON-The 800 MHz Transition Administrator encouraged public-safety spectrum licensees in middle America to begin thinking about the reconfiguration process and begin preparing their requests for planning funding even though their negotiation process is not scheduled to begin until Aug.1. The TA wants public safety...
WASHINGTON-The drama that took place during the Senate Commerce Committee's markup of telecom reform measures paled compared to what happened behind the scenes. In at least two instances, issues of importance to the wireless industry-small geographic licenses and special access-were decided in backroom deals...
WASHINGTON—The 800 MHz Transition Administrator encouraged public-safety spectrum licensees in middle America to begin thinking about the reconfiguration process and begin preparing their requests for planning funding even though their negotiation process is not scheduled to begin until Aug.1. The TA wants public safety...
As smart-phone sales go, so go the fortunes of the operating systems that make the hybrid phone/computing devices run for prosumers and enterprise customers. Recent research by Compete Inc., which measures online consumer interest in the United States, however, shows that shoppers familiar with...
The big issue for some players in the wireless community regarding Java ME revolves around its owner, Sun Microsystems Inc., which announced at its May JavaOne conference that it was mulling how to go open source with the industry's dominant programming language. This move...
WASHINGTON—There he goes again. Verizon Wireless President Denny Strigl once again is breaking with the pack, this time with a strategic decision to become the most consumer-friendly national wireless carrier where controversial, lawsuit-prone, early-termination fees are concerned.At The Yankee Group's 2006 North American Wireless...
LONDON—Test and measurement technology developer Spirent Communications plc announced plans to restructure its Performance Analysis and Service Assurance units in the face of "significant product transition" this year. The company said the moves would save more than $16 million in costs annually, though a...
CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa.—Sprint Nextel Corp. continued the work of reeling in its affiliates, as the national carrier closed on its acquisition of Nextel Partners and, just hours later, UbiquiTel Inc. stockholders approved Sprint Nextel’s purchase of the PCS affiliate. UbiquiTel’s shareholders voted to sell the...
Qualcomm Inc., Crown Castle International Corp. and Aloha Partners LP are each spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build dedicated networks for multimedia mobile content. And, analysts say, one of them is probably going to lose. Consumers will flock to mobile television services...
In a move that said much about Nokia Corp.'s new leadership as well as the fragmented global market for CDMA handsets, the global leader in mobile phones said it would dissolve its joint venture with Sanyo Electronics Co. Ltd. and instead pursue CDMA in...
Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. revamped its pricing and messaging plans and added options that look much more like postpaid offerings than its traditional prepaid route. The mobile virtual network operator has replaced its old Month2Month plans with five monthly, no-contract plans that range from...
The market for mobile phones' onboard memory is undergoing transformation and commoditization, threatening incumbent companies and opening opportunities for small, nimble companies with a competitive differentiator to their product, according to Yankee Group analyst John Jackson. Carriers and handset vendors are exploring how much...
HONOLULU—Free Wi-Fi is coming to Honolulu’s Chinatown neighborhood, said the city’s mayor, Mufi Hannemann. The Mayor said the city is establishing a public-private partnership with EarthLink Inc. to test free Wi-Fi access throughout Chinatown as part of the city’s effort to revitalize the area....
LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill.—Motient Corp. said it is selling its legacy wireless data business, including its narrowband terrestrial DataTac wireless data network and its IMotient Solutions platform, to Geologic Solutions Inc. Geologic is a subsidiary of Logo Acquisition Corp. Logo agreed to assume most of the...
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—U.S. businesses are ready to invest heavily in wireless services and applications to boost productivity, according to a survey from Compass Intelligence. They’re just waiting for the industry to come up with some solutions. More than 40 percent of the 1,600 decision-makers polled...
WASHINGTON—The chairman of the House Commerce Committee, never a fan of the universal-service system, took aim Wednesday afternoon at the one area that both the wireless industry and rural telephone companies agree: whether support should be available for one or more lines. "This is...
OYSTER BAY, N.Y.—Consumers will flock to mobile television services in the next few years, with most subscribers tuning into wireless broadcast offerings, according to two new studies. More than half a billion users are expected to subscribe to mobile TV services by 2011, up...
SINGAPORE—Motorola Inc. has decided to turn up the volume—the volume of handsets it sells, that is—by releasing five new, entry-level handsets in pursuit of the proverbial "next billion" subscribers in emerging markets. The American handset maker made the announcement today at the opening day...
SAN MATEO, Calif. -Mobilitec Inc. is giving teens homework assignments. The company, which provides a platform for selling mobile content, has created a focus group of 11 teenage wireless users around the world. Mobilitec gives the kids monthly assignments and asks them to provide...
Television has been called the "75-year-old killer application" and, indeed, one of the hurdles to-and possibly a shaper of-the mobile television experience is the recent trend toward giant, flat-screen TVs with surround sound in the home. Accustomed to zoning out in front of a...
With a flurry of launches last week, the wireless industry appears to have re-discovered-and is falling head over heels in love with-The Family. Both Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA Inc. announced new family-focused services on the day that Disney Mobile began selling its highly...
WASHINGTON-Sprint Nextel Corp. urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject the proposed $67 billion merger of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. because of the negative impact it would have on "special access"-dedicated lines used by wireless carriers to transmit calls from base stations to...
