The Federal Communications Commission took another step toward reform of the universal service fund, while further leaving in limbo a highly controversial effort by Chairman Kevin Martin to order a temporary cap on government subsidies largely tapped for deployment of wireless services in rural...
LAS VEGAS -- It is no doubt a tumultuous time for the television industry -- writers' strike not withstanding -- and NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker didn't mince words in this morning's keynote here at NATPE when he described the struggle his...
Mobile carriers and content vendors keep trying to push gaming past the "golden nickel" -- the 5% ceiling of users who buy and play games on their handsets -- and into the mainstream. So maybe they should quit charging so many nickels for their...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks look...
LAS VEGAS -- Mobile television and video is a "market that has been puttering along for several years," Mark Donovan, senior analyst at M:Metrics Inc. said in a morning presentation here at NATPE Mobile++. The conference has enticed content producers and others in the...
An arbitrator has certified a huge class action against Verizon Wireless that potentially could cost the No. 2 mobile phone carrier close to $1 billion in refunds of early termination fees."I find the claimants have complied with the criteria for class certification," wrote Eugene...
AT&T Inc. is giving its 10 million broadband subscribers free access to its nationwide Wi-Fi network, the company announced. Previously, most subscribers were required to pay an additional $60 per year for access to the company's 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots at retail stories, restaurants and...
IT'S GAME TIME.The wireless industry's version of March Madness is set to tip off Jan. 24, with 214 applicants vying for 1,099 spectrum licenses in the 700 MHz band being auctioned by the Federal Communications Commission.But, it will be like getting periodic scoring updates...
Mobile network infrastructure spending in North America in 2008 is likely to be down vs. 2007. We expect Wideband-CDMA network investments to accelerate as AT&T Mobility continues to expand its coverage and capacity, and as T-Mobile USA Inc. and Canadian wireless operator Rogers Wireless...
WiMAX is currently seizing and will grow into a multibillion-dollar fixed and portable wireless market, regardless of its fortunes in the mobile cellular market. 802.16e vendors may or may not capture a sizable portion of the mobile market opportunity, but that is hardly the...
Gartner Inc. research indicates there are a number of reasons why carriers will continue to spend on network infrastructure in the next five to 10 years.Wireless data boomCarriers in North America have strong growth prospects but future long-term growth is going to be driven...
One of the most powerful tenets of retail sales is the law of retail location. Seemingly irrespective of what the actual product is, without strong retail distribution points, your product is doomed to failure. There are exceptions these days, such as music and books,...
Although the global market for mobile handset baseband semiconductors will continue to expand in 2008, business conditions for suppliers of such solutions will become more challenging due to the shrinking top-tier customer base and more complex requirements from these companies, according to iSuppli Corp....
Citing "long-term competitiveness," Nokia Corp. said today it would close a handset factory in Bochum, Germany, and sell automotive and research-and-development sites in the same locale. Nokia will move its handset production from Bochum to more "cost-competitive" sites in Europe, according to the company....
Verizon Wireless will follow Sprint Nextel Corp.'s lead in bumping text messaging rates from 15 cents to 20 cents per message.The carrier is informing postpaid subscribers that the cost for domestic text messages will be increased in March; messaging rates for prepaid users will...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks...
The Federal Communications Commission is facing a gathering legal storm over its emergency back-up power rule, with the mobile-phone industry asking a federal appeals court to put its legal challenge on a fast track and Sprint Nextel Corp. seeking to stay the effective date...
Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. urged the Federal Communications Commission to embrace a plan to allocate vacant TV channels -- known as white spaces -- on a fixed-licensed basis for wireless backhaul services. The move injects a new element into an already...
Palm Inc. almost looks like two companies these days, depending on which way the light strikes.Palm is focused on keeping the productivity-based Treo line from slipping into irrelevance, while it experiments with form factors and features for a future in the consumer market.This past/future...
America has fallen in love with text messaging. More than 28.8 billion text messages are sent per month, according to figures from CTIA. And nearly everyone knows someone who knows someone who sends 15,000 texts a month. (Usually that someone is a teenage girl).Obviously...
Many of the sexiest offerings in mobile content will continue to struggle to take flight in 2008. Wireless video will slowly gain steam in the United States, thanks largely to Qualcomm Inc.'s MediaFLO service, but carriers still must find the best ways to monetize...
More than 100 million recycled handsets are expected to be shipped in 2012, generating more than $3 billion in revenue, according to a study from ABI Research.Demand for recycled handsets is being driven by shorter handset replacement periods, growing demand for low-cost handsets in...
Hello!And welcome to a special edition of our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. As 2007 draws to a close and we take stock of all the changes that have happened in the wireless industry, we can't help but wonder how things will look...
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-Nokia Corp.'s strategy hasn't wavered much in the past few years and the message for 2008 is essentially more of the same. While at one end of the spectrum, the Finnish company is eyeing more feature-rich devices and applications that connect peoples'...
