The Superior Court of the District of Columbia today threw out six brain-cancer lawsuits against the mobile-phone industry, potentially removing a legal cloud that could have cost wireless carriers and manufacturers billions of dollars.The decision to dismiss the suits was based on jurisdictional grounds,...
Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna said he wants legislation to prohibit the marketing of mobile phone telephone numbers without consumer consent, responding to privacy concerns raised by the new cellphone directory business launched by Bellevue-based information commerce firm Intelius Inc."I have my staff...
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...
One way to get a sense of how much priority Hollywood networks are placing on mobile is to look at the executives on board and how many people are working on their respective teams.The big four networks-ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox-each takes a different...
The best thing about the U.S. wireless market is that it is full of choice. And while all of those choices make the market complicated, it also spurs development and advances the industry. U.S. consumers have access to more than 700 wireless devices today,...
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...
Congress appears unlikely to act before its August recess on a Bush administration request to shield mobile-phone operators and other telecom carriers from lawsuits stemming from participation with the National Security Agency's terrorist surveillance program.The program-believed to have secretly begun under a broad executive...
THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION LAST WEEK approved 700 MHz rules to foster the creation of a nationwide public-safety/commercial broadband network and introduce new devices and applications in a wireless space tightly controlled by four national operators.The FCC designated for auction a nationwide 10-megahertz spectrum...
The Federal Communications Commission approved 700 MHz auctions rules to foster the creation of a nationwide public safety-commercial broadband network and the introduction of new devices and applications in the wireless space.The agency voted to designate for auction a nationwide 10-megahertz spectrum block adjacent...
As momentum grows behind Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin's proposed open-access plan for the 700 MHz spectrum auction, Verizon Wireless reiterated its opposition to open access while at the same time working to influence the details of a potential ruling.Stipulations wanted According to...
Verizon Wireless eased its stance on FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's proposed rules for the 700 MHz spectrum auction, agreeing to stipulations that would require spectrum winners to allow any device onto their networks. According to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam...
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN could face trouble securing support from the agency's two Democrats for a key component of his 700 MHz plan, but the draft rule could entice Verizon Wireless to become more serious about a possible partnership with public safety.I'm...
More than three years after the wireless industry launched an effort to establish a ratings system for mobile content, carriers are finally beginning to restrict access to the edgy stuff. Whether such efforts will help fuel data revenues, though, remains to be seen.CTIA in...
The mobile-phone industry challenged a Federal Communications Commission decision to better safeguard consumer phone records, citing provisions that it claims run contrary to applicable legal standards and to the agency's enforcement regime.The FCC in April beefed up rules governing access to customer proprietary network...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin's 700 MHz plan may face trouble securing support from the agency's two Democrats, but the draft rule could entice Verizon Wireless to become more serious about partnering with public safety."I'm a big believer in open access," said Michael...
Major wireless policy debates are increasingly ceasing to be Inside-the-Beltway brawls limited to high-powered lobbyists hired by well-heeled, warring industry factions. Instead, proponents of ambitiously controversial proposals-particularly those promising to extend the reach of a free and open Internet-have been able to tap into...
Conventional wisdom suggests a presidential-level veto of an International Trade Commission ruling is a long shot, especially compared to pardons or, say, commutations of prison sentences.But maybe not in this case. There's the ITC patent infringement/import ban ruling against Qualcomm Inc. Then there...
The Supreme Court ruled manufacturers can set minimum prices for products sold by retailers without automatically violating antitrust law, setting aside a 96-year-old ruling that the cellular industry and others argued was outdated.Michael Altschul, general counsel of cellphone industry association CTIA, agreed with the...
The 700 MHz debate has suddenly turned both interesting and nasty in the lead-up to next month's expected ruling by the Federal Communications Commission on auction rules.An AT&T Inc. official disclosed the top mobile-phone operator is mulling a play for a national commercial-public safety...
The mobile phone industry told the Federal Communications Commission that marketplace trends stand against extending monopoly-era equal-access obligations to the competitive wireless industry."The commission should reject attempts to harm wireless consumers and burden wireless carriers with needless regulations whose only rationale is to raise...
The cellular industry said a new staff report by the Federal Trade Commission undermines not only the case for net neutrality but the debate over broadband regulation as well."The Internet regulation scheme has forever been built on a hypothetical, 'what-if' scenario and today this...
The mobile phone industry has joined an eclectic group of parties-including a handful of sometime foes-to urge the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court ruling that critics say dramatically and unnecessarily expands copyright law liability. The case involves Cablevision...
WIRELESS INDUSTRY EFFORTS to derail a federal-state panel's recommendation to cap universal service fund support for wireless carriers in rural areas could be undermined by a new report that found billions of dollars in subsidies have been largely ineffective in bringing cellular service to...
Editor's Note: Welcome to the first edition of 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....
