WASHINGTON-Government spectrum managers are being challenged like no time before in efforts to clear the way for next-generation mobile phone and wireless broadband services-as well as rectify serious interference problems-through messy licensee relocation and frequency re-banding processes. Indeed, relocation and re-banding glitches have tended...
SAN DIEGO-Leap Wireless International Inc. said it completed a public offering of 6.4 million shares of common stock for $42 per share. The sale included 840,000 shares of common stock sold as part of an over-allotment option granted to the underwriters, which included Goldman,...
SUNNYVALE, Calif.-Yahoo Inc. launched an expanded Go for Mobile service, extending its software to devices running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile operating system. According to a company spokesman, the Go for Mobile software had previously been available in the United States only on one model...
Motorola Inc. is quietly offering users of its Moto Q smart phone a free software upgrade intended to strengthen the device's e-mail and security functions, increase its appeal to business and productivity-oriented users and bring the device up to speed with the competition. The...
SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Fixed-mobile convergence technology developer Azaire Networks Inc. picked up $21 million during a third round of funding led by Investor Growth Capital and new investors in the company. Existing investors Convergence Partners, Rustic Canyon Partners and Woodside Fund also participated in the...
ATLANTA-Samsung Electronics Co. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. announced the handset vendor's first HSDPA phone for Cingular's 3G network-in-progress. The Samsung SGH-zx20, an exclusive for Cingular, is a silver-and-black, clamshell-style handset that sells for $100 with a two-year contract (and $50 mail-in rebate, which requires...
METHUEN, Mass.-SiGe Semiconductor raised $19.5 million in an expansion round of financing led by venture-capital and private-equity firms, the company announced. SiGe Semiconductor makes radio frequency modules that are integrated into GSM-, GPRS- and EDGE-enabled mobile handsets, Bluetooth-enabled devices, GPS and telematics systems, WiMAX...
In a break from its tradition of certifying products only after a standard has been approved, the Wi-Fi Alliance says it plans to "pre-certify" the interoperability of pre-802.11n products beginning in the first half of 2007, before the IEEE ratifies the standard, which is...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. and Novatel Wireless Inc. announced the first CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A card for use on the carrier's soon-to-launch network. Sprint Nextel noted the card will support "a mobile DSL experience" with higher uplink and downlink speeds when the...
DETROIT-A new driving-directions option from General Motors' OnStar telematics service will be standard for one year on more than 2 million GM vehicles starting with the 2007 model year. After the first year, customers can renew the Turn-by-Turn Navigation service for $300 a year....
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. continues to pursue mobile music lovers with a new streaming multimedia service offering more than 50 channels of content. Sprint Radio features music, music videos, news, weather, sports and financial information from providers including NPR, ESPN and Radio Disney....
More than 15,000 people are expected to converge on Los Angeles as CTIA kicks off its Wireless I.T. & Entertainment show next week. The show takes place Sept. 12-14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. CTIA said it expects about 300 exhibitors to participate...
SHENZHEN, China-Reports are streaming out of China that ZTE Corp.'s net earnings fell 47 percent during the first half of 2006 compared to the same period last year. The company blamed its lackluster earnings on a slowdown in sales within its home turf along...
VANCOUVER, British Columbia-Sierra Wireless Inc. says it expects to begin shipping wireless wide area network cards supporting CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A networks during the first quarter of 2007. The company added that WWAN cards supporting HSDPA technology should be available later in the...
WESTLAKE, Ohio-Mobile virtual network operator Beyond Wireless Inc. announced new distribution points for its Jolt Mobile and Jolt PCS products. The Jolt service includes GSM service using an unnamed carrier and CDMA-based services using Sprint Nextel Corp.'s network.The company said the products are available...
LOS ANGELES-A 23-year-old hacker who gained access to T-Mobile USA Inc.'s network and accessed the personal information of about 400 customers has been sentenced to a year of home detention, the Associated Press reported. Nicholas Lee Jacobsen also must pay $10,000 to T-Mobile USA...
More than one-third of wireless customers have some sort of data plan as part of their wireless subscription, according to research by The NPD Group. However, the retail and consumer information company concluded that "consumer adoption of most data services has remained steady through...
Greenpeace International has weighed in on mobile handset vendors' friendliness to the environment, based on their use of toxic chemicals in manufacturing and their e-waste policies such as take backs and recycling. Overall, Greenpeace doesn't like what it sees, but pledges to complete such...
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.-The market for long-form mobile video will begin to gain traction in 2008, according to new figures from In-Stat. The market research firm said that while long-form wireless TV-video content of more than 30 minutes-is still in an experimental phase, the market will...
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.-Hudson Entertainment said it has partnered with The Orchard in a publishing deal that aims to offer mobile content from Delicious Vinyl to mobile phones. The companies said the agreement includes the rights to master ringtones for artists such as Tone-Loc, Young...
BUENA PARK, Calif.-Yamaha Corp. of America released an application designed to allow musicians to use their mobile phones to tune instruments. The offering, dubbed "The Musician's Companion," features a pitch pipe, metronome and library of more than 1,000 guitar chord fingerings. The application is...
Sprint Nextel Corp. settled a patent-infringement lawsuit against two Voice Over Internet Protocol providers that have now entered into licensing agreements with Sprint Nextel.Sprint Nextel had sued tglo.com Inc. (formerly VoiceGlo Holdings Inc.) and Theglobe.com Inc. in October 2005 for alleged violations of seven...
In the Aug. 21 article "Philadelphia loses chief of Wi-Fi push to consulting firm linked to muni network," Dianah Neff was not fully named as Philadelphia’s departing Chief Information Officer.
NEW YORK CITY-Hip-hop music producer Jazze Pha took home Broadcast Music Inc.'s Urban Ringtone Award for his song "1, 2 Step." BMI, a performing rights organization, handed out awards to R&B, rap and hip-hop songwriters, producers and publishers at its 6th Annual Urban Awards...
