LONDON-Shares of Monstermob Group plc plunged more than 21 percent after the ringtone provider ousted founder and Chief Executive Officer Martin Higginson. Monstermob, which has been on a worldwide spending spree in recent months, lowered forecasts for its U.K. business by $2.8 million as...
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of thousands of people were scattered across the country. People's homes were destroyed, their neighborhoods were flooded or left without power, and many had no way of calling for help or simply to let loved ones know...
SHENZEN, China-Chinese telecom manufacturer ZTE Corp. announced it signed a contract to build a CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A network in Mongolia for Skytel, which is the largest CDMA wireless operator in that country. The company gave no details about when the network would...
NEW YORK-Despite prepaid and reseller additions driving much of the growth within the wireless industry, Fitch Ratings concludes in a new report that the industry will continue to be profitable. The first quarter showed trends from 2005 continuing, Fitch analyst Bill Densmore noted, with...
PORTLAND, Ore.-Metro One Telecommunications Inc. announced the renewal of a multi-year contract to provide enhanced directory assistance for Midwest Wireless subscribers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Metro One's 411 service provides movie listings and driving directions in addition to connecting customers with...
NETANYA, Israel-Intel Corp. has selected Siano Mobile Silicon's multi-band, multi-standard receiver chipset for Intel's mobile TV reference platform in its Xscale product line. The collaboration comes at a time when mobile TV component makers are matching up with chipset and handset vendors. The news...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission urged a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia to reject a lawsuit seeking to delay the Aug. 9 advanced wireless services auction and to re-examine news rules designed to close a loophole enabling large wireless carriers to gain access to valuable...
LONDON-Warner Music continued to expand its digital distribution operations, acquiring a minority stake in Japanese mobile broadcasting FrontMedia. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Warner Music Japan said it is making a capital investment in the year-old firm, which operates an Internet-based audio and...
NEW YORK-The Recording Industry Association of America formally launched a Master Ringtone Sales Award, updating its 47-year-old Gold and Platinum program to recognize the growing popularity of ringtones on cellular phones. In the inaugural group, RIAA awarded 84 Gold, 40 Platinum and four Multi-Platinum...
Telephia Inc., a consulting firm that provides measurement information on the mobile industry, said it filed a lawsuit against fellow research company M:Metrics Inc. on claims the company violated Telephia's intellectual property. The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the...
WASHINGTON-The Supreme Court asked the Bush administration for guidance on Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch's appeal of an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down the state's wireless consumer law, a development that could make prospects for a high court review even...
SEATTLE-Direct-to-consumer mobile content provider 3GUpload is the latest to join the user-generated content rush. The company rebranded as Mixxer and launched a package of Web-to-mobile features designed to help members create ringtones, publish songs and discover music from emerging acts. The site, www.mixxer.com, offers...
WASHINGTON-The wireless industry continued to press for pre-emption as telecom reform plods along in the Senate. But the industry could be making some headway on universal service provisions that are more favorable to wireless carriers. At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, CTIA President Steve...
WASHINGTON-Wireless industry trade association CTIA continued to press the Federal Communications Commission to allow its members to use studies to determine long-distance vs. local traffic to figure how much they owe in universal-service fund contributions. The commission expects to consider the issue at its...
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group launched what it's calling the "Bluetooth Experience Icon Program," which the group said will help inform consumers about various Bluetooth technologies.The Bluetooth SIG said the icons will tell consumers and retailers which products use which Bluetooth "profiles." Bluetooth technology...
High Tech Computer Corp. wants its day in the sun and plans to begin selling phones under its own "HTC" brand, a departure from the anonymous, original design manufacturer role the company has played over the past several years in supplying smart phones and...
A warm and fuzzy-toned embrace of an open source, mobile Linux operating system sought by an alliance led by Motorola Inc. and Vodafone Group plc, among others, and announced last week drew both optimism and skepticism among analysts, who await further details-and results. Motorola...
A handful of startups are targeting wireless subscribers who may be reluctant to divulge their phone numbers. Tossable Digits Inc., which launched service earlier this year, provides a 10-digit phone number and five-digit extension that subscribers can use for up to 30 days. Calls...
WASHINGTON-The state of New Jersey and the federal government are in a public fight about whether five telecommunications companies turned over customer call records to the National Security Agency and in doing so violated New Jersey's consumer-protection law, according to news reports. The federal...
WASHINGTON-Despite legal setbacks in court jurisdictional rulings, including the Supreme Court's refusal to review a 4th Circuit headset ruling that rejected industry's federal pre-emption arguments, headset and brain-cancer litigation have failed to gain traction in state and federal courts. The reasons industry has been...
BOSTON-Despite dozens of announcements about municipal Wi-Fi deployments and feverish hype regarding the growth potential of the industry, incumbent operators have little to fear long-term from the technology, according to a new report by Strategy Analytics. The firm predicts public broadband networks planned by...
A quote attributed to Federal communications Commission member Michael Copps in the June 5 story "FCC keeps AWS auction rules intact" should have been attributed to Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
A snapshot of the 3G handset market in the United States reveals a nascent business on the verge of growth, as carriers upgrade their networks and more aggressively market their data-based offerings, and a broader portfolio of 3G handsets is presented to consumers. According...
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...
