Nokia Corp. will shutter a Fort Worth, Texas-based facility next spring that provides handset logistical and repair services for the American market and will outsource the service to a third party, the company announced. The closure will affect 450 workers; 150 will transfer to...
CHICAGO-U.S. Cellular Corp. said it received $95.1 million from the sale of its stake in regional operator Midwest Wireless Holdings L.L.C. to Alltel Corp. U.S. Cellular said it also expects to receive an additional $10.5 million soon in connection with the sale. The sale...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Trade Commission issued a guide of sorts for municipalities considering wireless broadband, offering city planners and policy-makers a list of the pros and cons of various approaches to the issue. The report essentially outlines a decision tree for municipalities, with a variety...
SAN DIEGO-An administrative law judge with the International Trade Commission handed down a split decision in the acrimonious patent dispute between chipmakers Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Corp., ruling that Qualcomm did infringe on one of Broadcom's patents but not on two others. The judge...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-InfoSpace Inc. said it plans to lay off about 250 employees as part of a restructuring plan. The move follows news late last month that Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to develop direct licensing relationships with major record labels next year, instead of using...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. raised the price it charges users to send a text message to 15 cents, up from a previous price of 10 cents. The carrier also added a cent to the cost of "casual" data usage, increasing the per-kilobyte price...
Representatives from the former Flextronics Software Services business are making the media rounds, clamoring for attention, now that the company is about to announce its new identity-fully six months after being weaned from its Fortune Global 500 parent last spring. Six months is a...
BOSTON-Rapid product development among semiconductor players could pave the way for nearly 50 million ultra low cost handset shipments by the end of next year, according to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics Inc. "In addition to Texas Instruments and Infineon, other...
LOS ANGELES-Mobile virtual network operator Amp'd Mobile Inc. continued to expand its offerings with the introduction of several family plans, which the MVNO is selling as "shared" plans. Interestingly, the plans are far more aggressive-and offer far more minutes-than the family plans from the...
PC maker Lenovo posted positive results with a mobile marketing campaign it used for branding. The campaign, developed by OgilvyInteractive, New York, ran for four weeks in June. It had a click-through rate of 6.7 percent, compared with the mobile click-through average of 3...
BEDFORD, Mass.-Two top executives at Boston Communications Group Inc. have bowed out of their positions in connection with an internal review of stock-option grants, as has the company's general counsel. BCGI's chief financial officer, Karen Walker, left the company, while President and Chief Executive...
As the wireless industry rounds third base on its way into the holiday home stretch, many will depend on momentum from the third quarter to carry them through. The first round of third quarter earnings has begun to trickle in, with most of the...
BOCA RATON, Fla.-Global Tower Partners may be the next tower company to get swallowed up as the industry's giants fight over who will be king of the mountain. Global Tower Partners is owned by Blackstone Group LP, and, according to media reports, the buyout...
NEW YORK-Outlining Walt Disney Co.'s strategy for tackling a consumer-driven TV future, Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC TV, revealed some of the company's numerous new-media initiatives around the globe at Mipcom, an international programming sales conference. Mobile TV,...
WASHINGTON-Nearly two years after President Bush authorized the creation of an advisory committee as part of spectrum policy initiative launched in 2003, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has yet to disclose identities of members, whether any meetings have been held or explain what...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission's scheduled vote on AT&T Inc.'s proposed $69 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. imploded last Friday, with Chairman Kevin Martin delaying action on the deal until at least next month. The news follows revelations that AT&T has offered to accept merger...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Covad Communications Group Inc. said it signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Chicago-based broadband wireless operator DataFlo Communications L.L.C. for $1.4 million. The cash transaction is expected to close this month.The deal expands Covad's broadband wireless coverage to six markets...
WASHINGTON-A major fallout of Congress' failure to pass telecom-reform legislation this year is the continued imposition of new state and local cell-phone taxes, like the one on track to begin Jan. 1 in South Sioux City, Neb. Though only a small town in a...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said it believes fixed-low-power devices can operate in the vacant TV spectrum after the transition to digital TV is completed, set for 2009. The vacant TV channels are set aside to protect TV broadcasters from interference, and are known as...
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit by a former T-Mobile USA Inc. national sales manager, who claimed the No. 4 cell-phone carrier fired him to avoid paying more than $320,000 in commissions...
WASHINGTON-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. said it has filed three lawsuits in the federal court in Atlanta to stop telemarketers from making unsolicited and illegal calls to its wireless customers. In one lawsuit, Cingular alleges that Sebell Telecommunications L.L.C. of Miami, Fla. made unsolicited marketing calls...
Freedom Wireless Inc. scored another licensing agreement as Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. agreed to use the patent holding company's prepaid wireless billing technology. The agreement resolves Freedom's claims of patent infringement against the mobile virtual network operator-a joint venture between Richard Branson's Virgin Group...
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.-ROK Entertainment Group U.S. expanded its mobile video offerings with 13 free channels of news, music and sports. The subsidiary of the U.K.-based wireless video company unveiled FreeBe TV, a WAP-based service for roughly two dozen 2.5G and 3G phone models. Channels...
WASHINGTON-President George W. Bush signed the port-security bill into law, a move that also creates the Warning, Alert and Response Network. The WARN legislation was attached to the port-security bill, and essentially updates the nation's Cold War-era emergency-alert system to use newer technologies, including...
