Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works...
Triple-play bundles work, but the quad-play is as yet unproven as a strategy by which operators can improve revenues and reduce churn, according to a new report by global telecom advisory firm Analysys.Analysys found that triple-play packages have helped U.S. cable operators to double...
A new study from Informa Telecoms & Media predicts there will be 435 million Session Initiation Protocol-enabled mobile phone users by 2012.The research firm said SIP-enabled mobile phones will number about 275 million this year. It expects the market to show strong growth between...
The House Commerce Committee is investigating the parent companies of the two largest mobile phone operators and Qwest Communications International Inc. to determine what extent they may have participated in the National Security Agency's anti-terrorist warrantless wiretap program."Without question, the American government must be...
A quick tip to all media companies looking to extend their brands to wireless: Yes, even mass-market phones now have many of the bells and whistles of a home PC, but that doesn't mean you have to use them.Today's wireless devices offer a host...
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...
IF 2006 WAS THE YEAR OF THE LAUNCH for mobile virtual network operators, then 2007 has so far been the Year of the Crash.The last few months have brought a screeching halt to the MVNO hype that dominated 2005 and most of 2006, when...
DEMOCRATS WARNED FCC CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN not to cripple the open-access stipulation on the 700 MHz spectrum up for auction early next year, following the agency chief's failed attempts to revise the rule through a procedural maneuver shortly after Verizon Wireless lobbied on the...
The Walt Disney Co. is shutting down its remaining mobile virtual network operator, Disney Mobile, as of Dec. 31. The company announced this morning that it would dismantle Disney Mobile and would explore "a new business model for its content and services that might...
THE WIRELESS INDUSTRY INCREASINGLY FINDS ITSELF on the defensive on policy fronts across the board, a situation with the potential to disrupt the deregulatory framework and the fundamental business model prevalent during the sector's phenomenal success the past three decades.A confluence of forces appears...
The next big thing in mobile virtual network operators may not look much like the MVNOs that have been launching-and sometimes crashing-in the past couple of years. With the hype around the space settling into caution, observers see a new kind of MVNO-like partnership...
MetroPCS Communications Inc. urged the Federal Communications Commission to address alleged efforts to run up local termination fees levied by incumbent and competitive wireline carriers within the scope of an upcoming rulemaking on a related practice regarded as access-charge traffic pumping."Potential traffic-pumping abuses are...
Nokia Corp., two handset rivals and semiconductor companies active in the memory space are pursuing an open standard dubbed universal flash storage that could smooth the uptake path for a variety of converged mobile and consumer electronics devices.The standard is expected to be finished...
New York City Transit is one step closer to building a cellphone network in its 277 subway stations, but it remains to be seen if mobile phone providers such as Verizon Wireless are going to pay to offer the service to their customers.Next week,...
Amid rumors of suitors for its handset manufacturing business, Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. has sold its mobile-phone sales and distribution unit in a deal reportedly worth up to $85 million.Japanese handset distributor Telepark Corp. confirmed that it purchased Sanyo's mobile phone sales and distribution...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our Monday feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Jupiter Research's Julie Ask, Current Analysis'...
Sprint Nextel Corp. announced it has begun selling a compact, consumer-targeted femtocell base station that will work with any Sprint Nextel CDMA phone, an effort designed to allow customers to improve their own in-home wireless coverage. The Sprint Airave, which is manufactured by Samsung...
ACE*COMM surveyed teens and parents on their cellphone uses. Based on responses from 1,000 U.S. and 1,000 U.K./German teens in 2005-2006, the firm found:● 39% of American teens use SMS with friends while in school● 24% of U.S. teens play video games on their...
Ringtone of the year awardedRap artist T-Pain's "I'm n luv (wit a stripper)" nabbed Broadcast Music Inc.'s Urban Ringtone Award at this year's Urban Awards held at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. BMI noted the ringtone scored the most...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin again suggested the agency may decide to address in a broader context the mobile phone industry practice of assessing hefty early termination fees levied on subscribers who break service contracts. The FCC has yet to act on a...
Sprint Nextel Corp. rejected a Federal Communications Commission finding that the No. 3 mobile phone carrier failed to meet a key deadline for clearing certain spectrum as part of an 800 MHz rebanding process. The process is intended to remedy public-safety interference problems, and...
The Federal Communications Commission took dramatic steps to improve the location accuracy of wireless 911 service, but the mobile-phone industry and some telecom regulators complained the agency was taking action before the completion of FCC studies on emergency calling.The agency clarified that cellular carriers...
The 432,000 members of Utah-based America First Credit Union soon will be able to access mobile banking and payment services via their AT&T Mobility or Verizon Wireless mobile phones.America First selected Firethorn Holdings L.L.C. and CheckFree Corp. for its mobile banking and payments service,...
Two newly published stories could create more confusion rather than clarify controversies over whether cellphones pose risks to man and machine alike.Israeli scientists said radiofrequency radiation levels below those of mobile phones can cause biological effects in humans, but researchers stopped short of declaring...
