The text message from Verizon Wireless was unexpected, unsolicited-and welcome.The pitch arrived on my phone last Tuesday, urging me to take the new ESPN Mobile application and Vcast service for a free 30-day test drive. Verizon Wireless would pick up the $15 bill for...
Qualcomm Inc. said it would expand its relationship with Reliance Communications, a CDMA network operator in India, to further the fortunes of both companies, their partners and their chosen technology in one of the fastest-growing mobile markets in the world. Reliance-with about 30 million...
Speculation has sent network operators' stock up and down, but a British analyst said yesterday that Apple Inc. had not signed any deals with Euro-operators.The sticking point, according to Bill Ray, analyst with ARChart and columnist for the online technology daily, The Register, is...
Dear Editor,We would like to respond to some of the many misleading comments made by Reed Hundt in RCR Wireless News relating to our Washington Post editorial. That piece argued that the FCC should not play favorites in auctioning spectrum, and that Congress should...
Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. said that its users have earned more than 9 million minutes of free airtime since the mobile virtual network operator instituted its Sugar Mama program, which offers customers the chance to receive calling minutes in exchange for watching advertisements. The...
Covering the Hatfields' and the McCoys' blood feud might be easier than sifting through the conflicting claims between Broadcom Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. over patent rights and competitive issues.The two chip vendors' public rhetoric continued to heat up last week, even as the companies...
WHILE FRONTLINE WIRELESS L.L.C., Congress and the mobile-phone industry sound off in the final throes of a testy, high-profile 700 MHz debate, the steady, low-key diplomacy of the public-safety community could prove decisive in determining whether the Federal Communications Commission approves for auction a...
Two U.S. carriers have unveiled converged Wi-Fi/cellular products that use Unlicensed Mobile Access technology and offer customers the chance to stretch their wireless minutes and improve in-home coverage by relying on Wi-Fi for voice calls. Regional telco Cincinnati Bell was the first to come...
Wireless is still drawing considerable interest-and dollars-from venture-capital companies, but VC investment overall saw a dip in the number of deals in the first quarter as investors concentrated on exit strategies, including initial public offerings. Some of the biggest IPOs related to the wireless...
Telecom vendors cheered the signing of a U.S.-Korea trade pact boasting key market-opening telecom provisions, but the bilateral accord faces an uphill battle in Congress and skepticism about whether wireless and other American high-tech sectors will gain as much as the Bush administration predicts....
Global Tower Partners, which boasts 2,500 wireless communications towers and more than 4,600 rooftop sites, has been sold for $1.4 billion.GTP owner The Blackstone Group sold the wireless tower operator to a consortium led by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners and Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group.GTP generates...
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 Current Analysis' Avi Greengart, Compete's Miro...
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...
Sprint Nextel Corp. may be testing a "work-around" software patch from Qualcomm Inc. to avoid a government ban on the importation of new 3G handset models with certain Qualcomm chips. Qualcomm, meanwhile, is letting its network operator customers speak to the work-around issue, and...
The wireless broadband industry opposes on interference grounds Globalstar Inc.'s push to have federal regulators consider an ancillary terrestrial component rule change that the mobile satellite service operator claims would put it on equal footing with competitors. Globalstar last year petitioned the Federal Communications...
Sprint Nextel Corp. will take a new advertising tack starting July 1, as it launches a campaign with the tagline "Sprint Ahead." The new campaign is designed to " the value its products and services add to people's lives," according to the carrier. The...
T-Mobile USA Inc. expanded its fixed-mobile converged service from its test market in Seattle to the national stage, leveraging its hotspot network as well as in-home routers to enhance its coverage. UMA-based technology allows seamless handoffs between a Wi-Fi network and T-Mobile USA's GSM/GPRS/EDGE...
The second quarter is over in a week and will end with a bang or a whimper, depending on how "opening weekend" goes for Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Hard numbers from the vendors themselves are due in mid-July and the leading market analysis firms...
IMAGINE THIS made-for-TV moment:An outsized individual-a Sumo wrestler, say-is about to perform the much-revered cannonball maneuver into the deep end of a swimming pool. A traditional cast of bon vivants garbed in linen suits and straw hats, ladies in polka-dot dresses with matching broad-brim...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. has spread its reach far and wide, and even as it expands into new realms it always keeps one goal in mind: drive wireless data services.The company kept hitting on that point as it showcased its diverse portfolio of products and...
The two largest telecom carriers in Canada are in discussions over a possible tie-up, although no official deal has been announced. Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. said they are pursuing "non-exclusive discussions" about a possible "business combination" that Telus' chief executive said would create...
Behind the seemingly mild-mannered, Finnish face of Nokia Corp. lies the heart of a crafty predator.The company has seen the markets of the future and it plans to be more nimble to pounce on opportunity as it arises, or as its innovations and forward...
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...
The two largest telecom carriers in Canada are in discussions over a possible tie-up, although no official deal has been announced. Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. said they are pursuing "non-exclusive discussions" about a possible "business combination" that Telus' chief executive said would create...