The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier --Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its ratings on Alltel Corp. to BB from A- and kept the company on CreditWatch with negative implications...
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.-Mobile social networking is "one of these servants in waiting . something that has a lot of potential, but hasn't been fully exploited," Michael Stroud, co-founder and CEO of iHollywood Forum Inc., said in introductory remarks here at the Mobile Entertainment Summit.A...
AT&T Mobility ended a roaming agreement with regional wireless operator Cellular One of East Texas that allowed the national carrier's customers to use 26 Cellular One cell sites in eastern Texas near the Louisiana border."This is one of those business decisions that we made...
The handset market in the United States in the first quarter grew 12% over the year-ago quarter, with the sale of about 39 million units valued at nearly $3 billion, according to The NPD Group. That growth is roughly similar to the year-ago quarter's...
Qwest Communications International Inc. has started offering mobile broadband service using Sprint Nextel Corp.'s CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A network.The Qwest Wireless Mobile Broadband card from UT Starcom is priced at $50 with a two-year service agreement, $100 with a one-year agreement or $210...
Mobile search startup JumpTap Inc. expanded its relationship with mobile virtual network operator Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. with a local search application.The white-label offering, which launches this week, delivers local business listings as well as driving directions and local maps. JumpTap has powered an...
Funambol plans to push ahead with its open source mobile e-mail strategy this week with an upgraded version of its white-label offering for carriers.The Redwood City, Calif.-based startup is set to unveil Funambol v6, a Java-based application that pushes e-mail to wireless devices from...
Third Screen Media Inc. finally found a well-heeled suitor, agreeing to be acquired by Time Warner's AOL Internet division for an undisclosed sum. The question now is, who's next?Third Screen was snapped up for a rumored $80 million and will operate as a subsidiary...
Getting the blessing of regulators is just one of many hurdles carriers must clear when they acquire another carrier. Sometimes it's the little things that add up to a complex, pressing matter. When Alltel Corp. purchased Midwest Wireless last year, it also snatched up...
The Chinese market for mobile network equipment continued to creep forward as Alcatel-Lucent announced several major infrastructure contracts with Chinese wireless operators, and the Chinese government made steps toward issuing 3G licenses.The Chinese market continues to stand as a gold-mine for the world's network...
The Mobile Entertainment Forum announced a record number of applications for this year's Meffys awards, marking a 50% increase from last year. Music-focused applications attracted the most entries, followed closely by gaming and then TV and video.The Meffys, which are in their fourth year,...
Verizon Wireless said it is now offering its customers access to ESPN MVP content.ESPN MVP gives Verizon Wireless' Vcast subscribers access to content such as SportsCenter video highlights, game score alerts, breaking sports news updates, ESPN Gamecast, and news on players, teams and leagues....
Amp'd Mobile Inc. jacked up its handset prices across the board on all five of its proffered models.For instance, the Motorola Inc. Q soared to $220 (from $100), two models of Razrs went to $70 and $80, respectively (from $50 and $60), and the...
Yet another executive is exiting through Sprint Nextel Corp.'s revolving front-office door.The carrier said last week that Mark Schweitzer will step down from his post as chief marketing officer at the end of the month. Tim Kelly, who currently oversees the operator's Customer Management...
Few music companies have pursued mobile as aggressively as The Orchard Enterprises Inc. The New York-based company serves as a kind of digital music aggregator, distributing content from dozens of independent record labels and more than 14.000 artists from Bing Crosby to Bloc Party....
"Spider-Man 3" hit box-office gold as it broke the U.S. and global opening weekend box office records upon release the first weekend of May. While much of the film industry sees the success as a welcome respite, and perhaps turnaround, from the steady decline...
T-Mobile USA Inc. posted a solid first quarter, bringing in 980,000 net new subscribers and outperforming analyst' expectations, largely on the strength of its prepaid customer growth. According to RBC Capital Markets analyst Jonathan Atkin, the fourth-largest carrier and Verizon Wireless have been the...
The following list details this week's infrastructure awards for the cellular, Wi-Fi and WiMAX industries. The contracts are broken down by transmission technology, country and vendor. The value of the contract is included when available.WiMAX --Netherlands: Alcatel-Lucent said it completed a Universal WiMAX trial...
AT&T Mobility announced that its Cingular 8525 Pocket PC (made by HTC Corp.) will henceforth be known as the AT&T 8525 Pocket PC. The operator said that the device has been upgraded, retaining the functionality it originally offered, while adding software upgrades to enable...
Tween-focused mobile virtual network operator kajeet Inc. added more than 400 Longs Drugs stores as points of distribution for its pay-as-you-go wireless service. The Longs Drugs stores are located in California, Nevada and Hawaii. Kajeet will offer the LG Electronics Co. Ltd. LX150 handset...
The word last week that Nokia Corp.'s new N75 device would debut soon at AT&T Mobility drew its share of attention, for good reason. Though Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's CEO, has made a point to extol the value of the U.S. market-declaring it a hotbed...
Virgin Mobile USA Inc., the first mobile virtual network operator to launch in the United States, filed for an initial public offering in a move that signals the maturation of the MVNO segment of the wireless market in the United States in general and...
Nokia Corp. announced seven new phones for markets outside the United States at an event in New Delhi, India, news that coincided with the firm's annual shareholders' meeting in Helsinki, Finland. The company may have selected New Delhi as its platform due to the...
Virgin Mobile USA Inc., the first mobile virtual network operator to launch in the United States, filed for an initial public offering in a move that signals the maturation of the MVNO segment of the wireless market in the United States in general and...
