Hello! And welcome to the first edition of our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR to rant and rave about whatever rubs...
SAN DIEGO—U.S. Cellular Corp. signed on to use Qualcomm Inc.’s BREW-based handset customization interface, uiOne. Qualcomm’s uiOne is already in use at Sprint Nextel Corp, the nation’s third-largest carrier with more than 40 million subscribers, and at Alltel Corp., the nation’s fifth-largest carrier with...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint Nextel Corp. and LG Electronics Co. Ltd. announced the launch of the Fusic music phone, another example of taking a feature phone and branding it a "lifestyle" device to tap the U.S. youth market. The phone also represents Sprint Nextel’s effort...
ATLANTA—Boost Mobile L.L.C. users can exchange cash electronically for prepaid calling minutes at various locations, due to a recent arrangement with CheckFreePay. Boost is a subsidiary of Sprint Nextel Corp. CheckFreePay is a business unit of CheckFree Corp. and offers consumers the ability to...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission late Friday abruptly delayed the advanced wireless services auction until Aug. 9, saying applicants needed more time to prepare for the government's sale of 1,122 wireless licenses. The FCC made no mention of a petition for expedited reconsideration of DE...
In the past few quarters it seems as if nearly every carrier has had a new customer record to crow about: best-ever net new subscribers, lowest-ever churn. According to CTIA, the wireless industry added nearly 26 million net new customers in 2005, its highest...
During the past several years, the four national U.S. carriers have whittled away the number of price plans they offer to consumers, dropped low-end plans and largely come into lock-step with each other on service plan price points. On the other hand, the cost...
Verizon Wireless beat out the rest of the industry in serving business customers, landing at the top of J.D. Power and Associates' second annual survey of business wireless satisfaction. Verizon Wireless had an index ranking of 711 on a 1,000-point scale and had "particularly...
BOSTON-In a head-to-head comparison, more customers preferred Sprint Nextel Corp.'s Music Store to Verizon Wireless' Vcast service-but both were deemed too expensive, according to a new study by research firm Strategy Analytics. Strategy Analytics said Sprint Nextel's Mobile Music Store outscored Verizon Wireless' Vcast...
WASHINGTON-Even with carefully worded denials by two large telephone companies and outright denials by two national mobile-phone carriers, the Bush administration and the telecom industry last week failed to quell a mushrooming controversy over whether carriers supplied the National Security Agency with millions of...
WAKEFIELD, N.H.-Prepaid reseller Freedom Phone Services introduced a new prepaid phone plan that starts at $10 per month. Customers must pay ahead of time and essentially have a month-to-month arrangement; they have a month to use their allotted minutes and then can choose whether...
NASHVILLE, Tenn.-Mobile virtual network operator Mobile ESPN L.L.C. said it plans to offer roadside assistance services to its customers via insurance and warranty company Asurion. The service is expected to cost $3 per month and include 24-hour towing, lockout assistance, tire changes and fueling...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission abruptly delayed the advanced wireless services auction until Aug. 9, saying applicants needed more time to prepare for the government’s sale of 1,122 wireless licenses. The FCC was to have begun the AWS auction June 29, but intense controversy over...
BOSTON—In a head-to-head comparison, more customers preferred Sprint Nextel Corp.’s Music Store to Verizon Wireless’ Vcast service—but both were deemed too expensive, according to a new study by research firm Strategy Analytics. Strategy Analytics said Sprint’s Mobile Music Store outscored Verizon’s Vcast service by...
WAKEFIELD, N.H.—Prepaid reseller Freedom Phone Services introduced a new prepaid phone plan that starts at $10 per month. Customers must pay ahead of time and essentially have a month-to-month arrangement; they have a month to use their allotted minutes and then can choose whether...
RESTON, Va.—A federal judge has ordered Sprint Nextel Corp. to pay a Pennsylvania-based collection company more than $17 million over a contract dispute. Sprint Nextel had signed a three-year deal with Penncro Associates Inc. in 2002 for account collections work on wireless bills, and...
SAN FRANCISCO—The world’s two largest phone manufacturers are hoping to give Java developers a push with separate initiatives. Motorola Inc. is embracing open-sourcing with the launch of an Internet site offering code contributions, open-source projects and other information for developers. The site, www.opensource.motorola.com, is...
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.—Verizon Wireless beat out the rest of the industry in serving business customers, landing at the top of J.D. Power and Associates’ second annual survey of business wireless satisfaction. Verizon Wireless had an index ranking of 711 on a 1,000-point scale and...
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Mobile virtual network operator Mobile ESPN L.L.C. said it plans to offer roadside assistance services to its customers via insurance and warranty company Asurion. The service is expected to cost $3 per month and include 24-hour towing, lockout assistance, tire changes and fueling...
WASHINGTON—The Bush administration’s domestic eavesdropping controversy has landed at the Federal Communications Commission, with a key telecom lawmaker and an FCC member calling for the agency to investigate whether laws were broken in light of a new report that major telecom carriers turned over...
PORTLAND, Ore.—Metro One Telecommunications Inc. suffered a quarterly net loss of $5.7 million as it tried to re-group following Sprint Nextel Corp.’s decision to drop the enhanced directory-assistance provider from its iDEN-based services. Metro One reported first-quarter revenue of $15.2 million, down from $18.4...
NEW YORK—London-based Inmarsat plc last week received permission from the Federal Communications Commission to begin offering satellite-based broadband service in the United States, where the company said it will focus initially on emergency workers dealing with the fallout from the upcoming hurricane season and...
It seems there's a new mobile virtual network operator for just about every interest, age and ethnic group in the United States. And each operator has a different strategy about how to reach its target. Retailing strategies were simpler when the first couple of...
WASHINGTON-With the advanced wireless services auction quickly approaching and companies largely silent about their bidding intentions, controversy and uncertainty are slowly beginning to dominate an event billed as one of the biggest and most import sales of public airwaves in years. Already a health-related...
