MINNEAPOLIS-Verizon Wireless topped Vocal Laboratories Inc.'s quarterly customer service survey for the fourth quarter. The carrier maintained its top position but slipped slightly from an overall caller satisfaction grade of A to B. Verizon held its B rating in the single-call-completion category.T-Mobile USA Inc....
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-Sprint Nextel Corp. CDMA affiliate iPCS Inc. said it added 18,900 net wireless customers in the quarter ended Dec. 31, and closed out the year with around 495,300 subscribers. The regional carrier reported an average monthly churn rate for the quarter of 2.6...
WASHINGTON-The House and the Senate will each hold separate hearings next month on the ever-burgeoning consumer-privacy scandal regarding the disclosure and sale of telecommunications records. The Senate Commerce consumer-affairs subcommittee hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8. The House Commerce Committee will hold its hearing...
LUBBOCK, Tex.-Alamosa Holding Inc. shareholders overwhelmingly approved Sprint Nextel Corp.'s planned buyout of the regional wireless carrier.Under the terms of the agreement, Alamosa's common stock holders would receive $18.75 per share. Alamosa noted that 99 percent of its shareholders, representing 77 percent of Alamosa's...
BOULDER, Colo.-The Mobile Marketing Association is hoping to lay the foundation for mobile search revenues with a new document outlining potential business models, industry challenges and consumer needs. Calling mobile search "the next significant value creation opportunity for mobile operators around the world," the...
PORTLAND, Ore.-Directory assistance provider Metro One Telecommunications Inc. said it received notice that its stock is in danger of being de-listed from the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. The company said it plans to appeal the decision. Metro One's stock, which trades on the Nasdaq under...
ATLANTA-In a record-smashing quarter, Verizon Wireless clocked 2 million net customer additions to pull past Cingular Wireless L.L.C.'s blockbuster results of 1.8 million net adds. Verizon Wireless continued its streak of 14 consecutive quarters with double-digit growth, with its customer growth results up 20.5...
MURRAY HILL, N.J.-Thanks in part to a $278 million bankruptcy lawsuit ruling, Lucent Technologies Inc. posted a first quarter net loss of $104 million, or 2 cents per share. The telecom equipment maker said the ruling, worth 6 cents per share, was ordered by...
RESTON, Va.-Sprint Nextel Corp. has hopped on the pension-freezing band wagon, following similar moves by Verizon Communications Inc., IBM Corp. and Sears. The freeze will mean that nearly half of Sprint Nextel's 80,000 employees will no longer accumulate pension benefits and will have to...
RESTON, Va.-Sprint Nextel Corp. said it invested another $10 million into IPWireless Inc., which develops UMTS TD-CDMA network technology. Sprint Nextel initially invested $4 million in IPWireless in July. Sprint Nextel is trialing IPWireless' UMTS TD-CDMA technology in Washington, D.C. using its 2.5 GHz...
When Cingular Wireless L.L.C. managed to squeeze the launch of its 3G network into the last month of 2005, the move catapulted 16 major metropolitan cities into the spotlight as the most competitive 3G markets in the country. Cingular rolled out its BroadbandConnect service...
Among the gathering hordes of hungry mobile virtual network operators, nearly all are angling for a bite of the 18-to-34-year-old demographic. But one MVNO launching this week, BeyondMobile, is taking a different tack, targeting small businesses. The wireless service is being offered by an...
EDINBURG, Va.-Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. cut its churn rate in the fourth quarter of 2005 and increased its net retail customers by 6,515 subscribers, a jump of nearly 43 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2004. The company's wholesale customer adds for 2005 dropped...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission and cellular carriers urged a federal appeals court to throw out challenges to an agency ruling that forbids states from regulating line-item charges on monthly mobile-phone bills. The litigation has turned into a major legal test of the reach of...
WASHINGTON-The 800 MHz rebanding process has entered the alternative dispute resolution phase-a hybrid process established by the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that the retuning effort doesn't drag out past the three-year timeframe. The ADR process has been helpful for some of the licensees...
WASHINGTON-Amid a swirl of publicity over the apparent widespread theft and sale of cell-phone users' call records, two federal agencies along with both houses of Congress jumped to try to address the issue. Indeed, wireless carriers may find themselves in hot water because of...
Brightpoint Inc. said it will continue to be the exclusive authorized distributor for Nokia Corp. phones in the United States through 2007. The companies announced the extension of an existing agreement that sees Brightpoint deliver Nokia's wares to carriers, mobile virtual network operators, independent...
WASHINGTON-Two courts on opposite sides of the country have ruled in favor of Sprint Nextel Corp. and against two municipalities that wished to reject tower-siting applications. Both courts said that cities could not enact rules that arbitrarily restricted tower sites."Because the City of La...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms. CarriersLehman Brothers upgraded its rating on CenturyTel Inc. from underweight to equal weight and raised its price target on the company to $38 from...
WASHINGTON-Top U.S. mobile phone carriers have joined to bid for rights to offer wireless service in hundreds of subway stations throughout New York City. Cingular Wireless L.L.C., Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. are bidding for the project. A Cingular spokesman...
MINNEAPOLIS-Verizon Wireless topped Vocal Laboratories Inc.'s quarterly customer service survey for the fourth quarter. The carrier maintained its top position but slipped slightly from an overall caller satisfaction grade of A to B. Verizon held its B rating in the single-call-completion category.T-Mobile USA Inc....
EDINBURG, Va.-Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. cut its churn rate in the fourth quarter of 2005 and increased its net retail customers by 6,515 subscribers, a jump of nearly 43 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2004. The company's wholesale customer adds for 2005 dropped...
CINCINNATI-Sprint Nextel Corp. said it plans to phase out its billing relationship with Convergys Corp. and has signed a preliminary agreement with Amdocs Ltd. for a single billing and customer care platform to serve all of its wireless subscribers. Plans call for Sprint Nextel...
BOSTON-Wireless operators should develop sophisticated, community-focused game services to stave off increasing competition from Electronic Arts Inc., Yahoo Inc. and other media giants, according to a study from Strategy Analytics.The firm said carriers should expand game download services by adding chat rooms, game ratings,...
