Subscription fraud is as old as the wireless industry itself, and responsible for the creation of numerous companies and products that exist solely to develop new ways to combat this revenue-stealing problem.While carriers continue to battle fraudsters on the voice front, a new problem...
TORONTO-Wireless carriers Clearnet Communications and Microcell Telecommunications have won a key regulatory battle to gain competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) designation in Canada. The change in status will allow the two companies to offer their wireless subscribers free listings in the white pages, a...
TORONTO-Now that the C$6.6 billion (US$4.3 billion) Telus deal to acquire Clearnet Communications has been finalized, engineering issues are starting to surface.The challenge? How to combine the wireless operations of Telus and Clearnet and determine the best path for third-generation (3G) services. The new...
Verizon Wireless turned the industry on its ear last week, announcing plans to support legislation in Illinois that would ban cell-phone use while driving unless the caller is using a hands-free device.The decision is "in direct response to the political situation in Illinois and...
NEW YORK-Like the Wizard of Oz working the controls unseen, electronic commerce could soon become the primary delivery and fulfillment mechanism for all goods and services, regardless of whether consumers buy those goods and services online, by mail order or in a store.Telecommunications, provided...
TORONTO-The consolidation trend in the North American wireless sector is intensifying. The prevailing wisdom is that it is no longer good enough to be merely a regional or national carrier with transborder capabilities. The game plan is to be part of a global presence,...
BOSTON, United States-Europe's wireless service market saw consumer prices fall an average of 20 percent this year compared with last year, led by Germany's 45-percent drop and Denmark's 38-percent reduction in wireless service prices, according to The Yankee Group's annual Global Wireless Pricing Summary.Africa...
BOSTON-Europe's wireless service market saw consumer prices fall an average of 20 percent this year compared with last year, led by Germany's 45-percent drop and Denmark's 38-percent reduction in wireless service prices, according to The Yankee Group's annual Global Wireless Pricing Summary.Africa and the...
Telus Corp. offered to acquire all the shares of Clearnet Communications Inc. for $4.48 billion, creating a daunting competitor in Canada's tight wireless market.Under terms of the offer, Telus will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Clearnet for $47.48 per share. Clearnet shareholders...
In a surprise ending, six groups walked away with Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Germany at a total cost of $45.85 billion, the largest amount raised yet in a third-generation spectrum auction, hitting the ceiling of most analyst predictions.Each of the winners-Deutsche Telekom...
The realm of wireless data is uncharted territory for most consumers, but carriers also are feeling their way through the darkness, searching for the best way to market data and Internet services to an audience with little or no knowledge of wireless outside voice.Everyone-from...
WASHINGTON-The rapid growth of the wireless industry increases the importance of the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum management responsibilities and may someday lead to service-quality regulation, the agency's members said in releasing its fifth annual report to Congress on the state of wireless competition."Industrial policy...
Hoping to understand why 67 percent of U.S. subscribers said they would be interested in changing their wireless service provider in a 1999 survey, the Yankee Group has compared wireless coverage in the United States to four countries with high wireless penetration and usage...
With a little help from concerned consumer groups and government researchers, voice technologies are forging ahead as a safe alternative to dialing while driving, while at the same time opening new revenue channels for advertisers and wireless carriers.Voice technologies include portals, which can be...
NEW YORK-The risks of using a cellular phone while driving "appear to be small compared to other daily risks, but are uncertain because existing research is limited and of uneven quality," a new Harvard Center for Risk Analysis report concluded.The Center, part of the...
DUBLIN, Ireland-The massive sums being invested in third-generation (3G) licenses, network development and acquisitions have placed the major European operators firmly under the financial spotlight. While observers agree there is no significant cause for concern yet, it is also clear operators are being forced...
We have e-mail, e-commerce and e-tailers, among other "electronic" conveniences. The "e" phenomenon has spread quickly across all aspects of business and industry, and now wireless customers with questions or problems can access "e-customer service" to find help.Of course, customers still have the option...
L.M. Ericsson led the stampede of companies that introduced Bluetooth products in the past few weeks, but some industry experts believe it will be several years away before consumers embrace Bluetooth products."All the talk is based on technology, not on the use of the...
OmniSkyOmniSky Corp., a provider of wireless Internet services for handheld computing devices, named five new people to its executive management team. Lawrence Winkler is the company's new senior vice president and chief financial officer and will oversee accounting and finance operations. Prior to joining...
Nortel Networks increased its presence in the European mobile-phone market last week, garnering a $700 million third-generation equipment contract with BT Cellnet in the United Kingdom and displacing several of the carrier's traditional European manufacturers.Nortel will provide an end-to-end Universal Mobile Telecommunications System network,...
WALTHAM, Mass.-Primark Corp. announced it has agreed to sell to a subsidiary of Reuters Group plc its subsidiary, Yankee Group Research Inc., for $72.5 million in cash. The deal is expected to close within 30 days."Given the current conditions in the IPO marketplace, the...
Wireless resellers are a hardy breed. Their success or failure teeters on the shoulders of carriers that tightly control the supply of the product they need to survive. Whether warranted or not, carriers harbor fears that resellers will steal customers and sap resources, and...
MONTREAL-The transmission was delayed 20 minutes because the test PC had crashed. And the picture quality, to put it kindly, was choppy. Nevertheless, in February, Rogers AT&T Wireless and Ericsson Canada made the first wireless phone call in North America to be carried over...
CANNES, France and HANNOVER, Germany-Visitors at the ever-expanding GSM World Congress, held in February in Cannes, France, could have mistaken the huge exhibition as focusing exclusively on Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). For the second year running, it appeared almost every exhibitor had a WAP...
