Cingular Wireless L.L.C. used last week's Lehman Brothers 2004 Global Wireless financial conference to announce its UMTS rollout plans, while rival carrier Sprint Corp. backed off earlier promises that it would wait for DV technology to roll out its high-speed data offering.Cingular said that...
WASHINGTON-A bill banning 16- and 17-year-olds from using mobile phones while driving passed the California Senate.The measure, sponsored by Sen. Debra Bowen (D), was approved by a 24-to-11 bipartisan vote. "Study after study has shown that people who use cell phones while they're driving...
Bolstering its Ready Link walkie-talkie offering, Sprint PCS launched its fifth Sanyo handset for the service, which the carrier said now includes more than 275,000 users. Sprint also rearranged pricing for the service to align more with the carrier's PCS Vision wireless data service.The...
Fresh on the heels of Cometa Networks Inc. shutting down its Wi-Fi service because investors couldn't find a way to make money from it, Wi-Fi provider Wayport said it would start selling monthly subscriptions to partners offering Wi-Fi service at McDonald's. In addition, Wayport...
A pair of carriers shared the top spot in N. Moore Capital Ltd.'s ranking of 20 North American wireless operators' first-quarter financial results as Verizon Wireless and Canadian operator Telus Mobility both posted the lowest overall score and soundly outpaced the competition. The first-place...
Motorola Inc. has unveiled what it describes as the first cross-technology Push-to-Talk over Cellular solution rooted in wireless networks. The announcement comes against the background of an industry search for a common standard for PoC even as the major players and the Open Mobile...
WASHINGTON-The battle for the heart of the Federal Communications Commission continued last week as internal debate raged on regarding the best solution for solving public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band.Verizon Wireless late Thursday let the FCC know it would be "arbitrary and capricious"...
Wireless users will soon have several new gadgets to play with, as Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA Inc. and others announced the release of new devices.First up is Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s new SCH-a650 for Verizon Wireless. The device features support for text messaging and...
WASHINGTON-Harsh political and industry criticism of the California Public Utilities Commission's bill of rights for telecom consumers likely signals the controversy will carry over into 2005, when pro-business GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger replaces two exiting Democratic commissioners with his own appointments. "I am disappointed...
Kyocera Wireless Corp. said it is recalling an additional 40,000 mobile-phone batteries due to potentially faulty batteries. The company said the situation stems from the previously announced battery recall for its 7135 smart phone."The affected customers are being contacted directly," said Kyocera spokesman John...
Wireless carriers made improvements in inventory management during the first quarter, according to a new study by InfoTech Marketing.While total cost of equipment sales rose, inventory levels fell by $195 million, near third-quarter 2003 levels, said the report. Days of sales tied up in...
WASHINGTON-A bill banning 16- and 17-year-olds from using mobile phones while driving passed the California Senate Tuesday.The measure, sponsored by Sen. Debra Bowen (D), was approved by a 24-to-11 bipartisan vote. "Study after study has shown that people who use cell phones while they're...
Motorola Inc. has unveiled what it describes as the first cross-technology Push-to-Talk over Cellular solution rooted in wireless networks. This announcement comes against the background of an industry search for a common standard for PoC even as the major players and the Open Mobile...
Wi-Fi service provider Wayport this week unveiled Wi-Fi World, a new pricing model for its Wi-Fi-enabled McDonald's restaurants in which service will be provided for a fixed monthly fee per location rather than a per-connection rate. McDonald's is Wayport's first Wi-Fi World partner, although...
Government approval of Cingular Wireless L.L.C.'s proposed $41 billion purchase of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. has never really been in doubt, predictable consumer-group opposition notwithstanding.Now it is a near certainty. A veritable cakewalk. A done deal. The Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission can...
Delays in deploying third-generation networks combined with an overall slow economy helped create a 12-percent drop in demand for wireless equipment last year, according to a new report from the Gartner Group, a research and analyst company.But the fourth quarter witnessed an upturn in...
WASHINGTON-As local number portability goes nationwide today, rural Americans who want to port their wireline phone numbers to wireless carriers may find the deadline is a bit elastic."Right now, there are still a lot of waivers pending so it is like waiting for a...
Nextel Communications Inc.'s spectrum realignment plans were headed for resolution early this year, with reports indicating the government was set to award the carrier 10 megahertz of spectrum in the lower 1.9 GHz spectrum bands.But those plans were derailed-at least for now-when Verizon Wireless...
Sendia Corp. has built a business model around bringing existing wireless enterprise applications to market."We're not an application developer ourselves," explained Alex Klyce, Sendia's executive vice president. Rather, "we extend applications that already exist out to the marketplace." The company's official launch came last...
Although Qualcomm Inc.'s BREW application download system commands a smaller market than that of rival Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java, the company continues to rack up new BREW handsets, applications and carrier customers-and Qualcomm and its partners continue to offer new innovations for the platform."The...
WASHINGTON-FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said he found Nextel Communications Inc.'s complaints about the 2.1 GHz band unusual because the carrier did not raise relocation concerns when it presented its first proposal to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band in 2001. "I would...
Telus Mobility said it plans to offer its customers enhanced global roaming capabilities using a pair of Motorola Inc. GSM world phones designed to leverage the carrier's CDMA and iDEN wireless networks.The carrier noted the handsets would include the iDEN-based Motorola i930 and CDMA-based...
WASHINGTON-Press reports circulated today that FCC Chairman Michael Powell had pulled away from supporting Nextel Communications Inc. getting spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band as part of a solution to public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band.Last week, RCR Wireless News reported that Powell...
WASHINGTON-FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein Thursday morning said he found Nextel Communications Inc.'s complaints about the 2.1 GHz band unusual because the carrier did not raise relocation concerns when it presented its first proposal to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band in 2001."I...
