SAN FRANCISCO-Content provider Faith West Inc. announced a new service that combines ring tones and animations and said it will sell several such offerings through Verizon Wireless' Get It Now application download service.Faith West said its new ring tone/animation service will launch with music...
As Hurricane Isabel bears down on the U.S. eastern seaboard, wireless carriers are confident their networks are already prepared for the worst. Unlike other recent emergencies, including Sept. 11, 2001, and the August power outage, Isabel was anticipated, giving operators time to make necessary...
WASHINGTON-The question of whether government can or should be able to forecast technology development in an attempt to solve a problem was on display in two venues this week. "We need to be very careful about how the federal government tries to forecast what...
WASHINGTON-The Communications Workers of America today applauded a federal court's dismissal of a contempt-of-court charge brought by Verizon Wireless against CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen."This action by Verizon Wireless is nothing short of another attempt to regulate and control free speech, and we...
DALLAS-MetroPCS Inc. signed a service agreement with wireless multimedia and messaging solutions provider Ztango to provide downloadable ring tones to MetroPCS customers. MetroPCS said the service is available through select handsets and through the carrier's Web site.Ztango signed a similar deal last week with...
WASHINGTON-The chiefs of the FCC's Enforcement and Wireless Telecommunications Bureaus want to go on field trips to see how well carriers are implementing wireless local number portability.In letters to four carriers, WTB Chief John Muleta asked the carriers to respond to specific WLNP implementation...
During the past 11 years, Nextel Communications Inc. has carved out a healthy niche for itself in the wireless market while using a proprietary network technology and infrastructure provided by a single supplier, diverse spectrum holdings and a laser-like focus on the business market...
As Sprint PCS continues to trial its push-to-talk solution ahead of a planned pre-year-end launch date, details emerged last week about the offering that is expected to include at least a pair of color-screen handsets when launched and a claimed larger coverage area than...
WASHINGTON-With the United States facing $4 billion in retaliatory tariffs from the European Union by month's end, telecom and high-tech firms find themselves split on competing legislation to repeal tax breaks for U.S. exporters.The export subsidy issue directly impacts Motorola Inc., the nation's top...
WASHINGTON-Congress last week dipped its toe into the dirty waters of digital pornography, an emerging issue with financial and intellectual property implications for mobile-phone operators globally.Last Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was designed to focus primarily on the use of peer-to-peer networks to distribute...
WASHINGTON-The chiefs of the FCC's Enforcement and Wireless Telecommunications Bureaus want to go on field trips to see how well carriers are implementing wireless local number portability.In letters to four carriers, WTB Chief John Muleta asked the carriers to respond to specific WLNP implementation...
BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Verizon Wireless and Ztango announced that Verizon customers can now download polyphonic ring tones and monotonic ring tones using the operator's TXT messaging. Verizon said Ztango's offering is the first premium content available to its TXT customers and offers downloadable ring tones,...
Sprint PCS president Len Lauer said the carrier expects its upcoming Ready Link push-to-talk service will be competitive with Verizon Wireless's current offering, though would still fall short of the sub-one-second call latency provided by Nextel Communications Inc. Direct Connect service."I feel fairly good...
BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Verizon Wireless completed the acquisition of a 10-megahertz PCS license serving the Pittsburgh, Pa., basic trading area from Devon Mobile Communications L.L.C. for $10.5 million in cash. Verizon Wireless, which already controls a 25-megahertz cellular license in the Pittsburgh market, noted the PCS...
WASHINGTON-The Communications Workers of America said it reached a tentative agreement on a new, five-year contract for Verizon Wireless technicians in the New York City area.CWA, which has been trading barbs in the press with the No. 1 mobile-phone operator, said the new accord...
BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Verizon Wireless signed a $1 billion multi-year agreement with Nortel Networks Ltd. to expand and upgrade the carrier's nationwide CDMA network. The agreement calls for Nortel to provide expansion and upgraded CDMA2000 1x radio base stations, switching, Nortel's Passport Internet Protocol platforms and...
During the past five years, Viastar Technologies has grown from a two-man, home-based operation into a business that accounts for 130 employees in three facilities.Philadelphia-based Viastar Technologies repairs and refurbishes wireless devices and components, a business that can assist carriers in reducing the costs...
While many industry observers applauded Verizon Wireless' introduction of its Push to Talk service as a way for the carrier to attract high-end business customers interested in a walkie-talkie services, some were disappointed with certain latency issues in Verizon Wireless' CDMA-based service that failed...
The battle over business customers continues to heat up as Nextel Communications Inc. and Verizon Wireless launched new advertising campaigns targeting potential deficiencies in each other's business-centric offerings.Nextel's campaign, which includes full-page advertisements in prominent newspapers, highlights latency issues with Verizon Wireless' recently launched...
WASHINGTON-The Communications Workers of America said it reached a tentative agreement on a new, five-year contract for Verizon Wireless technicians in the New York City area.CWA, which has been trading barbs in the press with the No. 1 mobile-phone operator, said the new accord...
BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Verizon Wireless signed a $1 billion multi-year agreement with Nortel Networks Ltd. to expand and upgrade the carrier's nationwide CDMA network. The agreement calls for Nortel to provide expansion and upgraded CDMA2000 1x radio base stations, switching, Nortel's Passport Internet Protocol platforms and...
WASHINGTON-WorldCom Inc., which is doing business under the name MCI, named five independent directors to its board late last month.Laurence Harris is a partner at the law firm of Patton Boggs L.L.C. Harris was an executive of Teligent Inc., a fixed wireless startup that...
Privately held Mobility Networks, which sold technology to wireless carriers that linked wide area networks with Wi-Fi hot spots, has shut down and ceased operations, a former spokesman for the company confirmed. The spokesman declined to provide further information.Repeated attempts to contact the company's...
Whether generic or proprietary, the phrase "push to talk" may become the words of war in the wireless industry in the next few years. As it stands today, Nextel Communications Inc. has claimed it has an exclusive right to trademark the phrase. Others disagree,...
