LONDON-Increased mobile penetration in Eastern Europe and Africa is expected to drive revenue growth in the Europe-Middle East-Africa region, according to new research from the Yankee Group.The company predicts total service revenue in the region will grow from about $210 billion in 2004 to...
The Federal Communications Commission's planned auction of so-called "advanced wireless services" spectrum scheduled for June could spell a windfall for government coffers, though analysts are mixed on the amount of said windfall. The government has said it expects to generate $25 billion during the...
Steve Jobs may have just taken one step closer to wireless. The head of Apple Computer Inc. landed a spot on the board of The Walt Disney Co. last week under the terms of Disney's $7.4 billion buyout of computer animation studio Pixar. While...
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...
BOSTON-The next major growth opportunity for wireless carriers is the 'tween' market, according to research firm Yankee Group. The market comprises children between the ages of 8 and 12.The tween market today accounts for 2.6 percent of all wireless subscribers with 5.3 million users,...
The wireline parent companies of Cingular Wireless L.L.C. are dangling discounts, converged bills and the potential of cross-platform services as they try to convince customers to bundle Cingular wireless services along with high-speed Internet, video and wireline phone services. As the AT&T brand re-emerges...
With the first few mobile virtual network operators out of the starting gate and more marching to the post, 2006 looks to be the year of the launch. After 2005, during which several MVNOs spent gearing up for and touting their upcoming launches, the...
When Cingular Wireless L.L.C. bought AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in 2004, creating the nation's largest cellular carrier, Verizon Wireless found itself handing over its title belt as the U.S. heavyweight wireless leader. But since then, Verizon Wireless has been posting the best churn figures...
The wave of litigation in the mobile e-mail space continued last week as Visto Corp. filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. Visto claims the software giant violated three patents relating to wireless synchronization, managing and securing data between servers and handheld devices. The...
With Alltel Corp.'s announcement last week that it would spin off its wireline business and merge it with Valor Communications Group, the nation's fifth-largest carrier is on its way to becoming purely a wireless player in an increasingly consolidated mobile marketplace. The declaration had...
XM Satellite Radio quietly launched an application to bring its radio service to Windows-powered mobile phones. The largest U.S. satellite radio provider launched Pocket XM Radio, which streams commercial-free XM content directly to Windows Mobile devices. The software sells for about $20 through distributors...
BOSTON-An investment group led by private-equity firm Alta Communications announced it has acquired technology research firm Yankee Group. Yankee Group was previously owned by Decision Matrix Group L.L.C.Brian Adamik, president and chief executive officer of Yankee Group, will step down after a transition period....
While most will busy themselves with decorations and gifts this holiday season, U.S. carriers and handset makers likely will be caught up in fierce battles over pricing, services and-ultimately-customers. As Halloween makes room for Thanksgiving, wireless executives need to gird themselves for perhaps the...
Boston Communications Group Inc. suffered another legal setback when a federal judge ordered the company to stop providing the prepaid wireless services that account for 70 percent of its revenue. BCGI provides a platform carriers like Cingular Wireless L.L.C. use to deploy prepaid offerings....
Much of the wireless industry's strong subscriber growth over the past several quarters has been attributed to carriers' ability to target customer segments that had previously been unable to qualify for service using either prepaid or family plans. Some analysts have attributed up to...
Prepaid services are continuing their march up the feature-rich ladder with an increasing number of operators beginning to offer wireless Web browsing services to their noncontract subscribers. Many operators offer basic text messaging or even more advanced access to downloadable content to their prepaid...
With the wireless industry's six largest operators now serving more than 90 percent of the country's wireless subscribers, regional players continue to scramble for their pieces of the pie. Many of these carriers have managed to lower their dependence on volatile roaming revenues, but...
U.S. wireless carriers ultimately want to get every American on their networks. In this utopian dream, everybody would be a paying customer. Subscribers would make all their voice calls from their mobile phones, they would gobble up services like downloadable music and mobile TV,...
BOSTON-Industry research and analyst firm The Yankee Group reported that wireless usage continues to outpace wireline usage in the United States. Citing its own internal surveys, government reports and industry trade group reports, The Yankee Group reported that personal calling using wireless devices exceeded...
The battle for wireless customers between the industry's No. 1 operator Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and No. 2 Verizon Wireless is set to move into the rapidly expanding hybrid-plan market segment. Hybrid plans generally merge calling-minute buckets associated with lucrative postpaid plans with the no-contract...
SK-Earthlink's plans to launch a mobile virtual network operator service have been pushed back until at least early next year, but despite the delay, the company is not scaling back its roadmap to sign up 3 million customers by 2009. "We are looking at...
Family plans may be family-friendly, but for wireless operators they are quickly becoming a trickier balancing act than where to seat squabbling relatives at a family reunion. Family plans have allowed carriers to add new users at lower costs than traditional single-line customers, as...
The frenzy of consolidation sweeping the wireless industry may not be over as an industry research firm recommended that some nationwide operators could see both long- and short-term benefits by acquiring keenly focused regional players. Citing the possibility of increased penetration into key Hispanic...
The wireless enterprise market-long a scene of sedate players and leisurely sales cycles-has cracked open with finger pointing, name calling, innuendo and otherwise rabid competition. "It really is a great indicator that it (the market) is starting to blossom," said Jason Guesman, vice president...
