With as many as six wireless operators to choose from in some markets, wireless carriers have to work overtime to keep their customers from jumping ship. While customer churn industrywide remains steady in the 2-percent to 3-percent range per month, wireless carriers are seeing...
Amid mounting layoffs and company bankruptcies across the entire telecommunications sector, a little start-up out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, is making its debut, hoping to capitalize on the growing voice-enabled applications market.OkamLogic Inc. is beta testing its Wireless Voice Commerce Gateway, a suite of...
BOSTON-The Yankee Group said subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region will hit 575 million by 2005, surpassing Europe as the world's leading mobile communications market. Starting from a low penetration level of 6.93 percent in 2000, the region will expand at a compounded annual growth...
As the Virgin Mobile rumor factory continues to pump out news stories, Sprint PCS finally brought some substance to the situation. The wireless carrier issued a brief, two-sentence release confirming that the two companies were in discussions, but that no definitive agreement had been...
An overlooked and potentially huge segment of the mobile-phone market is eagerly following the exploits of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. This segment watches PG-13 movies and, in general, must be dragged kicking and screaming to middle and high school.This segment is the...
NEW YORK-To create an atmosphere of consumer trust about wirelessly delivered advertising, cellular carriers should go beyond opt out or opt in permission to double opt-in authorization, said Michele Pelino, director of Internet market strategies for The Yankee Group.In this scenario, consumers who agree...
LOS ANGELES-Last week was a big one for wireless gaming enthusiasts, with dozens of announcements hitting the wires in conjunction with the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. A variety of companies, both large and small, announced their wireless gaming plans to take advantage...
TORONTO-The Canadian government may give a new meaning to the sounds of silence for wireless devices. Ottawa is considering changing its laws to allow restaurants, theaters, hospitals and churches to silence cell phones by jamming radio signals. Jamming devices work by sending out an...
GENEVA-How the mighty have fallen. British Telecommunications (BT), once ranked among the world's most powerful carriers, is finding itself buckling under a crippling mountain of debt in a climate where raising equity in the telecom/information technology (IT) sector has hit an all-time low. In...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Uncertainty related to the future of Scandinavian mobile prepaid calling plans, less preferred here than in Western Europe generally, is largely due to the struggle to migrate customers to more expensive products and emerging technologies that could fundamentally change the relationship between vendor...
As the apparent economic slowdown continues to shake up Wall Street and dislodge stocks, many in the wireless industry are holding their breath to see whether the situation is grave enough to cause consumers not to jump on-or jump off of- the mobile bandwagon...
Voice services are a tricky subject for wireless operators. While voice is regarded as the one true killer application for wireless carriers, many are forced to nearly give away voice service to keep up with the ultra-competitive wireless market.
While carriers try to differentiate their...
Lucent TechnologiesLucent Technologies introduced Flexent Wireless IP Core Network Architecture, which it said will help wireless carriers deliver a range of voice and data services to customers. According to Lucent, the first phase of the architecture, the Lucent Softswitch Toll/Tandem Solution, lets carriers connect...
Like the stubborn ache of a mild whiplash, new wireless application service providers (WASPs) and wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) are chipping away at the territories of established carriers, according to a study released by Friedman, Billings and Ramsey & Co. Inc., a consulting...
The idea sounds compelling. With Web-enabled cellular telephones, users can dial up their favorite merchants to make automated purchases. It's called mobile commerce, but for skeptics like Lawrence Steinert, it's more a promise than reality.When it comes to new technologies, Steinert is no shrinking...
GENEVA-Despite a subdued initial public offering (IPO) that saw the company reap a modest US$9 per share-near the bottom end of an already hastily reduced US$8.7 to US$10 range-the future is looking good for Orange, the former U.K. operator that now forms the cornerstone...
TORONTO-The established Canadian wireless fraternity scooped up most of the available spectrum licenses contested in the February auction. All told, Industry Canada's auction for wireless spectrum in the 2 GHz band raised US$964 million for federal coffers.Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility were the two...
TORONTO-The move was surprising but not totally unexpected. After many denials, U.S. carrier AT&T Wireless finally announced last November it is switching from TDMA wireless technology to the rival European-developed standard GSM technology. Moving in lock step, Rogers AT&T Wireless of Toronto, Canada's largest...
Early expectations of the wireless Internet sweeping the country have suffered the realities of the limitations the service offers in comparison to the wired Web. While the number of wirelessly enabled sites grows daily, the lack of access and content these sites provide has...
Finally, a glass of champagne.Nortel Networks toasted its fourth quarter with a result that matched market expectations and a robust promise for the future.Nortel, a leader in communications equipment for wireless networks, switching, transmission and access, reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $825 million, or...
TORONTO-To the relief of the wireless industry, the Canadian government raised the four-year-old spectrum cap that limits the amount of radio spectrum each PCS provider may operate. Wireless carriers in Canada can now each use 55 megahertz of spectrum, an increase from 40 megahertz.In...
Back in October, when the top brass of the tower industry converged in Las Vegas for the 2000 Tower Summit and Trade Show, the room buzzed with anticipation over the new opportunities third-generation technologies were expected to bring.Why should the tower industry care about...
BOSTON-In 2000, the wireless industry saw WAP browsers proliferate, wireless terminals become exciting again and 2.5 and third-generation technologies become more focused, analyst firm The Yankee Group said. But 2001 is expected to bring about even more opportunities for wireless technology, although not as...
NEW YORK-Before mobile commerce can reach the goal of providing a value-added revenue stream for wireless carriers, it must fulfill its potential as a value-added service for their customers."Today m-commerce is a subset of e-commerce, and it's having problems. It's not taking off. You've...
