BROWSING: Policy

After much speculation, Sprint Nextel officially put in a bid to acquire the remaining minority interest in Clearwire that it does not already own. The offer, priced at $2.90 per share, is valued at a total of $2.1 billion. Analysts for the most part seemed...

Ecuador’s national telecommunications regulator, Conatel, has given the public company CNT EP (Ecuadorian Corporacion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) approval to provide technology services using the next generation of mobile technology.  Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to our free periodic newsletters According to the Minister of Telecommunications...

The Federal Communications Commission made a small step in bringing additional wireless spectrum assets to market by freeing up 40 megahertz of spectrum in the 2 GHz band for terrestrial mobile services. That spectrum was originally set aside for satellite-based telecommunications services and is...

The Federal Communications Commission looks to be continuing its support of future-looking telecommunication technologies – including wireless – announcing this week the formation of an agency-wide “Technology Transitions Policy Task Force” that according to FCC Commissioner Julius Genachowski, “will play a critical role in...

Peru's regulatory agency, OSIPTEL, has prohibited telecom operators from using the term "4G" or "Fourth Generation" to market their products. Lenka Zajec, the agency's corporate communications manager, told RCR Wireless News that the measure is based on the need to ensure the accuracy of information...

Are spectrum caps set to make a comeback? They are if some rural trade associations have their way. The Rural Telecommunications Group this week filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission asking that regulators set firm limits on the amount of spectrum a single company...

Verizon Wireless’ plans to sell off 700 MHz spectrum licenses seems to be generating plenty of interest and deals as the carrier announced it has recently agreed to sell 10 B-Block licenses to Clear Talk for an undisclosed sum. The licenses cover approximately 2.1...

Aiming to evolve telecommunication services in Brazil, minister of communications Paulo Bernardo, told members of the press that some important measures might be taken in upcoming months, such as voting on antenna regulation, certifying femtocells and auctioning 700 MHz spectrum bands.  Be sure to follow...

Dish Networks looks to be getting out ahead of government regulators this week as it sent out a press statement condemning reported constraints being bandied about by the Federal Communications Commission regarding the company’s spectrum plans. Dish noted in its statement that the FCC has...

As Washington and the cash-strapped state governments look for new sources of tax revenue, wireless service could be a potential target. Consumer advocacy group mywireless.org is trying to head off efforts to increase wireless taxes by showing how much most Americans already pay. Wireless tax...

Verizon Wireless continued to move 700 MHz spectrum assets it deems unnecessary, announcing a deal today to sell a lower B-Block license covering 12 counties in Texas to Oklahoma-based Panhandle Telecommunications. Terms of the agreement were not released. Verizon Wireless last week unloaded a lower...

Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....

MetroPCS and T-Mobile USA provided some more insight into their proposed merger during an analyst conference this morning in Barcelona, Spain, which is expected to be followed up with a filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission in regards to the benefits of their...

Sprint Nextel and potential majority owner Softbank took the next step in consummating their proposed merger with the filing of license transfers with the Federal Communications Commission. The filing is a necessary step in Softbank’s proposed $20 billion acquisition of a 70% stake in...

Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Time Machine is a way to take advantage of our extensive history in covering the wireless space to fire up the DeLorean and take a trip back in time to re-visit some of the more interesting headlines from...

Verizon Wireless is making good on its promise to start selling off some of its "excess" 700 MHz spectrum licenses, announcing today that it will sell its Texas RSA 6-Jack 700 MHz lower B-Block license to Nortex Communications for an undisclosed sum. Verizon Wireless...

In a move that marks a significant operational shift, U.S. Cellular Corp. said it was selling its operations in Chicago, St. Louis and a handful of markets in the Midwest to Sprint Nextel for $480 million. The transaction, which is expected to close mid-2013,...

The European Commission said it plans to add 120 megahertz of new spectrum near the 2 GHz band in support of next-generation mobile broadband services. The move requires member countries to provide access to the new spectrum by July 2014. The decision looks to unify...

Nearly two years after signing up for Verizon Wireless’ LTE in Rural America program, Kentucky-based Bluegrass Cellular today launched its initial service from that agreement in the cities of Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Glasgow, Radcliff and Bardstown, Ken. The service provides customers in those areas...

Is anything ever easy for Clearwire? Late last week, everyone’s favorite WiMAX provider reported yet another quarter of “things will be better tomorrow … if …” results that have become all too common for Clearwire.

Colombia's LTE auction has been postponed again. The government announced that it will take place in February next year, and América Móvil's Claro will be allowed to bid in the 2.5 GHz. The main reason for so many delays was the polemic debate over the...

The board of directors of Brazil's telecommunications agency, Anatel, has approved the General Plan for Competition (PGMC—the acronym in Portuguese), aimed at encouraging and promoting free competition in the telecommunications industry, as well improving regulation. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to our free periodic newsletters The PGMC establishes rules for sharing, interconnection...

All Brazilian mobile line numbers will have one more digit by December 2016.  The digit "9 "will be added to the left of the current eight digit numbers of each mobile phone, according to the implementation roadmap released by the telecom agency Anatel yesterday. Follow...

Ecuador's national telecom regulator, Conatel, announced that the country will adopt the 700 MHz spectrum band, also known as the digital dividend, to deploy the next generation of telecommunication services using LTE technology. Conatel also released that it has chosen the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) segmentation...