Wireless Providers

While the big news out of this year’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Span, was Verizon Wireless’ choice of LTE vendors — Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson, among others — its IMS news is just as interesting. It’s not too ... Read More »

SpinVox provides a relatively accurate and useful service, although transcribed voicemails can take up to 10 minutes to arrive and are in some cases truncated. If you prefer to read transcriptions of voicemails via text messages - ... Read More »

Regional wireless provider iPCS Inc. posted $9.8 million in losses for 2008, but the company remains optimistic it will continue to add customers and reduce churn. ... Read More »

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said about 30,000 LG Electronics Co. Ltd. handsets are being recalled because of 911-calling-related problems. ... Read More »

Like cartoon coyotes that draw themselves to full height before an exaggerated pounce on prey, handset vendors have offered little this year — but portended much — before an expected lunge at the market. ... Read More »

Mobile banking is beginning to get legs in emerging markets, but it’s not just the noble goals of empowering individuals and helping the downtrodden that is driving the space. ... Read More »

Collecting a soggy newspaper from the end of the driveway in one’s pajamas is familiar to many of us. As newspapers and magazines pile up on the counters and in the recycling bin, we wonder if there couldn’t be an easier way. ... Read More »

Dish Network, controlled by entrepreneur Charlie Ergen, said it had a net loss of 102,000 subscribers, compared with a year earlier, when it added 85,000. ... Read More »

­The Iraqi government has announced plans to require the country's three mobile phone networks to list their shares on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) by the middle of 2010. The move could triple the value of shares on the stock ... Read More »

T-Mobile USA Inc. is offering a $50-per-month unlimited voice plan to its veteran customers nationwide. In combination with the recent price cut on its unlimited data and unlimited text monthly add-on price to $35 per month, ... Read More »

The wireless industry has consolidated with regional carriers absorbed by larger national giants. Many decry that as a result, there is less incentive for these national carriers to compete (e.g., by lowering pricing) and ... Read More »

Even giants stumble, as Nokia Corp. discovered over the weekend when it pulled its mid-tier 5800 ExpressMusic smartphone from shelves at its New York and Chicago flagship stores. ... Read More »

With investments already made into WiMAX, the wireless broadband technology will be able to withstand the current economic downturn in a year that will see some additional network deployments, according to the WiMAX Forum. ... Read More »

Sprint Nextel Corp. is looking for a hero and it may well find one that fits in the palm of your hand — pun intended. In this case, Sprint Nextel is banking on the exclusive, hero handset from Palm Inc. dubbed the Pre. And the ... Read More »

The selection of Alcatel-Lucent and L.M. Ericsson to build out Verizon Wireless’ Long-Term Evolution network wasn’t too surprising and some competitors should not fret, according to industry analysts. ... Read More »

Verizon Wireless will begin selling the Versa by LG Electronics Co. for $200 with rebate and two-year contract on March 1. ... Read More »

On one level, Alltel Communications L.L.C. ceased to exist after Verizon Wireless closed its $28 billion acquisition of the Little Rock, Ark., company in early January. Indeed, attention promptly turned to how some Alltel ... Read More »

Nokia Corp. said today it would offer its mid-tier, touchscreen smartphone — the 5800 XpressMusic — in the United States for $400, with no carrier support. The news undercut Nokia’s public statements that it has approached the U. ... Read More »

A class-action lawsuit with potentially far-reaching legal, policy and business implications has been lodged against AT&T Mobility and RadioShack Corp. over a novel 3G netbook data plan. ... Read More »

Fourth-quarter numbers from T-Mobile USA Inc. showed that the industry’s No. 3 and No. 4 players (Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA, respectively) were no match for their larger rivals during the all-important holiday shopping ... Read More »

Is mobile advertising broken? Or is it just early days? The jury is still out on that one. But there is no ignoring the gap between the amount of effort companies invest in mobile advertising campaigns and the actual results they ... Read More »

Leap Wireless International Inc.’s growth is going according to plan, but the carrier is paying for it, literally. In its fourth-quarter results, Leap reported operating income of $3.8 million, a fraction of the $17.9 million the ... Read More »

From boarding passes to checking in luggage, airlines are testing wireless technology in efforts to speed travelers through to their destinations. ... Read More »

Verizon Wireless customers can once again directly access services from mobile content retailer Myxer. The nation’s No. 1 wireless provider pulled its support of Myxer last summer, claiming the service was distributing porn and ... Read More »

The wireless industry’s No. 5 carrier U.S. Cellular Corp. added 20,000 customers during the fourth quarter of 2008, which was less than half the 44,000 subscribers the carrier managed to add the previous year, though an ... Read More »

So according to Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse, the nation’s No. 3 wireless operator is not interested in a price war and somehow thinks it can compete against its rivals on a level playing field populated by unicorns, teddy bears ... Read More »

President Obama called for spectrum license fees in a record $3.9 trillion budget, released today, reviving a proposal that has failed to move in the past. But with the new Democratic administration intending to halve the ... Read More »

Vodafone Group plc, Europe’s largest network operator, and Microsoft Corp. have teamed up to offer the operator’s enterprise customers a unified communications and collaboration solution for mobile and fixed data. ... Read More »

MetroPCS Communications Inc. said it added a company record 520,000 net customers during the fourth quarter of 2008, and ended the year with 5.4 million customers on its network. MetroPCS’ Chairman, CEO and President Roger ... Read More »

It is a new era for the Federal Emergency Management Administration as it streamlines communications for emergencies and its day-to-day operations. ... Read More »

Despite the disastrous ramifications the global economic crisis has had on other business sectors, a new report from research firm IDC predicts the global mobile industry will remain relatively unscathed — and could even benefit. ... Read More »

AT&T Mobility said it now has a measure in place that allows parents to cap their children’s mobile Internet usage. The carrier announced an additional feature for its AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless offer that it said will give ... Read More »

When in past years Symbian Ltd. nervously eyed the nascent promise of mobile Linux, Symbian evangelists noted sharply that the rival, open-source platform would require considerable sweat equity or costly out-sourcing to ready it ... Read More »

Verizon Wireless said it filed a lawsuit today against Feature Films for Families Inc. to stop the company from calling Verizon Wireless customers and employees to promote the movie “The Velveteen Rabbit.” ... Read More »

In an exclusive interview with RCR Wireless News, Sprint Nextel Corp. CEO Dan Hesse discusses pricing plans, unlimited service options, iDEN network capacity, the forthcoming Palm Pre, planned job cuts and network outsourcing. ... Read More »

A new class-action lawsuit accuses Verizon Wireless of misrepresenting to New York consumers the intended target of a “metropolitan commuter transportation district” tax charged to subscribers by the No. 1 wireless provider. ... Read More »

Hold on to your seats for a wild ride this year. That’s the prognosis from many who say that inventory buildups in handsets and accessories and weak consumer demand continue to limit visibility into the retail wireless market’s ... Read More »

What a strange paradoxical digital world this is, with its seemingly endless supply of free content gushing through broadband pipes amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. How can this be? Is there such a thing ... Read More »

The following lists ranks the 10 most popular handsets in the United States for the month of December. Rankings were provided by AvianResearch L.L.C. ... Read More »

For all the hoopla that preceded congressional approval of broadband funding in the $787 billion stimulus bill signed into law by President Obama — and the controversy apt to follow the vaguely defined $7.2 billion grant programs ... Read More »

Motorola Inc. will spin off its enterprise-focused mobile e-mail business just two years after entering the space. ... Read More »

Vodafone Group, the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, on Tuesday unveiled plans to cut 500 jobs in the U.K. as it reduces costs to better cope with the worsening economic climate. ... Read More »

AT&T Mobility President Ralph De la Vega opined the benefits of an open wireless ecosystem at last week’s Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain, noting that wireless customers want it. ... Read More »

The billions of dollars set aside in the government’s stimulus bill to promote broadband access across the country may help create thousands of new jobs — and wireless firms are already evaluating the legislation for potential ... Read More »

In the Obama era, the telecom and tech industries, consumer advocates, states and other stakeholders will be watching carefully for key policy tendencies emanating from a Federal Communications Commission apt to be headed by tech ... Read More »

With churn rates rising among subscribers, wireless-phone companies are pouring on the promotions and marketing spending in hopes of keeping cost-conscious consumers in the fold. ... Read More »

With Sprint Nextel Corp. reporting a massive fourth-quarter loss, the company’s ratings have taken a fall and it has been given a negative outlook for this year, according to a ratings service. ... Read More »

T-Mobile USA is offering existing wireless customers in San Francisco a $50 flat-rate monthly calling plan in another sign of an emerging price war for low-end wireless customers. ... Read More »

Mobile marketing types like to talk about cool features like click-to-video, 2-D barcodes and interactive wireless scavenger hunts. ... Read More »

The nation’s eighth-largest carrier has an unorthodox objective: to bite the hand that feeds it. ... Read More »

Although Sprint Nextel Corp.’s fourth-quarter earnings came with significant bad news, two analysts think better times are ahead for the nation’s No. 3 wireless provider. ... Read More »

Verizon Wireless launched a new Web site capability that allows its customers to access the Web from their mobile phones using its Mobile Web service and get the same sites they would get using their personal computers. ... Read More »

AT&T Mobility will offer Pantech Wireless’ Matrix Pro — a smart version of last fall’s dual-sliding messaging phone — on Feb. 24 for $180, with a service contract and a $50 mail-in rebate good only for AT&T service. ... Read More »

Cox Communications Inc. is moving forward with its wireless plans by appointing a few more positions. Stephen Bye, Cox’s VP of wireless, announced the appointments of Raj Beri to VP of wireless product operations and Dane Dickie ... Read More »

The song seems to be skipping, or at least stuck on repeat for Sprint Nextel Corp. The carrier released its 2008 fourth-quarter earnings today, only to reveal yet another huge loss in both customers and money. Sprint Nextel ... Read More »

As Alcatel-Lucent struggles to regain its financial footing, the company is focusing on its new strategy that will combine its capabilities of the network environment with creative services of the Web. ... Read More »

With Sprint Nextel Corp. continuing to struggle, rumors have been flying regarding possible extreme measures the industry’s No. 3 carrier might have to take to right the ship. ... Read More »

Comcast Corp. blames the economy and even Clearwire Corp. for some of its struggles in 2008. According to a report from CNNMoney.com, Comcast said fourth-quarter profit fell 32% because of decreased value of its investment in the ... Read More »

New app stores and smartphone platforms are dominating the news out of Mobile World Congress this week, but it’s a quiet little mobile marketing initiative U.S. carriers will be monitoring closely in coming weeks. ... Read More »

T-Mobile International announced it will pair up with Nokia Corp. to offer integrated marketplace content. The carrier said that together, the two will provide widgets, applications and other content through the web’n’walk widget ... Read More »

After years of treading water and failing to live up to outlandish hype, mobile games finally may be starting to make progress. And it’s the Apple’s iPhone — and, to a lesser extent, other multimedia-friendly smartphones — that’s ... Read More »

BARCELONA, Spain – Verizon Wireless fleshed out its LTE plans by naming its network suppliers and setting a commercial launch date of 2010. The company, which plans to initially use its 700 MHz spectrum for the buildout, did not ... Read More »

Femtocells are just starting to hit the wireless market, but considerable momentum is building for the technology to play a key role when carriers start to deploy LTE networks. ... Read More »

BARCELONA, Spain - AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega used his Mobile World Congress keynote speech here to plead industry leaders for a common set of applications and application programming interfaces. De la Vega’s comments ... Read More »

The GSM Association and five European carriers are hoping to spur mobile marketing with a common system for measuring activity on the wireless Web. ... Read More »

Sprint Nextel Corp., which continues to wedge itself in as the cheaper wireless solution, has put two of its popular plans together and taken $10 off the total price. ... Read More »

Cricket Communications Inc. continues its nationwide rollout with its Chicago launch today, bringing its total covered pops to 77.5 million. The carrier, parented by Leap Wireless International Inc., is scheduled to double its ... Read More »

BARCELONA, Spain - Vodafone and HTC Corp. announced they will sell the world´s second phone running Google Inc.´s Android operating system. The announcement brings Google´s OS into the European market, with Vodafone planning to ... Read More »

BARCELONA, Spain – LG Electronics Co. Ltd. said it will make smartphones running both the Windows Mobile and Android operating systems, and will release an application storefront in the second quarter. ... Read More »

BARCELONA, Spain - Nokia Corp. introduced an application storefront that will connect developers directly with consumers, a move that comes almost a year after Apple Inc. announced a similar offering for its iPhone device. Nokia ... Read More »

Since March 2007, the good folks at RCR Wireless have been very patient with my quest to shame and otherwise motivate employers to provide cellular service for employees that make more than an occasional call related to business. ... Read More »

Messaging company Acision said Sprint has deployed its advanced messaging infrastructure within its network. ... Read More »

BARCELONA, Spain – One of the two top U.S wireless carriers in the United States – Verizon Wireless or Sprint Nextel Corp. – is testing an image-recognition technology that would allow marketers to connect directly to cellphone- ... Read More »

Handset manufacturer Motorola Inc. is likely to pin its future on smartphones based on Google Inc.’s Android operating system, while ceding its low-end, high-volume business to others. ... Read More »

With WiMAX being deployed all around the world, Intel Corp. officials are satisfied with the progress the technology has made in the United States and are hopeful federal stimulus funds can help accelerate the technology’s ... Read More »

The Communications Workers of America and AT&T Mobility remain deadlocked over a new contract covering more than 20,000 workers employed by the No. 2 wireless provider. The labor-management faceoff is playing out as the ... Read More »

The $789 billion economic stimulus bill set to shortly become law designates $7.2 billion for broadband grants, but the measure lacks tax credits for wireless carriers and other service providers. ... Read More »

Developers of applications for Google Inc.’s Android platform will finally be able to start charging for their offerings. ... Read More »

Boost Mobile’s decision to refocus its efforts on parent company Sprint Nextel Corp.’s iDEN network may be just what the doctor ordered — or a way to make the iDEN network a more attractive acquisition target. ... Read More »

The one-time rock of the wireless industry appears set to crumble. And I think that crumbling can’t come soon enough. That rock is postpaid, contract-encumbered rate plans. These were necessary evils when the industry was rife ... Read More »

European mobile software company Esmertec AG announced plans to acquire rival Purple Labs SA. The deal will create a new business under the name of Myriad Group AG that will include a client list supporting most major phone ... Read More »

The $789 billion economic stimulus bill nearing final congressional passage designates $7.2 billion for broadband grants, but the measure lacks tax credits for wireless carriers and other service providers. ... Read More »

Alltel Communications L.L.C customers can relax; Verizon Wireless announced it will offer its own version of Alltel’s long-standing MyCircle calling plan, just with a different name. ... Read More »

When it comes to mobile in the enterprise, presence is the buzzword. Just like it was three years ago. ... Read More »

Sun Microsystems Inc. is hoping to bridge the gap between smartphones and feature phones with a new platform targeting mid- and lower-end devices. ... Read More »

All the pieces are in place for a turnaround at Palm Inc., CEO Ed Colligan said in extolling the company’s next-generation platform, due to launch in months. ... Read More »

Some Southwest Airlines customers will now be free to move around the Web. ... Read More »

Verizon Wireless updated its InPulse prepaid offering with two new options and the extension of free weekend minutes to existing prepaid customers enrolled in the Plus plan. ... Read More »

Google Inc. is targeting carriers and third-party mobile Web publishers with a new embeddable search box. The developer quietly rolled out “AdSense for mobile search,” which enables portals to place a Google-branded search box on ... Read More »

Qwest Communications International Inc.'s fourth-quarter net income dropped 50% as a decline in land-line customers pressured voice-segment results. The company said it cut 1,700 jobs in the quarter -- more than it had originally ... Read More »

Big box retailers have made comparing cellphone plans and pricing much quicker by putting most of the options under one roof. So the real question is who has what? ... Read More »

The Senate today passed a scaled-backed economic stimulus bill by a 61-37 margin, clearing the way for what is expected to be a contentious conference to reconcile differences between House and Senate measures that vary in terms ... Read More »

Location-based services provider TeleNav Inc. has partnered with Sprint Nextel Corp. to exclusively offer its latest fleet management service to the wireless provider’s enterprise customers. ... Read More »

Verizon Wireless is set to unveil further details of its highly anticipated LTE rollout at next week’s Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain. ... Read More »

SMS-based search company 4INFO launched an ad-serving offering that places marketing pitches in text messages. ... Read More »

Leap Wireless International Inc. is bringing music to the masses, or at least those wireless consumers packing its Cricket devices. ... Read More »

Vodafone, the world's largest wireless carrier, and Hutchison Telecommunications, a unit controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, said Monday they will merge their telecommunications businesses in Australia, forging an ... Read More »

The wireless pundits are chattering about a new offer from Verizon Wireless. The nation’s largest carrier is offering a buy-one-get-one-of-equal-or-lesser-value-for-free promotion on the most popular smartphone brand — Research ... Read More »

When it comes to the wireless sector, I would just like to say what everybody else in the wireless ecosystem knows — the carrier is king! Now, I am not just saying this because most of our customers are carriers, but because ... Read More »

The LiMo Foundation continues to make strides as it announced updates to its open platform, notched six new operators to deliver handsets and added two new directors to its board. ... Read More »