BROWSING: Sprint

WASHINGTON—The Senate Commerce Committee passed its sweeping telecommunications-reform bill, including in it two critical bits for the wireless industry: wireless pre-emption with a small caveat and a moratorium on cell-phone taxes. The bill is now headed to the Senate floor. However, Sen. Ron Wyden...

WASHINGTON—There he goes again. Verizon Wireless President Denny Strigl once again is breaking with the pack, this time with a strategic decision to become the most consumer-friendly national wireless carrier where controversial, lawsuit-prone, early-termination fees are concerned.At The Yankee Group's 2006 North American Wireless...

MURRAY HILL, N.J.—Nothings spells "major contract win" like Lucent Technologies Inc.'s deal to supply Verizon Wireless with CDMA 1x EV-DO Revision A hardware and software as the carrier upgrades its nationwide network. Verizon's Rev. A announcement comes as no surprise; the carrier has previously...

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—MobiTV Inc. said it extended its wireless video service to devices running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. The service, which is available through Alltel Corp., Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Sprint Nextel Corp., includes both live video and on-demand clips from content...

ALAMEDA, Calif.—UTStarcom Inc. introduced its T66 dual-mode, dual-standby CDMA/GSM handset and announced China Unicom plans to offer the handset for use with its World Wind dual-mode service. The handset is targeted at mid- to high-end consumers and business users who want entertainment features on...

ATLANTA—EarthLink Inc. launched its municipal Wi-Fi network in Anaheim with considerable fanfare, but the company also quietly inked deals to resell Internet access on its muni Wi-Fi networks to DirecTV and AOL. EarthLink said the agreements are in line with the company’s "commitment to...

WASHINGTON—The 800 MHz Transition Administrator said late Wednesday it was extending the deadline to Aug. 14 for licensees in the border regions to file requests for planning funding. The original deadline was Saturday. The issue of planning funding has been bubbling under the surface...

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint Nextel Corp. has added a Sanyo Electronics Co. Ltd. handset to its lineup that includes a free parental control feature that allows parents to limit incoming and outgoing calls to a list that can be programmed into the phone. The SCP-2400...

PLAINFIELD, Ind.—Brightpoint Inc. added yet another wireless operator to its stable, inking a distribution deal with Boost Mobile L.L.C. The Sprint Nextel Corp.-owned service provider authorized Brightpoint to distribute Boost phones and services to its network of 2,000 retailers nationwide. Brightpoint has similar agreements...

NEW YORK—Mobile ESPN L.L.C. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced Samsung’s Ace handset is now available to Mobile ESPN subscribers. The Ace, based on Samsung’s A900 handset currently available through Sprint Nextel Corp., is a slim handset—a little over one-half-inch thick—and weighs about 3.5...

BELLEVUE, Wash.—InfoSpace Inc. quietly launched its long-awaited direct-to-consumer effort with an Internet storefront hawking mobile ringtones, graphics and games. The site, www.moviso.com, offers content at tiered subscription levels as well as a la carte. The content is available to subscribers of Cingular Wireless L.L.C.,...

MURRAY HILL, N.J.—Nothings spells "major contract win" like Lucent Technologies Inc.’s deal to supply Verizon Wireless with CDMA 1x EV-DO Revision A hardware and software as the carrier upgrades its nationwide network. Verizon’s Rev. A announcement comes as no surprise; the carrier has previously...

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa.—Sprint Nextel Corp. continued the work of reeling in its affiliates, as the national carrier closed on its acquisition of Nextel Partners and, just hours later, UbiquiTel Inc. stockholders approved Sprint Nextel’s purchase of the PCS affiliate. UbiquiTel’s shareholders voted to sell the...

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. continued to expand its music offerings, launching a series of made-for-mobile studio sessions featuring audio and video from nine artists. The Sprint Music Series is expected to include three or four songs and an interview with Interscope Records artists...

WASHINGTON-A California state appeals court upheld a record $12 million fine levied by the California Public Utilities Commission against Cingular Wireless L.L.C. in 2004, rejecting the mobile phone carrier's contention that the agency's action was pre-empted by federal law. "While the commission is preempted...

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. reported a pair of international data roaming deals, opening up Canada and Mexico for its data customers as part of what the carrier called "an aggressive expansion by the U.S. wireless data leader throughout 2006 and beyond."Under the reciprocal...

WASHINGTON-States will no longer be able to regulate the wireless industry under language included in the latest draft of the Senate telecommunications-reform bill. The question now for the wireless industry is whether the decision will remain as the Senate Commerce Committee continues marking up...

WASHINGTON-AT&T Inc. Chairman Edward Whitacre last week told the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee he would not oppose conditions on special access lines as part of any regulatory approval of the company's proposed $67 billion purchase of BellSouth Corp. Whitacre told the Senate panel he...

As consumers and businesses start to take wireless carriers up on their offers of data services, and the carriers themselves put up ever-faster networks to support the demand they're trying to create, backhaul capacity requirements are poised to increase dramatically-and backhaul providers are anticipating...

RESTON, Va.-Sprint Nextel Corp. has been given the green light from federal regulators for its acquisition of Nextel Partners Inc., with the purchase expected to close June 26.The authorization from the Federal Communications Commission completes all the regulatory approvals needed to complete the transaction.Nextel...

So the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus ruled that Cingular does in fact have the "fastest national wireless data network" and "the largest push-to-talk network in America." The National Advertising Division also said the nation's largest wireless operator could...

In an ongoing advertising battle between Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Sprint Nextel Corp., Cingular seems to have won the latest round-but did not emerge completely unscathed. Sprint Nextel had challenged a slew of Cingular's advertising claims about the largest carrier's network and push-to-talk service,...

Ah, the second quarter-no big holidays and the momentum from fourth quarter sales is but a distant memory. Still, it hasn't been an idle three months for the wireless industry: several carriers have revamped sections of their pricing plans, and mobile virtual network operators...

MODESTO, Calif.—An electrical fire on a 90-foot-tall cellular site damaged some network equipment belonging to Sprint Nextel Corp. CDMA affiliate UbiquiTel Inc. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. earlier this week. The Modesto Bee first reported the fire.Both Cingular and Sprint Nextel representatives said that surrounding...