2006

In this election season, the wireless industry stands as an Independent. Indeed, CTIA has been run successfully over recent years by Steve Largent, a Republican, and Tom Wheeler, a staunch Democrat. Wireless crosses party lines. As such, regardless of whether …

LONDON—Vodafone Group plc will narrow its terminal platforms to three standards—Symbian Series 60, Linux and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile—to be more efficient at device support, the network operator announced. The operator also announced a deal with Microsoft to develop software …

SARASOTA, Fla.—Global Signal Inc. reduced its losses but still ended up in the red for the third quarter. The company reported a net loss of $11.3 million, which is about $4 million less than the $15.4 million loss that Global …

Boost Mobile L.L.C. is bringing its pay-as-you-go service to rural areas, after traditionally concentrating on urban strongholds. Boost, which is a division of Sprint Nextel Corp. and runs on the carrier’s iDEN network, will begin to offer service in areas …

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission rejected Cyren Call Communications Inc.’s broadband public-safety plan only days after putting it out for public comment. The move stands as a setback for Cyren Call, but Morgan O’Brien, the company’s chairman, said it won’t stop …

WALL, N.J.—Centennial Communications Corp. introduced an unlimited local calling option for its customers in Puerto Rico. For $50 per month, Puerto Rico wireless customers will get unlimited inbound and outbound local calling and have the option to add companions or …

Motorola Inc. reiterated its concern over a proliferation of counterfeit accessories, particularly Bluetooth headsets, purported to be made by Motorola and reaching consumers in the United States. Motorola warned that the counterfeits are cheap fakes, won’t perform as advertised and …

ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. added an HSDPA-enabled smart phone known as the 8525 Pocket PC to its line-up, which it is selling for $250 with a mail-in rebate and two-year contract. The 8525 is the first HSDPA-enabled smart phone in Cingular’s …

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.-Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. jumped after the game-making behemoth reported increased mobile sales and surprisingly good overall quarterly revenues. The company rang up $35 million in mobile game sales, up slightly from the previous quarter’s $33 million. …

Ordinary people like Luke Johnson sit at the intersection of social networking and the cell phone. Searching for something new that he could do involving video-sharing site YouTube.com, Johnson woke up one night with an idea: Why not post his …

WARREN, N.J.-Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. announced two new services that incorporate audio and messaging. “Txt Tones” will allow users to link musical tones to text messages instead of rings. The three- to five-second sound clips can be used as an …

The following list details this week’s infrastructure awards for the cellular, Wi-Fi and WiMAX industries. The contracts are broken down by transmission technology, country and vendor. The value of the contract is included when available. Click here for additional infrastructure …

SAN FRANCISCO—Sprint Nextel Corp. and mobile application developer AirPlay are targeting football fans with an interactive offering that allows users to predict plays during NFL games. The carrier launched an NFL-licensed, downloadable application, dubbed AirPlay Live, that asks users to …

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission will not act on the $79 billion merger of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. until after the Nov. 7 midterm elections, scrapping today’s scheduled vote on the deal due to Chairman Kevin Martin’s failure to strike …

DALLAS—Another trial of near field communication for contactless payment is underway in Dallas. The trial will include up to 500 participants and will last six months, according to participants MasterCard, Nokia and 7-Eleven. This is the latest mobile payment trial for …

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission today launched a rulemaking to determine whether rules are necessary to reduce the number of migratory bird collisions with cell-phone towers and other telecom antenna structures, setting the stage for a pitched battle between environmentalists and …

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. jumped after the game-making behemoth reported increased mobile sales and surprisingly good overall quarterly revenues. The company rang up $35 million in mobile game sales, up slightly from the previous quarter’s $33 million. …

SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. reported increases in both revenues and earnings for its fourth quarter and full year, but the company warned that it is “not optimistic” that its licensing negotiations with Nokia Corp. will conclude when the companies’ current deal …

SAN DIEGO—Leap Wireless International Inc. announced it will allow its Cricket customers to roam in other Cricket markets without paying an additional fee. The carrier also said it is pushing data services for its customers with a new WAP-based wireless …

PALO ALTO, Calif.—Nokia Corp. has expanded its long-term research-and-development efforts by establishing a branch of its Nokia Research Center in Silicon Valley. The Finnish handset giant also announced a collaborative research effort in mobile computing and applications with Stanford University. …

The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms. Click here for wireless ratings from past weeks from RCR Wireless News.   Carrier RW Baird lowered its rating on …

NEW DELHI—Motorola Inc. scored a glimmer of hope in India as a court there issued an injunction that temporarily stops India’s state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. from awarding its multibillion-dollar network expansion contract to eager vendors. Motorola had asked the …

WASHINGTON—The Commerce Department today released names of individuals on the White House-level spectrum advisory committee, a component of a 2003 Bush wireless initiative that has been awkwardly managed and failed to date to deliver tangible results. “Our new spectrum advisory …

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—MobiTV Inc. padded its already-thick wallet, raking in $30 million in a third round of funding and adding two new investors. Adobe Systems Inc. and Hearst Corp. became backers of the company with the latest round, which pushed MobiTV’s …

Hello! And welcome to our Thursday 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 RCR to rant and rave about whatever rubs …