2006

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. raised the price it charges users to send a text message to 15 cents, up from a previous price of 10 cents. The carrier also added a cent to the cost of “casual” data usage, …

LOS ANGELES—Cellular Jewelry Inc. said it won a U.S. patent for its line of products that alert users when a cellular signal is received within three feet of a phone. The company’s products include pens, bracelets and watches. The items …

BOSTON-Rapid product development among semiconductor players could pave the way for nearly 50 million ultra low cost handset shipments by the end of next year, according to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics Inc. “In addition to Texas …

RESTON, Va.—Sprint Nextel Corp. has been granted a stay in its ongoing legal battle with PCS affiliate iPCS Inc. that will allow the national carrier to continue operating its Nextel network within iPCS territory. In two separate lawsuits in Illinois …

BELLEVUE, Wash.-InfoSpace Inc. said it plans to lay off about 250 employees as part of a restructuring plan. The move follows news late last month that Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to develop direct licensing relationships with major record labels next …

SAN DIEGO-An administrative law judge with the International Trade Commission handed down a split decision in the acrimonious patent dispute between chipmakers Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Corp., ruling that Qualcomm did infringe on one of Broadcom’s patents but not on …

It’s not a good sign when your name starts popping up in the press with the kind of foreboding and frequency otherwise reserved for Mark Foley, Dennis Hastert, Kim Jong ll and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Well, OK, it’s not that bad. …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Trade Commission issued a guide of sorts for municipalities considering wireless broadband, offering city planners and policy-makers a list of the pros and cons of various approaches to the issue. The report essentially outlines a decision tree for …

WATERLOO, Ontario—Research In Motion Ltd. said it will delay filing its interim financial statements for the quarter that ended Sept. 2 until the company can complete its internal review of its historical stock-option practices. The quarterly filing is due Oct. …

WASHINGTON-A major fallout of Congress’ failure to pass telecom-reform legislation this year is the continued imposition of new state and local cell-phone taxes, like the one on track to begin Jan. 1 in South Sioux City, Neb. Though only a …

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.-ROK Entertainment Group U.S. expanded its mobile video offerings with 13 free channels of news, music and sports. The subsidiary of the U.K.-based wireless video company unveiled FreeBe TV, a WAP-based service for roughly two dozen 2.5G and …

Representatives from the former Flextronics Software Services business are making the media rounds, clamoring for attention, now that the company is about to announce its new identity-fully six months after being weaned from its Fortune Global 500 parent last spring. …

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—On the heels of closing its German-based handset business, BenQ has also decided to shutter operations in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, according to El Cronista, an Argentinian newspaper. The closures may also extend to the company’s operations in Brazil, …

There’s never a dull moment in India’s wireless marketplace. Media reports streaming out of the country last week indicated that Motorola Inc. and ZTE Corp. had been eliminated from the bidding process for state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.’s multibillion-dollar contract …

BOSTON-There is nothing like a few billion dollars up for grabs to get a trade show buzzing as was the case for this year’s WiMAX World Conference & Exposition. Weeks after Sprint Nextel Corp. announced plans to deploy a nationwide …

Editor’s Note: Welcome to a new weekly feature at RCRNews.com, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns …

BOSTON—Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston unleashed the city’s wireless initiative today, announcing that a square-mile Wi-Fi network is being built in Roxbury’s Gove Hall and Dudley Square neighborhoods. Menino also unveiled two public hot spots, one in the city’s Quincy …

CHICAGO-U.S. Cellular Corp. said it received $95.1 million from the sale of its stake in regional operator Midwest Wireless Holdings L.L.C. to Alltel Corp. U.S. Cellular said it also expects to receive an additional $10.5 million soon in connection with …

NEW YORK—FremantleMedia has teamed with Mobliss to power a new, made-for-mobile video offering from Sprint Nextel Corp. The companies launched Atomic Wedgie, an offering of eight categories of short-form content targeted at the coveted 18- to 34-year-old male demographic. The …

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court today declined to review a federal appeals court ruling that voided a Minnesota wireless consumer protection law. Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch (D), who is running for governor, asked the Supreme Court to take the case after …

Every time someone tries to fix interoperability problems for first responders, it seems the first response is to throw more spectrum at the problem. So Morgan O’Brien comes up with a company-Cyren Call Communications Inc.-and a plan-to use the 700 …

NEW YORK-In a move showing the true maturation of wireless services, Sprint Nextel Corp. will begin offering access to content based on TV Land’s new self-help series “I Pity the Fool” starring movie and television legend Lawrence Tureaud, aka Mr. …

Nokia Corp. will shutter a Fort Worth, Texas-based facility next spring that provides handset logistical and repair services for the American market and will outsource the service to a third party, the company announced. The closure will affect 450 workers; …

NEW YORK—Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. increased its shipment volume in the third quarter to 30.7 million, a 17-percent increase from the previous, disappointing quarter, according to CIBC World Markets. The South Korean vendor’s shipments beat its own guidance and CIBC’s …

It was a fairly quiet week in the wireless world, but we still managed to share a few observations and kvetches-or as we like to say, here’s what got us hedgehogging last week. Most carriers are still dancing around the …