2006

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 …

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 …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said it believes fixed-low-power devices can operate in the vacant TV spectrum after the transition to digital TV is completed, set for 2009. The vacant TV channels are set aside to protect TV broadcasters from interference, …

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 U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit by a former T-Mobile USA Inc. national sales manager, who claimed the No. 4 cell-phone carrier fired him to avoid paying more …

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—The mobile music market in Asia/Pacific will top the $9 billion mark by 2010, according to new figures from In-Stat. The market for ringtones, ring-back tones and full-track downloads in the region reached $3.3 billion last year, the market …

BEDFORD, Mass.-Two top executives at Boston Communications Group Inc. have bowed out of their positions in connection with an internal review of stock-option grants, as has the company’s general counsel. BCGI’s chief financial officer, Karen Walker, left the company, while …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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. …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission’s scheduled vote on AT&T Inc.’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. imploded last Friday, with Chairman Kevin Martin delaying action on the deal until at least next month. The news follows revelations that AT&T has …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission issued rules that will allow MediaFLO USA Inc. to begin operations next year as planned, but has yet to begin the inter-agency coordination necessary for mobile TV competitor Modeo L.L.C. to go forward. In order for …

PC maker Lenovo posted positive results with a mobile marketing campaign it used for branding. The campaign, developed by OgilvyInteractive, New York, ran for four weeks in June. It had a click-through rate of 6.7 percent, compared with the mobile …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Sprint Nextel Corp. is doing a fair job of imitating a punching bag, getting pummeled left and right by sliding stock prices, gloomy predictions and integration issues. But while things look rocky for the carrier in the short term and …

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 …

BOCA RATON, Fla.—Global Towers Partners dashed speculation in the media indicating that the privately owned tower company is for sale. The company’s chief executive, Marc Ganzi, stated in an e-mail, “The stories of our impending sale for $1.5 billion were …

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. …

LOS ANGELES-Mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile Inc. continued to expand its offerings with the introduction of several family plans, which the MVNO is selling as “shared” plans. Interestingly, the plans are far more aggressive-and offer far more minutes-than the …

WASHINGTON—AT&T Inc. offered to conduct a series of wireless broadband trials as part of a package of concessions aimed at winning Federal Communications Commission approval of its proposed $69 billion purchase of BellSouth Corp. AT&T outlined the offer late Friday …