2006

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Communication Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing for an Oct. 12 vote on the proposed $67 billion merger of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp.—owners of No. 1 wireless carrier Cingular Wireless L.L.C.—and apparently has rejected urgings from the wireless …

RESTON, Va.—Sprint Nextel Corp. said it plans to seek a stay in a court decision that orders the carrier to divest its iDEN operations in territories where CDMA affiliate iPCS Inc. operates. Sprint Corp. took control of Nextel Communication Inc.’s …

WESTCHESTER, Ill.—Roll with it—that’s what Andrew Corp. is doing as it streamlines its executive team and reorganizes its product groups to “capitalize on the company’s positive momentum” and address growing opportunities in the wireless infrastructure market. By Oct. 1, the …

SAN DIEGO—Leap Wireless International Inc. plans to launch its newest market, Kansas City, Mo., in less than two weeks and is gearing up to launch service in Portland, Ore., as well. According to the Cricket Communications Inc. Web site, service …

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The global wireless market has experienced strong growth during the past five years, according to a study from Pyramid Research. The consulting firm’s latest Analyst Insight report said mobile global subscribers have grown at a 15-percent compound annual growth …

BELLEVUE, Wash.—Shares of InfoSpace Inc. plunged after the company said it expects its revenues to take a hit due to a plan by an unnamed carrier partner to develop direct licensing relationships with major record labels starting next year. InfoSpace …

WASHINGTON—A group of rural and regional wireless carriers again urged the Federal Communications Commission to adopt automatic-roaming rules they believe are necessary for competition. “Many carriers, particularly regional and rural carriers are concerned that competitive market forces are no longer …

WASHINGTON—The Senate Commerce Committee approved the nominations of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin and acting National Telecommunications and Information Administration head John Kneuer. The nominations now await action by the full Senate, which is expected confirm both appointees. On …

ESPOO, Finland—Nokia Corp.’s Mobile Search platform will incorporate Microsoft Corp.’s Live Search capabilities to streamline mobile information searches on Nseries smart phones—now “multimedia computers,” in Nokia’s parlance—and select S60 platform devices in various markets, the Finnish handset vendor announced today. …

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 Wireless News to rant and rave about …

CAMPBELL, Calif.—SoonR said it raised $6 million in series A funding. The company said it plans to use the funds to expand its service, which allows customers to access data and applications on their personal computer from a mobile handset. …

NEW YORK—Roughly 4 million U.S. consumers will subscribe to mobile broadcasts from dedicated, multimedia networks such as Qualcomm Inc.’s MediaFlo by the end of next year, according to new figures from ABI Research. The market research firm predicted that carriers …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.—Nielsen Mobile continued its leisurely stroll into wireless, tapping Verizon Wireless to provide sales information regarding the carrier’s mobile music sales. Nielsen Mobile—a division of the longtime Internet and television tracking firm Nielsen Entertainment—said Verizon Wireless will provide …

ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. struck a five-year agreement with the U.S. Army, Air Force and Defense Telecommunications Services-Washington worth more than $150 million. The deal, according to Cingular, will “enable the military branches to administer wireless usage more efficiently and cost-effectively.” …

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.—Motorola Inc. said it is testing the concept of selling its products through robotic retail stores. The automated vending stores are operated by Zoom Systems and will be branded InstantMoto. They will be placed in high-traffic locations like airports …

KINGSTON, Jamaica—Caribbean operator Digicel announced it will expand its reach into Central America by purchasing an El Salvadoran wireless provider that also has a telecom license in Guatemala. The wireless provider in El Salvador is named Digicel Holdings Ltd., but …

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Wireless Infrastructure Association officially launched the Distributed Antenna Systems Forum at the PCIA trade show, explaining that the group’s mission is to promote the understanding, acceptance and deployment of distributed antenna systems. Founding members of the new forum …

ESPOO, Finland—Chalk up another one for Nokia Corp.’s reputation as an environmentally friendly electronics manufacturer. And give Motorola Inc., Nokia’s global rival, credit for an effort to catch up by joining a Nokia-led effort to reduce environmental impacts, a move …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Alltel Corp. is set to begin a major advertising push for its MyCircle offer, which allows customers to place unlimited calls to up to 10 wireless or wireline numbers from any carrier. The MyCircle offer requires that customers …

PISCATAWAY, N.J.—The IEEE standards association announced a leadership shake-up in its troubled 802.20 working group, a move aimed at getting the work on a mobile wireless broadband access standard back on track. All of the officers of the working group …

NEW YORK—Demand is strong at T-Mobile USA Inc. retail stores for the recently launched Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerry Pearl, according to a national channel check by UBS analyst Maynard Um. The device, announced Sept. 7, combines productivity functions with …

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—PeerMe Inc., a wireless Voice over Internet Protocol company, said it launched a free service for Sprint Nextel Corp. CDMA2000 1x EV-DO phone users that allows them to make unlimited global calls. The service uses VoIP technology to …

LOS ANGELES—Xero Mobile isn’t expected to launch service until January, but the mobile virtual network operator is already looking for a buyer. Xero, which hopes to lure college-age users with advertising-supported wireless offerings, said it is negotiating to be acquired …

LONDON—MobileMail Ltd. said it snared $1 million in private placement funding as well as a distribution agreement with Russian Internet service provider NNT Telecom. The London-based developer of two-way, PC-to-mobile communications software said NNT Telecom will offer MobileMail’s wares to …

SEATTLE—WhitePages.com launched the beta version of its new mobile search service. The service allows cellular phone and e-mail device users to access the same information offered to visitors of its Internet site. Wireless users can search for people, businesses, reverse …