2006

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. Handset and infrastructure vendors RBC Capital Markets lowered …

WASHINGTON—Bidding has slowed to a trickle in the advanced wireless services spectrum auction, with thirty or fewer new bids received in the last few rounds. Click here for the latest headlines from the AWS auction. Click here for full AWS …

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Palm Inc. said it expects revenues to fall short of its previous guidance for the first quarter of next year due to slower sales of its Treo device in carrier retail channels. The company now expects revenues for the …

KIRKLAND, Wash.—Clearwire Corp. said all the conditions of its previously announced investment arrangement with Intel Capital and Motorola Ventures have been completed. Further, the company said the original $900 million in equity financing included in the deal has been increased …

MURRAY HILL, N.J.—The infrastructure industry’s merger of the season looks to be a done deal, as Lucent Technologies Inc. and Alcatel Inc. announced that their shareholders approved Alcatel’s $10.7 billion proposal to acquire Lucent in the midst of fierce global …

ESPOO, Finland—Nokia Corp. announced plans to build on its relationship with Yahoo Inc., embedding the Internet giant’s mobile search application on its Nseries multimedia handsets and other phones running the Symbian operating system. The world’s largest handset maker said Yahoo …

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.—Strong regional differences in call quality among carriers showed up in the latest J.D. Power and Associates consumer survey, with no carrier dominating nationally. The company also noted that the number of calls made from inside buildings exceeded …

WASHINGTON—The federal government should lean on the wireless industry to make sure hackers can’t access personal information on used smart phones and personal digital assistants, the governor of Illinois told the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. “There …

SAN ANTONIO—Clear Channel Radio said it launched its mobile radio programming initiative nationwide, with Cingular Wireless L.L.C. as a partner. The launch featured New York’s WHTZ-FM Z100 music station streaming live radio directly to Cingular Wireless phones, said the company. …

   BELLEVUE, Wash.—T-Mobile USA Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. announced the launch of RIM’s BlackBerry “Pearl” device, which combines productivity and multimedia features. The device stands as a bid to bolster T-Mobile USA’s portfolio as well as expand RIM’s …

MENLO PARK, Calif.—Voice-recognition software developer Promptu said it closed an $11.6 million round of funding. Steelpoint Capital Partners led the round, and other current investors also participated. Promptu, which was founded as AgileTV in 2000, has gained significant traction by …

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 …

LOS ANGELES—Amp’d Mobile Inc. is “fast approaching” 50,000 subscribers and is on track to have a customer base of between 100,000 to 150,000 customers by Christmas, according to Peter Adderton, chief executive officer and founder of the mobile virtual network …

WASHINGTON—U.S. officials in Michigan said their probe of large prepaid cell phone purchases will not end as a result of a federal magistrate’s decision to throw out conspiracy and money laundering charges against three Texas men. The men originally faced …

DUBLIN, Calif.—Software developer Sybase Inc. will acquire wireless messaging company Mobile 365 in a deal valued at $400 million. Sybase, which provides large-scale database software and other cross-platform business applications, generated more than $800 million in sales last year. The …

SAN FRANCISCO—Mobileplay Inc. said it launched an advertising-supported service that provides free access to news, games, lifestyle content and location-based services on wireless devices. The service supports personal digital assistants, smart phones, wireless e-mail devices and Java-enabled cell phones, said …

LONDON—JumpTap Inc. expanded on its mobile search product line with two new products for carriers and advertisers. The company unveiled an “advertising suite,” which is designed to allow mobile marketers to place targeted ads among results returned during a mobile …

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Free Wi-Fi is coming to 2.4 million Silicon Valley residents by way of Silicon Valley Metro Connect, a consortium that counts IBM Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. as members. The consortium beat out several other bidders, including VeriLAN …

MELBOURNE, Fla.—Harris Corp. said it signed a definitive agreement to combine its Microwave Communications Division with Stratex Networks Inc. The new company will be called Harris Stratex Networks Inc. Terms of the deal call for Harris to contribute its microwave …

NEW YORK—Bango said it has partnered with MTV Networks U.K. & Ireland to provide its browse and buy technology for MTV’s new WAP Web site. The MTV WAP site is designed to interact with viewers to promote and sell digital …

WASHINGTON—Dobson Communications Corp. dominated round 85 of the advanced wireless services spectrum auction, placing nearly half of the new bids in the round. Verizon Wireless also re-entered the fray after watching from the sidelines for much of the bidding. The …

WASHINGTON—Verizon Wireless is pitching a plan to build a nationwide broadband public-safety network in the 700 MHz band, according to sources familiar with the plan. The spectrum has already been allocated to public safety as part of the transition to …

WASHINGTON—The Telecommunications Industry Association looked inside and chose Grant Seiffert to succeed Matthew Flanigan as president beginning Jan.1, 2007. Seiffert has worked his way up the TIA organization ladder after leaving Capitol Hill in 1996. He is currently executive vice …

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.—InterDigital Communications Corp. has been awarded $134 million in past royalties, plus interest, from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. on Samsung’s sales of GSM and GPRS/EDGE phones from 2003 to 2005, according to an international arbitration tribunal. The …

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint Nextel Corp. launched a branded, pay-per-view movie service that offers nearly four dozen classic films and recent releases. Sprint Movies, which is powered by mSpot, allows users to watch films in their entirety or view chapters that can …