January 2007

While nothing new for the inside-the-Beltway crowd, it may be noteworthy to the great consuming masses just how incestuously intertwined telecom policy-making and lobbying have become in the nation’s capital. The little agency that could-the Federal Communications Comm-ission-ranks only behind …

Like an Angelina Jolie adoptee, mobile advertising has come under a glaring spotlight in its early days. Sprint Nextel Corp. attracted attention last fall when it became the first tier-one carrier to sell ad space on its wireless Web navigation …

Competitive intelligence in the handset business is, in a sense, an open secret. Everyone is engaged in it to some degree, yet it is rarely discussed publicly. Industry players not only keep their own work secret, they don’t want to …

Content providers and application developers often cite fragmentation as their most difficult and costly challenge. But like a handful of other startups, Mobile Complete sees the issue as an opportunity.The 3-year-old San Mateo, Calif.-based startup is gaining attention with a …

As Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin pushes for a wireless alternative to the telephone-cable TV broadband duopoly, and the Bush administration predicts it will make good on its vow to make universal, affordable high-speed Internet access available this year, …

Mobile-phone and high-tech sectors urged the new Democratic-led Congress to oppose any effort to dilute the pool of auction-bound 700 MHz spectrum, a major portion of which is being sought by public-safety advocates.“The American public wants Congress to work in …

A week after Verizon Wireless tried to under cut the iPhone buzz at Cingular by slashing prices on a handful of smartphones, Cingular bounced back with a variety of pricing changes last week. The most significant change was a $100 …

It’s only been a few months since the close of the Federal Communications Commission’s advanced wireless services auction, and carriers aren’t expected to begin using the spectrum they purchased until late this year or 2008. But the wheels are already …

Hedge*hog*ing v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube. Further proof that technology is surpassing people’s ability to comprehend it. Some rocket scientists moonlighting as thieves were arrested in New York …

Two newly publicized health studies on cellphone and base-station radiation have produced mixed results, likely keeping alive the long-running scientific debate over whether handsets and cell-site transmissions can cause cancer and other illnesses. Japanese mobile-phone operators NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI …

Prof. Lawrie Challis laid out for RCR Wireless News the path forward for the next phase of scientific investigation by the independent Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research program. Challis offered his views and outlook in response to questions e-mailed by …

Texas Instruments Inc. last week reported modest gains in the fourth quarter-revenue up 4 percent, profit up 2 percent from the year-ago quarter-but said it will cut 500 jobs to reduce costs as it hunkers down for a period of …

When wireless first came into the picture at The Weather Channel in 1999, it was little more than a couple people working in a corner separated from the rest of the team. A few years later, the network began delivering …

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. Cellular El Salvador and Guyana: …

The DVB-H market is set to explode from $60 million in revenues last year to more than $2 billion in 2010, according to new figures from Frost & Sullivan.The market research firm said DVB-H technology, which supports the broadcast of …

While Sprint Nextel Corp. has faced downgrades in recent weeks from various investment companies, the carrier still is feeling the love from investment-banking firm Raymond James. Analyst Ric Prentiss rated the company’s stock as a “strong buy” in a recent …

The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms. Carrier Morgan Stanley raised its industry view on the telecom services business to in-line from cautious based partially on positive …

Palm Inc. finally made good on its vow to offer push e-mail service similar to Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry service.The company announced an upgrade to its VersaMail service for Palm Treo 680 and 700 smartphones that will include Microsoft …

Openwave Systems Inc., which makes Internet browsers for cellphones as well as software for carriers, reported a 20-percent drop in revenue during its most recent quarter.In the year-ago period, Openwave reported a net income of $8.4 million, or 11 cents …

Sprint Nextel Corp. tapped Toronto-based Azcar Technologies Inc. to help it implement its government-mandated spectrum relocation plan. Azcar will provide specialized training services to more than 900 U.S. television stations to help them move their operations off the 1.9-2.1 GHz …

The Motorola Inc. Razr v3xx-equipped to run on Cingular Wireless’ next-gen network-is “finally here,” Cingular’s Web site announced breathlessly to the hordes who apparently have been clamoring for it.“The Razr V3xx is as hot as it is cool!”That hot coolness …

PalmSource Inc. is getting another makeover. Access Co. Ltd., which owns the operating system vendor, is now in the beginning stages of renaming all products that originally had Palm-based names. When Access purchased PalmSource it made an agreement with Palm …

Sprint Nextel Corp. CDMA affiliate iPCS Inc. said its chief operating officer, Alan G. Morse, has left the company by “mutual agreement.”Tim Yager, the carrier’s CEO, will assume Morse’s duties until a new COO is named.The carrier separately released its …

The promise of an open-source platform for mobile phones-and, undoubtedly, competitive pressures-has led a group of competitors and allies to formally found the LiMo Foundation to spur adoption of Linux.Motorola Inc., NEC, NTT DoCoMo Inc., Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics …

The Senate Commerce Committee has decided President Bush’s top telecom policy adviser could use some help with his agency’s $1 billion public-safety communications interoperability grant program, the second time this week the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has been subjected …