January 2007

An odd thing is going on in Washington policymaking circles. Folks are beginning to talk again about the budget, specifically about erasing the deficit and how the situation could woefully worsen if lawmakers stay the course.President Bush, who entered office …

Mobile video is still very much in its infancy, but Third Screen Media claims it is reaching consumers by delivering a click-to-play wireless TV commercial.The Boston-based mobile marketing company this week will tout its first click-to-video effort, a WAP-based campaign …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.-Verizon Wireless plans to join its compatriots in raising the price of per-message texting, bumping the rate for sending and receiving messages from 10 cents apiece to 15 cents.Sprint Nextel Corp. made similar changes to its messaging rates …

WASHINGTON-Mobile-phone carriers’ tax lawsuit against Kentucky is back on track, giving center stage to a federal pre-emption argument that’s also at the heart of industry efforts to prevent states from meddling in line-item billing and early termination fees.Cingular Wireless L.L.C., …

Texas Instruments said Gilles Delfassy, senior vice president and head of the firm’s wireless terminals unit, will retire this year after 28 years with the company. Delfassy, 51, has led the wireless unit since its inception in 1995, guiding TI’s …

Revenue assurance software vendor Subex Azure Ltd. announced it reached a deal to acquire Syndesis Ltd., a telecom operations support software company, in an all-cash deal valued at $164.5 million.The proposed deal is part of Subex Azure’s goal to become …

DENVER-The Helio store gleams from a distance in the early dark of a cold Denver evening, its floor-to-ceiling windows enclosing a modern, warehouse/boutique-chic space that is brand spankin’ new and very, very shiny. You know that new-car smell? The Helio …

Steve Jobs isn’t the only one vying for improvements to the audio-based voicemail systems we’ve all come to know so well. CallWave Inc. announced it developed a free, PC-based visual voicemail system.The program sounds strikingly similar to the application Jobs …

The Fox network has opted for a new dance partner to handle its wildly successful “American Idol” text-message voting campaign, according to sources familiar with the deal.The News Corp. subsidiary will no longer use Mobliss Corp. but has tapped VeriSign …

WASHINGTON-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a plan to create millions of cellphone-carrying citizen crime fighters.In his state of the city address, Bloomberg said he wants to empower more New Yorkers in combating crime.“This year, we’ll begin a revolutionary …

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 India: Motorola Inc. said …

Buffeted in its attempt to both lead in design and chase market share, Motorola Inc. announced it will cut five percent of its workforce to reduce overhead. But the company said it does not plan to change its basic strategy. …

A new market research report by Insight Research concluded that wireless services accounted for more than one-third of all corporate telecommunication services last year. U.S. businesses spent more than $132 billion on telecommunications services last year and spending is forecast …

In its first new converged offer since the merger of BellSouth Corp. and AT&T Inc., the new company is combining its wireless and wireline networks into an in-network calling community covering more than 100 million phone numbers.On Sunday, AT&T will …

Tessco Technologies Inc. announced increasing revenues and profits in its most recent quarter, news that helped push the company’s stock up almost 5 percent to $22.46 per share.“I am pleased to announce our 11th consecutive quarter of sequential commercial revenue …

Fox News along with technology vendor Single Touch Interactive announced a new offering that will allow news junkies to access a live Fox News audio feed from their cellphones. The application will launch on Cingular for $3 per month.“We’re excited …

Mobile content vendor Player X announced it scored $9.8 million in its second round of venture funding. New investors Nordic Venture Partners and Long Acre Partners participated in the round, as well as the company’s initial investor Arts Alliance.“This is …

Alltel Corp. is continuing its innovation game with the introduction of CellTop, a new user interface running initially on the carrier’s Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. SCH-U520 handset. Alltel said it plans to extend the UI to all of its new …

AT&T Inc. could have a tough time transferring the positive associations of the Cingular Wireless L.L.C. brand to the veteran AT&T brand, according to new research from the Keller Fay Group, which specializes in tracking and analyzing word-of-mouth marketing.According to …

The heated battle between rivals Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. edged up a notch as Verizon Wireless cut its prices on several handsets recently introduced by Cingular.Just days after Cingular introduced the Palm Inc. Treo 750 for $400, Verizon …

ISuppli Corp has concluded-without performing a physical teardown-that Apple Inc.’s iPhone can generate 50 percent gross margins, based on a preliminary estimate of the device’s bill of materials (BoM).The market upshot? Such a large margin ensures healthy profits per device …

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 whatever …

Verizon Wireless announced it purchased a spectrum license from Alpine-Monterey F Inc. for $4.5 million. The carrier said the license covers 426,000 potential subscribers in the Salinas-Monterey area of central California. Verizon Wireless said it bought the license to add …

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. posted big gains in handset volumes, revenue and income for the fourth quarter of last year and the whole of 2006, a feat that may be sending a seasonal chill up executive spines at Samsung …

Nortel Networks Ltd. announced a wide-ranging agreement with software giant Microsoft Corp. to cash in on the potential for unified communications, which the company said would “break down barriers between voice, e-mail, instant messaging, multimedia conferencing and other forms of …