February 2008

Come one and come all. Three of the nation’s top four wireless carriers now plan to offer unlimited voice calling for $100 month.Verizon Wireless gets bragging rights for the being the first carrier yesterday to stick its neck out on …

E-Block licenses continued to draw the biggest bids at the Federal Communication Commission’s 700 MHz spectrum auction sputtered along.The block received $9.1 million in new bids during today’s first three rounds, nearly matching the $9.3 million it drew during the …

The wireless industry’s campaign for a national policy framework picked up more traction, with a group of state regulators and a key member of Congress taking steps bring uniformity to wireless regulation and consumer protection. But the fight over cellular …

One popular handset does not a successful vendor make. But in Palm Inc.’s case, the launch of its popular, $100 Centro smartphone at AT&T Mobility in a GSM, quad-band world format, may help the company recapture mindshare and produce cash …

The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier–RBC Capital Markets lowered its price target on Embarq to $54 from $60 on lower out-year cash flows. The firm, however, …

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we’ll review a new wireless application or service from the user’s point of view, with the goal of …

Editor’s Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week, the RCR Wireless News staff considers events in the wider business world and how they could affect the …

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the small-business bidding suit against the Federal Communications Commission remains intact, an action with potential implications for two major spectrum auctions. The 3rd Circuit, while declining to force the FCC to rule …

Attention again centered on B-Block licenses as the Federal Communication Commission’s 700 MHz spectrum auction slogged on.B-Block licenses received 45, 47 and 48 new bids in today’s first three rounds, as the auction’s total potential winning bid amount rose to …

A divided federal appeals court today struck down a Federal Communications Commission’s ruling in which the agency rejected the contention that it illegally licensed 6,000 towers in the Gulf Coast without first assessing the potential impact on migratory birds.“We vacate …

One of the typically opaque aspects of the cellular handset industry erupted into view over the weekend as Motorola Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. sued each other. The familiar culprit: failed negotiations to renew a cross-licensing agreement. A 2003 …

Yahoo continues to serve as the Washington Generals of the Internet — losing to Google at every turn — but the company seems to be making all the right moves in mobile. The company’s latest coup came last week at …

AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless have both announced new unlimited nationwide calling plans for $100 a month. The plans give customers unlimited calls to wireless and landline phones with no roaming or long-distance charges. Verizon Wireless’ new offering is available …

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, 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 from Current Analysis’ …

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.Miscellaneous–Germany: T-Mobile Germany has chosen Nokia …

Handset heavies Research In Motion (RIM) and Motorola have both filed patent infringement suits against each other regarding wireless technologies used in their wares.Since this story was originally posted, it has been updated to include a comment from Gartner’s mobile/wireless …

BARCELONA, Spain – With the LTE market just starting to develop, Alcatel-Lucent and NEC Corp. believe combining their resources early on will help them develop a market advantage. Alcatel-Lucent CEO Patricia Russo said the move is an offensive play, rather …

Pieter Knook, the leader of Microsoft Corp.’s mobile business and an 18-year company veteran, has jumped ship to Vodafone Group plc.Knook will lead the operator’s efforts in consumer Internet services, Vodafone said last week at the Mobile World Congress in …

i luv uNorth American cellphone users were expected to send 2.2 billion mobile messages, including short message service messages and multimedia messaging service messages, on Valentine’s Day, according to VeriSign Inc. The company said Valentine’s Day typically is the busiest …

The worldwide mobile entertainment market will grow from about $20 billion last year to more than $64 billion by 2012, driven by music, games and mobile TV, according to a new report from Juniper Research.The report predicts mobile music will …

In the small world of mobile gaming, Trip Hawkins looms large. Hawkins designed his own major in applied game theory at Harvard University, and in 1982 founded Electronic Arts Inc., which continues to dominate console- and computer-gaming spaces. He launched …

The mobile-phone industry finds itself confronted by a new net neutrality bill in the House, a development that adds to mounting pressure on the Federal Communications Commission to force wireless carriers to allow third-party devices/applications on networks and to forbid …

Sprint Nextel Corp. continued to chip off its Nextel Communications Inc. legacy, announcing today that it was consolidating its operational headquarters and corporate headquarters at its Overland Park, Kan., campus. The company’s corporate headquarters were previously housed at Nextel’s campus …

Mention mobile commerce in North America, and the common response is a roll of the eyes. It’s not hard to guess why. Back in the heady days of the Internet dot-com bubble, mobile commerce was one of the many buzz …

While not everyone can ride the Google Shuttle to work and enjoy a free Wi-Fi connection, in-vehicle Internet access for all is not far off as cars roll into the digital age. In-car access to everything from real-time traffic updates …