Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Time Machine is a way to take advantage of our extensive history in covering the wireless space to fire up the DeLorean and take a trip back in time to re-visit some of the more interesting headlines from this week in history. Enjoy the ride!
Vodafone sells Japanese operations, focus now on Verizon Wireless
Vodafone Group plc last week signaled its retreat from the Japanese mobile market amid turmoil in its boardroom, and Verizon Communications Inc. reportedly upped its pressure on Vodafone by making an informal offer to buy the European operator’s 45-percent stake in Verizon Wireless for $40 billion. However, Vodafone Chief Executive Officer Arun Sarin said in a conference call on Friday that Vodafone is happy with its position in the U.S. market and has no immediate plans to sell its minority ownership in Verizon Wireless. … Read More
Flipping back to AT&T brand
When Cingular Wireless L.L.C. closed on its purchase of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in late 2004, the company poured out an estimated $300 million in marketing during the fourth quarter of that year, sending out everything from a “wedding” invitation touting the joining of the two companies to flipping 11,000 AT&T Wireless stores into Cingular stores in a single day. In the first half of 2005, Cingular’s advertising spending exploded by nearly 107 percent to $670.7 million. The company did all it could to snuff consumers’ memories of the AT&T brand, migrating customers to Cingular phones and plans, although a significant number of customers had already fled prior to the merger-pushing AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s churn to 3.7 percent in the third quarter of 2004. … Read More
SBA spends $1B to pick up AAT towers-some of which it previously owned
SBA Communications Corp., the nation’s fifth-largest tower company, is offering $1 billion to acquire AAT Communications Corp., the nation’s sixth-largest tower company. SBA said it will pick up AAT’s 1,855 owned tower sites along with an additional 250 revenue-producing managed sites in 44 different states. The transaction gives SBA more than 5,300 towers in 47 states, as well as in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. … Read More
Inmarsat to Earth: We’re joining MSS handheld voice space
Inmarsat plc intends to join the mobile satellite services sector’s handheld voice market, which it sees as a potential outgrowth of its existing, maritime customer base that could use excess capacity on its recently completed constellation of next-generation satellites. The company said it expects to announce a deal with a well-known handset vendor later this year, with service to follow as soon as next year. The company’s announcement was embedded in a mere sentence in the MSS provider’s 18-page preliminary report on its 2005 results, released last week. … Read More
Razr slowly being restocked
Razr availability through Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and T-Mobile USA Inc. may be unpredictable until the end of March, according to equity research firm Bear Stearns. That’s when the firm expects Motorola Inc. to fix and return Razr batches that were shipped in February, but pulled from shelves recently due to a component glitch that mistakenly cut off users’ connections. Cingular and T-Mobile USA last week listed the handset as “temporarily out of stock” on their Web sites, but by Thursday, those notices were gone. … Read More
FCC creates new bureau, wireless division’s future uncertain
The Federal Communications Commission Friday created its long anticipated Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, which is set to take over various functions and issues from seven other entities within the commission. The new bureau, expected to begin operations during the next several weeks if Congress and the FCC’s labor union approves, will have a large portfolio of issues including 911, digital wiretap, priority access, emergency alert, communications-infrastructure protection, network security and reliability, and disaster management, planning, coordination and response. … Read More
Network neutrality could thwart investment in wireless networks
Requiring network neutrality would thwart investment in high-speed networks, Wall Street analysts warned lawmakers. Network neutrality generally refers to the ability to run any lawful application or connect any lawful device to the communications network. For content providers, it means not being required to pay pipe owners-even if the pipe is spectrum-to have their content carried or given priority. … Read More
Will Google’s phone browser run into copyright troubles?
Google Inc. is dipping its toe in the mobile browser business, formatting Internet sites for users surfing the wireless Web. But legal experts say the Internet giant may be infringing on copyrights in the process. The Mountain View, Calif.-based firm has developed software that modifies Web sites for the smaller screens of cell phones. Users who perform a Google search on their handsets and click on resulting links are provided access to stripped-down versions of the sites, which are presumably more efficient to deliver and easier to read. … Read More
Gaming adoption stagnates
Analysts continue to predict big things for mobile gaming. But for now, at least, would-be gamers are staying away in droves. Consumption of mobile games in the United States has stagnated during the last six months, according to figures released last week from M:Metrics. The number of subscribers who downloaded at least one mobile game a month has consistently fluttered between 5 million and 6 million, the research firm said, with about 3 percent of all wireless users paying to play. … Read More
FCC requirements at center of AT&T/BellSouth deal
While consumer advocates, organized labor, industry analysts and lawmakers gave mixed reviews to AT&T Inc.’s proposed $67 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp.-co-owners of Cingular Wireless L.L.C.-most signs point to the Federal Communications Commission as the major battlefield for hashing out the blockbuster deal and to the Bush telecom appointee who could be key to the agency’s treatment of the transaction. Consumer advocates were quick to urge the Justice Department to block the deal. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
