Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades and enjoy the memories!
Sprint Nextel births new brand
Sprint Nextel Corp. kicked off its “Day 1″ operations as a new company last Friday just three weeks after Sprint Corp. completed its $35 billion acquisition of Nextel Communications Inc. The introduction of combined operations was backed by the launch of a wide-ranging advertising campaign, re-branded retail outlets and integrated rate plans. The company said its multimillion-dollar advertising campaign will target both consumer and business users and will unveil the new Sprint Nextel brand touting the new “Yes you can” tag line. The campaign will use a mix of media, including 60- and 30-second TV commercials this fall, 60-second radio spots, national and local print ads, magazine ads and outdoor boards in 65 markets. … Read More
Data, price competition heats up as Verizon rolls out EV-DO in more cities
Verizon Wireless continues to build on its domination in the wireless data space, adding a handful of new markets to its rapidly growing coverage area while at the same time cutting prices. The carrier now offers its CDMA2000 1x EV-DO-based BroadbandAccess service in 61 markets covering 140 million potential customers across the country and 39 of the nation’s top 50 markets. Verizon Wireless has said it plans to cover more than half the country’s population by the end of the year. Analysts noted the expansion will allow Verizon Wireless to begin marketing the service nationally, which should increase adoption rates. Verizon Wireless Chief Executive Officer Denny Strigl noted earlier this year that the carrier had signed up more than 500,000 customers to its EV-DO service. … Read More
Carriers make slow progress to repair networks
The wireless industry continues to struggle with service outages in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast region when it came ashore Aug. 29, but by late last week, carriers appeared to be making some progress. News reports indicated that wireless services were severed almost completely in many communities due to power outages caused by wind and flood damage following the catastrophic fury of the hurricane. By the end of last week, several operators had managed to repair networks in many areas away from the Gulf Coast region that did not suffer as much flooding, but were still having difficulties in and around New Orleans. Reports indicated that wireless customers successfully were placing calls or sending and receiving text messages, but there were still issues with receiving calls in many areas. … Read More
Cingular Wireless to offer iTunes phone
Motorola Inc. plans to unveil its long-awaited iTunes-capable mobile phone Sept. 7, said an analyst familiar with the company’s plans. The device will sell through Cingular Wireless L.L.C. Roger Entner, vice president of wireless telecom with research and consulting firm Ovum, said the phone will allow users to listen to digital music from Apple Computer Corp.’s iTunes music download service. He did not provide specifics about the phone or the service. … Read More
Verizon Wireless enters music market with MP3 phones
Verizon Wireless announced it will support phones that include MP3 players. The news comes a day ahead of the likely unveiling of Motorola Inc.’s iTunes-capable phone. Verizon said three of its newly released Vcast phones will include digital music players. UTStarcom Inc.’s CDM-8940 and Motorola Inc.’s E815 will ship with built-in MP3 players, and customers who purchased LG Electronics Co. Ltd.’s VX8100-released in July-will be able to bring their phones to Verizon stores and get MP3 players installed in the devices. … Read More
BCGI offers stock purchase to prevent possible takeover
Embattled prepaid wireless service platform provider Boston Communications Group Inc. has granted preferred stock purchase rights for its shareholders in an effort to stave off any possible takeover attempt. The rights, which will trade automatically with the underlying common stock, may be exercised only if an investor acquires, or makes an offer for, 15 percent or more of BCGI’s common stock. Until a right is exercised, the holder of that stake would have no rights as a shareholder of BCGI. … Read More
Ericsson outlines 3G vision, plans $1B Chinese investment
L.M. Ericsson outlined its vision for third-generation evolution, saying that the growing demand for mobile content and the handset’s role as a media channel will pave the way for faster deployment of 3G and High-Speed Downlink Packet Access technology. As part of that vision, the company plans to invest $1 billion in China during the next five years. The company said the mobile communications industry has 1 billion users and a 30-percent world penetration rate. In addition, the company said HSDPA will enable mobile operators to take advantage of the revenue stream of the growing bandwidth-intense applications, such as music, gaming and TV. … Read More
T-Mobile USA first again in customer survey, overall wireless satisfaction drops 10%: Short-term pain of mergers could be reason
T-Mobile USA Inc. again showed that size is not what’s most important to customers. The industry’s smallest nationwide operator posted the highest customer satisfaction performance across all six regions in the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 U.S. Wireless Regional Customer Satisfaction Index Study. The study was based on experiences reported by 24,096 wireless users and based on several criteria, including call performance and reliability, customer service, service plan options, brand image, cost of service and billing. T-Mobile USA also posted top rankings throughout all six regions in the 2004 study. … Read More
Motorola prepares to play to its strengths in WiMAX
Motorola Inc. says it is playing its trump card-wireless mobility-in the WiMAX space, skipping over 802.16 Revision D in favor of getting Revision E (the mobile standard) products to market by the second quarter of 2006. The Moto Wi4 portfolio of mobile WiMAX solutions represents a companywide development initiative based on the IEEE 802.16e standard, which the WiMAX Forum has not yet completed, but is expected to finish soon, said Paul Sergeant, senior manager of MOTOwi4 marketing. … Read More
Motorola could cut EDGE from initial shipments of new phones
Motorola Inc. may cut EDGE technology from the initial shipments of its forthcoming handsets-including the highly anticipated Pebl and Slvr models-due to problems with chips from supplier RF Micro Devices Inc. Motorola earlier this year promised that its forthcoming Pebl and Slvr devices would feature support for GSM, GPRS and EDGE networks. However, the company was not satisfied with the performance of RFMD’s EDGE technology. As a result, Motorola fined RFMD $5 million. The chipmaker recorded the fine in its first-quarter results, released in July. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
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