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, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Sprint Nextel to begin iDEN turn down mid-2013; scores $1B credit facility
Sprint Nextel’s Network Vision program added some important numbers today as the carrier announced the date it would terminate service across its iDEN network as well as a new credit facility to purchase equipment for the extensive network upgrade. Sprint Nextel said its current iDEN service would be shuttered as early as June 30, 2013, a move that will free up spectrum resources in the 800 MHz band for its CDMA network and eventually its LTE operations. The carrier said it will send notices to business and government customers beginning this Friday regarding the planned shutdown, as well as offers to facilitate a transition to the carrier’s CDMA-based service that also offers push-to-talk capabilities. … Read More
Leap to offer no-contract iPhone; commits $900M over 3 years
Leap Wireless joined the growing number of regional operators offering Apple’s iconic iPhone device, though as has been the case for much of its history, the carrier is adding a unique twist: no contract required. Leap, which operates its flat-rate, unlimited wireless offering under the Cricket brand, said it would begin selling a pair of iPhone models beginning June 22, sans contract. The carrier will offer the iPhone 4S model for $500 and the previous generation iPhone 4 for $400. To secure the device, Leap said it has committed $900 million over the next three years to purchase the devices from Apple. The price is a substantial step up from the carrier’s current smartphone lineup that is dominated by Android-powered devices that top out at $150 after rebates. The carrier noted earlier this year it was set to bring on higher-end Android devices that would push retail prices to around $300. … Read More
Report finds no interference in lower 700 MHz channels in response to FCC NPRM
A handful of lower 700 MHz spectrum holders released a report showing that concerns regarding interference across the spectrum bands A-Block are unfounded and that current proceedings designed to preclude that spectrum block from 3GPP standards for LTE will limit roaming capabilities. The report, which was commissioned by Cavalier Wireless, C Spire Wireless, Continuum 700, King Street Wireless, MetroPCS Communication, U.S. Cellular and Vulcan Wireless, was in response to open comments sought by the Federal Communications Commission’s pending 700 MHz Interoperability Notice of Proposed Rule Making. … Read More
Kaplan to step down as FCC wireless bureau chief, Milkman to retake position
The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is set to change leadership as current chief Rick Kaplan will be replaced by former chief Ruth Milkman in mid-June.Kaplan had succeeded Milkman just one year ago. There was no word from the FCC on Kaplan’s future. … Read More
SK Telecom set for LTE spectrum aggregation
South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom said it has launched a multi carrier pilot service allowing the carrier to use its 800 MHz and 1.8 GHz spectrum holdings to offer LTE service. The carrier said the move will result a wider frequency bandwidth and a commercial offerings by July. By combining spectrum from its 800 MHz and the 20 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.8 GHz band it acquired last year, it will be using a total of 40 megahertz of spectrum for its LTE service resulting in greater speeds and capacity. This aggregation is a highly anticipated update to the LTE standard expected to be included in the Release 10 version of the technology, also known as LTE-Advanced. … Read More
Pink slips expected at RIM
Share of Research In Motion are up this morning on reports that the Canadian company is preparing to lay off thousands of employees. Executives at the struggling maker of BlackBerry smartphones and tablets have said in the past that they hope to cut costs by up to $1 billion this year, and now the Canadian Globe and Mail says layoffs will be announced next month. RIM employs roughly 16,500 people, and the Canadian daily reports that about 2,000 employees (12% of the total workforce) are slated to be let go. A subsequent Reuters report said that as many as 6,000 people (36% of the workforce) could be asked to leave. … Read More
Would consumers ‘like’ a Facebook phone?
For the third time in as many years, reports of a Facebook smartphone have surfaced, and this time they are accompanied by quotes from engineers who are said to be working on the device. The New York Times reported Sunday that the newly public Facebook has hired more than half a dozen engineers who worked on Apple’s i-devices and has put them to work building hardware to feature the Facebook application. With more than half its 900 million users accessing Facebook from mobile devices, the company’s future is clearly tied to mobile. Arch-rival Google is in the smartphone business now, having closed its purchase of Motorola Mobility last week. Google wanted Motorola’s patents and hardware expertise to protect and expand the reach of its Android operating system, the choice of roughly 60% of new smartphone buyers in the first quarter. But despite its success, Android still faces clear competition from Apple’s iOS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone, while Facebook’s competitive landscape is less clear cut. One thing that is clear: unlike Android, Facebook is easy for consumers to download, if it is not already pre-installed on their devices. So Facebook does not need to make the products in order to be part of them. … Read More
FCC opens up 800 MHz to mobile broadband
Sprint Nextel snared a victory today as the Federal Communications Commission released an order reducing “barriers to the deployment of broadband, encourages investment in wireless technologies, and facilitates the efficient use of spectrum by revising a burdensome legacy regulation that unnecessarily constrained 800 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio licensees.” In a Report and Order, the FCC said new rules will allow for operations “across contiguous spectrum holdings without a rigid channel spacing requirement or bandwidth limitation.” The FCC added that the new rule is also balanced against the need to prevent interference with public safety communications in the 800 MHz band, acknowledging the ongoing relocation of public safety communications in that band. … Read More
Judge sides with Google in smartphone war against Oracle
Google won a key court victory yesterday in Northern California when Federal Judge William Alsup ruled that 37 of Oracle’s Java APIs are not protected by copyright law. APIs are the application program interfaces that help different pieces of code work together, and the court found that the APIs which Google “replicated” in its Android operating system are not copyrighted material. Judge Alsup wrote that under current copyright law “copyright protection never extends to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation or concept.” Last May, federal jury said Wednesday that Google did not infringe Oracle patents that protect Oracle’s Java technology. The decision came after the jury found earlier in May that Google had infringed Oracle’s copyrights of Java APIs when it created its Android operating system. … Read More
Verizon to acquire Hughes; looks to bolster M2M
Verizon Communications is betting big on the machine-to-machine space, and by big we mean $612 million big. The telecom giant announced this morning that it plans to acquire Hughes Telematics for $12 per share, or a total of $612 million, in a move to bolster its presence in the automotive and fleet telematics space. The price premium over Hughes closing price of $4.35 yesterday shows the level of interest Verizon has for the space, an amount not lost on Hughes’ management. … Read More
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