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!
Report: T-Mobile US moves resonate with customers; Sprint needs to react
T-Mobile US has been on a bit of roll over the past several months, merging its operations with MetroPCS, rolling out new rate plans and during the second quarter blowing the competition out of the water in customer additions. Not bad for the country’s “smallest” nationwide operator. Analysts have noted this surge and predict that the carrier could be set to continue showing strong results at least through the end of the year. A new report from Recon Analytics, based on a survey of T-Mobile US customers, claims that while there are some financial concerns with T-Mobile US’ latest moves, the carrier has done a great job of taking advantage of the current wireless environment. … Read More
Regional carriers discount new iPhones
A handful of regional carriers began selling Apple’s new iPhones today, discounting both the flagship 5S as well as the colorful 5C. They are offering both models on contract for $50 less than AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless. C Spire Wireless, which serves subscribers in Mississippi and surrounding states, is offering all versions of the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C at $50 discounts to national carriers’ prices. Kentucky’s Bluegrass Cellularhas the same pricing, as does Appalachian Wireless and Wisconsin-based Cellcom. … Read More
FreedomPop enters smartphone space with ‘free’ service
Wireless service provider and rabble-rouser FreedomPop is making its biggest splash to date, announcing plans to begin offering smartphones to customers with a limited bucket of voice, messaging and data services for free, or the ability to upgrade to unlimited voice and messaging with a bucket of data for $11 per month. The smartphone move comes just one year after the company entered the mobile space with its “free” mobile data offering using network resources from Clearwire’s WiMAX network. Since then, FreedomPop has expanded its offering to include 3G and LTE service running across Sprint’s network, with the move into the smartphone space opening up a much larger audience to the company. … Read More
Canada’s Mobilicity granted creditor protection
Canadian wireless carrier Mobilicity said it received creditor protection from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice enabling the beleaguered company to seek out new funding. Mobilicity is controlled by Data & Audio-Visual Enterprise Holdings. “[Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act] protection will allow Mobilicity the necessary time and financing to advance and complete a going-concern transaction, which is before Industry Canada for its review and approval,” the company noted. “Mobilicity believes that the proposed transaction is in the best interests of its stakeholders and hopes to advance the transaction in the near term.” … Read More
Alcatel-Lucent opens CloudBand for NFV ecosystem
Alcatel-Lucent continues to beat the drum for software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV), with the creation of an open ecosystem for service providers, developers and vendors interested in adopting NFV. The CloudBand Ecosystem Program was initially rolled out to a limited group of vendors, but Alcatel-Lucent has now opened it to include a wider array of businesses, and 15 companies are now signed on. Some of those include Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, Citrix, Intel, Vyatta, Radware, Red Hat, HP, Gigaspaces, StackIQ, Inktank and Nominum. … Read More
ZTE goes straight to customers with U.S. smartphone launch
China’s ZTE is bringing its two flagship smartphones to the U.S., hoping to attract customers who want to avoid carrier contracts. The ZTE Grand S and the Nubia 5 will be available through Amazon, Walmart.com, and other third party retailers, but not through any carriers. Both are GSM/UMTS phones, so they are compatible with AT&T’s network and T-Mobile US’s network. They support HSPA+ speeds, but not LTE. The Grand S will retail for $400 and the Nubia 5 will sell for $450. Both will be available for pre-order October 5, and are expected to ship later this month. ZTE hopes the phones will attract buyers who prefer a prepaid service plan, but want to carry a higher-end device than many prepaid plans offer. The company is focusing on online retail partnerships, betting that consumers will be willing to pay $400 or more for a phone without seeing or touching it first. … Read More
Target set to enter branded prepaid space with help from T-Mobile US
Big-box retailer Target is getting in on the branded prepaid wireless space with the impending launch of its Brightspot offering. The service is set to launch Oct. 6 running across T-Mobile US’ network. The service begins at $35 per month for unlimited voice and messaging, with customers able to tack on 1 gigabyte of “4G” data for $15 or 4 GB for $30. For every six months of service Target will provide customers with a $25 gift card, and holders of Target’s RedCard will received an additional 5% discount. … Read More
Wi-Fi as currency: merchants trade access for info
In-store Wi-Fi is likely to be part of the pre-holiday checklist for many retailers as the year’s biggest selling season approaches. Businesses are learning that they can use Wi-Fi to push targeted offers to shoppers, but in order to do that they need to get customers to connect to their networks and share some personal information. Cisco thinks it has found a way to get consumers to do both of these things. Cisco, which owns Wi-Fi access point maker Meraki, has partnered with Facebook in an effort to offer businesses a new way to monetize Wi-Fi. When consumers access Facebook on a mobile device at a participating business, they see a Facebook check-in page, which gives them the option to access the venue’s Wi-Fi network. Accessing the network redirects the user to the venue’s Facebook landing page. It also sends information about the individual to the business, including age, gender, city of origin, likes, dislikes, and language. Facebook does not send the business the individual’s identity. … Read More
Tower loading challenges wireless infrastructure providers
LTE has brought waves of new projects to wireless infrastructure providers, but it has also brought a host of new challenges. These include manpower shortages and pressure to ‘self-perform” more parts of the contract. One of the biggest challenges for infrastructure service providers is the engineering effort required to add LTE technology to existing towers. “With the LTE adds, the more challenging aspect of it today is really just the loading on the towers,” said Rick Suarez, group president of MasTec Network Solutions. Suarez said that many towers have already gone through the transition from GSM to UMTS, and now are supporting LTE as well. “When they were designed originally, they didn’t have the foresight to see the loads that were going to be required with LTE,” he said. … Read More
FCC to fine 5 carriers $14M for Lifeline fraud
The Federal Communications Commission wants to hand out more than $14 million in fines to wireless operators it claims defrauded the government out of fees related to the Lifeline subsidized phone program. The Lifeline program was started in 1985 and is the part of the universal-service program aimed at providing low-income consumers access to telecommunications. The FCC said it plans to fine five companies a total of $14.4 million connected to the fraud claims, noting those companies signed up thousands of consumers for multiple subsidies despite rules the limit one subsidized offer per customer. The companies named include TracFone Wireless, Assist Wireless, Easy Wireless, Icon Telecom and UTPhone. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
