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 PTT service falls short of Nextel’s, but tops Verizon’s
Sprint PCS’ recently launched Ready Link walkie-talkie service drew mixed performance reviews last week from industry analysts who noted that while the service was superior in many ways to Verizon Wireless’ similar Push-to-Talk offering, it fell short of Nextel Communications Inc.’s Direct Connect service, which most note represents the industry standard. Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. telecommunications analyst Phil Cusick found in head-to-head testing between the Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless services that it took an average of 5.6 seconds for a Ready Link user to be alerted that he could begin speaking compared with nearly eight seconds for a Verizon Wireless Push-to-Talk user. … Read More
First day of LNP sees few porting requests, fewer successful ports
Despite wireless carrier-generated public-relations hype surrounding the success of initial number porting, which was helped by only a slight increase in customer traffic, a number of analysts questioned the first day’s success of the Federal Communications Commission mandate. Wireless industry research firm Mobile Competency reported that less than 100,000 people attempted number porting yesterday, and of those attempts, carriers reported failures in the 40-percent range. A similar report from RBC Capital Markets found that of the porting samples it obtained from a variety of carriers, none of the porting requests were completed on the first day. … Read More
AT&T Wireless says it’s fastest in nation
With much fanfare at this year’s Comdex electronics show in Las Vegas and multi-page advertisements in nationwide newspapers, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. launched its high-speed EDGE-based service last week, claiming it now operates the highest-speed nationwide wireless data network in the country. The launch followed Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s EDGE launch in Indianapolis earlier this year and beat T-Mobile USA Inc., which has yet to set a timetable for providing EDGE commercial services, although announcing its intentions to do so early last year. While network speeds have always been a flexible subject that have occasionally gotten carriers in trouble with industry observers, AT&T Wireless is aggressively highlighting the throughput potential of its network, claiming average network speeds between 100 to 130 kilobits per second. … Read More
AT&T Wireless buys South Texas operations from U.S. Cellular
U.S. Cellular Corp. entered into a definitive agreement to sell its TDMA wireless operations in South Texas to AT&T Wireless Services Inc. for $95 million in cash. The operations include 25 megahertz metropolitan statistical area and rural service area licenses currently serving 74,000 customers and covering 1.3 million potential customers and approximately 150 cell sites. The MSA operations include Corpus Christi, Laredo and Victoria, Texas, while the RSA operations include Texas RSAs 18, 19 and 20. … Read More
AT&T Wireless updates mMode
With more than 1 million active users contributing a reported $7 to $8 in average revenue per month, AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s mMode offering is seen by many industry analysts as a reasonable success in the early stages of wireless data services. But compared with technology partner and financial investor NTT DoCoMo Inc.’s i-mode service, which has garnered tens of millions of users and generates hundreds of millions in revenues for the Japanese company, mMode’s success could be considered under-whelming. In hopes of bridging a portion of that difference, AT&T Wireless launched an updated version of its mMode service last week designed to provide an easier user interface, more graphically rich content and the potential for more revenue-generating value-added services. … Read More
Nextel, Sprint PCS billing lawsuits consolidated
A group of judges transferred seven billing lawsuits against Nextel Communications Inc. and Sprint PCS to a federal court in Missouri, a change of venue that could benefit the two national mobile-phone operators. “On the basis of the papers filed and hearing session held, the panel finds the actions in this litigation involve common questions of fact and that centralization in the Western District of Missouri will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of the litigation,” the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation stated in a Nov. 13 order. … Read More
Boost founder leaves claiming broken promises
Citing disagreements over strategy, direction and claims that Nextel Communications Inc. failed to keep a promise made to him, Peter Adderton, Boost Mobile L.L.C. founder and chief executive officer, has left the youth-oriented Boost Mobile prepaid joint venture, which both companies launched last year. Adderton, who founded Boost in Australia in 1999, said he told Nextel CEO Tim Donahue during a meeting Sunday that he “believes the company and several senior officials have failed to live up to promises made when Nextel completed its purchase of Boost this past August.” … Read More
Sprint PCS to offer text-messaging without WAP
Sprint PCS said it will launch a new text-messaging service in the coming weeks, a move that will allow users to fire off text messages without the need of a WAP browser. Critics have long disparaged Sprint’s WAP-based text-messaging service as clunky and slow. Under the carrier’s current messaging system, Sprint users first must launch their WAP browser, then input the message as well as the recipient’s address to send a message. Sprint’s new service will work much like the text-messaging services of other carriers, which allow users to compose messages on their phones without a wireless Internet connection. RCR Wireless News first reported on Sprint’s plans in February. Further, the new messaging service will allow Sprint users to send text messages to short codes, a procedure that is not supported by Sprint’s WAP-based offering. … Read More
Verizon promotes XHTML content
New wireless Internet browsing technologies may be giving rise to new business models for wireless content developers, and it appears the nation’s No. 1 wireless carrier, Verizon Wireless, is looking to spur the market. At this year’s CTIA Wireless I.T. show in Las Vegas, Verizon Wireless passed out pamphlets encouraging developers to sign up for its new “Nexxt: Put your model where your mouth is” campaign. The pamphlet promised the new program would promote “groundbreaking performance-based business models, and the opportunity to share in premium content revenues.” A Verizon spokesman declined to provide further details on the initiative, except to say that the carrier likely will release additional information early next year. … Read More
Berry leaves CTIA for cable industry
Steven Berry, the No. 2 official at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, is leaving the organization to direct lobbying for the cable TV industry. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association today said Berry, who served as senior vice president of government affairs at CTIA since 1997 and lost to Steve Largent in competition to replace Thomas Wheeler as head of the cellular trade group, will begin Jan. 2 as senior vice president of government relations at NCTA. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
