AT&T was slapped with a $23.8M fine tied to illegal disposal of hazardous waste, while T-Mobile expanded “wideband” LTE reach … 2 years ago this week.
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!
AT&T fined $23.8M for illegal disposal of hazardous waste
AT&T has agreed to pay a $23.8 million fine in California connected to unlawfully disposing of hazardous waste over a nine-year period. The settlement also calls for the telecom giant to spend $28 million over the next five years to update its environmental compliance measures. The case was based on inspections conducted in 2011 at more than 235 AT&T warehouse and dispatch facilities in which investigators found the telecom company had unlawfully handled and disposed of “various hazardous wastes and materials” over that nine-year period. The materials reportedly consisted of electronic equipment, batteries, aerosol cans, and certain gels, liquids and other items used by AT&T service technicians in “delivering telephone, Internet and video services to residential and business customers in California.” … Read More
T-Mobile US expands ‘wideband’ LTE
T-Mobile US continued its push to increase network performance, announcing the expansion of its “wideband” LTE service into the Boston area. The carrier said the upgrade provides a 50% increase in network speeds, with claims that some subscribers witnessed download speeds as high as 94 megabits per second. T-Mobile US’ “wideband” LTE claim is based on it adding more spectrum to support LTE services, which had initially run across 20 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band. The carrier is now offering a total of 30 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band to support LTE services in Boston. Following its acquisition of MetroPCS last year, T-Mobile US has aggressively re-farmed that carrier’s 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum to support LTE services, which in some markets has allowed T-Mobile US to throw up to 40 megahertz of spectrum behind its LTE service. … Read More
T-Mobile US promises clarity on data speeds
Following an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission, T-Mobile US has agreed to provide more transparency to consumers who have their mobile data speeds throttled. The agreement calls for T-Mobile US to send text messages to customers that will allow them to “more easily” garner accurate network speed information, place direct links to “accurate speed tests” on devices and alter website disclosures regarding speed management to more accurately describe what consumers can expect from their service. … Read More
American Tower to buy Bharti Airtel African towers
American Tower has agreed to buy Bharti Airtel’s Nigerian towers for just over $1 billion. The holding company for Bharti Airtel’s African operations will sell 4,800 towers to American Tower and then lease them back. The deal will help Bharti Airtel reduce its debt load and will expand American Tower’s African presence. The company already owns towers in Ghana, South Africa and Uganda. African towers are trading hands as the emerging wireless market transitions from carrier-owned towers to multitenant cell sites. Etisalat Nigeria recently announced the sale of 2,136 of its towers to IHS Holding Limited. Etisalat will lease space on the towers and use the proceeds from the sale to accelerate its 2G and 3G rollout. … Read More
Discovering big data unknowns
Big data analytics often deal with identifying trends in known areas. But what about unrealized and newly emerging trends amid the spam? How do you recognize the big data “unknowns”? Katherine Matsumoto, natural language processing expert and product manager for Attensity, said that amid spam mentions and unrelated terms, doing accurate “social listening” to end users can be a challenge. Attensity focuses on natural language processing analytics. The company, founded in 2000, started out with a focus on text analytics and understanding the context around unstructured data – that is, data that isn’t in an easily categorized or discrete form. … Read More
Sprint updates iPhone lease option
Apple’s iPhone lineup continues to be a main focus for Sprint’s recently installed CEO Marcelo Claure, with the operator again tweaking its device-specific iPhone for Life Plan. The carrier unveiled a new 30-month lease option, which drops the per-month charge for both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models to as low as $18 per month. Customers can still select either of the carrier’s 12-month or 24-month options as well. … Read More
BT targets O2 in bid to re-enter UK market
U.K.-based BT is looking to re-enter the country’s mobile space in a deal that could include an acquisition of a current mobile operator. BT, which has previously stated interest in re-entering the U.K. mobile industry after abandoning the market in 2001, acknowledged that it is in talks to acquire current operator O2 from its current owner Telefónica. BT also said it has received “expressions of interest” from a second mobile operator as well, which The Wall Street Journal stated was market leader EE. … Read More
IoT analytics and the challenge of big data for consumer companies
As the “Internet of Things” expands its reach, consumer goods companies are finding themselves with wirelessly connected devices and reams of data that offer new insight into how their products are used and where their customers are – if they can make use of it. “As more and more devices become connected, of all types – cars, wearables, appliances or home automation – what we’ve learned is that there is an incredible amount of useful data,” said David McLauchlan, CEO of IoT analytics company Buddy Platform. “The more devices, the more data being generated. It creates all kinds of opportunities for companies that aren’t typically big data companies.” … Read More
BASTA standard being pushed for use
The Next-Generation Mobile Networks Alliance has created a standard approach to reporting the specifications for base station antennas, and now companies that supported the development of the standard are trying to get it more widely adopted across the industry. Kevin Linehan, VP and CTO of antenna systems at CommScope, said the base station antenna standard is meant to provide an apples-to-apples comparison among antennas for radio frequency engineers and mobile operators. … Read More
Ericsson partners with IBM to create tiny antennas
5G standards are still undefined, but the companies involved in 5G research and standardization are already creating tools for next-generation networks. Today Ericsson said it is collaborating with IBM to design phased-array antennas for 5G networks. Phased-array antennas can increase bandwidth by multiplying the number of sectors per cell site. Ericsson said that the goal of its research with IBM is to develop services that will enable a multitude of new services on the same frequency and offer data speeds that are competitive to existing cable and wired internet access speeds. The companies envision roughly 100 antennas and radios on a chip no bigger than a credit card. … Read More
Check out RCR Wireless News’ Archives for more stories from the past.
