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 those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
AT&T Mobility agrees to settlement worth up to $76M
AT&T Mobility could pay up to $76 million in back taxes and legal fees as part of a tax settlement with Missouri cities that won preliminary approval by a state judge in St. Louis.
The proposed settlement between AT&T Mobility and approximately 250 cities follows similar multi-million-dollar settlements by Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular Corp.
Sprint Nextel Corp. said it is pursuing settlements in some cities, while litigation is moving forward in others. “We are pleased that the court has given preliminary approval to the proposed settlement agreement,” said AT&T Mobility in a statement. “We look forward to working with all of the parties involved, as prescribed by the courts, with the goal of reaching final settlement in May 2008.” Other wireless carriers operating in the state-including T-Mobile USA Inc. and Alltel Corp.-may eventually settle as well, since they face the possibility of even great financial liability if the class-action litigation continues in cities’ six-year-old lawsuit against cellular companies.
Femtocell profits a waiting game, says ABI Research
A new report from ABI Research says carriers need to keep long-term considerations in mind when formulating their femtocell strategies, because femtocell solutions probably won’t generate profits until three or more years after services are launched.
“Our studies found that the margins carriers would expect to receive from backhaul [operating expense] savings and subscription revenues alone provide little incentive to adopt this technology,” said Stuart Carlaw, research director at ABI. … Read more
Sprint Nextel to link to MySpace Mobile
Sprint Nextel Corp. announced a deal with Fox Interactive Media that will give the carrier’s subscribers free access to MySpace Mobile from the carrier’s portal. Beginning early next year, Sprint Nextel will become the first carrier to allow users to link directly to the popular social-networking site as well as FOXSports.com on MSN, RottenTomatoes, Photobucket and several other Fox properties at no charge. Sprint Nextel first partnered with Fox in 2002 to deliver news and scores from FOXSports.com. “Our partnership empowers Sprint data subscribers with easy access to their MySpace community at no additional charge,” said Amit Kapur, MySpace’s VP of business development. … Read more
Person of the Year: Steve Jobs
That sucking sound you hear is the wireless industry on the mat, gasping for air.
Enter the dragon, Steve Jobs, RCR Wireless News’ Person of the Year.
In the United States alone, in six months, Apple Inc. sold more than 1.4 million iPhones, which rapidly gained the No. 4 position among best-selling handsets in the U.S., according to Strategy Analytics. Overseas launches in the United Kingdom, Germany and France have reportedly found traction. A story in motion, indeed. Outsiders don’t really know how deeply Jobs is involved in the technology at Apple, but we’re pretty clear that he knows what people want and how to cut a deal-thus our choice. While the jury is out on Apple’s ultimate impact on the wireless industry, the deliberations went on all year long and show little sign of abating. Apple has elected to exploit the top-end, margin-rich handset tier, performed exceedingly well on its stated goals and positioned itself with follow-through, iPhone-platform products. Ultimately, this is a profitover-market-share play, a smart choice for a PC maker morphing in search of new markets. … Read more
Iraq tops mobile search terms in 2007
It appears wireless Web surfers are more interested in accessing news and mobile content than finding the nearest pizza parlor. AOL last week unveiled the most common searches from its wireless portal, revealing some surprisingly popular search terms. While MySpace (No. 2) and games (No. 4) are obviously popular topics, AOL found-astonishingly-that Iraq was the most popular mobile search term of the year. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
