Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Time Machine is a way to take advantage of our extensive history in covering the wireless space to fire up the DeLorean and take a trip back in time to re-visit some of the more interesting headlines from this week in history. Enjoy the ride!
Conservative Nokia looks down road less traveled
Neither edgy nor solitary, Nokia Corp. has all the hallmarks of a conservative company. As a leading player in both the handset and infrastructure businesses, the Finnish vendor always has worked with industry associations and marquee players to push products and enhance its markets share. But this mainline player may be ready to play lone ranger, separating from other topflight players like Nortel Networks Ltd., L.M. Ericsson, Siemens AG and Motorola Inc. Two broad developments have hinted at this emerging solitude. Recently, the company took a different path from the other major vendors on pre-standard products for the Push-to-talk over Cellular protocol. … Read More
Infrastructure players sculpt 3G strategies
The CDMA2000 1x EV-DO contract wins by Lucent Technologies Inc. and Nortel Networks Ltd. with Verizon Wireless may be compelling other major infrastructure players to take the bait. Rivals L.M. Ericsson, Samsung Electronics and Motorola Inc. announced solutions not only in the DO realm, but pushed the envelope with EV-DV, which covers voice and data. Bell Mobility and Sprint PCS have said they expect to roll out DV solutions, skipping the DO step. Sprint PCS said it needs to get its return on its CDMA2000 1x investment before deploying another major technology. CDMA200 1x offers both voice and data but with much slower speed and carries fewer high-octane applications. … Read More
Despite lower ARPU ranking, Verizon leads in operating metrics
Verizon Wireless ended 2003 in the same position as it began the year, as both the nation’s largest carrier as well as the highest ranked wireless provider based on five operating metrics measured by N. Moore Capital Ltd. during the fourth quarter. The rankings include 20 North American carriers and are based on subscriber growth as measured by penetration gain, cost of acquisition, average revenue per user, customer churn and pre-interest expense free-cash-flow per subscriber. Though it failed to lead any one category, Verizon Wireless led the list with the lowest combined score of 30 based on top 10 placings for subscriber growth, COA, churn and piFCF/subscriber. The carrier’s lowest ranking was in ARPU, where its reported $48.64 was the 12th highest result posted during the quarter. … Read More
Canadians use phones less, prepaid services more
Canadians are often referred to as more polite, humble and reserved versions of their southern counterparts with whom they share a relatively open border stretching for thousands of miles. That demure demeanor, which seems to lapse during certain hockey events, has translated to the wireless industry, where a recent report from the Yankee Group noted Canadians spend nearly half as much time per month talking on their cell phones than U.S. wireless customers. The report looked beyond the social and ice-skating differences between the two countries in citing a number of contributors to the calling minutes-of-use discrepancy including prepaid preferences, voicemail restrictions, in-home calling and overall variations in calling-plan options offered by carriers. … Read More
LG teams with Microsoft for smartphone
LG Electronics Co. Ltd. becomes the latest mobile phone manufacturer to team with software giant Microsoft Corp. as it gears up to release its new LG-SC8000 smartphone running Microsoft’s Pocket PC operating system. LG will release the device in its home market of South Korea. The advanced handset features an integrated megapixel digital camera, support for CDMA EV-DO networks, an Intel Corp. processor and a sliding keypad design. The phone is scheduled to be available next month. … Read More
NPS allows tower too close to Old Faithful
The National Park Service has violated the law in allowing the construction of an 80-foot cell phone tower in close proximity to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). According to PEER, the tower was built in 2001 following approval of Michael Snyder of the NPS regional office in Denver. PEER claims Snyder’s approval of the tower build ignored the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1965, and the NPS’ 1916 Organic ACT, which calls for the agency to conserve park scenery. … Read More
Europe grapples with spectrum issues as U.S. finds no market yet for secondary spectrum
As the Federal Communications Commission tries to encourage a secondary market for spectrum, Europe is also trying to figure out how to have the market-not government-manage spectrum use by discussing license transfers and spectrum flexibility, said Gerry Oberst, a lawyer with Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. “We can see that a lot of the discussion in Europe probably mirrors what is happening here,” said Oberst recently at a seminar sponsored by his law firm. While the issues may be similar, the structures between the two continents are different so the approach has been different. … Read More
Psion sale to Symbian clears hurdle
Despite public arguments among Psion plc’s shareholders, the company voted to sell its stake in operating system vendor Symbian for about $252 million. Psion argued the deal would generate the greatest return for its investments in Symbian, which totaled about $52 million. “I am proud of what Symbian has achieved and I am proud of our endeavor and stewardship of the Psion role in building Symbian,” said David Potter, Psion’s chairman. “Once the market understands the operating businesses of Psion Teklogix, we believe that the value will come to be recognized and a proper value will be accorded to the company.” … Read More
Nextel gets 10 MHz, but will pay more under FCC staff plan
The Federal Communications Commission is considering a staff proposal that would give Nextel Communications Inc. 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band in a rebanding plan to solve the public-safety interference problem in the 800 MHz band, but Nextel would be required to pay more than the $850 million it suggested in late 2002. “We believe Nextel is unlikely to accept a small amount of spectrum because it does not satisfy its long-term business plans. We believe that Nextel will insist on something close to 10 megahertz in exchange for funding the relocation at 800 MHz. The FCC, under its more recent value-to-value approach, as opposed to the megahertz-for-megahertz approach, may be willing to accept greater relocation reimbursement for Nextel in return for the additional spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band,” said Rebecca Arbogast of Legg Mason in an investor note. … Read More
AWS’ recent troubles likely pushed decision to sell
AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s presence in the wireless industry is set to come to an end sometime later this year when Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s pending $41 billion acquisition of the nation’s third-largest operator is set to close. Along with the reduction in number of nationwide competitors, the demise of AWS will leave the wireless market devoid of the AT&T moniker since its brief foray in the early ’80s and its constant presence since the company acquired McCaw Cellular in 1994 for $11.5 billion. While few questioned the need for wireless consolidation, AWS’ position as the first carrier to cry uncle, as well as how quickly the process was completed, caught some by surprise. … Read More
