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!
iPhone invades Canada
Rogers Communications Inc., the largest carrier in Canada with 7.3 million subscribers, said today it will offer Apple Inc.’s iPhone to its customers later this year. Rogers has about 37% of Canada’s approximately 20 million wireless subscribers and just reported robust profits, lower churn and an increase in ARPU, with a surge in data revenue. For Rogers, which emphasized its efforts to continue “strong growth,” the news may be important. But the relatively modest size of the Canadian market echoed the last two iPhone launches in Austria and Ireland. Details on timing and device and service pricing at Rogers remain to be announced. Rogers’ demurral had a familiar tone. … Read More
An early look at AT&T Mobility’s MediaFLO mobile TV service: REVIEW: $15-a-month offering needs more content
AT&T Mobility’s MediaFLO-based mobile TV service has not yet officially launched; after a couple of false starts, the carrier appears set to launch the service, along with a pair of devices, in the coming weeks. However, RCR Wireless News obtained an LG Electronics Co. Ltd. Vu handset that supports the service. After popping in our AT&T SIM card, we were able to purchase the AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service as an add-on for $15 a month. The service launched immediately and was working without error in our Los Angeles office. … Read More
Mobile data can change the game
Memo to all you network operators: the race to zero is heating up. That’s the takeaway from a recent (but little-noticed) survey of 2,000 mobile users from comScore Inc. The market research firm found that 22% of consumers cited better coverage as the primary reason for switching carriers — down substantially from 27% in a November 2006 survey — while price was the deciding factor for 19% of users, an increase over the 14% in the prior poll. … Read More
D-Block report sheds new light on players’ plans: Cyren Call planned MVNO over 700 MHz spectrum
Public Spectrum Safety Trust Corp. Chairman Harlin McEwen appears to have distanced himself from a key element in a new Federal Communications Commission inspector general report, which cleared Cyren Call Communications Corp. of any wrongdoing prior to the failed auction of the 700 MHz D Block. The report also described now-defunct Frontline Wireless L.L.C.’s concerns about Cyren Call’s plan to become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that would resell service to first responders across the country. … Read More
Carriers aim to push back on USF reform
Wireless providers continue to push back against proposed reforms to the stressed universal service program for rural America, arguing that they are being penalized at a time when consumers increasingly demand the kind of mobility and broadband capabilities that wireless technology provides. The FCC is seeking to impose a cap on universal service subsidies for competitive eligible telecom carriers – mostly wireless – that serve rural areas; to utilize a reverse auction approach to award high-cost USF support to telecom carriers that can provide service at the lowest cost; and to abolish a policy whereby wireless carriers serving rural areas receive government support based on costs of rural landline telephone companies. … Read More
Apple posts strong financial quarter: But iPhone slump may also exceed seasonal dip
Apple Inc. posted impressive gains in revenue (43%) and profit (36%) in its fiscal second quarter, but analysts said the iPhone’s sales momentum has stalled more than what can be attributed to the post-holiday quarter effect. Apple also delivered a forecast that fell below analysts’ expectations, raising concerns that a slowdown in consumer spending could indeed take its toll on the company. Despite its outlook, the iPhone maker stuck to its original forecast of selling 10 million units worldwide by the end of this year. … Read More
Once ‘fast followers’ are now handset growth leaders: LG, Samsung post gains in roiled market
The once-monolithic handset market is becoming a lot more interesting. As growth slows in developed markets, players with strong presence in emerging markets may see more dependable gains. But macro-economic uncertainty has analysts and handset vendors forecasting anywhere from 4% to 10% overall growth for the year, a wide range with limited visibility into the crucial fourth quarter. While the first quarter reflected an expected seasonal slump – about 12%, according to IDC – the spreading economic slowdown affecting the United States and, now, apparently Europe, may level the playing field in the market’s high-tier upgrade competition. (IDC pegged first quarter handset volumes at 292 million, down from the fourth quarter’s, holiday-inspired 331 million units.) … Read More
Spectrum hangover: Carriers’ binge on spectrum assets bring competitive concerns
While the dominance of AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless in the 700 MHz auction has renewed debate about whether a spectrum cap should be reinstituted, it appears concerns may have been overstated about the number of markets where the nation’s two largest cellular operators now exceed the Federal Communications Commission’s new standard for determining when a carrier’s spectrum holdings in a given market could pose an anticompetitive threat. … Read More
Mobile Web: ahead of its time?
Does the world really need a wireless Web? It’s a question that has come up repeatedly in the years following the introduction of WAP, the standard used to display Internet content on mobile phones. At the turn of the century, a number of companies invested heavily in the intersection of cellphones and the Internet. At the time, networks were slow, most phones had black-and-white screens, and there were few, if any, mobile-specific Internet pages. Most of those problems have now been resolved, but to this day it’s rare to find enthusiastic mobile Web surfers. … Read More
Fixed or mobile, broadband access balances needs of consumers: Lines blur between technology distinctions
The market for broadband services is a large space, one that’s driven steady innovation, competition and various levels of service. While wireless carriers clamor to make technology roadmap choices for fourth-generation networks that will offer entirely mobile access, plenty of companies are finding success and steady growth on the fixed side of the equation. Fixed wireless broadband meets mobile wireless broadband on many levels (they even sound similar), but the latter service type distinguishes itself by offering cellular-like services that will maintain quality of services at highway speeds, while the former focuses on delivering service to stationary customers that might want to fire up wireless Internet service downtown one day and across town (or in another city) the next. … Read More
