Editor’s Note: Wireless operators are a busy bunch, and as such RCR Wireless News will attempt to gather some of the important announcements that may slip through the cracks from the world’s largest carriers in a weekly wrap-up. Enjoy!
—Sprint reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that an investigation into claims the carrier failed to collect and pay more than $100 million in New York state sales tax had been closed on July 2, with the SEC recommending no enforcement action be taken against the company.
The investigation was triggered last year when the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit alleging that Sprint had “fraudulently failed” to collect or pay those fees linked to the sale of wireless services beginning in mid-2005. Sprint had moved to dismiss the complaint last year, with a court recently entering an order to dismiss only certain parts of the complaint.
—AT&T reported an agreement with CSC to develop “next-generation technology solutions for enterprise” customers. The deal calls for both companies to develop and offer cloud services for businesses around the world, and will combine CSC’s experience in the cloud services space with AT&T’s network and cloud infrastructure platform.
The multi-year agreement is set to last through 2020, with an option to extend the deal.
Carriers have been moving aggressively into the cloud space, looking to tap into their network expertise while at the same time broadening their offerings to enterprise customers.
—Sprint announced a partnership with the Defense Mobile Corporation to begin offering a nationwide wireless service targeting military personal running across the carrier’s LTE network beginning next year.
The carrier noted the mobile virtual network offering will be a “unique mobile affinity platform, integrated mobile banking and a set of community-focused mobile applications.” The service will be available to active-duty officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. military, including those serving or honorably discharged from the Selected Reserve and federally recognized National Guard components of the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Cadets/midshipmen at the U.S. service academies and families of active duty U.S military and veterans are also eligible.
–Backhaul solutions provider PEG Bandwidth said it has closed on the acquisition of Contact Network’s broadband operations that currently operate under the InLine brand in parts of Mississippi and Alabama. The network includes a fiber-optic network covering 1,100 route miles in those states, providing broadband services to enterprises, municipalities and the consumer segment.
PEG said it plans to continue operating the service under the InLine brand as a fully-owned subsidiary, with current InLine President Martin Costa continuing in his position.
—Consumer Cellular, which offers wireless services for AARP members using a mobile virtual network operator model, updated its rate plans to include more calling minutes, messaging and data access.
The carrier’s Connect Complete had its data bucket increased by 100 megabytes to 500 Mb total, while its messaging bucket grew by 1,000 messages to a total of 5,000 messages for the same $20 per month. The Connect Max plan had its data bucket doubled to 2 gigabytes, while the messaging bucket increased by 50% to 15,000 total messages for $30 per month.
Consumer Cellular’s “Anywhere” plans had their calling minutes increased across the board, with the $15 per month plan now offering 200 minutes; the $20 plan now has 500 minutes; the $30 plan now includes 1,000 minutes; the $40 plan is now at 2,000 minutes; the $50 plan to 3,000 minutes; and the $60 plan now includes 5,000 anytime calling minutes.
Consumer Cellular had previously adjusted it rate plans in 2011.
–SK Telecom said it has launched LTE roaming services in Canada and Switzerland through partnerships with Rogers and Swisscom, respectively. The agreements allow SK Telecom customers to access LTE and LTE-Advanced services where available from those carriers. SK Telecom added that it was in talks with carriers in Japan, China and the United States regarding future roaming agreements.
SK Telecom initially launched LTE services in South Korea in mid-2011, and earlier this year began offering services using LTE-Advanced enhancements.
Additional carrier news can be found on the RCR Wireless News “Carriers” page.
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