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!
MWC 2012: Nokia Siemens focused on North American growth
Nokia Siemens Networks is looking to increase its presence in the North American wireless market, despite its current worldwide position as the No. 2 supplier of infrastructure equipment. The company, which missed out on a number of large-scale LTE network deployments currently being undertaken by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, has managed to nab some deals in Canada and sees continued evolution to the mobile broadband standard and rush to deploy smaller cells as a way to garner a broader foothold. … Read More
MWC 2012: Innovative mobile data pricing needed to ensure adoption, profitability
While marketing hype around acronyms, levels of “G” and the sexy devices that run over those networks are seen as the main drivers in the mobile broadband world, at the end of the day it’s how innovative carriers can be in pricing those services that will decide the success or failure of the market, according to Thomas Wehmeier, principal analyst for telco strategy and industry research at Informa Telecoms & Media, during an interview with RCR Wireless News at the Mobile World Congress event. … Read More
MWC 2012: Emerging markets scream for affordable smartphone
Emerging markets and the carriers that serve those areas took center stage, literally, during day two of this week’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain, as leaders from India’s Bharti Airtel, Telefonica’s Latin American operations and VimpelCom talked about the challenges and opportunities present in their respective markets during a keynote address. The three leaders included Sunil Mittal, chairman and managing director at Bharti Airtel; Santiago Fernandez Valbuena, chairman and CEO of Telefonica Latin America; VimpelCom CEO Jo Lunder. … Read More
MWC 2012: Smartphones from HTC, Sony and Samsung focus on media
More and more smartphone owners are using their devices as entertainment systems and cameras, and at Mobile World Congress it is clear that smartphone makers get the picture. HTC Corp. is unveiling three new Android 4.0 phones, all of which feature its proprietary ImageChip for photos and Beats Audio as a universal feature. Sony’s newest offerings, the Xperia P and Xperia U, both allow users to access the camera directly from sleep mode with one touch, and offer direct access to Sony’s vast library of music and movies. And Samsung says its newest phone, the Galaxy Beam, can display an image onto a screen up to 50 inches wide with its built-in projector. … Read More
MWC 2012: LG shows off new devices, impact muted
Often viewed as a distant rival to fellow South Korean device powerhouse Samsung, at this week’s Mobile World Congress event LG looked to get out from under the shadow with what it termed three pillars: speed, display and design. However, in a device market where smartphone specifications have become a commodity, those pillars look to miss a fourth leg to success: originality. As for its plans, LG rolled out a handful of devices sporting multi-core processors, including a device running Nvidia’s latest quad-core processor, screen technologies and sizes that are more tablet than smartphone and a new emphasis on design. … Read More
MWC 2012: RCR Wireless News preview
Next week’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain, is regarded as the world’s largest wireless-only event, with nearly 100,000 attendees expected to descend onto the country’s Mediterranean coast. With such a turn out, companies in the mobile space are not expected to hold back in rolling out their biggest news for the year. RCR Wireless News polled its editors to find out what we expect to see as the main news drivers for the event. … Read More
MWC: TD-LTE gets boost from China Mobile plans
The move towards the TDD version of LTE gained serious steam last week when during the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain, China Mobile President Li Yue laid out plans for the world’s largest operator to deploy more than 20,000 TD-LTE equipped base stations by the end of the year. Yue added that the carrier would then move to 200,000 such cell sites by the end of 2013. China Mobile announced last year that it would begin trialing TD-LTE services in cooperation with Ericsson, Qualcomm and ST-Ericsson. … Read More
Reaction rolls in to reported Sprint Nextel/MetroPCS deal
Recent press reports that Sprint Nextel’s board prevented a potential acquisition of rival MetroPCS garnered headlines over the weekend and reaction from the analyst community early this week. Reports suggested that the proposed deal, that was reportedly spearheaded by Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse and valued at around $8 billion, appeared set to move forward before a last-minute balk by the carrier’s board of directors. … Read More
Everything Everywhere expands UK LTE trials
The rollout of LTE services in Europe has been a deliberate process, with only a handful of innovative operators having launched services in select market. This latency in LTE deployments has been partially blamed on spectrum constraints as many countries have only just recently or are still in the planning stages of providing the vital airwaves needed to support new networks. … Read More
T-Mobile USA unveils network initiatives, LTE planned for 2013; iPhone on the horizon?
Months after having its acquisition attempt by AT&T quashed by regulators, T-Mobile USA laid out its plans for remaining a strong No. 4 challenger in the market, including $4 billion in network investments leading to the launch of LTE services next year. The carrier, which announced a similar network reinvigoration plan last year just prior to AT&T’s acquisition bid, said it plans to install new equipment at 37,000 cell sites and re-farm spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band currently used for its GSM-based services to launch HSPA+ services, which would then allow for the re-farming of its 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum currently used for HSPA+ services to bolster the spectrum gleaned from the merger break up to launch LTE in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band. … Read More
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