While Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin talked up wireless technology and its potential to reach high-cost rural citizens at the cellular industry's big bash in Orlando, key lawmakers, mobile-phone carriers and others are ratcheting up efforts to convince a federal-state panel not to...
Amid the rough-and-tumble of the maturing mobile handset business, the mantra du jour appears to be "understanding the consumer." That simply means mass-market techniques long in vogue to sell other consumer goods are being employed in wireless. Instead of delivering handsets with various...
If checking out the Internet on a PC can be called surfing, browsing the wireless Web is more akin to hunting snipe in a briar patch: it's arduous, painful, and sure to leave you disappointed.The fixed-line Internet has evolved to offer a remarkably standardized...
The wireless Web is strewn with potholes and speed bumps, but John SanGiovanni hopes that widgets can pave the way.SanGiovanni is the founder of ZenZui, a spinoff of Microsoft Corp. that will emerge from stealth mode last week at CTIA Wireless 2007. The company...
Boost Mobile L.L.C. has started trialing an unlimited CDMA calling service in some Texas and California markets, moving forward with plans to better compete against flat-rate carriers without involving parent company Sprint Nextel Corp.'s postpaid offering. Boost currently offers prepaid services using Sprint Nextel's...
Microsoft Corp. showcased a new Web browser that customizes Web pages for smartphone screens.The browser, dubbed Deepfish, delivers small images of Web sites, retrieving detailed information as needed when a user zooms in on part of a page. The technology is designed to replicate...
The Food and Drug Administration said the National Academy of Science will conduct a symposium and issue a report on future research requirements regarding possible health effects from radio frequency radiation emitted by mobile phones and other wireless devices, marking the final phase of...
AT&T Inc. subsidiary YellowPages.com unveiled a text-message search service that delivers local business listings and wireless Web links.Users can send a text message to YP411 with a business name or category, along with a city and state or ZIP code. The service returns up...
CellStar Corp. received its shareholders' approval to complete the sale of its U.S. and Latin American businesses-the distribution of handsets and accessories-to a subsidiary of Brightpoint Inc., a deal that had been announced in December.The transaction, for about $88 million in cash, is expected...
LCC International Inc. has delayed the filing of its annual financial statements for 2006 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said its management needs more time to assess the accuracy of its financial reporting, and for its auditors to complete a...
The following list details this week's infrastructure awards for the cellular, Wi-Fi and WiMAX industries. The contracts are broken down by transmission technology, country and vendor. The value of the contract is included when available. CellularBrazil: L.M. Ericsson said it won a contract to...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier Credit Suisse First Boston lowered its EBITDA and EPS estimates on Sprint Nextel Corp. for the first quarter, but full-year 2007 EPS estimates increase...
As carriers urge customers to adopt an ever-expanding list of data services, the bandwidth-intensive applications are driving a higher demand for backhaul capacity. Insufficient backhaul leads to service degradation such as blocked, dropped or painfully slow services-not situations that carriers want when they're trying...
The Federal Communications Commission levied separate $100,000 fines against Amp'd Mobile Inc. and two other cellular carriers for not complying with guidelines for protecting confidential subscriber information.Amp'd, Easterbrooke Cellular Corp. and CTC Communications Corp. can challenge the FCC fines, presenting evidence that could persuade...
ORLANDO, Fla.-The Mobile Marketing Association announced an effort to boost the mobile urban content market-and to help entrepreneurs looking to provide the stuff.The MMA unveiled a special-interest group charged with "creating networking, education and policy opportunities" among content owners, carriers and technology developers. The...
ORLANDO, Fla.-Mobile television is still in its infancy-mostly gaining traction among early adopters and primarily young men-but the subscriber base has more than doubled from 3 million to about 7 million users in the past year, Kanishka Agarwal, vice president of mobile media at...
ORLANDO, Fla.-AT&T Inc.'s wireless division is testing an upgrade to its HSDPA network that the carrier says will dramatically increase uplink speeds.According to Kris Rinne, AT&T's executive vice president of network planning and architecture, the company will be rolling out the software upgrade over...
Welcome to a special edition of our online column, Worst of the Week. Industry trade shows are especially nutty, so this column is a chance for us to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!Is there...
Wireless data revenues rose to $15.2 billion last year, a 77-percent jump from 2005, according to CTIA. The wireless trade group estimates carriers data revenues today total about 13 percent of all wireless revenues."Wireless broadband is providing mobile subscribers with the ability to access...
ORLANDO, Fla.-SmarTVideo Technologies Inc. announced a deal to deliver live mobile broadcasts of Dennis Miller's radio talk show.The Atlanta-based company, which operates the under the brand uVuMobile, said it will offer a free 30-day trial to mobile users for the three-hour program live. The...
ORLANDO, Fla.-The mantra of profitability remains the guiding principle at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, even as it invests in development efforts in the United States and moves ahead in emerging markets."Without profit, you're nothing," said Miles Flint, president of Sony Ericsson, in a private...
ORLANDO, Fla.-The day two keynotes at CTIA Wireless 2007 were all about collaboration. And, of course, money.From music to video to m-commerce, Wednesday's speakers hammered home the need for content providers and financial institutions to partner with carriers to push mobile data services and...
ORLANDO, Fla.-The competitive cauldron that is the domestic Chinese handset market has produced a few winners. And that has fueled a desire among those winners to enter the U.S. market.The prize? Prestige, profits and brand-building that could serve long-term, global growth, according to analysts.At...
The growing pool of federal dollars for interoperable public-safety communications grants could get even bigger, even though the nearly $3 billion spent to date has largely failed to improve first- responder communications around the country.Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, an independent Democrat...
