LOS ANGELES—Cellular Jewelry Inc. said it won a U.S. patent for its line of products that alert users when a cellular signal is received within three feet of a phone. The company’s products include pens, bracelets and watches. The items illuminate when they are...
BOSTON-There is nothing like a few billion dollars up for grabs to get a trade show buzzing as was the case for this year's WiMAX World Conference & Exposition. Weeks after Sprint Nextel Corp. announced plans to deploy a nationwide WiMAX network using its...
NEW YORK-In a move showing the true maturation of wireless services, Sprint Nextel Corp. will begin offering access to content based on TV Land's new self-help series "I Pity the Fool" starring movie and television legend Lawrence Tureaud, aka Mr. T. The Sprint Nextel...
There's never a dull moment in India's wireless marketplace. Media reports streaming out of the country last week indicated that Motorola Inc. and ZTE Corp. had been eliminated from the bidding process for state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.'s multibillion-dollar contract to build a GSM...
Every time someone tries to fix interoperability problems for first responders, it seems the first response is to throw more spectrum at the problem.So Morgan O'Brien comes up with a company-Cyren Call Communications Inc.-and a plan-to use the 700 MHz spectrum that today is...
Nokia Corp. will shutter a Fort Worth, Texas-based facility next spring that provides handset logistical and repair services for the American market and will outsource the service to a third party, the company announced. The closure will affect 450 workers; 150 will transfer to...
It was a fairly quiet week in the wireless world, but we still managed to share a few observations and kvetches-or as we like to say, here's what got us hedgehogging last week. Most carriers are still dancing around the potential problems that Slingmedia's...
CHICAGO-U.S. Cellular Corp. said it received $95.1 million from the sale of its stake in regional operator Midwest Wireless Holdings L.L.C. to Alltel Corp. U.S. Cellular said it also expects to receive an additional $10.5 million soon in connection with the sale. The sale...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Trade Commission issued a guide of sorts for municipalities considering wireless broadband, offering city planners and policy-makers a list of the pros and cons of various approaches to the issue. The report essentially outlines a decision tree for municipalities, with a variety...
SAN DIEGO-An administrative law judge with the International Trade Commission handed down a split decision in the acrimonious patent dispute between chipmakers Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Corp., ruling that Qualcomm did infringe on one of Broadcom's patents but not on two others. The judge...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-InfoSpace Inc. said it plans to lay off about 250 employees as part of a restructuring plan. The move follows news late last month that Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to develop direct licensing relationships with major record labels next year, instead of using...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. raised the price it charges users to send a text message to 15 cents, up from a previous price of 10 cents. The carrier also added a cent to the cost of "casual" data usage, increasing the per-kilobyte price...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s scheduled vote on the $69 billion merger of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. imploded today, with Chairman Kevin Martin delaying action on the deal until at least next month. The news follows revelations that AT&T has offered to accept merger...
LAGOS, Nigeria—A group of wireless players is experimenting with environmentally friendly biodiesel as a way to power cellular base stations in Africa. The GSM Association, L.M. Ericcson and telecom company MTN are partnering on a pilot project to set up a base station powered...
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—ROK Entertainment Group U.S. expanded its mobile video offerings with 13 free channels of news, music and sports. The subsidiary of the U.K.-based wireless video company unveiled FreeBe TV, a WAP-based service for roughly two dozen 2.5G and 3G phone models. Channels...
WASHINGTON—President George W. Bush Friday signed the port-security bill into law, a move that also creates the Warning, Alert and Response Network. The WARN legislation was attached to the port-security bill, and essentially updates the nation’s Cold War-era emergency-alert system to use newer technologies,...
By Lorene Yue CHICAGO—Hello Moto Michigan Avenue, again.Motorola Inc. is reopening its so-called "pop-up" location at 666 N. Michigan Ave. at 10 a.m. Friday to tout its newest product, a red Razr V3m, after shuttering the store following a nearly eight-week summer promotion with...
BOSTON—Rapid product development among semiconductor players could pave the way for nearly 50 million ultra low cost handset shipments by the end of next year, according to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics. "In addition to Texas Instruments and Infineon, other chipmakers,...
NEW YORK—Palm Inc. launched its quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Treo 680 smart phone running on the Palm OS platform. The slim phone features e-mail, Web browsing, messaging, multimedia, calendar and contacts capabilities and includes a full keyboard and a color screen. The company said it is...
SAN JOSE, Calif.—Covad Communications Group Inc. said it signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Chicago-based broadband wireless operator DataFlo Communications L.L.C. for $1.4 million. The cash transaction is expected to close this month.The deal expands Covad’s broadband wireless coverage to six markets...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms. Click here for wireless ratings from past weeks from RCR Wireless News.CarrierStandard & Poor’s Ratings Services assigned its B- corporate credit rating to MetroPCS...
ESPOO, Finland—Nokia Corp. will shutter a Fort Worth, Texas-based facility next spring that provides handset logistical and repair services for the American market and will outsource the service to a third party, the company announced. The closure will affect 450 workers; 150 will transfer...
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. Click here for additional infrastructure awards from RCR Wireless...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission postponed until Friday a vote on AT&T Inc.’s $69 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp., but harsh criticism by the agency’s two Democrats, consumer groups and a key House lawmaker over the Justice Department’s no-strings-attached approval of the deal could force...
