SHENZHEN, China—ZTE Corp. said it is entering the North American market via a deal to provide 3G data cards to Canada’s Telus. The Chinese vendor said it already has shipped its first batch of CDMA EV-DO data cards to the carrier."As 3G terminal products...
FORT WORTH, Texas—Teletouch Communications Inc. said it has acquired Progressive Concepts Inc., a Cingular Wireless L.L.S. master distributor, reseller and mobile virtual network operator in Texas and Arkansas. PCI primarily operates under the Hawk Electronics brand name.All of PCI’s outstanding securities were contributed to...
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.CarrierRBC Capital Markets adjusted its estimates on Sprint Nextel Corp. after conducting discussions...
PALO ALTO, Calif.—Social networking provider FriendFinder.com said it launched a new payment system that allows its members to be billed for the company’s services via their cellular carrier. "We are turning on a (premium short message service) billing system that enables members to buy...
BAY CITY, Mich.—Terrorism-related charges have been dropped against three young men who purchased hundreds of phones in northern Michigan. However, the men now reportedly face charges of defrauding customers, Tracfone Wireless Inc. and Nokia Corp. The men—brothers Adham and Louai Othman and their cousin...
WASHINGTON—Verizon Wireless appears to be in a bidding war with T-Mobile USA Inc. over the valuable F-block licenses up for grabs in the advanced wireless services spectrum auction. Meanwhile, Sprint Nextel Corp.’s joint venture with four cable companies is focusing on buying spectrum within...
CHICAGO—Boeing Co. grounded its money-losing, in-flight communications offering known as Connexion, saying it plans to "facilitate an orderly phase out" of the service. "Over the last six years, we have invested substantial time, resources and technology in Connexion by Boeing," said Jim McNerney, chairman,...
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Tropos Networks Inc. launched a new line of smart-routing, multi-band MetroMesh routers. The company’s first such product, the dual-band 5320 outdoor unit, sports 802.11a and 802.11b radios, and can create multi-band paths through a mesh network, Tropos said. Tropos said both radios in...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR Wireless News to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the...
DALLAS—Moving advanced functionality from smart phones down to feature-rich phones is a goal on many minds, fueled by cost reductions in chipsets, among other things. Texas Instruments Inc. and LG Electronics Co. Ltd. took a step in that direction when the two companies announced...
SHERMAN OAKS, Calif.—FaithMobile will team with Crisp Wireless to deliver faith-based content to wireless users beginning next month. A subsidiary of Good News Holdings, FaithMobile said it will offer a subscription-based service hawking ringtones, images and video clips from content providers including Promise Keepers,...
HELSINKI, Finland—Nokia Corp. is set to launch its fourth flagship store this week, taking the wraps off a multimedia retail outlet in its home country. The world’s largest handset maker plans to open the doors this weekend at the new store in downtown Helsinki,...
RESTON, Va.—Sprint Nextel Corp. is launching a new advertising campaign focused on the quality and capabilities of its network. The new tagline for the carrier’s ads will be: "Sprint. Power Up." The nation’s third-largest carrier is starting internal employee campaigns and new advertising "as...
SAN FRANCISCO—Mobileplay, a mobile content company that delivers free ad-supported content to wireless users, said it has added a variety of new content to its stable of offerings. Among the company’s new content partners are Fodor’s, which offers hotel and restaurant reviews; The Onion,...
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.—InterDigital Communications Corp. issued guidance for the third quarter, saying it expects to record revenues of between $67 million and $68 million. The guidance is below average analyst estimates of $69.02 million for the quarter.The company’s third-quarter revenue predictions include $53...
WASHINGTON—Satellite television providers EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Group Inc. have pulled out of the advanced wireless service spectrum auction.Click here for the latest headlines from the AWS auction. Click here for full AWS auction coverage.Look below for full details on round 18The satellite...
SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. said its MediaFlo mobile TV network technology will be up and running in Japan sometime in 2008. According to a Reuters report, Qualcomm’s Jun Yamada, president of the company’s Japanese unit, said he expects Japanese regulators to allocate frequency bands for...
TORONTO—Pantech Group continued its march to establish a global brand identity by launching its first Pantech-branded handset—the PN-3200 for young consumers—in Canada. The handset is available through Telus Mobility, Canada’s second-largest CDMA operator, for $100 with a two-year contract. As an original design manufacturer,...
SANTA MONICA, Calif.—Boingo Wireless Inc., a wholesale network aggregator and operator of Wi-Fi networks, raised $65 million in Series C funding from new and existing investors. Boingo said the funds will provide long-term capital and underwrite its acquisition of Concourse Communications Group L.L.C., operator...
ATLANTA—Everyone knows that pink is hot, at least when it comes to sales of Motorola Inc.’s Razr V3 handset. But what about the cachet of the recently released blue Razr, a Motorola exclusive for Cingular Wireless L.L.C.?After appearing on the carrier’s Web site Aug....
BERWYN, Pa.—Michael Kalogris, chairman and chief executive officer of SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc., has resumed his official duties after taking a medical leave of absence due to injuries he sustained in a car accident. SunCom’s chief financial officer, Eric Haskell, served as interim CEO...
PHOENIX—Corr Wireless L.L.C. said it has chosen Excell Services to provide directory assistance services to its customers. Corr Wireless, previously Oneonta Telephone Co., provides service in parts of Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia.
PHILADELPHIA—The woman who steered Philadelphia’s municipal Wi-Fi project through city politics and battles with incumbent telcos is leaving her post as the city’s communications information officer next month to lead Georgia-based technology consulting firm Civitium’s international practice as a senior partner. Dianah Neff was...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—Google Inc. quietly snapped up mobile photo-recognition software developer Neven Vision for an undisclosed sum. Neven Vision’s technology automatically extracts information from photos, allowing users to categorize images or search for specific types of pictures. Google plans to use the company’s software...
