WASHINGTON—There he goes again. Verizon Wireless President Denny Strigl once again is breaking with the pack, this time with a strategic decision to become the most consumer-friendly national wireless carrier where controversial, lawsuit-prone, early-termination fees are concerned.At The Yankee Group's 2006 North American Wireless...
You think Ed Whitacre, head honcho of AT&T Inc., was worried powerful members of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee didn't like the idea of his spending $67 billion to buy another Baby Bell—this time, BellSouth Corp.—thereby creating the biggest telecom company on Earth and...
You can call it off-deck, off-portal or off-network, but the stampede of companies looking to sell content directly to consumers is unquestionably on. Off-deck activity has long dominated the wireless market in Europe, where a lack of garden walls has encouraged subscribers to use...
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Good Technology Inc. unveiled the IBM Lotus Domino version of its e-mail service, making good on a year-old vow to support the popular enterprise software. Good Mobile Messaging, which is slated to ship in July, will include continuous two-way, push-based wireless synchronization...
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. CarrierR.W. Baird dropped coverage on Nextel Partners Inc. following its acquisition by Sprint...
NEW YORK—Upoc Networks announced it is providing mobile chat and community functions to Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. customers. The service allows customers to access thousands of existing messaging groups or create their own personal messaging groups. The service is available on phones through 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. Click here for additional infrastructure awards from RCR Wireless...
ATLANTA—EarthLink Inc. launched its municipal Wi-Fi network in Anaheim with considerable fanfare, but the company also quietly inked deals to resell Internet access on its muni Wi-Fi networks to DirecTV and AOL. EarthLink said the agreements are in line with the company’s "commitment to...
ALAMEDA, Calif.—UTStarcom Inc. introduced its T66 dual-mode, dual-standby CDMA/GSM handset and announced China Unicom plans to offer the handset for use with its World Wind dual-mode service. The handset is targeted at mid- to high-end consumers and business users who want entertainment features on...
CHICAGO—U.S. Cellular Corp. and its parent company, Telephone and Data Systems Inc., have received an extension until Nov. 14 to file their year-end reports and first- and second-quarter financial results in order to regain compliance with the listing standards of the American Stock Exchange....
WASHINGTON—The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to halt the Aug. 9 start of the advanced wireless services auction, but the Federal Communications Commission likely faces continued litigation over small-business bidding rule changes in light of the court’s discomfort with the process the...
EMERYVILLE, Calif.—MobiTV Inc. said it extended its wireless video service to devices running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. The service, which is available through Alltel Corp., Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Sprint Nextel Corp., includes both live video and on-demand clips from content...
WASHINGTON—Two high-profile politicians are looking to the third screen to reach potential voters. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., last week teamed with pundit Mary Matalin to launch a text-message campaign touting at a Women For Rick breakfast. Santorum, who faces a tough re-election bid this...
WATERLOO, Ontario—Research In Motion Ltd. yesterday reported fiscal first-quarter 2007 revenue of $613 million, a 35-percent jump from the year-ago quarter, but profits for the quarter of $129.8 million were down slightly from the $132.5 million profit in the year-ago quarter. The company said...
GREENSBORO, N.C.—Those pesky, detail-oriented analysts and emotional stock traders sent ripples through the market yesterday and today as news circulated that RF Micro Devices Inc.’s two largest customers—Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc., which happen to be the two largest handset vendors in the world—may...
WASHINGTON—The Senate Commerce Committee passed its sweeping telecommunications-reform bill Wednesday. The bill includes two critical bits of legislation for the wireless industry: wireless pre-emption and a moratorium on cell-phone taxes. The bill is now headed to the Senate floor. However, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.),...
LONDON—Yahoo Inc. scored a major wireless win with an agreement to provide mobile Internet services for Hutchison’s 3 Group carriers in Europe and Asia. The 3 Group tapped Yahoo to deliver mobile search, instant messaging and e-mail services as well as to provide the...
LONDON—Test and measurement technology developer Spirent Communications plc announced plans to restructure its Performance Analysis and Service Assurance units in the face of "significant product transition" this year. The company said the moves would save more than $16 million in costs annually, though a...
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...
BATON ROUGE, La.—Wireless Internet company JoVoGo Communications L.L.C. said it purchased the public Wi-Fi system operating in the central business district of downtown Baton Rouge from US Wireless Online. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.The Wi-Fi system was built in 2003 by Verge...
NEW YORK—Verizon Wireless President and Chief Executive Officer Denny Strigl said that, starting this fall, the carrier will begin pro-rating early termination fees for customers who terminate their service contracts. Strigl made the announcement at The Yankee Group’s 2006 North American Wireless Leadership Summit...
OKLAHOMA CITY—Dobson Communications Corp. wrapped up its $25 million purchase of wireless assets and spectrum in Texas, which will expand the rural carrier’s footprint in the central area of the state. Dobson subsidiary American Cellular Corp. made the purchase of assets in the Texas...
PLAINFIELD, Ind.—Brightpoint Inc. added yet another wireless operator to its stable, inking a distribution deal with Boost Mobile L.L.C. The Sprint Nextel Corp.-owned service provider authorized Brightpoint to distribute Boost phones and services to its network of 2,000 retailers nationwide. Brightpoint has similar agreements...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint Nextel Corp. has added a Sanyo Electronics Co. Ltd. handset to its lineup that includes a free parental control feature that allows parents to limit incoming and outgoing calls to a list that can be programmed into the phone. The SCP-2400...
