RALEIGH, N.C.—Dallas-based fixed wireless broadband provider airBand Communications is stepping into Southeastern markets by acquiring WindChannel Communications’ fixed wireless business. The deal includes all of WindChannel’s Wi-Fi monitoring contracts. The move gives airBand an immediate presence in North Carolina’s major markets, including Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham...
LONDON—Symbian Ltd., the privately held software firm that offers operating systems for mobile handsets, offered first quarter results showing increasing revenues and unit shipments. The company said 11.7 million devices running its software were shipped in the first quarter, up 73 percent from the...
LEXINGTON, Ky.—Alltel Corp. and the Communications Workers of America union have signed a new three-year contract that covers about 350 employees in Kentucky. The current contract between Alltel and members of CWA Locals 3371 and 3372 expires June 7. The employees handle local telephone...
WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission was scheduled to restart the bidding in the government’s air-to-ground auction after action had been suspended at the end of round eight Thursday. At the end of round eight the high bidders were Unison Spectrum L.L.C. and Space Data Spectrum...
TORONTO—In its bi-weekly financial status update, which is required by the Ontario Securities Commission, Nortel Networks Ltd. warned its first-quarter revenues will be equal to or lower than its year-ago results. Commenting on the company’s financial expectations, Peter Currie, executive vice president and chief...
SAN DIEGO—Leap Wireless International Inc. reported plans to swap 10 megahertz of 1.9 GHz spectrum covering Grand Rapids, Mich., for 10 megahertz in Rochester, N.Y. currently held by Cingular Wireless L.L.C. The move plays into Leap’s market-cluster strategy, adding to its upstate New York...
NEW YORK—London-based Inmarsat plc last week received permission from the Federal Communications Commission to begin offering satellite-based broadband service in the United States, where the company said it will focus initially on emergency workers dealing with the fallout from the upcoming hurricane season and...
MT. VERNON, Ill.—A small carrier freshly acquired by Alltel Corp. announced that it sold its limited partnership interest in two Illinois rural service areas. Southern Illinois Cellular Corp., which does business as First Cellular of Southern Illinois, said that it had sold its interests...
NASHUA, N.H.—GN said it plans to combine its professional and consumer headset divisions—GN Mobile and GN Netcom—to create what the company said would be the world’s largest wireless headset company. The new entity will employee 1,800 people and is expected to generate combined revenue...
BOSTON—Telecommunications company MobileSphere Ltd. announced the launch of its MobileU offering designed to provide college and university students with a communications package that encompasses calls from dormitories, international long-distance calls via cell phone, prepaid services and domestic and international text messaging. MobileSphere said it...
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—Visto Corp. entered mobile e-mail fray in China as it announced it would join a Chinese partner in providing push e-mail service to enterprises and professionals in the world’s largest mobile market. The California company will join Lenovo Chinaweal System & Service...
SAN FRANCISCO—Wireless backhaul transporters FiberTower Corp. and First Avenue Networks Inc. said they plan to merge in an all-stock deal worth about $1.5 billion. First Avenue said it will issue approximately 74 million shares of its common stock to FiberTower shareholders, giving them a...
FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—InnoPath Software and Red Bend Software proposed a new format standard for packaging and distribution of firmware over-the-air updates between mobile industry players to make FOTA between parties easier and less expensive. Wireless carriers use FOTA and mobile device management to provision, diagnose,...
SAN DIEGO—Leap Wireless International Inc. filed for a proposed sale of 5.6 million shares of common stock, with the funds from the sale to be used for, among other things, acquiring and building out spectrum the carrier plans to bid on during the June...
OYSTER BAY, N.Y.—ABI Research reports that despite stalled efforts to standardize ultra-wideband technology, shipments of UWB gear likely will increase to 300 million units by 2011. According to ABI’s principal analyst Stuart Carlaw, some observers have pointed to the lack of standardization as a...
KIRKLAND, Wash.-Craig McCaw's Clearwire Corp. filed for a $400 million initial public offering, a move that likely will help fund the company's efforts to expand its wireless broadband operations in the United States and elsewhere. The company did not reveal how many shares it...
PHILADELPHIA-The last political hurdle for Philadelphia's citywide Wi-Fi project has been cleared, as Philadelphia's city council gave its final approval to plans to provide low-cost Wi-Fi to all residents. The council voted unanimously in favor of a proposed 10-year contract with EarthLink Inc. to...
Nortel Networks Ltd. completed the transfer of its manufacturing operations and related assets to Flextronics International Ltd., a Singapore-based manufacturing services firm. The transfer includes product integration, testing, repair and logistics operations, all based out of Nortel's Systems House in Calgary, Alberta. Nortel said...
HOUSTON-Dexa Wireless, a Mexican-owned mobile virtual network operator, threw its hat into the MVNO ring, announcing it launched commercial operations in Los Angeles. The company said it is targeting the Hispanic population with prepaid service under its Va Contigo commercial brand. Alejandro Bosque, chief...
It seems there's a new mobile virtual network operator for just about every interest, age and ethnic group in the United States. And each operator has a different strategy about how to reach its target. Retailing strategies were simpler when the first couple of...
As the use of RFID technology increases, so do the concerns from consumer privacy advocates. A trade group recently unveiled a set of best practices that they say promotes respect for consumer privacy, but at least one group calls the guidance a ruse."This is...
No matter what type of network technology or application the wireless industry develops, you can bet that the test and measurement providers are prepared to measure how it performs. The major players tout equipment that can test basic voice and related services as well...
WASHINGTON-With the advanced wireless services auction quickly approaching and companies largely silent about their bidding intentions, controversy and uncertainty are slowly beginning to dominate an event billed as one of the biggest and most import sales of public airwaves in years. Already a health-related...
The advocacy group assisting Maria Gonzalez in the health-related suit to delay the June 29 start of the advanced wireless services was incorrectly identified in the May 8 story. The correct name is the Vermont-based EMR Policy Institute.
