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700 MHz to be LTE heavy: AT&T Mobility, VZW announce LTE plans for highly touted spectrum

THE NATION'S TOP TWO CARRIERS plan to deploy Long Term Evolution network technology over their recent spectrum winnings. However, Verizon Wireless executives said an LTE rollout won't happen until 2010 at the earliest, while those from AT&T Mobility pegged a rollout date as far...

Device news reflects incremental battle among vendors

JUDGING BY THE HANDSET NEWS out of CTIA Wireless 2008 last week, competition in the United States is a SKU vs. SKU battle -handset-to-handset combat, if you will. In the absence of anything earth-shattering, the variety of handset news really spoke more to the...

Cyren Call: Don’t blame us for Frontline’s demise

Cyren Call Communications Corp. said it never demanded long-term payments as a condition for a winning bidder of the 700 MHz national commercial/public-safety license, breaking its silence in response to news reports and blog postings that strongly suggested that it caused the demise of...

Martin to oppose open-access mandates: Uproar from public-interest groups, Skype follows swiftly

LAS VEGAS-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said during a keynote last week at the CTIA Wireless 2008 event that he opposes Skype Ltd.'s petition to impose open access throughout the cellphone industry, prompting cheers from cellular carriers and criticism from others. "In light...

REMEMBER VOICE?

LAS VEGAS-Flashback to CTIA Wireless 2006: As former Nokia Corp. CEO Jorma Ollila gave his farewell address to the industry two years ago this spring, he exhorted his audience to keep working on the basics. "There's more to be done with voice," Ollila said...

SprintStudio supersized to 5,500 square feet

Sprint Nextel Corp.'s new SprintStudio store in Kansas City comes complete with a sleek design, all-live handsets, a service bar and a concierge service to help visitors learn more about the downtown area or make dinner reservations in the new Power and Light district....

SprintStudio aims to emphasize interactive, customer service

Sprint Nextel Corp. opened a new, flagship store in Kansas City's Power and Light District in early March. The one-of-a-kind SprintStudio features many interactive elements and a heavy emphasis on customer service. The store is designed to be a testing ground for new retail...

Brightpoint inks distribution pacts

LAS VEGAS-Brightpoint announced several distribution and logistics agreements last week at CTIA 2008.The company announced a distribution agreement with Cellatel L.L.C. that covers handset distribution through its North America and Latin America subsidiaries. Brightpoint Latin America will provide distribution services for Cellatel's Alcatel-branded handset...

Huawei unveils new 700 MHz base station product

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. jumped the momentum of the recently completed 700 MHz auction with news that its network solutions for 700 MHz spectrum will be available in the first quarter of 2009.Based on unified base-transceiver station platform technology, Huawei said it plans to...

Etc.

Who says wireless shows are boring?Playboy Entertainment Group Inc. kicked off a new mobile initiative at the CTIA Wireless 2008 event in Las Vegas last week complete with the crowning of its first Miss Playboy Mobile during an after-hours event at the Palms Casino...

3G to drive mobile entertainment

The mobile entertainment market could reach $47.5 billion by 2010, driven by greater 3G adoption and an increase in made-for-mobile content, according to a new report from Juniper Research.The firm, however, warns that mobile entertainment growth could be slowed unless improvements are made to...

Customers go wide for mobile content

Mobile customers use a mixture of carrier-offered content, Web-based content and personal content, according to a survey conducted by ABI Research.The firm noted customers are more likely to watch a video on YouTube on their phone, but are more than twice as likely to...

Hedgehogging: hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.

Well, April Fools' Day came and went without much notice during the CTIA Wireless 2008 show. That's disheartening because the CTIA show presents the perfect venue for companies to cause general havoc and mayhem in the name of April Fool's fun.The only whiff of...

AT&T Mobility’s mobile TV to run Sony movies

Sony Pictures Television will broadcast movies on one of the two exclusive mobile TV channels that AT&T Mobility is gearing up to launch this summer using MediaFLO USA Inc.'s network. The studio announced that its channel, called PIX, will be available to AT&T Mobility...

Post-CTIA show syndrome

Excited by the initial buzz of CTIA, Red Bull and Vegas, (Did I mention how much I love this city? It's perfect. Just perfect.) I made some wild claims early last week.I said the wireless industry was "back to full strength" and that this...

Show off a little

When is the wireless industry, collectively and individually, going to start showing off a little?The networks are being built. The devices will take care of themselves (there is nothing like a little competition from an outsider to spark a little creativity in device options)....

WCA applauds 2.5 GHz ruling

The wireless broadband industry said a new ruling should help promote deployment of high-speed Internet services - commercial and educational - in the 2.5 GHz band, but flagged lingering problems in use of the frequency band in the Gulf of Mexico region."WCA thanks the...

Forecasts vary for handset volume growth: Latest predictions tend to be conservative

Add another voice to the growing chorus of conservative growth forecasts for global handset sales this year. IMS Research last week forecast less than 6% growth, near the low-end of recent estimates by various parties and in contrast to the 10% growth forecast by...

Crossroads

On so many levels - some more tangible than others - the wireless industry stands at a curious (but not necessarily critical) juncture as tens of thousands arrive in Las Vegas for the big CTIA show. Wireless is the disruptive technology that will drive...

Hedgehogging: hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.

Look for former presidential candidates John Edwards and Fred Thompson to deliver keynote addresses on the final day of CTIA Wireless 2008 at 9:30 a.m. We're pretty sure they can't upstage the best keynote ever of former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton last...

AT&T Mobility, VZW, Sprint Nextel targeted in gambling class action: Legal action targets text messages tied to TV programs

The nation's three largest wireless carriers have been hit with class action lawsuits accusing them of illegal gambling in connection text messaging tied to popular TV shows. All three lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by...

Caller ID app could identify revenue for carriers

In this age of on-the-go videoconferencing and eye-popping wireless games, Cequint Inc. seems to be making headway with . wait for it . a kind of caller ID. No, really.The Seattle-based company offers City ID, an application that displays the phone number of incoming...

Mobile Pitch

Considering its 100-year-plus history, Major League Baseball's mobile efforts are pretty cutting-edge. MLB.com offers a host of ways for fans to follow the sport on their phones, from text alerts to radio broadcasts to video highlights, which debut this year. We talked with Dinn...

Battle over pole access heats up: Wireless industry seeks pole attachment reform

The wireless and tower industries are making a strong push at the Federal Communications Commission to reform the pole-attachment regulatory regime. The parties claim that non-discriminatory and equitable access to utility poles on a nationwide uniform basis will hold the promise of fostering the...