NTT DoCoMo Inc. announced plans to begin selling Nokia Corp.'s 6630 3G phone. The announcement stands as a notable victory for Nokia, which has largely been locked out of DoCoMo's market. Interestingly, DoCoMo is calling the phone the FOMA NM850iG, and in a press...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission wants to make sure that the sale of customer call records-which has erupted into this year's biggest wireless scandal-has not been aided and abetted by telecommunication company employees. "Is there any evidence that dishonest insiders at the carriers are providing...
PORTLAND, Ore.-Metro One Telecommunications Inc. said it reached a settlement regarding the enhanced directory assistance services it provided to former Nextel Communications Inc. customers prior to Sprint Corp.'s acquisition of Nextel last year. Sprint Nextel Corp. terminated the master contract with Metro One as...
MURRAY HILL, N.J-Lucent Technologies Inc. said it won a contract to conduct a threat assessment of Europe's wireless, wireline and Internet networks. The contract, which was awarded by the 25-member state European Commission, calls on Lucent to perform a comprehensive analysis of the factors...
As all things GSM were talked about last week during the 3GSM World Congress trade show, the wireless industry was put on notice that Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is getting down to business with its national UMTS network buildout plans. The carrier announced contract expansions...
WASHINGTON-CTIA is changing its USF tune and siding with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin in his battle to change the way universal service is paid for. Martin-and now CTIA-wants to base universal service funds on telephone numbers, instead of the current system that works on...
SAN DIEGO-Leap Wireless International Inc. reported last week that its Alaska Native Broadband L.L.C. partner launched Cricket wireless service in Colorado Springs, Colo. Leap noted that following the launch its network now covers 3,295 square miles along the Colorado Front Range, from Fort Collins...
LA CRESCENTA, Calif.-Magnific's Inc. said it has created a magnifying glass-like product that fits onto cellular phone displays. The Phone Monocle, which Magnific's said magnifies screen characters up to two times, is designed for phone users who are over 40 years old, those who...
WASHINGTON-Sprint Nextel Corp. signed an 800 MHz planning-funding agreement with the State of Utah and said it hopes to have a completed frequency-relocation agreement completed by June 30, the company announced. The Utah Communications Agency Network, which serves 115 public-safety agencies covering 12 counties...
WASHINGTON-North Carolina officials are probing the death of a worker who fell from a cell phone tower on Feb. 9. "We have an investigator assigned and he is working on it," said Kevin Beauregard, assistant deputy commissioner for the North Carolina Department of Labor.North...
LONDON-Vodafone Group plc announced that it is working with Google Inc. to develop mobile search services, which Vodafone plans to integrate into its Vodafone Live portal. The Google search results would be delivered via Vodafone's high speed data networks and the product is designed...
Wireless users' ability to take and make voice calls on various networks no matter what carrier's brand name is stamped on their handsets-also known as roaming-is an invisible advantage that expands an operator's footprint and keeps customers happy. But when it comes to roaming...
BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Verizon Wireless has snapped up a small cellular operator in Northern California, Cal-One Cellular LP, which operates under the Cal North Wireless brand. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Verizon Wireless said the deal includes Cal North's 49 cellular sites and...
WASHINGTON-The Bush administration faces increased pressure to take a tougher stance on trade with China, a development that could lead to strained relations with the Asian giant and possibly complicate the near-term efforts of U.S. mobile phone vendors to compete for more billion-dollar contracts...
WASHINGTON-U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake ruled three mobile-phone health suits should be returned to state and federal courts, another in a string of legal setbacks for the wireless industry. While the mobile phone industry has yet to lose a suit alleging a cell phone-cancer...
Senate lawmakers on Friday introduced bipartisan legislation to reserve unused slots in broadcast spectrum for wireless broadband access.The unused or unassigned broadcast frequencies are known as white spaces. The Wireless Innovation Act of 2006 requires the Federal Communications Commission to permit unlicensed use of...
WASHINGTON-The mobile phone industry's campaign to further reign in state regulations was potentially dealt a serious blow last week when a key lawmaker hinted federal pre-emption of state and local regulations would not be included in telecom reform legislation in Congress, a prospect that...
WASHINGTON-The long-awaited advanced wireless services auction, with its high-rolling bidders expected to account for much of the $10 billion to $15 billion in anticipated license sales, could occur largely in the dark. The Federal Communications Commission, acknowledging the auction's high stakes and concerned about...
With equipment orders not rolling in like they used to, or at least having slowed down slightly, equipment vendors are looking for new ways to bring in revenues. At the same time, carriers are looking to tap into new revenue streams without making huge...
READING, England-Software company Tao Group launched a mobile version of its intent multimedia software platform for handset vendors. Tao Group said the intent Mobile solution supports several different operating systems-including Linux and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows CE-and features a middleware suite and an application suite...
BARCELONA, Spain-The evolution toward convergence could make for some strange bedfellows. The 3GSM World Congress was named for third-generation cellular services, but it was the alphabet soup of other technologies that garnered much of the attention at last week's show. Motorola Inc. and Nokia...
Nokia Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. announced they plan to form a joint venture to build CDMA phones. The move likely will have major repercussions for the global wireless industry and stands as evidence that no one company-no matter how successful-can go it...
Virgin Mobile Holdings plc is set to be one of the first European operators to launch mobile TV services using a dedicated mobile TV network. The company, which operates a number of mobile virtual operator services around the world, laid out plans to launch...
With a new venue, La Fira Barcelona, and more than 50,000 attendees, this year's 3GSM World Congress combined old and new in a splendid way-and showed once again that the more things change, the more they stay the same.The industry picked up a few...
