WASHINGTON-Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), often an advocate for rural America and former chairman of the Senate communications subcommittee, celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by introducing a universal-service reform bill that basically leaves wireless out in the cold. By not...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Palm Inc. announced it expects to raise $70 million by selling 36 acres of land the company owns in San Jose, Calif. The company's stock was up slightly after the news to $37.34 per share. Palm said it plans to sell the...
TOKYO-Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc. announced a deal with Nippon Television Network Corp. to develop TV shows and other content for both mobile and conventional television. The seven-year, limited-liability partnership-called D.N. dream partners L.L.P.-will be funded with about $85 million, with each company providing...
SAN DIEGO-Wireless Facilities Inc. announced that its contract for engineering services with a national wireless carrier has been extended for two more years. The contract extension is worth about $40 million to WFI, which designs, deploys and manages wireless networks, technology networks and security...
BOSTON-The wireless enterprise market is expected to move to the mainstream this year, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. The market is predicted to grow more than 20 percent this year to more than $22 billion in the North America, Western Europe...
BETHESDA, Md.-Jumping into the tween mobile market, new mobile virtual network operator Kajeet rounded up $27 million in venture capital funding, according to the Washington Business Journal. A Kajeet official was not immediately available for comment.The Bethesda, Md.-based MVNO's leadership has experience in Internet...
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.-Sprint Nextel Corp. is continuing the former Nextel Communications Corp.'s support of NASCAR, as it introduces a new hand-held scanner that is expected to be available for rent at all NASCAR Nextel Cup Series events this year. The scanner, called the NASCAR...
WATERLOO, Ontario-Research In Motion Ltd. may have found some leverage in its fight against NTP Inc., unveiling a software "workaround" it says would prevent a shutdown of its service to U.S. BlackBerry users. The Canadian developer said it has developed and tested technology it...
WASHINGTON-The Bush administration today confirmed an agreement among military, high-tech and wireless firms on criteria for certifying new 5 GHz Wi-Fi devices capable of avoiding harmful interference to military radar. RCR Wireless News first reported the accord Monday.The 5 GHz Wi-Fi pact, the result...
DUBLIN, Ireland-The company behind a mobile-specific Internet domain released guidelines for publishers looking to build wireless Web sites. Top Level Domain Ltd. (mTLD) unveiled mandatory rules and recommended best practices for users of the .mobi domain, which is set for commercial launch this summer....
WASHINGTON-The Electronic Privacy Information Center upped the ante against the wireless industry, saying that if mobile-phone carriers can't protect customer call records, the carriers shouldn't collect the information. "We were disappointed that CTIA opposed our petition at the Federal Communications Commission," said Marc Rotenberg,...
HELSINKI, Finland-Valimo Wireless announced it acquired UniqMinds, a mobile messaging company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Valimo sells subscriber identity and authentication software to fixed and mobile carriers. The company said it would add messaging technologies to its offering."UniqMinds' PEAKm technology allows...
CHICAGO-Firefly Mobile Inc. said its kid-oriented mobile phones are now available at Toys 'R' Us and Justice stores. Justice is a retailer focused on 8- to 12-year-old girls.Toys 'R' Us and Justice plan to sell the phones for $100, which includes 30 minutes of...
EMERYVILLE, Calif.-MobiTV Inc. and IPWireless Inc. announced they plan to jointly develop mobile TV delivery solutions for mobile operators, combining unicast technologies with TDtv multicasting. The companies said TDtv is an ideal offering that is able to leverage the newly defined 3GPP Release 6...
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.-Motorola Inc. introduced a super-slim sliding-style phone in South Korea, dubbed the Z, which is the latest wafer-thin handset from the maker of the wildly popular Razr. However, the company said the CDMA phone is only intended for the North Asian market.Introduced...
SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Lucent Technologies Inc. said it agreed to purchase Ethernet developer Riverstone Networks' assets for $170 million in cash.Most of Riverstone's employees are expected to join Lucent as part of the company's Multimedia Network Solutions business."We are extremely pleased and energized to join...
TORONTO-Nortel Networks Ltd. said it may pay more than $2.4 billion in cash and stock to settle two shareholder lawsuits filed as a result of the company's accounting fraud scandal. The company said it agreed in principle to pay $575 million in cash and...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. scored a minor victory in its legal wrangle with chipmaker Broadcom Inc., managing to move part of the case to its home base of San Diego. The ruling also shortens Broadcom's complaint against Qualcomm with the International Trade Commission.Broadcom said it...
MEXICO CITY-Leading wireless prepaid provider Tracfone Wireless Inc., which is a subsidiary of America Movil, said it gained 1 million new subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2005, bringing its net additions for the year to 1.7 million customers The new Tracfone subscribers accounted...
WASHINGTON-The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have advised state and local law enforcement officials to be alert for large purchases of prepaid cell phones, an FBI spokesman said. The advisory follows an investigation of recent incidents in Texas, California and possibly other states...
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.-Motorola Inc. is hoping to kick-start the lagging mobile-commerce market with a system that allows users to purchase products, transfer funds or pay bills with their cell phones.The company unveiled M-Wallet, a downloadable application for both smart phones and mass-market devices from...
TEMPE, Ariz.-Motorola Inc. named Interphase Corp. its preferred provider for I/O Advanced Mezzanine Cards, according to a strategic alliance announced by the companies. The cards will be part of Motorola's Advanced TCA and MicroTCA open communications servers. Motorola said its relationship with Interphase will...
LONDON-Operating system vendor Symbian Ltd. announced it will cut its licensing fees in half in a bid to counter encroaching competition from Windows Mobile and Linux. Symbian currently charges handset makers $5 per phone (for shipments of more than 2 million units) to use...
MILPITAS, Ca.-Mobile media adaptation company Adamind Ltd. plans to purchase Hong Kong-based SenseStream Ltd., a messaging and media product vendor. SenseStream develops, markets and distributes software that supports the deployment and management of multimedia services and applications. Adamind provides automated solutions for messaging and...
