NEW YORK-Comverse Technology Inc. hopes to boost text messaging with a series of new personalized services.The services include an offering that allows members to insert a predetermined signature at the end of messages, and a "private network" wherein members use shortened four-digit codes instead...
LONDON-Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. released a new high-end 3G device and also laid out its plans for wireless e-mail. The company apparently has decided to forgo choosing sides in the hotly contested wireless e-mail market by supporting virtually every major wireless e-mail program...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Sprint Nextel Corp.'s $6.5 billion purchase of iDEN affiliate Nextel Partners Inc. has passed muster with U.S. antitrust authorities.The Federal Trade Commission issued a notice that it had ended its review of the transaction without taking action to stop it. Analysts had expected...
To the Editor, Recent results of cell-phone tumor studies are much more consistent than your news item, "Conflicting studies muddy cell-phone health risks," in RCR Wireless News on Jan. 30 would have us believe. As you noted, Lennart Hardell has reported an increased risk...
One of the best things about being a journalist in the wireless industry is that we get to test new toys, er, I mean, phones. Many of the industry's best devices make it to the hallowed halls of RCR Wireless News because some very...
SEATTLE-Yahoo has the early lead in the race to become the wireless Web portal of choice for U.S. consumers, according to new figures from M:Metrics. An average of nearly 13 million consumers per month accessed Yahoo's services from their handset during the fourth quarter...
European telecom vendors reported strong earnings based largely on increasing sales of wireless equipment. L.M. Ericsson posted $1.1 billion in net income for the fourth quarter, a 52-percent increase from the $738 million the company reported for the same quarter of 2004. "We have...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. tapped the architect of its BREW business to head the commercial launch of its new mobile TV effort, MediaFlo USA Inc. Qualcomm's Gina Lombardi was appointed president of the company's MediaFlo subsidiary. Lombardi was previously senior vice president of marketing, product...
WASHINGTON-German researchers have detected an increased risk for certain brain tumors from long-term cell phone use, a finding that is not quite statistically significant but coincides with other recent studies suggesting a possible danger for consumer who use wireless phones for more than a...
WASHINGTON-Public-safety, communications and special-interest group representatives came together last month to tell the Federal Communications Commission what worked and what didn't during last year's hurricane season-specifically Hurricane Katrina, which devasted the Gulf Coast. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin welcomed the group, noting it was the...
Kyocera Wireless Corp. announced it plans to build dual-mode CDMA/Wi-Fi handsets using chips from Marvell Technology Group Ltd. "The footprint and adoption of (wireless local area networks) is increasing exponentially and we have carrier customers who are viewing this technology as a complement to...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission late last week opened a review of a program that gives bidding discounts to small businesses in wireless license auctions, a move that comes only five months before the auction of advanced wireless service licenses and the June trial of...
WASHINGTON-The White House said President George W. Bush intends to nominate Robert McDowell, assistant general counsel of CompTel, which represents competitive landline carriers, to the fifth and remaining open seat on the Federal Communications Commission. FCC members serve five-year terms and are selected from...
WASHINGTON-Two licensees-one site-based and one economic area-told a federal appeals court they got the short straw when the Federal Communications Commission decided to reconfigure the 800 MHz band in an attempt to reduce interference to public safety. Site-based licensee Mobile Relay Associates, and EA...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.CarriersMerrill Lynch lowered its fiscal 2006 EPS estimate on Alltel Corp. from $3.58 to $3.45 following mixed fourth-quarter results. Robert W. Baird introduced forecasts for...
LONDON-Wireless operators' revenue from enterprise mobile e-mail and personal information management is forecast to triple in the next four years, reaching $600 million by 2009, according to new figures from independent market analyst Datamonitor. The firm found that wireless e-mail has shown slow but...
WASHINGTON-The House Commerce Committee is warning two data brokers that if they do not satisfactorily answer a letter sent this morning, which is highly critical of the companies and questions their practice of selling cell-phone records, they will face a subpoena to either produce...
NEW YORK-Third-generation handsets now account for roughly 16 percent of the U.S. mobile phone landscape, according to a new study from CIBC World Markets. In the firm's January report on 3G handset sales, CIBC found that 12 out of a total of 76 handsets...
BOTHELL, Wash.-Dexterra Inc., a mobile business software developer, announced a $12 million round of funding led by its new investor, Mesirow Financial. Existing investors include Motorola Ventures, Intel Capital, Canaan Partners and Sigma Partners. Dexterra said it plans to use the funds to continue...
SARASOTA, Fla.-XG Technology L.L.C. announced it hired the London office of Credit Suisse as a strategic adviser as the company prepares to launch its xMAX technology. The company says xMAX is a modulation and encoding technology that improves the transmission of radio-frequency signals in...
LOS ANGELES-Amp'd Mobile Inc. has tapped Chicago-based mobile software developer Novarra to give its subscribers access to the entire Internet-rather than just WAP pages. The mobile virtual network operator said it will use Novarra's nWeb version 3.1, a micro-client that supports both Web and...
CHICAGO-Prepaid wireless services provider DBS Communications Inc. launched its mobile virtual network enablement offering Versent Mobile, which the company said provides the tools necessary for companies to launch mobile virtual network operator-based services. DBS said Versent provides MVNOs with provisioning, billing, retail and customer...
DETROIT-ESPN's long-awaited mobile virtual network operator, Mobile ESPN, officially kicks off nationwide service Sunday during Super Bowl XL. The service targets sports fans by providing access to information such as sports scores, statistics and breaking news, as well as personalized text message alerts, fantasy...
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.-The mobile infrastructure market is expected to grow in the low single digits through 2010, including 3-percent growth this year to $41.8 billion, according to new research from Dell'Oro Group. Developing regions are expected to see continued infrastructure investments driven by subscriber...
