Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin's 700 MHz plan has triggered an angry backlash, with the agency chief suddenly finding himself squeezed by the cellular industry and others vehemently opposed to open access and those asserting the draft rule does not go nearly far...
Leap Wireless International Inc. subsidiary Cricket Communications Inc. has selected three infrastructure vendors for equipment, services and software in its planned buildout of third-generation networks in its recently acquired advanced wireless services spectrum. The entire network coverage expansion will include CDMA2000 1x and EV-DO...
Communications service provider XO Communications Inc. announced a major expansion of its broadband wireless footprint. XO and its subsidiary Nextlink Wireless Inc. said they had deployed in an additional 25 metropolitan areas across the country; Nextlink provides last-mile and middle-mile network access for...
Shares of Boston Communications Group Inc. skyrocketed after Indian computer company Megasoft Ltd. said it will acquire the struggling developer of billing software for roughly $65 million.Megasoft's Tea Party Acquisition Corp. unit will offer $3.60 per share of BCGI common stock on or before...
ABC Owned Television Stations Group has launched free, ad-supported mobile video services in all 10 of its markets. Such moves appear to be gaining steam in an industry where broadcasters have traditionally held a significant controlling interest in the distribution of their programming. With...
Vermont officials have tapped TerreStar Networks Inc. to bring wireless broadband and telecommunications services to the state's rural and underserved areas.TerreStar, which is a subsidiary of Illinois' Motient Corp., announced a pilot project to build a network that will be available for all voice...
Nokia Corp. will enhance its N800 Internet tablet with VoIP from Skype, giving the latter a degree of legitimacy in the mobile device market. The N800 is a handheld Internet browser that eschews cellular connections in favor of Wi-Fi, and now supports Skype's software...
The following lists includes venture capital and other investments into wireless companies announced this week.--Brightstar: Lindsay Goldberg, a New York-based investment partnership, invested $283 million in Brightstar Corp. The equity financing makes Lindsay Goldberg the company's largest shareholder behind its founder, Marcelo Claure. Brightstar...
The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.--First Albany Capital raised its price target on WPCS International Inc. to $16 from $14.50 after the company announced better-than-expected guidance for the fiscal 2008...
AT&T Inc., the nation's second-largest advertiser, has made made Omnicom Group's BBDO, the advertising agency for the former Cingular Wireless, the lead agency for the carrier's massive $3.3 billion advertising account, executives familiar with the situation said. GSD&M, Austin, Texas, which had been lead...
The mobile-phone industry reacted angrily to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin's 700 MHz draft decision to impose an open-access-like condition on more than a third of the 60 megahertz to be auctioned, asserting such a regulation amounts to Silicon Valley welfare."Crafting special rules...
The mantra of OPM-other people's money-is alive and well in wireless.The latest private-equity investments, announced yesterday, include New York-based Lindsay Goldberg's $283 million stake in Brightstar Corp., which is expanding its wireless distribution and supply chain operations globally. Separately, Los Angeles-based Platinum Equity is...
Visto Corp. managed to dispense with one of its patent-infringement battles, agreeing to license its mobile e-mail technology to Seven Networks Inc.The two Redwood City, Calif.-based startups ended their three-year legal tussle as Seven "acknowledged the validity and enforceability of Visto's patent portfolio." Visto...
Sprint Nextel Corp.'s stock spiked for a brief time yesterday in after-hours trading due to a report that Korean operator SK Telecom was going to make a bid for the U.S. wireless carriers, according to Reuters. Sprint Nextel stock temporarily rose more than 14%...
The text message from Verizon Wireless was unexpected, unsolicited-and welcome.The pitch arrived on my phone last Tuesday, urging me to take the new ESPN Mobile application and Vcast service for a free 30-day test drive. Verizon Wireless would pick up the $15 bill for...
Qualcomm Inc. said it would expand its relationship with Reliance Communications, a CDMA network operator in India, to further the fortunes of both companies, their partners and their chosen technology in one of the fastest-growing mobile markets in the world. Reliance-with about 30 million...
Motorola Inc. will buy privately held Leapstone Systems, Inc., a software developer with a unified platform for voice and data bundles across multiple networks and devices. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Leapstone's communications convergence engine has been used by fixed and mobile...
Speculation has sent network operators' stock up and down, but a British analyst said yesterday that Apple Inc. had not signed any deals with Euro-operators.The sticking point, according to Bill Ray, analyst with ARChart and columnist for the online technology daily, The Register, is...
The following list details this week's infrastructure awards for the cellular, Wi-Fi and WiMAX industries. The contracts are broken down by transmission technology, country and vendor. The value of the contract is included when available.Cellular--China: Alcatel-Lucent's Chinese flagship company, Alcatel Shanghai Bell, and Datang...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works...
Editor's Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week, the RCR Wireless News staff considers events in the wider business world and how they could affect the wireless industry.--Google announced...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks...
Dear Editor,We would like to respond to some of the many misleading comments made by Reed Hundt in RCR Wireless News relating to our Washington Post editorial. That piece argued that the FCC should not play favorites in auctioning spectrum, and that Congress should...
If you were expecting AT&T's rivals to slash, say, smartphone prices in the wake of the iPhone launch, you'd be wrong. A check on handset pricing over the past week revealed little by way of "me too" price cuts by the top-tier carriers.In fact,...
