Mobile and Wireless Industry Reports

Flashback to CTIA 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,” …

Sprint Nextel Corp. said nothing substantial about its WiMAX plans yesterday and instead fell back on a new touchscreen device as the biggest news to share with a room packed full of invited press and analysts.There’s no doubt the company …

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said 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 of the industry’s embrace of this more open approach, …

The “old hippie” is headin’ to Mars. Or, perhaps more accurately, Richard Branson – fearless leader of the ubiquitous Virgin brand – is hatching a plan with Google Inc.’s founders to send volunteers to the Red Planet to establish a …

Sprint Nextel released a slew of gadget-related news in conjunction with the CTIA Wireless show, an effort that included a Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. device that is perhaps the most overt attempt yet to dig into Apple Inc.’s iPhone.Samsung’s new …

Towerstream announced today that it launched fixed WiMAX service for businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area. “The Dallas-Fort Worth metro market is a significant opportunity for Towerstream to expand its customer base with many regional and national corporate headquarters …

An appellate court in Illinois has confirmed a lower court’s decision that would force Sprint Nextel Corp. to divest its Nextel operations in the territory of PCS affiliate iPCS Inc. “This is a significant victory for iPCS and we look …

AT&T Mobility has seen the signs — or at least, followed the voice prompts — and launched a branded GPS navigation service for consumers. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. already offer similar branded services to their respective subscribers. AT&T …

The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.Carrier–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services assigned its A rating to AT&T‘s 6.125% global notes due 2015. The ratings reflect the company’s …

Spring has arrived, Opening Day is in the rear-view, and once again we found ourselves at the annual hyperbolic chamber that is CTIA’s Big Show. So in an effort to deflate the windstorm on the horizon, I have a few …

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. …

Like a series of dominos, several of the largest regional carriers fell to consolidation pressures within the past year. The announcements came within a few months of one another: AT&T Inc. would buy Dobson Communications Corp., Verizon Wireless snapped up …

Editor’s Note: Welcome to a special CTIA Show Daily edition of our weekly online feature, Analyst Angle. Every Monday at www.RCRWirelessNews.com you can find columns from the industry’s leading analysts, including NPD Group’s Ross Rubin, Enderle Group’s Rob Enderle and …

Editor’s Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ 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 …

One academic says stop the debate already. He argues a wireless Carterfone rule is long overdue. “This [FCC] reticence to act has generated regulatory uncertainty and has frustrated numerous business ventures wanting to offer new and innovative services that consumers …

Remember the “soccer mom”? First, she was avidly courted as a voter, later as a consumer. If you believe the handset marketers — admittedly, a leap of faith — the soccer mom even helped create a new breed of enterprise …

Forget the careful process of considering business cases, IT policies and other nit-picky consideration. Apple Inc.’s iPhone is the new must-have device — even though the buzz du jour is whether to delay purchasing one because a 3G version is …

Marco Boerries is the executive VP of Yahoo Inc.’s Connected Life Division, which encompasses the company’s mobile, digital home, PC client and broadband teams around the world, including Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 and Yahoo oneSearch products for mobile. Q: …

Patricia Russo is chief executive officer of Alcatel-Lucent. Before helping to spearhead Alcatel’s tie-up with Lucent, Russo was chairman and CEO of Lucent. She helped launch Lucent in 1996. Q: It seems the wireless infrastructure market has experienced some turbulence …

Perry LaForge is the founder, executive director and chairman of the CDMA Development Group (CDG). The CDG is a trade association comprised of more than 120 of the world’s leading wireless operators and manufacturers. At the CDG, Perry is responsible …

Jim Orr is a principal network architect in the wireless market development group at Fujitsu Network Communications. Q: It seems the infrastructure market has experienced some turbulence over the past several years. How do you view the strength of the …

Arun Bhikshesvaran is VP of Strategy and CTO for Ericsson North America. He has been with Ericsson since 1995 and has more than 15 years experience in the wireless communications industry. Q: It seems the infrastructure market has experienced some …

Daniel Moloney is executive VP of Motorola Inc. and president of the company’s Home & Networks Mobility business, which provides digital video set-tops and infrastructure, cable modems and consumer gateways, cellular infrastructure, and emerging wireless broadband technologies. A 20-year Motorola …

Perhaps no other player has invested as much in the speech-recognition market as Nuance Communications Inc. The Burlington, Mass.-based company has spent more than $1 billion in the past two years as it acquired competing firms and broadened its portfolio. …

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–Pakistan: Warid Telecom has chosen Ericsson …