The Federal Communications Commission gained a court victory in support of its Universal Service Fund reform efforts, with a federal appeals court upholding the agency’s Connect America program that is designed to subsidize rural broadband services.
Under former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the FCC in...
Sprint and regional wireless operator Ntelos took care of a long-standing disagreement, announcing today an extension of their strategic network alliance through 2022. The two carriers had been working on a previously signed network arrangement that was set to expire next year.
As part of...
Brazil's mobile market ended April with almost 2.5 million LTE connections. Although the total LTE base is still relatively small (less than 1% penetration), LTE use has been increasing, with record growth last month. Led by Claro, which added 177,000 new LTE connections in April,...
Just days after rival AT&T Mobility announced immediate plans to rollout voice over LTE services, Verizon Wireless threw out a reminder that it too was on track to offer VoLTE later this year.
The carrier said its VoLTE plans will include a nationwide rollout of...
Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Time Machine is a way to take advantage of our extensive history in covering the wireless space to fire up the DeLorean and take a trip back in time to re-visit some of the more interesting headlines from...
The Federal Communications Commission’s recent open meeting tackled a number of significant topics set to impact the telecommunications space. Two of the topics were very specific to the wireless telecommunications space in the FCC laying out rules for the 600 MHz incentive auction and...
If limited spectrum and cost-prohibitive expansion of infrastructure is inevitable, then operators need to find additional ways to enhance their existing networks and make the most out of the capacity that they have.
While it would be impossible to cover the entirety of the meeting in the remaining space of this brief, suffice it to say that the tone of this meeting was more passion-filled than all of this year’s previous meetings – combined.
Verizon Wireless unveiled the “XLTE” brand for its LTE service boosted by the inclusion of its 1.7/2.1 GHz (advanced wireless services) spectrum assets. The move followed rumors last week of a potential XLTE launch.
The carrier said the enhanced service will provide faster network speeds...
AT&T solidified its no-contract ambitions, announcing the combination of its recently acquired Leap Wireless business with its Aio Wireless platform that will operate under the Cricket Wireless brand.
The new offering will take advantage of AT&T Mobility’s nationwide network, which the carrier claims offers LTE...
Following weeks of rumors, AT&T over the weekend announced plans to acquire satellite television provider DirecTV for nearly $49 billion in stock and cash – and the assumption of more than $15 billion of debt. The move, if approved by regulators, would bolster the...
In addition to auction plans, the Federal Communications Commission today adjusted its spectrum screen rules, noting that it will place increased emphasis on deals involving sub-1 GHz spectrum as well as include a wider range of spectrum bands in decision making.
The sub-1 GHz emphasis...
The Federal Communications Commission today laid out several decisions set to impact the upcoming 600 MHz spectrum incentive auction and how the government agency views participation in that event. Those entities lobbying their case over the past several months in front of the FCC...
RCR Wireless News takes stock of the latest in tower and antenna technologies. We will look at fiber to the antenna (FTTA) and remote radio head (RRH) use, as well as backhaul trends, including millimeter, microwave, LOS/NLOS, fiber and the small cell backhaul dilemma.This...
Australia’s Telstra has thrown its hat into the speed game, announcing today that it has demonstrated a live network using LTE-Advanced technology with carrier aggregation to produce downlink speeds of 450 megabits per second.
The carrier said the FDD-LTE demonstration, which was run with network...
Verizon Wireless could be set to play up its ongoing rollout of 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum support for LTE services, with rumors suggesting the carrier will market the upgrades under the “XLTE” moniker.
According to a story from DroidLife, Verizon Wireless could rollout the brand as...
AT&T’s quest for growth reportedly has the telecommunications giant eyeing a potential acquisition of DirecTV in a deal that could reach $50 billion.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, AT&T could be looking to make an offer on the satellite television provider...
Wireless carriers are scrambling to acquire and free up new spectrum resources in an attempt to feed consumer desire for mobile data services. This quest for spectrum along with the deployment of more efficient LTE services could meet those short-term needs, but a recent...
Net neutrality and spectrum auctions continue to dominate telecom-related policy news as the Federal Communications Commission this week has both subjects on the docket. The FCC’s planned May 15 open meeting is sure to provide significant insight into what direction those two topics are...
There are few larger convergence points between broadcasters, wireless service providers, public safety providers and Internet businesses than the Federal Communications Commission.
What is 5G? That seems to be the big industry question discussed in recent months. For those of us in mobile broadband, we may not know exactly what it will be,
Neither LightSquared nor Charlie Ergen received what they wanted from the latest bankruptcy court ruling in New York. U.S. Judge Shelley Chapman did not approve LightSquared's latest reorganization proposal, saying it is unfair to Ergen. But at the same time, she said that Ergen...
The Federal Communications Commission this week is expected to alter its stance on net neutrality, with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler bowing to pressure in preventing Internet service providers from hobbling network speeds in connection to data traffic.
The Wall Street Journal over the weekend reported...
