Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

WASHINGTON-Two proponents of cell-broadcast technology said a Senate-passed bill to update the nation’s emergency alert system could further delay widespread deployment of wireless warnings to the nation’s 219 million cell-phone subscribers. The Warning, Alert and Response Network Act, sponsored by …

ATLANTA-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. struck a five-year agreement with the U.S. Army, Air Force and Defense Telecommunications Services-Washington worth more than $150 million. The deal, according to Cingular, will “enable the military branches to administer wireless usage more efficiently and cost-effectively.” …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.-Alltel Corp. is set to begin a major advertising push for its MyCircle offer, which allows customers to place unlimited calls to up to 10 wireless or wireline numbers from any carrier. The MyCircle offer requires that customers …

ESPOO, Finland-Nokia Corp.’s Mobile Search platform will incorporate Microsoft Corp.’s Live Search capabilities to streamline mobile information searches onseries smart phones-now “multimedia computers,” in Nokia’s parlance-and select S60 platform devices in various markets, the Finnish handset vendor announced. Mobile Search …

AUSTIN, Texas-Chipmaker Freescale Semiconductor Inc. said it signed a definitive merger agreement to be bought by a private-equity consortium led by The Blackstone Group. The transaction is valued at $17.6 billion. Other members of the consortium include The Carlyle Group, …

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.-Revenue from sales of cellular base stations will remain strong through 2008, but by 2009 base station revenue will begin a steep decline, says a new report from In-Stat. “Spending on cellular base stations by cellular service providers these …

Revised earnings guidance by two firms that have traditionally served Nokia Corp.-delivered within four days of each other-may reflect a softening in Nokia’s Western European sales due to an invasion of light, slim phones by competitors, according to a market …

NASHVILLE, Tenn.-The Wireless Infrastructure Association’s annual convention began with the launch of a new a new forum that says its mission is to promote the understanding, acceptance and deployment of distributed antenna systems. DAS usage is gaining ground as a …

Unlimited video streaming is unlikely to be in wireless carriers’ interest, Verizon Wireless President and Chief Executive Officer Denny Strigl told a New York audience, but the company still believes that a significant portion of its future revenues will come …

NASHVILLE, Tenn.-Tower industry officials last week said lessons learned from last year’s horrific storms have made them better prepared for the next big one. Speaking at PCIA’s wireless infrastructure convention, tower executives outlined how they have improved all aspects of …

WASHINGTON-The telecommunications-reform bill, which includes the all-important wireless pre-emption provision, will not be debated on the Senate floor this week so its only hope for passage is if it is part of the debate when the Senate returns for a …

Less than two years ago, carriers were blaming publishers for stifling mobile gaming by churning out a surfeit of high-profile, licensed games that made for a rotten user experience. Now it’s the game makers’ that are pointing fingers. Handsets are …

The IEEE standards association announced a leadership shake-up in its troubled 802.20 working group, which is supposed to get the work on a mobile wireless broadband access standard back on track. All of the officers of the working group will …

Big deals attract attention. Watching mergers and acquisitions play out is a perennial spectator sport in the technology business, in part because the results of M&As take time to reach fruition or wither on the vine. After Motorola Inc. announced …

VeriSign Inc. finally jettisoned the bulk of its direct-to-consumer mobile content business, selling a 51-percent stake in its Jamba subsidiary to News Corp. for $188 million. The companies announced plans to form a mobile entertainment joint venture, with Fox Mobile …

LOS ANGELES–Wireless carriers toasted their high-speed mobile broadband networks with a number of 3G-related announcements during last week’s CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment event. Verizon Wireless declared that it chose Motorola Inc. to upgrade its CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision 0 …

LOS ANGELES–Skepticism about the potential of mobile television is rampant within the wireless industry, according to a recent survey of executives conducted by Mercer Management Consulting. However, a panel of executives during a breakout session at last week’s CTIA Wireless …

RealNetworks Inc. is buying itself a bigger space on the wireless entertainment playground with a $350 million acquisition of South Korean-based developer WiderThan Co. Ltd. The Seattle-based digital media company said it will spend $17.05 per share to acquire WiderThan, …

LOS ANGELES–Money is flowing again and major corporations often respond to sales pitches when choosing mobile technologies–great news for the wireless industry, according to speakers during the opening keynote at last week’s CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment show. Corporate spending …

Lucent Technologies Inc. announced it agreed to acquire Mobilitec, a privately held provider of content management software for wireless service providers. Lucent said Mobilitec’s solutions will strengthen its voice, video, data and multimedia applications platforms, thus enabling more service offerings …

LOS ANGELES–MindMatics said it has been chosen by Boost Mobile to enable Boost’s VIP loyalty program. MindMatics said its solution will allow Boost to capture information about its customers and then provide tailored services and products, special promotions and updates …

LOS ANGELES–Mobile messaging applications provider Air2Web said wireless marketing solutions provider Announce Mobile has chosen Air2Web’s Content Gateway to power two of its mobile marketing initiatives. One initiative is HomeCell, a service that gives real-estate agents and individual sellers the …

LOS ANGELES–Telescope Inc. and mBlox said they have formed a partnership to offer interactive “participation TV” services to broadcasters and production companies. Telescope provides mobile and interactive TV solutions and operates a large phone voting system. mBlox is a mobile …

LOS ANGELES–Palm Inc. said it launched its Palm Developer Network, which provides resources to hardware and software developers building products based on Palm OS and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile Pocket PC. The program, which replaces Palm’s existing developer program PluggedIn, …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.–Technology distributor Ingram Micro Inc. announced it will begin reselling services from Verizon Wireless, including the carrier’s VZOffice voice and data products and services. “We are very pleased that Ingram Micro will offer Verizon Wireless’ products and services, …