Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

Unsatisfied with the same old phone selection from your local wireless provider? Shopping for a unique device that will amaze your friends and colleagues? Look no further than the world of online phone auctions. Ebay and other online Internet auctions …

Citing spectrum constraints, T-Mobile USA Inc. said it does not expect to launch UMTS-based services for at least two years and instead will rely on its ongoing deployment of EDGE technology, which the carrier plans to begin offering commercially next …

MONTREAL-DataWind Corp. released its new PocketSurfer wireless Internet device, a unique offering that allows users to view full-sized Web pages by connecting their PocketSurfer device to a wireless data-capable mobile phone. “All-in-one cellular Internet products try to do too many …

BELLEVUE, Wash.-T-Mobile USA became the first carrier to offer ringback tones nationwide last week. The carrier launched CallerTunes, enabling subscribers’ phones to play music instead of the traditional ring callers hear before a mobile phone is answered. Users paying a …

Siemens AG has acquired Chantry Networks, a step that will extend its enterprise offerings and Voice over Internet Protocol into the wireless local area network space. The deal climaxes both companies’ relationship during the past few years, which involved Siemens’ …

While Sprint Corp. had little to say about a possible deal with Nextel Communications Inc., the carrier did report $3 billion worth of multi-year buildout contracts with Lucent Technologies Inc., Nortel Networks Ltd. and Motorola Inc., last week in support …

CHICAGO-The Computing Technology Industry Association and The Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility plan to cooperate on developing a vendor-neutral certification program for radio-frequency identification technology in an attempt to address an industrywide shortage of RFID experts, which is slowing …

WASHINGTON-The American Civil Liberties Union said it obtained State Department documents that show the Bush administration ignored security and privacy warnings by experts and foreign governments when it was promoting new passports using passive radio frequency identification technology, an action …

“The future is in the software,” said Nayeem Islam, vice president of NTT DoCoMo Inc.’s mobile software laboratory in San Jose, Calif. “The hardware is a commodity.” Islam’s assertion, spoken with equal measures of confidence and conviction, defines DoCoMo’s past …

BEDMINSTER, N.J.-Verizon Wireless said it is offering a software upgrade to its VX4500 phone, built by LG Electronics Co. Ltd., that will allow users to operate the phone through verbal commands. Verizon said the move will help blind users or …

KINGS PARK, N.Y.-Infrastructure vendors will benefit as hundreds of thousands of base stations will be deployed globally every year through the rest of the decade, according to a new report from Visant Strategies. “Operators in developed markets will begin to …

Verizon Wireless said it completed the purchase of Northern California wireless operator Mountain Cellular from Sierra Tel Communications Group. The deal includes Mountain Cellular’s spectrum license covering 170,000 potential customers in El Dorado County stretching along Highway 50 from El …

WASHINGTON-President Bush last week signed an executive order directing federal agencies to implement recommendations in two spectrum reports, while a more pressing White House initiative to earmark military frequencies for third-generation wireless systems remains in limbo on Capitol Hill as …

BEIJING-Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG announced GSM network contract awards in China, both with separate divisions of China Mobile Communications Corp. Nokia said it signed a $200 million contract with Henan Mobile for a phase nine expansion of its GSM …

WASHINGTON-The wireless industry is a $100 billion business. The U.S. Census Bureau today said revenues for cellular and other wireless telecom firms rose to $104 billion in 2003 from $92 billion the previous year, an increase of 14 percent. The …

WASHINGTON-Cricket Communications Inc. has created a storm of controversy over a request for special relief from requirements of California’s bill of rights for telecom consumers. Cricket, which serves the California markets of Modesto/Merced and Visalia, asked the California Public Utilities …

NEW YORK-The stakes for Sprint Corp.’s 6,500 cell-phone towers rose as at least four bidders have offered proposals to buy them in an auction that could bring in as much as $1.2 billion, according to a report in The Wall …

Startup Xcelis Communications L.L.C. last week introduced a service that essentially re-routes Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s in-network calls to numbers outside the carrier’s network. The $10-per-month service allows Cingular customers to place a call to any phone number in the United …

ESPOO, Finland-Nokia Corp. expanded the offerings for its N-Gage device with the launch of a new multiplayer title. According to the handset manufacturer, “Pocket Kingdom: Own the World” is the first “massively multiplayer online game” for the platform, featuring a …

CARROLLTON, Texas-Handset distribution company CellStar Corp. said it completed the sale of its Singapore business to a local group of investors. The company said it would record a $500,000 fourth-quarter loss due to the sale. CellStar said it is also …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said a Minnesota law requiring mobile-phone carriers to give subscribers 60 days’ written notice of some proposed contract changes is pre-empted by U.S. law, a finding at odds with a recent district court decision. The statement …

It has been one year since the Federal Communications Commission ordered carriers to allow customers to churn and take their phone numbers with them. The FCC said Wednesday that twice as many people-more than 8.5 million-participated in wireless local number …

ATLANTA-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to cut at least 10 percent of its newly combined staff, or around 7,000 of its 68,000-strong workforce, chief Stan Sigman said. In an interview with the Associated Press, the carrier’s chief executive officer said Cingular …

WASHINGTON-Sprint PCS was granted eligible telecommunications carrier status for parts of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, making it able to collect universal-service subsidies for customers in some of the rural areas of those states. The …

Like a cat with full jaws and claws, GSM technology does not need to proclaim its strengths. The numbers tell the story. Up to 1.18 billion subscribers place and receive calls over GSM networks around the world, almost 10 times …