Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

CHICAGO-Online travel company Orbitz launched a service allowing customers to find hotel rooms, view travel itineraries and check the status of flights from mobile phones. The off-deck offering is free aside from carrier data charges, and can be accessed from …

DENVER-Qwest Communications International Inc. has quietly launched Sprint Nextel Corp.’s full-track music download service for Qwest wireless customers. The mobile virtual network operator is carrying the Sprint Music Store, which allows users to download songs to a mobile phone or …

ATLANTA-T-Mobile USA Inc. has tweaked its pricing options with a promotional “back to school” plan for families that includes 1,000 anytime minutes for $50 per month. The plan does not include free weeknight or weekend calling, but does include unlimited …

SHENZHEN, China-Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer ZTE Corp. launched a dual-mode TD-SCDMA/GSM handset. The U350 model features dual standby capability, which allows users to put a call in one mode on hold to take a separate call in the other mode. …

WASHINGTON-While the network-neutrality issue holds up telecommunications reform, fissures in the telecom industry between big and little carriers are forming. Generally large carriers-both wireline and wireless-oppose any attempts to legislate or regulate network neutrality. Wireless trade association CTIA in June …

The Symbian operating system, championed by Nokia Corp. in its smart phones, currently has a majority of OS market share, a state of affairs likely to continue for the foreseeable future, according to projections from market research firm IDC. This …

Welcome to Hedgehogging. As you know from your own jobs, there is always something happening in the wireless industry. Some of it makes us stop what we’re doing to clap, boo or simply question these developments. This column is a …

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.-Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA Inc. tied for the top spot in the most recent J.D. Power & Associates survey of wireless carrier customer care performance. Both carriers scored 104 points on the company’s scale, while the industry …

SAN MATEO, Calif.-Mobile game publisher Digital Chocolate Inc. welcomed six new investors as it scooped up $22.5 million in Series C funding. New investor Bridgescale Partners led the round; other newcomers included Outlook Ventures, Mantagu Newhall, DN Capital, Glynn Capital …

Proving to be more than a grand illusion, Junxion Inc.’s wireless Ethernet and Wi-Fi LAN router was on the center stage of Styx’s blog as the band told its fans why it needed the green Junxion Box on the road. …

NAPERVILLE, Ill.-Tellabs Inc.’s second quarter net profits rose 30 percent year over year, from $41 million to $54 million. Revenues jumped 19 percent year over year, from $463 million to $549 million. The company said its broadband business contributed revenues …

MUNICH, Germany-Siemens AG reported third-quarter net profits of $1.01 billion, more than double the $$495.5 million it posted for the same period last year. Revenues for the quarter rose to $27 billion from last year’s $23.6 billion. “It was a …

Lucent Technologies Inc. said a North American slowdown in wireless equipment sales caused its year-over-year revenue to sink 12 percent and income to plummet 79 percent. The company reported third-quarter net income of $79 million from revenues of $2.05 billion, …

MUNICH-Siemens AG said it struck a turnkey deal with Hutchison 3G Austria GmbH worth “an amount in the multi-digit millions” to plan, set up and supply the carrier’s W-CDMA network buildout. In addition, Siemens will partially operate the network, providing …

PARIS-Alcatel SA reported second-quarter net profits of $228.7 million, an 8-percent decline from last year’s $249.4 million. The profits came from sales of $4.3 billion, a 7.6-percent increase from last year’s revenues of $4 billion. Though the company’s margins in …

WASHINGTON-Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), co-chairman of the Congressional Wireless Caucus, led a group of lawmakers last week in writing a letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to declare that states have no jurisdiction over early-termination fees. “In our view, there …

WASHINGTON-Both houses of Congress are working on legislation to address emergency communications, but funding for any interoperability measures remains an obstacle. The House last week passed a bill creating an Office of Emergency Communications within the Department of Homeland Security. …

Marking its first commitment to Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem technology, Verizon Wireless, joined by a handful of network infrastructure heavy-hitters, unveiled Advances to IMS, or A-IMS, a concept document along with an architecture overview aimed at jump-starting standards development of …

Call it the WAP gap. Major media companies and mega-brands around the world are trying to lure customers by promoting short codes as a kind of red carpet to their Internet and mobile offerings. Consumers can send a text message …

The Federal Communications Commission said 168 bidders have qualified to participate in the advanced wireless services auction, and that it would not use blind-bidding procedures during the auction. Click here for the latest headlines from the AWS auction. Click here …

Nortel Networks Ltd. is making organizational changes in its GSM and UMTS access businesses, which could lead to a selling of the company’s UMTS access business, according to UBS Investment Research. Nortel’s heads of both its WiMAX and Converged Core …

MILTON KEYNES, U.K.- Mobile TV provider ROK Entertainment scored a major win last week, outperforming two carrier-affiliated services in a study from Strategy Analytics. The market research firm said Vodafone Live was the wireless video service of choice in a …

WESTCHESTER, Ill.-Andrew Corp. reported declining fiscal third-quarter net profits as the company covers restructuring costs in preparation for its proposed merger with ADC Telecommunications. Profits for the quarter fell from last year’s $13 million to this year’s $7 million, while …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.-Verizon Wireless is using the launch of the new Chocolate phone to tout upgrades to its Vcast Music service. The highly anticipated handset from LG Electronics Co. Ltd. makes its U.S. debut this week after gaining substantial traction …

Regional carriers SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc. and Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. continued to stabilize their operations during the second quarter, while NII Holdings Inc. showed positive growth and recently spun-off Embarq Corp. is betting heavily on its recently launched wireless operations. …