Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

WASHINGTON-Evoking visions of the Battle of Yorktown, Robert McDowell appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee Thursday hoping to be confirmed as a member of the Federal Communications Commission. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said he …

Congratulations. You’ve just been awarded $612.5 million. But if you’re NTP Inc., you’re probably not headed to Disneyland. Instead, the company likely is going back to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to defend its claims-patents that some call worthless …

WASHINGTON-As part of the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to solve the public-safety interference problem in the 800 MHz band, Sprint Nextel Corp. was given 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band. However, before the carrier can use the …

HANNOVER, Germany-BenQ Mobile appeared to be fulfilling its promise of creating intriguing handsets in a nimble timeframe, as it presented six new multimedia phones at last week’s CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany. The new phones bring BenQ’s total number …

WASHINGTON-Allocating spectrum for unlicensed uses would help rural America achieve full broadband deployment, Microsoft Corp.’s chief technology officer told lawmakers. Microsoft’s CTO Craig Mundie endorsed bills that would make TV white space spectrum available to unlicensed users. “Unlicensed spectrum should …

LOS ANGELES-Bunim-Murray Productions, which is often credited with starting the reality TV phenomenon with the MTV hit “The Real World” more than a decade ago, launched a spinoff focused on new media initiatives, including mobile and Internet. The spinoff, called …

As far as Sprint Nextel Corp. officials are concerned, the future is mobility, new models and new math. Sprint Nextel Chief Executive Officer Gary Forsee argued at the company’s annual analyst conference that his company’s partnership with cable companies and …

MONTREAL-Canadian telecom companies Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. and Aliant Inc. announced that they are combining their operations to form what they say is one of the largest regional telecommunications service providers in North America. As part of the deal, BCE …

WASHINGTON-While consumer advocates, organized labor, industry analysts and lawmakers gave mixed reviews to AT&T Inc.’s proposed $67 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp.-co-owners of Cingular Wireless L.L.C.-most signs point to the Federal Communications Commission as the major battlefield for hashing out …

WASHINGTON-House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) last week unveiled a bill that would require majority U.S. ownership of critical infrastructure deemed essential to national security and a five-year divestiture of foreign-owned infrastructure, legislation with potential implications for German …

Cingular Wireless L.L.C. joined the mobile TV bandwagon last week, launching a carrier-branded streaming video service featuring short clips from 18 channels. But whether consumers really want to watch TV on their phones-and how much they’ll pay for it-remains anybody’s …

ALVISO, Calif.-TiVo Inc. took another small step toward wireless, inking a deal to allow Verizon Wireless subscribers to use their wireless phone as a TiVo remote control. The companies unveiled a downloadable BREW application that can be used to program …

COPPELL, Texas-SmartVideo Technologies said it signed a distribution agreement with CellStar Corp. covering the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. SmartVideo offers video services for cellular phones, including live broadcasting, on-demand and download-and-play TV content. Terms of the pact …

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.-Walt Disney Internet Group is making more noise in advance of the launch of its planned mobile virtual network operator service this summer. In February, the company launched a registration Web site for its Disney Mobile service. The …

Free Wi-Fi in Orlando is coming around again. Sort of. Orlando experimented with free Wi-Fi in early 2004 in one square mile of its downtown business district. But barely anyone used it. A city official said the network averaged about …

TOKYO-As handset vendors and network operators worldwide spend untold resources to provide advanced functionalities and services to capture end users’ imagination with 3G services, NTT DoCoMo Inc. announced it will sell a new line of basic, compact handsets for customers …

WATERLOO, Ontario-Research In Motion Ltd. unveiled its push into the wireless local area network space with the launch of its BlackBerry WLAN Solution. The service includes a WLAN Solution platform and a Wi-Fi enabled handset, the BlackBerry 7270. The company’s …

WASHINGTON-The House Commerce Committee last week quickly passed a bill making the sale of telecommunications customer call records illegal. The bill also gives the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission added tools to restrict the sale of call …

WASHINGTON-The Justice Department last week asked U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty for permission to join the auction fraud lawsuit against Wall Street telecom magnate Mario Gabelli, upping the stakes of the litigation at a time when federal regulators are scrambling …

Now that the Chinese government has sanctioned its homegrown TD-SCDMA technology as the preferred third-generation technology of the land, and with precious 3G licenses about to be granted to Chinese operators, Qualcomm Inc.’s claims on TD-SCDMA products bear more weight. …

Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and T-Mobile USA Inc. halted retail sales of Motorola Inc.’s best-selling Razr handset, after the vendor informed the carriers that a component glitch was cutting off calls as if the flip phone was closed. T-Mobile USA halted …

WASHINGTON-When the government broke up Ma Bell more than 20 years ago, it did so because it did not want one company controlling computer-to-computer communication-at the time the stuff of science fiction. As Ma Bell is nearly reborn in the …

SAN FRANCISCO-Intel Corp. says its WiMAX cards for laptops will be available sometime in the second half of this year, not in 2007 as was previously announced. The announcement was made by Sean Maloney, vice president of Intel’s mobility group …

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.-Motorola Inc. hedged the value of the 37.6 million shares of Sprint Nextel Corp. stock it owns, which represent about 1.25 percent of Sprint Nextel’s stock. Hedging allows Motorola to maintain the stock’s current value and participate in a …

HANNOVER, Germany-Pantech Group spotlighted a variety of upscale handsets at the CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany, in an effort to further establish itself as a new player in European and global markets. The company, one of the largest handset …