Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

Nokia Corp. will shutter a Fort Worth, Texas-based facility next spring that provides handset logistical and repair services for the American market and will outsource the service to a third party, the company announced. The closure will affect 450 workers; …

CHICAGO-U.S. Cellular Corp. said it received $95.1 million from the sale of its stake in regional operator Midwest Wireless Holdings L.L.C. to Alltel Corp. U.S. Cellular said it also expects to receive an additional $10.5 million soon in connection with …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Trade Commission issued a guide of sorts for municipalities considering wireless broadband, offering city planners and policy-makers a list of the pros and cons of various approaches to the issue. The report essentially outlines a decision tree for …

SAN DIEGO-An administrative law judge with the International Trade Commission handed down a split decision in the acrimonious patent dispute between chipmakers Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Corp., ruling that Qualcomm did infringe on one of Broadcom’s patents but not on …

BELLEVUE, Wash.-InfoSpace Inc. said it plans to lay off about 250 employees as part of a restructuring plan. The move follows news late last month that Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to develop direct licensing relationships with major record labels next …

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. raised the price it charges users to send a text message to 15 cents, up from a previous price of 10 cents. The carrier also added a cent to the cost of “casual” data usage, …

The mobile virtual network operator space has been a-buzz lately, with a new MVNO launched, one closing shop, another sold and yet another expanding its service offering beyond handsets into laptop cards. Following is a look at five areas experts …

Leap Wireless International Inc. offered insight into its plans for the spectrum it won in the FCC’s advanced wireless services auction, outlining a buildout that should start next year and ultimately cover about 24 million potential customers at a cost …

WALL, N.J.—U.S. and Caribbean operator Centennial Communications Corp.’s earnings were down sharply, coming in at a loss of $2.2 million compared with a gain of $14.6 million in the same period last year. The company’s operating income and consolidated revenue …

LONDON—Wireless giant Vodafone Group plc selected two U.S. companies to manage its application development and maintenance services around the world. Vodafone chose to outsource the operations to EDS and IBM Corp. after an eight-month process and 11 competitive bidders. The …

“Idealistic” isn’t a word commonly associated with venture capitalists. But Brian Biniak, founder of the new wireless venture-capital firm Provenance Ventures L.L.C., believes there is a business case for making the world a better place. “Some people complain about it, …

The wireless industry already has MyCircle, Inner Circle, Mobile-to-Anyone, and Sprint-to-Home. Add to that list “myFaves,” the new offer from T-Mobile USA Inc. that allows customers to make unlimited calls to a handful of wireless or wireline numbers. The move …

User-generated content and online communities typically conjure images of teens huddled over their computers creating profiles, sharing video clips and flirting. But David Bankston’s view of Internet communities includes such unlikely suspects as the U.S. Department of Defense, CH2M Hill, …

Whether it’s goofy pet photos, front row at a rock concert or eyewitness to disaster, the spread of camera-equipped phones has enabled up-to-the-minute photos for social networks and citizen journalism of the most compelling sort. In fact, as camera-equipped mobile …

PORTLAND, Ore.—Digital commerce software developer Vesta Corp. acquired Beijing-based mobile top-up company Unimobile in an effort to tap the Chinese prepaid wireless market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Unimobile, which was founded in 2000, distributes “recharge cards” for …

SAN DIEGO—Novatel Wireless Inc. offered upbeat preliminary results for the third quarter, including revenues and earnings per share that the company expects to exceed previous guidance. The company expects revenues to be between $53 million and $55 million. Earnings per …

ATLANTA—BellSouth Corp. said it is expanding its Wireless Broadband Service to Albany, Ga., and Paducah, Ky., this month. The service runs over a pre-WiMAX network. The company said it also is expanding its New Orleans service, which offers residential and …

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s plan to extend emergency alert service rules to mobile-phone operators appears to be in limbo, following congressional passage of a bill that effectively pre-empts telecom regulators from forcing cell-phone operators to participate in a new emergency …

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—Openwave Systems Inc. announced the acquisition of SoloMio Corp., a Texas-based provider of integrated subscriber call management services. Terms of the all-cash deal were not disclosed. Key to the deal is SoloMio’s Smart Call platform, which supports both …

WASHINGTON—Guard-band licensees in the 700 MHz band have asked the Federal Communications Commission to scrap existing band rules that govern how they operate and adopt a plan that they say would give public-safety users a nationwide interoperable wireless broadband network. …

SINGAPORE—The Asia Pacific premium content market will explode from a $9.4 billion industry this year into a nearly $33 billion market by 2011, according to new figures from Frost & Sullivan. The market research firm said growing 3G networks, expanding …

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Following Google Inc.’s lead, Yahoo Inc. said it expanded its sponsored-search offering to wireless phones in the United States and United Kingdom. The Internet giant announced the beta launch of a service that returns sponsored, clickable links with search …

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Mobile search startup JumpTap Inc. snared $22 million in a financing round as it welcomed new investor Valhalla Partners. Valhalla led the round, and existing investors General Catalyst Partners, BCE Capital and Redpoint Ventures also participated. JumpTap, which offers …

WASHINGTON—AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. urged the Federal Communications Commission not to give in to congressional pressure by requiring them to divest their 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz wireless broadband assets as a condition of approving AT&T’s proposed $67 billion …

WASHINGTON—ADT Security Services Inc. is urging the Federal Communications Commission to force wireless carriers to keep offering analog service until 2010, noting it cannot meet the Feb. 18, 2008, sunset date because the industry lacks enough digital equipment and technicians …