Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to launch additional mobile TV services later this year using a platform from RealNetworks Inc. The supplier said its new Helix OnlineTV solution will enable Cingular to offer its third-generation subscribers personal interactive TV on their …

WASHINGTON-Coming on the heels of a successful lobbying effort to change the 2 GHz band plan, rural wireless carriers are asking the Federal Communications Commission to revise the 700 MHz band plans to allocate more spectrum in smaller chunks. The …

WASHINGTON-Mandatory negotiations between Sprint Nextel Corp. and the 800 MHz licensees it must pay to move as part of the Federal Communications Commission’s rebanding process began last week for Wave 1 licensees in Chicago, the northeastern United States, Northern California, …

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The GSM Association signed an agreement with NeuStar Inc. to offer Root Domain System services to more than 680 global GSM mobile operators. NeuStar’s Root DNS will manage a global common directory, enabling GSM networks to interoperate, which will …

Deals were announced and applications launched last week as the large wireless vendors fanned the flames of the hot and getting-hotter mobile content market. L.M. Ericsson said it will distribute ring-back tones from EMI Music’s catalog of music as part …

WASHINGTON-A settlement of a radio frequency identification patent lawsuit involving two leaders in the automated data capture business could remove a major obstacle to success in the emerging wireless space, but privacy, security and other issues remain. In addition to …

WASHINGTON-Mobile-phone carriers last week made significant progress restoring wireless service knocked out along the Texas-Louisiana coastline by Hurricane Rita, restoration efforts that added to those already under way in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Federal Communications Commission extended for …

Nokia Corp. responded to rival Motorola Inc.’s recently launched Rokr iTunes-capable device with a music-driven tri-band GSM handset. The Nokia 3250 twists to transform its keypad into music keys and stores up to 1 gigabyte of music, which equates to …

WASHINGTON-Living up to a warning it made in 2004, Sprint Nextel Corp. asked for a waiver for its iDEN network of the enhanced 911 rules requiring some carriers to have 95 percent of their in-use handsets capable of locating 911 …

SAN FRANCISCO-Several highly anticipated mobile virtual network operators last week revealed plans to begin rolling out services in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season. One of the biggest names in the burgeoning space, ESPN Inc., said it plans to …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said wireless complaints dropped in the second quarter, a shift the agency attributed to a reduction in consumer gripes about billing and rates. At the same time, the FCC said wireless consumer complaints increased in other …

The high-flying mobile content industry is experiencing some turbulence as two leading content providers issued sobering announcements. Disappointing earnings from its content business led VeriSign Inc. to lower its third-quarter revenue forecast late Thursday. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company expects …

WASHINGTON-U.K.-based Inmarsat Ltd. applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a 2 GHz mobile satellite service license that would allow it to offer interoperable communications to first responders and homeland defense officials, adding a new twist to current efforts by …

SAN DIEGO-New announcements from Qualcomm Inc. and LG Electronics Co. Ltd. show industry is racing to embrace dual-mode devices. Indeed, new research shows the combination of wireless wide area and local area technology could produce almost 30 million dual-mode devices …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it was reaching out to public-safety officials in Texas to make sure they knew that 911 calls should be rerouted if a public-safety answering point is damaged by Hurricane Rita. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin …

RESTON, Va.-A Sprint Nextel Corp. spokesman confirmed that the carrier has received antitrust clearance from the Federal Trade Commission for its pending $427 million acquisition of network affiliate IWO Holdings Inc. The deal is still subject to approval by IWO’s …

WASHINGTON-Key Republican and Democratic senators officially unveiled legislation overhauling the nation’s half-century-old emergency warning system by tapping into wireless and other digital technologies to alert citizens in real time to emergency situations. The introduction of the Warning, Alerts, and Response …

NEW YORK-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. hopes to offer a full-track music download service next year. An executive for the No. 1 U.S. carrier said Cingular plans to sell a push-to-talk phone later this year and hopes to offer song downloads in …

SAN FRANCISCO-Sapias Inc., which provides enterprise-class mobile resource management solutions, released its Sapias Dispatch product line. The product line provides mobile workforce management and streamlines communication between a dispatcher and mobile fleets that allows them to anticipate and prevent problems …

Cingular Wireless L.L.C. next month is expected to launch a push-to-talk service that will compete against similar offerings from Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and a number of regional operators. Cingular Chief Operating Officer Ralph de la Vega told reporters …

The mobile-search playground gets even more crowded this week, as an established behemoth expands its offerings and an infant startup tries to get onto the field. InfoSpace Inc. this week should unveil a service that delivers business listings and maps, …

Following several quarters of year-over-year customer growth, the wireless industry’s nationwide operators could be set for a softer third quarter. Customer additions are expected to fall just short of the nearly 5 million customers added last year and below the …

Siemens AG, one of Europe’s largest employers, announced it will cut 2,400 jobs in Germany during the next two years as the company sets in motion its Fit4More restructuring plan for sustainable, profitable growth. The company said major changes will …

LOS ANGELES-Pod2Mob announced a podcast streaming service that allows customers to listen to podcasts on their mobile handsets. The Pod2Mob application allows customers to browse and select new shows while listening to the audio directly from a phone, said the …

SAN FRANCISCO-Embience launched a series of India-themed ringtones for customers in the United States. Embience’s Masttones include ringtones based on Indian pop culture. Customers can preview the ringtones at the company’s Web site or directly through their wireless devices. The …