Mobile News – RCR Wireless News

LOS ANGELES-More than two-thirds of women said they use cellular phones, and one-third said they use the advanced features on their phones, according to a survey by Women in Technology International, IDC and Intel Corp. More than half of the …

WASHINGTON-The Justice Department said antitrust czar Hewitt Pate will resign next month, creating a vacancy amid a pending $35 billion merger between Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. and other large telecom deals. “It has been a great honor to …

WASHINGTON-The Chicago City Council voted to prohibit drivers from using handheld mobile phones, an action that could to lead to a push for a statewide ban. The handheld ban goes into effect July 8. Violators face $50 fines. The fine …

NEW YORK-Internet search giant Google acquired Dodgeball.com, a popular SMS-based, location-specific social networking service. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Dodgeball.com allows users to “check in” at specific locations-a sporting event or concert, for instance-then sends text messages to …

SAN FRANCISCO-The number of mobile subscribers in China is expected to grow to 580 million by the end of 2010, according to a new report form Visiongain. The study, “The China Mobile Market,” said China’s mobile market has a moderate …

BOSTON-Verizon Wireless trumped all other telecommunications providers in the latest online customer respect survey conducted by research and consulting firm The Customer Respect Group. TCRG said the index was a qualitative and quantitative analysis of a customer’s online experience when …

WASHINGTON-When the Community Technology Centers’ Network officially began its ambitious campaign in late March to persuade federal regulators to force Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. to divest “sufficient spectrum” in the 2.5 GHz band as a condition for approval …

WASHINGTON-While wireless carriers had years to deploy enhanced 911 services (and still missed the mark), Voice over Internet Protocol carriers are expected to have only until fall if rules proposed by new FCC Chairman Kevin Martin are adopted by the …

SINGAPORE-Electronics manufacturer Flextronics announced Chief Operating Officer Michael McNamara will helm the company following the retirement of its current chief executive officer next year. The news comes as Flextronics plans to merge its Network Services subsidiary with Telavie A/S, a …

SiRF Technology Holdings this week plans to unveil a global positioning system-enabled system-on-a-chip (SoC) it said will make automotive navigation and telematics systems more affordable for consumers. The product, dubbed SiRFstarIIA, integrates the company’s GPS engine with a 32-bit asynchronous …

BEIJING-KongZhong Corp. will acquire Chinese mobile game publisher Tianjin Mammoth Technology Co., the companies said Friday. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in June, were not disclosed. Three-year-old Mammoth boasts a portfolio of nearly 100 games across …

ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. signed an agreement to sell its 34.75-percent equity ownership in Israeli wireless carrier Cellcom to Discount Investment Corp. for $625 million. Discount Investment currently holds a 25-percent interest in Cellcom. BellSouth said it expects to record a gain …

RealNetworks Inc. announced plans to join the crowded mobile gaming playground, acquiring European publisher Mr. Goodliving for $15 million in cash. A 40-person company based in Helsinki, Finland, Mr. Goodliving has enjoyed success with mobile titles like “Trivial Pursuit,” “MetalSmash …

WASHINGTON-A U.S.-Central American trade pact already steeped in controversy and critical to the Bush administration’s trade agenda has become a battleground for a dispute between organized labor and high-tech companies-including those prominent in the wireless Internet space-over claims the deal …

WASHINGTON-Public-interest groups interested in getting the attention of the Federal Communications Commission should take a hint from the American Family Association, which scored met with eight key staffers from the FCC’s Wireless Telecom Bureau and two other family-interest groups-after sending …

With three months of financial and operational performance on the books, 2005 is setting up as another strong year for the wireless industry. Analysts noted that first-quarter results have shown a substantial year-over-year improvement in customer growth along with improving …

WASHINGTON-The Rural Cellular Association told the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau last week that the Federal Communications Commission in a recent report to Congress underestimated and poorly reflected the efforts of Tier III wireless carriers to implement wireless enhanced 911 Phase …

WASHINGTON-Members of the House Commerce Committee led by Reps. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), co-chairs of the Congressional E911 Caucus, urged congressional appropriators last week to fully fund E911 grants and the Joint Program Office created in a …

WASHINGTON- The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions’ fight to shut down and reclaim assets of a U.S. firm that assigns codes so foreigners can operate their mobile phones in the U.S. moved into the court room last week, putting into …

SAN FRANCISCO-Parsons Corp., which provides technical and management solutions for industries including wireless telecom, announced it has acquired The Alaris Group L.L.C. Based in San Francisco, Alaris provides wireless site acquisition and zoning services as well as land use, construction …

CHIBA, Japan-A consortium of Web-based companies unveiled an initiative to simplify Internet browsing from handheld devices. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) encouraged members to join two working groups working to make Web browsing easier from mobile phones and other …

T-Mobile USA Inc. again topped a J.D. Power and Associates ranking, this time garnering the highest overall customer satisfaction among wireless voice and data service for business customers as part of J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Business Wireless Satisfaction Study. …

The GSM Association again blasted proposed rates for licensing anti-piracy technology, calling the revised rates “unreasonable and unworkable.” The trade association of more than 600 wireless operators rejected the latest royalties proposal from licensing clearinghouse MPEG LA for digital rights …

Broadband service provider Speakeasy launched what it called “WiMAX-class” fixed wireless broadband covering parts of downtown Seattle. The service, which Speakeasy said will expand later this year to cover all of Seattle, uses Alvarion’s BreezeAccess infrastructure deployed at selected city …

Infrastructure giant L.M. Ericsson announced it will put the brakes on its CDMA business, a move that coincides with the shuttering of its CDMA headquarters in San Diego. Ericsson said it will no longer seek out new CDMA deals and …