BROWSING: telecommunications network

Sprint was throttling speed to unlimited data plan subscribers but stopped after FCC fined AT&T $100M for same practice Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, speaking with a Kansas City, Mo., television station, said the carrier may do away with current pricing on unlimited data plans later...

But who will pay for upgrades, which include better Wi-Fi for luxury boxes? Houston, Texas, is poised to host the Super Bowl in 2017 but, in the meantime, the NFL and local officials are trying to figure out who will foot the bill for upgrades...

Verizon supercookies under review for violating consumer privacy and data laws WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing whether Verizon Communication’s use of "supercookie" tracking software on its devices and website violated consumer privacy and data laws. Supercookies are an identification number used to track...

911 outage drew a $17.4M fine for operators responsible WASHINGTON – Following the steepest fines ever levied for 911 outages, federal regulators are taking steps to expand the database of public safety operators equipped to handle text-to-911. The Federal Communications Commission issued a public notice on...

Smartphone sales soar in Brazil Brazil's smartphone market is growing rapidly, which could also push demand for data services. Last year, smartphones sales were up 55% compared to 2013, totaling 54.5 million units, according to a survey conducted by IDC. When adding feature phones to the count, 70.3...

Media Vision 2020 from Ericsson predicts on-demand will overtake live TV Media and networking powerhouse Ericsson is launching a new cloud-based digital video recording platform to replace legacy television services. The move into the on-demand media content space is predicated on Ericsson’s Media Vision 2020 research,...

FCC: Domestic violence, overdose among failed calls WASHINGTON – Imagine a loved one seizing up with a heart attack or waking up in the middle of the night from the sound of an intruder in your home. Most people would likely reach for their phone to...

  Fiber apparently is a tasty treat for monkeys, squirrels and other critters As the global explosion of data demand continues to pick up speed, network operators are racing to extend fiber backbone to keep up with customer demand. Large-scale fiber deployments are costly and subject...

Pew: Domestic smartphone penetration hits 64% WASHINGTON – According to a Pew Research Poll, smartphone ownership in the United States has reached 64%, with roughly half of people surveyed responding that their smartphone is something they “couldn’t live without.” The report finds that smartphone ownership is...

ATLANTA – Focused on enabling network operators to keep up with customer demand for mobile video, Ericsson is emphasizing its various solution platforms including LTE Broadcast and the Media Delivery Network. The Swedish hardware and software supplier was in Atlanta for the 2015 Competitive Carriers...

Research report projects 13.3 million public Wi-Fi hot spots by 2020 A new report from market analysis firm ABI Research tallies a total of 5.69 million public Wi-Fi hot spots currently deployed worldwide by mobile and fixed-line carriers, as well as third-party service providers. Looking at...

China Mobile network build-out contributed to profit loss China Mobile, which reported a 10% decrease in profits for 2014, plans to cut back on its capital expenditures for 2015. In 2014, China Mobile, the largest carrier in China and the world, spent big on expanding its...

2,200 positions cut in Sweden, now 71 cuts in Ireland After announcing plans to cut 2,200 jobs in Sweden earlier this month, networking/software company Ericsson last week told staff at its Dublin facility that 71 more cuts would impact its local workforce. Ericsson has about 1,500...

Spain and South Korea top Open Signal report In a new report, crowd-sourced network performance analytics firm Open Signal broke down global LTE download speeds and overall network performance, by asking users equipped with their application to report network metrics, which were then compiled into its...

Investing $4.6B to hook up 4 million new sites to superfast broadband Dubbed Project Lightning, Virgin Media has announced plans to spend more than $4.6 billion to bring 152 Mbps broadband Internet to some 4 million homes and businesses in the U.K. Virgin touts its data...

As carriers around the world work to commercially deploy voice over LTE on a large scale, ZTE on Feb. 9 announced successful completion of VoLTE testing for industry giant China Mobile. ZTE, which provides telecom equipment and network solutions, used its IP Multimedia Subsystem to...

$7.99 monthly subscription is 39.7% of average Cuban salary Over the Top streaming video provider Netflix on Feb. 9 began offering its service in Cuba following a December policy shift to begin loosening trade restrictions against the Communist dictatorship just 90 miles from the southern tip...

Atlanta, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte in the mix Google Fiber is poised to expand to four more U.S. markets, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with company plans. Google already offers the Gigabit fiber optic-based Internet service in Austin, Texas; Provo,...

Sites for small cell, Wi-Fi, towers Melody Wireless Infrastructure on Jan. 26 announced the acquisition of 908 locations. The relatively new independent wireless infrastructure player controls more than 2,000 locations nationwide. Greenwich, Conn.-based Melody Wireless, part of financing firm Melody Capital Partners, completed the transaction with...

AUSTIN, Texas – Industry panelists at the IEEE GlobeCom show pointed to 100G data capacity speeds in dense metro areas as a quickly emerging HetNet trend. Buddy Shaw of Windstream Communications said carriers are working hard to keep up with the data capacity demanded by...