BROWSING: Wireless Services
Martin pushes action on roaming, interference issues
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said he wants action before month's end to relax roaming rules and freeze further licensing of wireless microphones in the 700 MHz band as regulators explore policy options to address potential inference from allegedly illegal operation of wireless...
Qwest starts pimping VZW: Regional carrier steering new customers to new partner
The question was popped earlier this year and now Qwest Communications International Inc. has sealed the deal. The company has sown all its wild oats and has put its wild, mobile virtual network operator days behind it, no longer running on the Sprint Nextel...
Firms look to tame the wireless wild for enterprise
How much do we really know about our phones or - even more complex - our smartphones? We know they turn on, make calls and even connect to our work e-mail. The hard part usually comes when trying to organize the bill, trouble shoot...
Critics assail Sprint Nextel-Clearwire WiMAX alliance: Competitors cite spectrum holdings, roaming issues
SPRINT NEXTEL CORP. AND CLEARWIRE CORP.'S CAMPAIGN to win government approval of a their national WiMAX plan is drawing static from AT&T Inc. and rural cellular operators on key unsettled wireless policy issues, but the deal has picked up backing from many educational and...
MetroPCS tops J.D. Power ranking of prepaid offerings
Regional wireless operator MetroPCS Communications Inc. topped the rankings in the latest customer-satisfaction study of prepaid users from J.D. Power and Associates.The Dallas-based carrier performed particularly well in five out of seven categories, the market research firm said, including cost of service, account management,...
Nextwave sells AWS spectrum for $150.1M, T-Mobile USA is the big buyer
Nextwave Wireless Inc. sold nearly two-thirds of its advanced wireless services spectrum for $150.1 million. The spectrum went to four different buyers. The largest chunk landed in the hands of T-Mobile USA Inc. for roughly $98 million. The deal gives Nextwave a tidy profit...
Canadian AWS auction ends after 331 rounds, $4.25B in bids
The Canadian government's auction of 105 megahertz of spectrum in the 1710-1755/2110-2155 MHz band, also known as the advanced wireless services spectrum (similar to what was offered by the Federal Communications Commission in 2006), wrapped up this morning after 331 rounds of bidding that...
Cricket launches AWS-equipped Razr V3s
Leap Communications International Inc. subsidiary Cricket Communications Inc. added another version of Motorola Inc.'s venerable Razr handset to its lineup with the V3s that is compatible with the carrier's advanced wireless services spectrum it acquired during the Federal Communication Commission's Auction 66. The...
New cellphone tax break proposed
A tax holiday may be in the future for wireless providers and the nation's 262 million cellphone users after all. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced legislation to impose a five-year moratorium on new or increased wireless taxes. "Americans...
Lines drawn in AWS-3 debate: T-Mo urges delay in comments until it can test for interference
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is coming under mounting pressure to back off a controversial plan to auction a national wireless Internet license that would require the winning bidder to provide free broadband service, open access and filtering to block obscene content. But...
What’s hot? Networks and consumer apps
With an influx of new spectrum, new networks coming online and new services to run over those networks, one might say that venture capitalists are backing both the tortoise and the hare to win in wireless. The interest in the quick-changing, what's-hot-next consumer application...
T-Mobile USA balks at FCC’s plans for AWS-3 auction
T-Mobile USA Inc. asked the Federal Communications Commission to extend up to three months the public comment cycle for a controversial free wireless Internet plan, a request that would provide additional time for interference testing and likely delay a final decision until after the...
Sprint Nextel expands business ‘Premier’ program to CDMA subs
Sprint Nextel Corp. announced its small- and medium-sized CDMA business customers now have access to its Business Premier loyalty program.Since its merger with Nextel Communications Inc., the carrier has been working to merge all users onto one network and one billing platform. Thus, the...
Retail Snapshot: Independent retailer sees trends toward ‘capped-rate’ plans
Editor's Note: In this monthly feature, RCR Wireless News talks to retail managers across the country to get a first-hand view of what's hot in wireless.Wireless Toyz, which originally started as an outlet for paging back in 1995, today counts more than 190 retail...
Canadian AWS auction surpasses U.S. counterpart
Industry Canada's ongoing advanced wireless services spectrum auction hit a bit of a milestone as the average price per megahertz per potential customer covered eclipsed the 54 cents per MHz/pop generated during the U.S. AWS auction, which was held in 2006. The Canadian licenses...
Sarin to bow out of Vodafone: Carrier’s stake in VZW may be reconsidered
Vodafone Group plc will say goodbye to its fearless leader. After five years as CEO, Arun Sarin announced last week that he is retiring as head of one of the wireless industry's largest operators, and minority-interest holder in Verizon Wireless, at the end of...
Survey finds growing interest in smartphones: Sony Ericsson comes out on top in customer satisfaction
The success of smartphones among U.S. shoppers has served to boost the average purchase price for cellphones, according to new research from J.D. Power and Associates. According to the firm's survey of almost 20,000 cellphone owners, the average price paid for a phone has...
Worst of the Week: Oh Canada!
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
FCC may auction another 25 MHz of spectrum: ‘AWS III’ licensee could be required to provide free service
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin scheduled a vote on rules for another major spectrum auction, one that would encompass 25 megahertz in the 2155-2180 MHz advanced wireless services band and require the winning bidder to offer free broadband service under an aggressive build-out...
Qualcomm to use $16.3M worth of U.K. spectrum for testing
It seems Qualcomm is not willing to give up on the U.K. market for mobile TV.The MediaFLO proponent will pay $16.3 million for 40 MHz of L-Band spectrum in the United Kingdom that the company said it will use for research and development as...
Leap rolls dice on Las Vegas launch
Leap Wireless International Inc. said it will launch its Cricket service in Las Vegas tomorrow using the advanced wireless services spectrum it won during the Federal Communications Commission's Auction 66 in 2006. Leap has previously launched service using its AWS spectrum in Oklahoma City...
2nd time’s a charm?: Sprint Nextel, Clearwire re-merge WiMAX business, bring new investments to operations
WHAT'S THAT SAYING? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me?After their previous union was aborted last year, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. decided last week to try to merge their WiMAX businesses again, this time under the Clearwire...
Survey: Wireless retail experience getting worse: T-Mobile USA tops latest J.D. Power rankings
As customers walk away from wireless retail stores, they are less satisfied with the experience, largely because of a lack of product information and promotional incentives, according to the latest survey released by J.D. Power and Associates. Indeed, customer satisfaction with wireless retailers has...
Qwest moves wireless biz to VZW: Qwest Wireless to disappear
Qwest Communications International Inc. is jumping wireless ship from its current mobile virtual network operator relationship with Sprint Nextel Corp. to reselling Verizon Wireless services. The move, expected to begin this summer, will see the end of the Qwest brand in wireless as the...