RCR Wireless News articles from April 2005

RCR Wireless News archives from April 2005

Best Wireless Employer.(Wireless Metrics)
April 4, 2005... Most people ranked Verizon as the best wireless employer when quizzed for the 2005 Wireless Jobs Survey. Responses are from 619 individuals at the CTIA show and on telecomcareers.net.

Technology Spending Priorities.(Wireless Metrics)
April 4, 2005... Most IT decision makers polled by Sage Research about technology spending ranked network security highest with 50 percent of respondents. Twenty-one percent listed mobile technologies as a top-three priority while 18 percent ranked mobile...

Stock Watch: March 24 - March 31.(Wireless Metrics)
April 4, 2005... table: Stock Watch: March 24 - March 31 * 3 graphics: Market Diary * Indices * RCR Index: see print copy.

T-Mobile again fights for access to unbundled network elements.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER T-Mobile USA Inc. told the Federal Communications that since it is actively trying to compete with wireline carriers, it should be able to receive access to unbundled network elements at regulated rates...

British TV station offers mobile palm readings.(News)
April 4, 2005... U.K. wireless subscribers with camera phones can submit a picture of their hands for a palm reading, a British psychic television channel said Thursday. Your Destiny TV is behind the service, which reads photos of users' palms and delivers...

First Tier Carriers.(News)
April 4, 2005... Editor's Note: The companies listed below represent the five first-tier wireless operators that control enough spectrum for a nationwide footprint and are ranked by their number of subscribers at the end of 2004. Subscriber additions and...

TeliaSonera raises ownership in Turkish wireless carrier.(Global Wireless)
April 4, 2005... TeliaSonera said it has agreed with the Cukurova Group to acquire a 27-percent stake in Turkish wireless carrier Turkcell for $3.1 billion, increasing its ownership stake to 64.3 percent. TeliaSonera said it will not make a public tender...

High court hears debate on telecom, information service.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER In arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, justices seemed skeptical the government could designate something an information service if it has elements of telecommunications. "What I am still waiting to...

Leap delays annual report, announces bonus plan.(News)
April 4, 2005... Leap Wireless has delayed the release of its annual report due to accounting changes, and announced a bonus plan for employees, according to a pair of Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Leap said it is unable to file its 10-K for...

GSMA Association blasts DRM rate proposal.(News)
April 4, 2005... The backlash against proposed rates to license digital rights management technology continued this week, with a powerful group of wireless carriers threatening to abandon the open-standard system. The GSM Association blasted royalties for...

Nokia in CDMA EV-DO talks with SK Telecom subsidiary?(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO Nokia Corp. is in advanced discussions to purchase CDMA EV-DO phones from the phone-making subsidiary of Korean CDMA carrier SK Telecom, according to a report from Reuters. A Nokia spokesman said the company has made...

Wireless service offers poker celebrities via SMS.(News)
April 4, 2005... Mobile marketing company American IDC Corp. and advertising firm Smart Entertainment are teaming on a text message-based offering for poker fans. The service allows card aficionados to communicate with poker celebrities, exchanging...

SIP allows consumers to sidestep carriers.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Taking advantage of new technologies, peer-to-peer companies, otherwise known as dotcoms, are porting services to wireless subscribers without operator consent. Through handsets, personal digital assistants,...

IBM builds 900 MHz public-safety network in Fresno.(Late News)
April 4, 2005... IBM Corp. said it built a wireless data network in Fresno, Calif., for the police department that will allow officers to transmit text, images and videos via in-vehicle computers and personal digital assistants. The microwave transmission...

APCO: Public-safety suffers in search for compromise on location accuracy.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER The Association of Public-safety Communications Officials last month broke with other public-safety advocates and the telecommunications industry, refusing to support a report to the FCC's Network...

FCC releases details of rural E911 waivers.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER The Federal Communications Commission late Friday said it was rejecting a request that it relax the enhanced 911 Phase II rules for small wireless carriers, but it is giving Tier III carriers using a...

Religious content gains ground with wireless subscribers.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Around the world, people are quietly using high-tech to stay in touch with a higher power. While cutting-edge applications like mobile TV make headlines, simpler, religious-based offerings are gaining ground. Jewish...

Shareholder suit against Alamosa dismissed.(News)
April 4, 2005... The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Alamosa Holdings Inc., the Sprint PCS affiliate announced. The shareholder lawsuit, which was filed in November 2003, sought damages...

Linktone sponsors mobile content contest in China.(News)
April 4, 2005... Linktone Ltd., which provides interactive entertainment services to Chinese consumers, said it is sponsoring a nationwide contest to find original mobile content. Linktone said the goal of the contest, among other things, is to acquire...

U.S. wireless penetration with kids at 44%.(Wireless Metrics)
April 4, 2005... Nearly half of the nation's 10- to 18-year-olds own mobile phones and a vast majority are interested in handsets that double as music players or cameras, according to a study from NOP World Technology. According to the survey-the fifth in...

Grassroots fight.(Opinion)
April 4, 2005... Byline: Tracy Ford The wireless industry is mad as @*@% and not going to take it anymore. As such, CTIA recently unleashed its grassroots attempt to stop what it sees as increasingly unfair state and local taxes on the wireless industry....

Microsoft offers wireless content for Mobile devices.(News)
April 4, 2005... Microsoft Corp. will provide daily downloadable video content including news, sports and entertainment programming for Windows Mobile-based devices, the company announced. MSN Video Downloads will deliver a subscription-based mobile TV...

Conk! starts local online communities for cell users.(News)
April 4, 2005... Internet technology company Conk! launched a network of local online communities designed specifically for mobile-phone users, the company announced. The Conk! Network launched in 22 major U.S. markets, featuring 60 categories of updated...

Full-year results solid despite 4Q losses for tower firms.(News)
April 4, 2005... Although they recorded increased revenues, two tower operators suffered net losses in their financial results for the fourth quarter of 2004 compared with the previous year. For the full year, American Tower Corp. and Crown Castle had...

IPWireless announces Orange trial.(Global Wireless)
April 4, 2005... IPWireless Inc. said Orange has launched technical and marketing trials using its UMTS TDD technology targeting the enterprise market in Lille, France. Orange will test enterprise customers' response to high data services for complex...

411: A matter of choice.(Opinion)
April 4, 2005... Byline: Tina Eichner The topic of how and if a wireless telephone number directory should be established has been and continues to be heavily debated, but so far little has been said about the organization that is charged with making it...

Digital Bridges sports new name to increase consumer recognition.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Once satisfied to quietly grab some shelf space for their titles on a carrier's deck of wireless offerings, mobile game publishers are now trying to make a little more noise. While they may be big in the world of...

Market for wireless IPOs picks up pace.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO Clearinghouse vendor NeuStar Inc. filed plans for a $690 million initial public offering last week, a further sign that the financial drought of the past few years is slowly washing away. Indeed, companies across the...

Location services beg classic chicken or egg question.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Under the Federal Communications Commission's E911 act, most U.S. wireless operators must be able to locate a caller within 150 meters 95 percent of the time by the end of the year. So while handset manufacturers...

Supreme Court skeptical copyright infringement test can be developed.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER The U.S. Supreme Court last week seemed to be skeptical that a test could be developed to determine when innovations are used primarily for copyright infringement. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v....

Vendors experiment with other technologies.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Unlike a few years ago, wireless vendors are no longer pure players in the technology realm. Major firms like Lucent Technologies Inc., Nokia Corp., Alcatel Alsthom and Siemens AG are stretching beyond their comfort...

Axalto ramps up U.S. smart-card production.(News)
April 4, 2005... Axalto, which provides microprocessor smart cards, said its microelectronics module fabrication operation at its facility in Texas has achieved full qualification for the company's quality and productivity standards. The company said all...

SureWest, Immix select Intrado E911.(News)
April 4, 2005... Intrado Inc. said it has signed two new contracts for its wireless E911 solutions with rural wireless carriers. The agreements are with SureWest Wireless and Immix Wireless. The carriers have purchased a combination of the company's Phase I...

Newspaper group tries wireless marketing initiative.(News)
April 4, 2005... The Pacific Newspaper Group Inc. is using wireless marketing in an effort to drum up readership and revenues for The Province Newspaper. The media group is publishing a weekly "Mobile On Demand'' page with games, prizes, coupons and free...

MCI agrees to Verizon's increased bid.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO MCI Inc.'s board of directors elected to accept Verizon Communications Inc.'s increased bid for the business, again rejecting Qwest Communications International Inc.'s larger takeover offer. Verizon increased its bid...

Adults blame cell phones for decline in kids' vocabularies.(Wireless Metrics)
April 4, 2005... Nearly half of all adults believe vocabulary skills among the nation's youth are being corroded by instant messaging, e-mail and wireless phones, according to a new study by Reader's Digest. The survey of 1,000 U.S. adults found that 45...

Middle Eastern carrier buys African operator for $3B.(Global Wireless)
April 4, 2005... Middle East wireless carrier Mobile Telecommunications Co. has expanded into Africa with a $3.4 billion acquisition of African wireless carrier Celtel International. Kuwaiti-based MTC will buy 85 percent of Celtel from its current...

New mobile video services launch in Asia.(Global Wireless)
April 4, 2005... Mobile video providers continued to target users in the Far East with two new announcements. RealNetworks Inc. and mobile operator Hong Kong CSL launched a mobile media service enabling users to watch on-demand video while switching...

Message911 reports MARTA contract.(News)
April 4, 2005... Message911, which provides emergency communications solutions, said it will provide notification services to the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. MARTA provides bus, rail and paratransit services to the Atlanta metropolitan...

Finance Briefs.(Briefs)
April 4, 2005... Dobson Communications Corp. said it will not declare or pay a cash dividend April 15 on its outstanding 12.25-percent senior exchangeable preferred stock or May 15 on its outstanding 13-percent senior exchangeable preferred stock. Dobson also...

Sprint, Nextel shed light on data plans at 2.5 GHz.
April 4, 2005... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The Federal Communications Commission recently asked merger-bound Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. for more details on their licenses and leases at 2.5 GHz, broadband spectrum that collectively either could...

Trio of vendor acquisitions announced.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Three mergers have just taken place in the wireless vendor space, one in the broadband arena and two in the software business. Airspan Networks said it has signed a deal to buy ArelNet Ltd. for $8.7 million. In the...

China Mobile signs cooperation agreement with China Telecom.(Global Wireless)
April 4, 2005... China Mobile, the country's largest wireless carrier, has signed a cooperation agreement with fixed-line carrier China Network, according to international press reports. The agreement aims to promote "rational competition'' and to avoid...

RIM settlement brings NTP to mobile forefront.
April 4, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO Although the preliminary settlement between Research In Motion Ltd. and patent-holding company NTP brings to a close the three-year-long battle between the two companies, industry has likely not seen the last of NTP. ...

Ericsson wins 1x contract in Sri Lanka.(Global Wireless)
April 4, 2005... L.M. Ericsson and Suntel Ltd. have signed a sole supplier agreement for a turnkey islandwide CDMA2000 1x network for voice and data services in Sri Lanka. Under the agreement, Ericsson will provide its CDMA2000 1x network solution,...

Vonage eyes wireless entry with dual-mode device.
April 4, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO Voice over IP carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. plans to release a dual-mode Wi-Fi/GSM device by the end of this year, and is considering selling the corresponding wireless service as a mobile virtual network operator. ...

Alltel launches EV-DO service in 3 markets.(News)
April 4, 2005... Regional carrier Alltel Corp. continued to stay ahead of the technology curve with the announcement that it will launch CDMA EV-DO service in three of its main markets. Alltel launched the high-speed wireless service-which it said supports...

Colubris to acquire Kiwi.(News)
April 4, 2005... Colubris Networks said it has agreed to acquire Kiwi Networks, while Wireless Telecom Group Inc. said it has modified the deal to acquire Willtek Communications. Both Colubris and Kiwi are wireless LAN companies. "Integrating Kiwi's...

Kineto's UMA supports roaming between disparate networks.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO Those in the industry are quickly coming to the conclusion that Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and other wireless technologies are destined to live side-by-side. Now the question becomes how they will interact with one another. ...

UTStarcom down on delayed financials.(News)
April 4, 2005... UTStarcom Inc.'s stock dropped almost 10 percent to $10.78 on news that the company will again delay its annual reports for 2003 and 2004. The company said it needs to "finalize its required review procedures and enable management to finalize...

T-Mobile offers software to fix glitch in iPAQ device.(News)
April 4, 2005... T-Mobile USA Inc. is offering a software upgrade for the iPAQ h6315 Pocket PC from Hewlett-Packard Co. The carrier recently suspended sales of the device due to unexplained software problems. The carrier posted the software upgrade on its...

Leap touts new pricing plan with radio ads, new icon.(News)
April 4, 2005... Byline: DAN MEYER Leap Wireless International Inc. further expanded its make-over with the launch of new rate plans and service offerings supported by a re-branding campaign that replaces its long-time green couch icon. The changes follow...

Cingular lands most consumer complaints.(News)
April 4, 2005... Consumers Union said that customers considering a switch in wireless carriers should first consider Verizon Wireless and not consider Cingular Wireless L.L.C., due to the number of complaints the Federal Communications Commission received-288.9...

First Cellular to use Excell directory service.(News)
April 4, 2005... First Cellular of Southern Illinois has tapped Excell Services to provide directory assistance and other offerings. Excell will provide operator services and inbound customer service for First Cellular through its North American call...

Cingular adds chat services for 'Idol' fans.(News)
April 4, 2005... Cingular Wireless together with Telescope Inc. announced a new premium short message service chat function for fans of the television show "American Idol.'' The companies are offering two chat services during this season of "American...

ATIS, ETSI meet on network standards for next-generation.(Global Wireless)
April 11, 2005... The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions sent representatives from its member companies to meet with the European Telecommunication Standards Institute TISPAN Committee last week in Herndon, Va., to discuss standardization...

World Briefs.(Briefs)
April 11, 2005... TURKEY Turkish carrier AVEA Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. selected Nokia to supply a commercial Push to Talk over Cellular solution. The deal also includes Nokia's Presence solution. The vendor will provide installation, commissioning and...

Clarification.(Correction)
April 11, 2005... In the April 4 story about complaints from wireless users (on page 11), the score from U.S. Cellular Corp. was not mentioned. Among nationwide carriers, Verizon Wireless scored best with 76 complaints per 1 million subscribers. However, the...

Nextel invests in French content protection company.(News)
April 11, 2005... Medialive SA snared $4.2 million in Series A funding from Nextel Communications Inc. and Sophia Euro Lab, the French content protection provider announced Friday. Medialive partners with broadband and wireless service providers to protect...

Orange France to launch EDGE later this month.(News)
April 11, 2005... French wireless operator Orange S.A. said it will launch EDGE services geared toward business customers beginning April 18 with plans for a consumer launch scheduled for this summer. The carrier noted that the service would provide network...

Gaming No. 1 download.(News)
April 11, 2005... Gaming is the fastest-growing category of mobile data services, with more than 6 million wireless users downloading a game in February, according to a new report from Seattle-based consumer usage measuring firm M:Metrics. The number of...

9/11: From repeaters to jammers.(Opinion)
April 11, 2005... Byline: Jeffrey Silva It undoubtedly will take years to sort out why some first-responder communications worked and why some did not after terrorists navigated jet planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. But it appears one...

VoIP providers defend 911 practices.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER VoIP providers claim customers are informed that when they dial 911 using a Voice over Internet Protocol service, it is different than calling 911 from traditional landline or wireless phones. "You can't...

Voluntary negotiations for fixed-microwave to leave PCS band ends after 10 years.(News)
April 11, 2005... The voluntary negotiation period for fixed-microwave licensees to leave the PCS band ended April 4-10 years after it began. When the Federal Communications Commission allowed PCS service as a competitor to cellular, some of the spectrum...

Seven buys Smartner to try to combat RIM.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO Wireless e-mail company Seven Networks Inc. today announced it acquired Helsinki, Finland-based rival vendor Smartner. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. "It's much more of a global marketplace,'' explained Bill...

Trucking company tracking market slows.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO Wireless appears to be busting at the seams. Carriers have been signing on record numbers of subscribers, handset makers have enjoyed double-digit growth and the industry's general malaise seems to be lifting. Thus, such...

Firefighter union seeks funding for tower health study.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The International Association of Fire Fighters, the union representing more than 85 percent of firefighters and emergency medics in United States and Canada, today formalized plans to solicit funding for a study to...

Centennial loses domestic customers, but posts profit.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: DAN MEYER Regional wireless operator Centennial Communications Corp. said it lost 500 domestic wireless customers during its third fiscal quarter of 2005 ending Feb. 28-compared with a gain of 700 subscribers the previous...

Smaller carriers look to ringbacks, local content to compete.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: COLIN GIBBS With the overwhelming array of wireless content and applications on the market, even the nation's biggest carriers are struggling with what to offer and how to present it to the consumer. It may be no surprise, then,...

Q1 expected to continue trend of solid subscriber adds.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: DAN MEYER The nation's big five operators are not about to slow down. Following a record-setting year in which the wireless industry added more than 22 million customers and surpassed 60-percent penetration, analysts expect the...

Carriers expand offerings to reach unpenetrated subs; Family plans growing piece of strategy.
April 11, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO "We have run out of people (in the United States) who can pass a credit check and want a wireless phone,'' said Roger Entner, vice president of North American wireless telecommunications for research and consulting firm...

Verizon to offer Treo 650 'soon'.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: MIKE DANO Verizon Wireless confirmed it will sell PalmOne Inc.'s Treo 650. Many in the industry had expected such a move, although neither Verizon nor PalmOne had officially announced the device for Verizon's network. Sprint PCS...

Personal wireless broadband network launches in Tanzania.(Global Wireless)
April 11, 2005... Navini Networks and Benson Online said they've teamed to establish the first personal wireless broadband network in Africa. The new network was deployed in Tanzania, growing to 2,000 subscriber modems after a successful initial deployment...

IEEE to begin 802.11 amendment.(News)
April 11, 2005... IEEE said it has approved work to begin on an amendment to the 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks. The project involves a WLAN standard amendment for WLAN devices to support protection of management frames, said the group....

Motorola, RadioShack invest $10M total in device power company.(News)
April 11, 2005... Mobility Electronics Inc. announced it scored a $10 million investment from Motorola Inc. and RadioShack Corp. to expand its itip power products for low-power mobile electronic devices. Mobility Electronics said it will form an operating...

Mobilkom Austria demos HSDPA technology.(Global Wireless)
April 11, 2005... Mobilkom Austria, the largest Austrian wireless carrier, demonstrated High Speed Downlink Packet Access technology from Nortel Networks Ltd. At a retail store in Vienna, the HSDPA technology supported applications such as FTP downloading,...

Financial Briefs.(Briefs)
April 11, 2005... SpectraSite Inc. filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer 250,000 shares of its common stock to adjust to a market price obligation. This will fulfill a stock buyback agreement with Goldman, Sachs & Co., and the...

Some areas too remote for telecom competition, report contends.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER There are areas of the country that are too rural, too remote and cost too much to serve for telecommunications competition to be viable, said the author of a new paper on universal service. "There is a...

Survey says airplanes should be cell-phone-free zones.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER Air travelers do not want the ban on cell-phone use while in flight lifted, according to a study released Thursday by the Association of Flight Attendants/Communications Workers of America and the National...

Direct wireless music deals raise ire of labels.
April 11, 2005... Byline: COLIN GIBBS The exploding popularity of ringtones, voice tones and other types of mobile music has given rise to a handful of companies creating direct deals with artists to create content exclusively for wireless phones. Now,...

Poizner out of CPUC running.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office declined to speculate about when a new nominee will be named to the California Public Utilities Commission in the aftermath of tech entrepreneur Steve Poizner's decision to remove...

Nokia to build $150M manufacturing plant in India.(Global Wireless)
April 11, 2005... Nokia Corp. announced it will invest up to $150 million to build a new mobile-phone manufacturing plant in Chennai, India. The plant will be Nokia's 10th in the world. "Establishing a new factory in India is an important step in the...

N.C. bill could overturn controversial tower-safety rules.(News)
April 11, 2005... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Legislation has been introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly that would overturn a fall protection provision in the state's tower-safety standard, further keeping on hold a rule considered too onerous by the...

Amp'd Mobile signs athletes for marketing, content.(News)
April 11, 2005... Fresh off its public launch at this year's CTIA event, soon-to-launch mobile virtual network operator Amp'd Mobile Inc. reported several content and marketing sponsorship deals with a number of action sport athletes. The sponsored athletes...