RCR Wireless News articles from February 2007

RCR Wireless News archives from February 2007

Growth in wireless market to boost telematics.(Metrics)
February 5, 2007... The telematics sector could be on the brink of worldwide growth thanks to better wireless networks, devices and operating systems, according to new research from Visant Strategies. In-vehicle subscriptions could grow eightfold by the end of...

Frost & Sullivan predicts strong future for DVB-H.(Metrics)
February 5, 2007... The DVB-H market is set to explode from $60 million in revenues last year to more than $2 billion in 2010, according to new figures from Frost & Sullivan. The market research firm said DVB-H technology, which supports the broadcast of...

FBI wants first notice when phone records stolen.(Upfront)
February 5, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Privacy groups oppose Bush administration efforts to require wireless carriers and others to delay notifying customers when phone records and other personal data are stolen through subscriber impersonation and other...

Cellphone insurers settle class-action lawsuit.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA A federal judge in Miami gave preliminary approval to a settlement in a class action lawsuit against Asurion Corp., one of several major cellphone insurers sued for allegedly deceiving wireless customers, according to...

McCain throws support behind Cyren Call spectrum proposal.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Cyren Call Communications Corp. and the nation's first responders found a big-time lawmaker to champion legislation that would redirect 30 megahertz of auction-bound spectrum in the 700 MHz band for a nationwide...

NTIA, NHTSA draw ire of lawmakers for not dispensing grants; $43.5 million in matching grants at center of Senate storm.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Senate lawmakers blasted Bush administration policy-makers over the implementation of a $43.5 million matching grant program to upgrade emergency dispatch centers so they can receive and process enhanced 911 location...

Sprint Nextel juggles text plans.(Upfront)
February 5, 2007... Sprint Nextel Corp. is undercutting other carriers' pricing for unlimited text messaging with a package that costs $10 for individual lines and $20 for family plans. Verizon Wireless offers 500 messages plus unlimited in-network messaging...

Top Wireless Service Providers.(Spotlight)
February 5, 2007... Editor's Note: The companies listed below represent the largest national and regional wireless carriers, as well as the largest mobile virtual network operators. They are ranked by the size of their customer base at the end of 2006, or the...

Verizon Wireless rules retail.
February 5, 2007... Byline: KELLY HILL Verizon Wireless said it captured 2.3 million net new customers in the fourth quarter, numbers that show it continues to dominate other national carriers with its retail performance. Cingular Wireless L.L.C., which...

Wireless retailing like marriage; Some years are good, some aren't.(Upfront)
February 5, 2007... Byline: KELLY HILL Regional wireless retailer Wireless Zone has announced an ambitious plan to expand its 275 locations to a total of 400, in 400 business days. Wireless Zone CEO Kevin Sinclai, said that if the company isn't growing,...

Texas threatens Sprint Nextel over tax reimbursement.(Upfront)
February 5, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Texas Comptroller Susan Combs warned Sprint Nextel Corp. it could be audited and sued if it continues to collect fees from subscribers to cover the cost of the state's revised franchise tax, but the carrier said the...

Is there a doctor in the house?(Opinion)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Jeffrey Silva Senate Commerce Committee members last week lamented-one after the other-the many policy ills confronted by the Federal Communications Commission. The universal service regime is broken. The United States is stumbling...

Wireless broadband: information service?
February 5, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing a plan to treat wireless broadband service as an information service, a classification that would enable wireless Internet access providers to escape...

Sprint Nextel slashes price on CDMA/iDEN Blend phone.(Upfront)
February 5, 2007... Byline: PHIL CARSON On the heels of a phone launch it declared a "linchpin'' in its efforts to maintain high-value iDEN subscribers while migrating them to its CDMA network, Sprint Nextel Corp. cut the online price of one of its CDMA/iDEN...

Carl Icahn: Motorola's new backseat driver?(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: PHIL CARSON Carl Icahn wants a seat on the board of directors at Motorola Inc., the company last week acknowledged in a statement. Icahn and business interests he controls own more than 33 million shares of Motorola stock,...

Upstart targets backseat riders with mobile hot spots; Firms bet businesses, consumers need Internet in vehicles.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: KELLY HILL For the young social networking addicts of the world, one of the last vestiges of computer-deficient spaces-the moving vehicle-may soon be MySpace-enabled through Wi-Fi. Backseat elbowing could be replaced with the...

Bango to track demographics for advertisers.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Bango is the latest outfit to jump on the mobile advertising bandwagon, unveiling a service designed to track the effectiveness of wireless marketing campaigns. The developer of direct-to-consumer infrastructure...

...ETC...(Etc.)
February 5, 2007... Wireless U As if the costs of tuition and books weren't enough, some students are finding wireless technology is causing their student fees to increase. Students at the University of Maryland may have to pay an additional $292 in room and...

Rich Rosenthal.(Interview)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Matt Kapko Through the years, Warner Bros. has become synonymous with long-standing, popular sitcoms. Soon after marketers brainstorm their latest and greatest advertising blitzes, you can be sure they'll be knocking on the...

Hedgehogging.(Briefs)
February 5, 2007... hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube. If you are one of the 12 people who haven't yet viewed Stephen Colbert's history of the new AT&T Inc., please go to...

Dell'Oro: W-CDMA set to stomp into CDMA.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: MIKE DANO W-CDMA technology will enjoy "exceptional'' growth over the next several years, according to research firm Dell'Oro Group, expansion that will come at the expense of CDMA technology. "While growth in W-CDMA remains...

Ericsson down on sluggish outlook.(News)
February 5, 2007... L.M. Ericsson announced that it brought in a net income of $1.4 billion in the most recent quarter, representing a 14-percent rise from the same quarter a year ago. Despite the Swedish company's success as the largest maker of mobile-phone...

More Web traffic, more on-deck friction; Carriers could force smaller content providers to work with 'official' marketing firms.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Like real estate, mobile advertising is all about location. And carriers are scrambling to cash in on the most desirable territory in wireless data: the deck. Network operators are hastily choosing mobile marketing...

Analyst has high praise for Modeo.(Upfront)
February 5, 2007... Byline: MATT KAPKO Glowing praise for Modeo L.L.C.'s recently launched mobile broadcast television beta trial service in New York City is already rolling in. "WOW!'' is how Ric Prentiss of Raymond James and Associates Inc. summed up...

Off-deck revenue chain broken.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: MATT KAPKO It was an intimate gathering of sorts last week as dozens gathered at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., for the Off-Deck Mobile Content conference. "Off deck, on deck, it's all a growth story,'' Levi...

Hiwire, MediaFLO: head to head in Vegas.(Upfront)
February 5, 2007... Byline: MATT KAPKO While Qualcomm Inc.'s MediaFLO and Crown Castle International Corp.'s Modeo L.L.C. service have been taking up most of the ink on mobile broadcast TV, Hiwire L.L.C. has been working behind the scenes to build out its...

Corrections.(Correction)
February 5, 2007... * In the Cingular branding story on page 1 of the Jan. 29 issue of RCR Wireless News, the value of Cingular's brand name should have been $6.7 billion. * The Jan. 15 story, "Kerry, Sununu push unlicensed white space,'' should have said the...

Fikl Pikl.(Opinion)
February 5, 2007... Byline: Dan Meyer As a testament to the fickleness of the wireless industry, Motorola Inc., once the bell of the handset ball, has fallen on hard times. Was it not so long ago that the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company was basking in the...

iPhone inkblot causes wireless tizzy; Industry players reveal bemusement, fear and new ideas.(Upfront)
February 5, 2007... Byline: PHIL CARSON Aided by elements such as its reputation, anticipation-fueled rumors and tight secrecy, Apple Inc.'s iPhone announcement in early January acted much like a Rorschach test, illuminating points of view and exposing...

Squeezing 3G into that 2G dress; Handset's waistline and costs need to mimic previous generation.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: PHIL CARSON Motorola Inc.'s recent, sobering earnings report came with a number of explanations of how the American vendor would turn things around. Motorola executives mentioned, among several factors, their portfolio mix-and the...

Sony Ericsson in India: small step or giant leap? Local manufacturing will depend on two EMS partners.
February 5, 2007... Byline: PHIL CARSON For those who watch Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P., sifting for signs that the Japanese-Swedish partnership will accelerate efforts to gain market share, last week's news on the vendor's plans in India was...

Google predicts it will make money on wireless offerings by 2008.(News)
February 5, 2007... Google Inc. executives spoke at length about the future of the mobile search space and highlighted areas where the search giant has made heavy investment in wireless. While Google doesn't expect any significant revenues from its mobile...

Mobile marketing firm settles class-action over text messaging spam.(Upfront)
February 5, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Mobile-phone users who received unwanted text messages may get up to $150 following what appears to be an unprecedented settlement. Chicago law firm Blim & Edelson declared victory after a federal court approved the...

Partnership marks Vignette's foray into cross-platform content.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Vignette is partnering with a couple of well-known mobile partners on a framework designed to manage and deliver content to both PCs and mobile phones. The Austin, Texas-based developer this week plans to unveil its...

Paid to play: Ad-based gaming gaining ground.(News)
February 5, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS The world of mobile gaming encompasses roughly a half-dozen genres, from first-person shooters to pick-up-and-play casual titles. And now, finally, the wise money management quiz game. Visa USA is targeting teens...

StockWatch: January 25 - February 1.(Metrics)
February 5, 2007... 3 tables: Stockwatch: January 25 - February 1 * Top Gainers * Top Losers * 3 graphs: Market Diary * Indices * 90-day RCR Index

6 years ago this week.(News)
February 5, 2007... Nokia Corp. announced plans to cut 800 jobs in the U.S. as it shifted some if its U.S.-based manufacturing from Texas to Korea and Mexico. At the time, Nokia had around 5,500 employees in Texas.

RCRnews.com ? of the week.(News)
February 5, 2007... How much for mobile tv? What is the right price point for mobile TV? 41% $10 per month 40% free 11% $20 per month 8% $1 per day Visit RCRNEWS.COM to answer this week's question.

Brightpoint rolls in solid quarter.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Handset distributor Brightpoint Inc. reported increases in both revenues and net income for the fourth quarter and full year 2006, news that helped give a slight boost to the company's stock. Brightpoint reported a 7-percent increase in...

Idle screens could spell active profits; Operators balance custom, personal content vs. feeling of intrusion.
February 12, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Idle hands may be the devil's domain, but carriers and mobile marketing companies are laying claim to the idle screen. The wireless industry is hoping to use the idle screen-the display of a phone while it isn't in...

Verizon Wireless gets exclusive with ESPN; Multiyear deal means Vcast customers can tune into sports coverage, content.(News)
February 12, 2007... Byline: KELLY HILL The content and user interface of the short-lived Mobile ESPN L.L.C. mobile virtual network operator is set to be resurrected as an addition to Verizon Wireless' Vcast data service. ESPN and Verizon Wireless said...

Mobile TV group: carriers should build own network.
February 12, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Carriers looking to cash in on mobile TV services should pony up and build their own dedicated multimedia network, according to a new report from a consortium of industry players. Then they should somehow convince...

Texas sues Sprint Nextel over 'deceptive' billing.(News)
February 12, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Texas made good on its threat to sue Sprint Nextel Corp., asserting the No. 3 mobile-phone carrier's imposition of a new fee violates the state's deceptive trade practices law and a 2004 industry settlement with state...

Qwest, Embarq see profits from wireless.(News)(Financial report)
February 12, 2007... Byline: KELLY HILL Regional telecommunications operator Qwest Communications International Inc. pushed its way into positive earnings for the first time in several years, posting profits of $593 million for the year 2006. The company...

Fixing public safety.(Opinion)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Tracy Ford The only way public-safety interoperability problems are going to be fixed is through federal law. And Congress should tackle it-this year. And our federal taxes should fund it-immediately. And the United States of...

New York bill would mandate E911 coverage maps.(News)
February 12, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The American Association of Retired Persons hailed committee passage of a wireless consumer-protection, enhanced-911 bill in the New York State Assembly. The legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell...

FCC under fire for outdated broadband definition, data; 200 kbps one way no longer adequate, Dingell says.(News)
February 12, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) said the Federal Communications Commission's gauge for measuring broadband speed and penetration in the United States is outdated, calling for improved spectrum...

Muleta's M2Z on the move.(Opinion)
February 12, 2007... Byline: Jeffrey Silva All but lost in the fireworks early this year over Cyren Call Communications Corp.'s public-safety broadband plan, TV white spaces, net neutrality and the spotty state of U.S broadband has been M2Z Networks Inc.'s...

Lawmakers take another stab at anti-pretexting bill.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA In a week where the government celebrated consumer protection and a buyout firm said it was the subject of a federal probe involving fraudulent access to phone records, key House lawmakers revived a bill to impose...

Sony Ericsson: text and sub-text; Memo to Samsung: check your rear-view mirror.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Byline: PHIL CARSON It's all about messages and audiences these days. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. sent forth multiple messages in the past two weeks, all emphasizing that the Japanese-Swedish joint venture is on the move...

Voce adds Treo, Motorola and Nokia devices to handset lineup.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Byline: PHIL CARSON High-end mobile virtual network operator Voce expanded its handset lineup with the inclusion of Palm Inc.'s Treo smartphone, a move that raises the question whether the company has succeeded in adding a data component...

More than an MVNO? Amp'd continues mobile content push.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Amp'd Mobile Inc. continued to expand its impressive content portfolio, inking deals with actor Jack Black and "24'' producer Howard Gordon to offer original, made-for-mobile programming. The news stands atop a number...

Pocket touts San Antonio growth.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Pocket Communications, a small, all-you-can-eat carrier in San Antonio, said it surpassed 85,000 customers in that market and is touting that in radio advertising it is using to help it compete with large national carriers. Pocket is...

Cyren Call proposal gets chilly reception.
February 12, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The Senate Commerce Committee greeted Cyren Call Communications Corp.'s public-safety broadband plan with a non-committal mix of interest, skepticism and outright hostility, a reaction compounded by an industry-funded...

...Etc...(Briefs)
February 12, 2007... The latest cellphone accessory A variety of online retailers are offering seat-belt covers that incorporate a pocket to hold mobile phones and headsets. Amazon.com offers the Vizion Seat Belt Cover With Cell Phone Holder for $5. The...

BEYOND THE NETWORK; Ericsson snares Turner content deal.
February 12, 2007... Byline: MATT KAPKO Infrastructure powerhouse L.M. Ericsson became the latest network maker to try its hand in the content arena. Ericsson, the world's largest equipment manufacturer, announced a partnership with Turner Broadcasting System...

MVNO market headed for change-Juniper.(Metrics)
February 12, 2007... Consumer mobile virtual network operators are heading for a major shake up, according to a new report. Voice-only MVNOs will continue to be squeezed for revenue as their more popular counterparts focus on the growing market for mobile...

Intercasting app ties multiple social networking sites.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Byline: MATT KAPKO With the ever-expanding mobile entertainment space in full view, wireless carriers are working feverishly to bring their customers enhanced access to the social networking sites of their choosing. There's money to be...

Hedgehogging.(Briefs)
February 12, 2007... hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube. So last week we pointed out that Steve Jobs must think his lawyers are smarter than Cisco's lawyers since Apple is using the...

Ringtone provider Moderati charts new direction.(News)
February 12, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS Content aggregators are fleeing the ringtone dance floor and scrambling to develop different types of content and build new business models. The latest vendor to read the writing on the wall is Moderati Inc., a...

23 European carriers, content firms team to counter child access to porn.(News)
February 12, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS European carriers are joining forces in an effort to prevent children from accessing adult content on their mobile phones. Vodafone Group plc, Deutsche Telekom AG and Orange Group SA were among 23 operators and...

Jobs, RIAA tit for tat on DRM underscores fragmented music biz.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Byline: COLIN GIBBS The fight against digital rights management gained an unlikely backer as Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs called for record companies to offer music without anti-piracy software. Jobs, in an open letter posted on Apple's...

9 years ago this month.(News)
February 12, 2007... Iridium L.L.C., which intended to offer global voice, paging and fax services via low-earth-orbiting satellite starting in 1998, won its first customer contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. The agreement called for the military to buy a...

Verizon, Sprint build out Rev. A.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Hot on the heels of its first CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A market launches, Verizon Wireless expanded the availability of the high-speed data service to more than a half-dozen states. The carrier's new Rev. A markets include portions of...

5 Helio hopes to count 250,000 customers by end of this year; Launches music service to fuel growth.(Upfront)
February 12, 2007... Byline: KELLY HILL Mobile virtual network operator Helio L.L.C. said last week that it expects to reach the 100,000-customer mark by early in the second quarter and launched a full-track music download service to compete with similar...

Cingular braves uncharted IMS waters.(Spotlight)
February 12, 2007... Byline: KELLY HILL Cingular Wireless L.L.C. plans to deploy its Video Share product in the first half of this year, in what will constitute its first deployed IMS-supported application. The deployment of the Internet Protocol Multimedia...

Bush budget tallies $21 billion from spectrum over next 5 years; White House also seeks to extend auction authority beyond 2011, supports reverse auctions for USF.(News)
February 12, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA President Bush's 2008 budget plan would allow the Federal Communications Commission to assess fees on un-auctioned wireless licenses and to auction domestic satellite licenses, including future mobile satellite...

Nortel to cut 2,900 jobs, aims to save $400M.(News)
February 12, 2007... Byline: MATT KAPKO Nortel Networks Ltd. an-nounced it plans to cut 2,900 jobs and shift an additional 1,000 positions to "lower-cost'' locations, moves designed to boost the network-equipment maker's profits. Nortel said the 9-percent...

Texas Instruments: hitching its wagon to wireless star.(News)(Company overview)
February 12, 2007... Byline: PHIL CARSON Texas Instruments Inc., established in 1930 to develop oil exploration technology, has grown into a predominantly wireless-based powerhouse with $14.3 billion in annual revenue last year. Its main customer for its...

LG turns to Ericsson for 3G mobile platform.(News)
February 12, 2007... Ericsson Mobile Platforms AB and LG Electronics Co. Ltd. announced that LG will license an HSPA platform from Ericsson for "ultra-small,'' mass-market 3G phones. Ericsson's U360 platform includes a reference design, platform software,...

More cuts ahead at Alcatel-Lucent.(News)
February 12, 2007... Alcatel-Lucent announced plans to cut 3,500 jobs in addition to the 9,000 job cuts it previously announced. The French-American company also posted a loss of almost $800 million in its fourth quarter. Interestingly, the company sought to...

Indian market boom expected to continue.(Metrics)
February 12, 2007... As India's economy continues to boom so too does the mobile-phone market. More than 100 million Indians are currently subscribed to wireless telephone service and that group is expected to grow to 265.2 million over the next three years,...

Stockwatch: February 1 - February 8.(Metrics)
February 12, 2007... 3 tables: Stockwatch: February 1 - February 8 * Top Gainers * Top Losers * 3 graphs: Market Diary * Indices * 90-day RCR Index: see print copy.

RCRnews.com ? of the week.(News)
February 12, 2007... Bluetooth popularity Do you use Bluetooth? 69%: yes 28%: no 3%: what is bluetooth? Visit RCRNEWS.COM to answer this week's question.

MVNOs test variety of biz models.
February 19, 2007... Byline: KELLY HILL As the flurry of mobile virtual network operators that launched in 2006 start to settle in, some are proclaiming customer gains with stand-alone business models-but MVNOs are also taking alternate tracks to promote their...

Samsung expands portfolio at T-Mobile USA.(Upfront)
February 19, 2007... A new flip phone from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. landed at T-Mobile USA Inc. T-Mobile USA is selling Samsung's new "Stripe'' for $50. The credit card-sized phone accommodates the carrier's MyFaves program with instant-, text- and...

Wi-Fi chip market to top 1B by 2008.(Metrics)
February 19, 2007... The Wi-Fi semiconductor market reached nearly 200 million units shipped last year, according to new figures from ABI Research. The industry has sold more than 500 million chipsets cumulatively. The study predicts the industry will surpass...

...Etc...(Briefs)
February 19, 2007... Bring on the cast from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Cartoon Network New Media announced the development of CallToons, a mobile application that allows cellphone users to select their favorite Cartoon Network or Adult Swim character...

Florida to study wireless for warning systems.(News)
February 19, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) wants to examine alternative emergency warning systems-including those based on wireless technology-in the aftermath of the Feb. 2 tornado that killed 20 people. The Florida Division...

PUBLIC PRESSURE; House panel questions agencies on delay in public-safety grants.(News)
February 19, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The Bush administration shows signs of internal division over a $1 billion public-safety wireless interoperability grant program, with implementation delays undercutting post-9/11efforts to improve communications...

Vodafone shells out $11.1B for Indian carrier.(Upfront)
February 19, 2007... Byline: KELLY HILL International operator Vodafone Group plc has agreed to acquire a majority interest in Indian mobile operator Hutchison Essar Ltd. for $11.1 billion-however, whether a major shareholder will cooperate is unclear. ...

Cox offers bundle via Sprint Nextel.(News)
February 19, 2007... Cox Communications has launched converged services two markets in partnership with Sprint Nextel Corp., offering consumers in Arizona and San Diego a bundle that includes wireless service and access to some cable content. Sprint Nextel has...

European mobile TV users turn off more often than not.(Metrics)
February 19, 2007... Former users of mobile TV and video services in Europe outnumber current users by more than 19 percent, according to new research from M:Metrics. Users cited price, reliability and quality issues as the main reasons for not continuing with...

Wireless at forefront of $10M effort to fight AIDS in Africa.(Spotlight)
February 19, 2007... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Mobile-phone firms and the U.S. government are leading a $10 million global effort to leverage wireless technology to fight HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases in 10 African countries. "The explosive spread of...