RCR Wireless News articles from July 2003

RCR Wireless News archives from July 2003

Siemens targets Eastern Europe with new phones; MOSCOW --.(News)
July 7, 2003... -Siemens released three new phones the company said are aimed specifically at Eastern European users. The company said its new entry-level A52 mobile phone is aimed at first-time buyers in countries with low market penetration, such as the...

Verizon charges Nextel illegally tested walkie-talkie service.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: DAN MEYER Intrigue and espionage are not relegated to summer's blockbuster movie season. Verizon Wireless filed a lawsuit late last month against Nextel Communications Inc. claiming the Reston, Va.-based carrier used a series of...

Pickering turns down CTIA post.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER It is back to square one in the search for the next president of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) turned down the job last week. "It was the hardest...

FCC clarifies LNP issues.(News)
July 7, 2003... The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau clarified that wireless carriers will not be liable for 911 information that is not properly relayed to public-safety answering points while a customer is porting a telephone number from wireline to...

Carriers make progress on universal short codes.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: MIKE DANO Executives from the nation's largest wireless carriers met last week in an effort to hammer out the details of a universal short code system, according to industry sources. Future meetings have been scheduled with an...

Nextel, Sprint settle Mo. billing dispute.
July 7, 2003... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA, HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon late last week reached a settlement with Nextel Communications Inc. and Sprint PCS that ends a wireless consumer lawsuit that was to have gone to trial in...

Industry to forge standards for over-the-air upgrades.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Major carriers, network solution providers and handset manufacturers in North America and Europe have come together to discuss how to form a common standard to update software in wireless devices over the air without...

E911 service up in air in North Carolina after legislature raids fund.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER Congress returns to work this week to a brewing controversy over funding for first responders and what to do when states raid wireless enhanced 911 funds like North Carolina did on June 30. The action by...

WRC OKs more spectrum at 5 GHz for unlicensed.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA U.S. officials in Geneva declared victory at the close of the World Radiocommunication Conference last week, securing key spectrum agreements to foster deployment of unlicensed wireless technologies, airline...

Late News.
July 7, 2003... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA FCC, industry, hearing-aid groups reach terms on compatibility issues The Federal Communications Commission this week is expected to approve new rules requiring certain handsets sold by mobile-phone carriers to...

Trash or treasure? Industry takes on wireless spam.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY Telemarketing calls and junk mail have evolved. Now that consumers are used to dodging junk e-mail and Internet pop-up ads on their desktops and wireless messaging and mobile marketing are becoming more mainstream,...

As penetration rises, emerging markets look attractive.(news)
July 7, 2003... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Turning wireless services from novelty to normal has engaged wireless players focusing on the emerging markets in the world. While advanced economies of North America, Western Europe and Japan grapple with...

U.K. firm bypasses carriers to offer porn.(News)
July 7, 2003... CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom-A pornographic newspaper in the United Kingdom said it has managed to develop a business around wireless porn by sending adult content to mobile-phone owners-bypassing the standard carrier sales channel. Users pay...

Midwest Wireless reaches 300K users.(Business)
July 7, 2003... Regional wireless operator Midwest Wireless said it has reached the 300,000-subscriber milestone. "It's just amazing that what started about 13 years ago as an idea for connecting rural Minnesota has grown to all this,'' said Dennis...

AT&TW may cut 1,000 jobs.(Business)
July 7, 2003... AT&T Wireless Services Inc. is expected to cut about 1,000 jobs, or approximately 3 percent of its current work force, this year as part of the carrier's plans to consolidate its national operations into its Redmond, Wash., and New York/New...

New York to require phone recycling.(News)
July 7, 2003... The New York State Assembly has passed a bill requiring the recycling of wireless phones. The state Legislature unanimously passed the bill 147-0. The measure would require manufacturers and retailers that offer take-back programs to...

Nextel snags WorldCom wireless assets in court.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Nextel Communications Inc. came out of nowhere to win the auction of bankrupt WorldCom Inc.'s wireless assets with a $144 million bid, more than doubling the original offer by BellSouth Corp. two months ago. The...

SAS to offer in-flight wireless Internet.(News)
July 7, 2003... Scandinavian Airlines signed a contract with Connexion by Boeing to install wireless broadband onboard its aircraft. Installation will begin in February 2004, with SAS's entire long-haul fleet to be equipped a year later, the company said....

World News.(Briefs)
July 7, 2003... LITHUANIA Motorola Inc. has said that Baltic States wireless operator Omnitel in Lithuania is the first to commercially deploy its new-generation base station, the Horizon 11 base transceiver station for GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks. The initial...

Fujitsu, GoAmerica illustrate highs, lows of selling to enterprise.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: MIKE DANO The tightened economy seems to be pushing the wireless enterprise market in opposite directions. On one hand, big-name technology players are bolstering their wireless enterprise efforts, hoping to entice new business...

OSS more complex as content proliferates.(Focus)
July 7, 2003... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE As next-generation speeds make their way into the wireless world, operators face the challenge that the resulting deluge of traffic on their networks may be too much to monitor, setting the stage for a potential...

Carrier stocks surge in 2Q as they get ready to report financials.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: DAN MEYER Following a competitive first quarter that witnessed the wireless industry meeting modest customer addition expectations, moderating customer churn results and a drop in customer revenue, analysts and investors are...

T-Mobile deletes games from Sidekick.
July 7, 2003... Byline: MIKE DANO T-Mobile USA Inc. has remotely erased four games on all of its Sidekick color-screen devices sold-a move that highlights the Sidekick's unique technology but also the potential pitfalls of such a service. T-Mobile...

Business Briefs.(Briefs)
July 7, 2003... Wireless operator MetroPCS Inc. said it has begun taking delivery of Nokia Corp.'s 2270 handset and will be the first carrier to offer the cdma2000 1x phone to customers signing up for the carrier's unlimited local calling rate plan. Retail...

Nokia inks CDMA phone contracts with regionals.(Business)
July 7, 2003... -Nokia Corp. announced two new CDMA phone deals, moves that follow on the company's promise to expand its CDMA phone business, but ones that do not involve big-name CDMA carriers. Nokia said it will sell its advanced 1xRTT-capable 3586i...

LBS firms try to map out enterprise space.(Business)
July 7, 2003... Byline: MIKE DANO Laurent Vermot-Gauchy wants to introduce a new acronym into the location services market-ELS, or enterprise location-centric services. As head of location-services company Maporama, Vermot-Gauchy is looking to sell...

At 94, Radio Club of America still active.(News)
July 7, 2003... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY Approaching its 95th birthday, the Radio Club of America continues to be a source of inspiration and education to its members, whose ongoing contributions make this living history of radio communications possible. ...

Cingular gets an EDGE.
July 7, 2003... Byline: DAN MEYER In a move many industry analysts say eventually will level the wireless data playing field, Cingular Wireless L.L.C. launched commercial EDGE services in Indianapolis, allowing the carrier to offer data speeds it claims...

MmO2 boasts strong data growth.(News)
July 7, 2003... European operator MmO2 offered details on uptake of its mobile data services. The company said it has 643,000 GPRS users and 60,000 active customers for its recently launched O2 Active service, which offers ring tones, multimedia messaging...

XO buys part of Global Crossing's debt.(Business)
July 7, 2003... XO Communications Inc. announced it now owns approximately $790 million of Global Crossing's $2.214 billion debt after $495 million of Global Crossing senior secured loans were tendered to XO yesterday. The news follows XO's fourth proposed...

Verizon Wireless launches 1x in Colorado.(Business)
July 7, 2003... Verizon Wireless launched its cdma2000 1x-based Express Network service in Colorado, providing customers with access to the wireless data network at average speeds between 40 and 60 kilobits per second and peak speeds of up to 144 kbps. ...

Verizon to launch LG color phone with MMS support.(News)
July 7, 2003... Verizon Wireless is set to launch a color-screen mobile phone from LG Electronics that includes an integrated digital camera and support for multimedia messaging services, according to the carrier's Web site. The device is notable because...

Letter.(Letters)
July 7, 2003... Push-to-talk phrase older than Nextel Dear Editor, I enjoy reading your editorials with each RCR Wireless News and hope all continue to write your "straight talk'' columns. Nextel Communications Inc. is apparently trying to gain...

Half of people rude on cell phones, but only 15% admit it.(News)
July 7, 2003... A new Harris Interactive survey, shows 86 percent of wireless phone subscribers believe they rarely or never engage in discourteous cell-phone use, yet 50 percent believe Americans are generally discourteous on cell phones. More than half...

What it's worth?(News)
July 7, 2003... As wireless carriers implement data services, two different types of billing will emerge-transport and content-based billing. In a transport-based billing model, end users are charged for network-centric metrics, like bytes or minutes, whereas...

Video over Wi-Fi capabilities to be on store shelves by fall.(Business)
July 7, 2003... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Video over Wi-Fi is about seeing a picture as you like it, anywhere in the home, a fancy new technology to weave into a wireless electronic lightness of being. Both couch potatoes and their restless counterparts...

Opinion.
July 7, 2003... Byline: Tracy Ford Carrier camp FADE IN: Scene: Wireless carrier summer camp. The cast: The NEW CAMP COUNSELOR (called NCC for now). TOM WHEELER, the old camp counselor who is leaving. ASSORTED WIRELESS CARRIERS. NCC:...

Opinion.
July 7, 2003... A Prayer for Killian Owen Breath deep and set aside for a moment all those towering wireless issues that get elevated to life-and-death status in the business day. That's what Clay Owen, Cingular Wireless senior director of media...

Palm files PalmSource IPO details.(Business)
July 14, 2003... Palm Inc. filed the details of its planned PalmSource initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission, promising the IPO would happen some time this fall. The planned spin-off of Palm's operating system business will...

Continental to relax phone restrictions-slightly.(Business)
July 14, 2003... Continental Airlines announced its passengers will be able to switch on their mobile phones sooner after landing than currently permitted, a move that follows similar announcements from other airline carriers. Continental said its...

Camera-phone maker to ban camera-phone use in factories.(Global Wireless)
July 14, 2003... The world's No. 3 mobile-phone maker Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will ban the use of camera phones in its semiconductor, flat-panel and electronics factories, according to local reports. Samsung officials were not immediately available for...

Philips, Intel, TI announce alliances.(News)
July 14, 2003... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Joint ventures and alliances continue to tie ideas and initiatives together across various tiers of the wireless industry from infrastructure to Wi-Fi to semiconductors. Asian companies play crucial roles in the...

Chip company announcements continue.(News)
July 14, 2003... Underlining industry optimism about a rebound in the chip sector, companies are staking out their product positions with a view to differentiating themselves. Intersil Corp. introduced three 1.4 GHz current feedback amplifiers for...

AirCell steps closer to offering phone service on airlines.(Business)
July 14, 2003... AirCell Inc. said it moved one step closer toward offering mobile-phone services aboard aircraft with a new patent from the U.S. Patent Office. The company said the patent marks a key step toward commercializing its service, and it will work to...

Verizon begins picture-messaging service.(Business)
July 14, 2003... Verizon Wireless entered the camera phone race with a new picture-messaging service and advanced phone from LG Mobile Phones. The move was expected, as RCR Wireless News reported on the forthcoming phone earlier this month. Verizon...

Sports link-ups winning proposition for carriers.(Focus)
July 14, 2003... Byline: DAN MEYER With a competitive environment similar to a high-profile sporting event, an increasing number of wireless carriers have recently thrown their marketing and sponsorship efforts behind sporting events and venues. ...

Consumer electronics WLAN chip demand will drive market growth.(Business)
July 14, 2003... Worldwide sales revenues from wireless local area network chipsets will reach $1.7 billion by 2007, according to new research from technology analyst firm CIR Inc., a huge leap from the $938 million WLAN chipsets will garner in 2003. CIR...

European mobile portal use on the increase.(Global Wireless)
July 14, 2003... More than 42 million consumers in Western Europe will use mobile portals by 2007, bringing the market's value to more than $1 billion, according to research from IDC. "The growth of mobile portals represents an important development area,...

Studies predict strong gaming, data opportunities.(Business)
July 14, 2003... The worldwide opportunity for mobile data and wireless games is huge, according to two new studies, but wireless carriers will need to accurately price and market the applications to take advantage of the market. According to The Research...

Western Wireless to restructure debt.(Business)
July 14, 2003... Western Wireless Corp. said it intends to sell $600 million worth of senior unsecured notes with maturities in 2010 and 2013 to qualified institutional buyers in an unregistered offering. The carrier said it will use net proceeds from the...

Fujitsu joins Symbian OS camp with DoCoMo phone.(News)
July 14, 2003... Operating company Symbian claimed another win with the Fujitsu F2102V phone for NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s high-speed FOMA network. The mobile phone includes two digital cameras for video capabilities, as well as authentication for mobile payments,...

AT&T Wireless names branding agency.(News)
July 14, 2003... AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said it has named San Francisco-based advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to handle the carrier's corporate branding advertising. AT&T Wireless added that Ogilvy & Mather will continue to take the...

Korean government may regulate camera phones.(Late News)
July 14, 2003... A group of Korea's major mobile-phone makers, including heavyweights Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics, are protesting a possible government plan that would regulate the use of camera phones in Korea, according to the Korea...

EDS signs enterprise agreement with Orange.(News)
July 14, 2003... EDS said it signed an agreement with Orange plc for a set of managed mobility products for enterprise customers. The two companies will jointly deliver the EDS Extended Connected Office service, which brings secure data to mobile devices at a...

Device makers weigh in on warranties.(News)
July 14, 2003... Byline: MIKE DANO While the industry looks to foster the growth of third-party software, many of the industry's advanced phone makers will not replace a ruined device if that same third-party software caused the problem. "It hasn't...

Japanese operators update multimedia portfolios.(News)
July 14, 2003... Two Japanese operators announced additions to their multimedia messaging handset portfolios. KDDI said it released the A1304T manufactured by Toshiba Corp. and the A1401K from Kyocera Corp. for its 1x service. Both handsets support...

Industry needs WLNP clarification.(News)
July 14, 2003... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER When the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association initially reacted to a clarification letter sent by the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau regarding wireless local number portability, it...

Supreme Court ruling may impact health lawsuits.
July 14, 2003... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA A Supreme Court ruling has thrown into question whether brain cancer and health-related consumer lawsuits currently pending in federal court should be sent back to state court, a venue mobile-phone carriers and...

Victory to leave NTIA even as agency gets more funding.
July 14, 2003... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER Just as Nancy Victory decides to leave the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the House Appropriations commerce subcommittee gave her a gift. It decided to transfer the money to pay...

Nextel agrees to protect WorldCom educational leases.
July 14, 2003... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA WorldCom Inc. appears to have headed off a challenge to the $144 million bankruptcy sale of its fixed wireless assets to Nextel Communications Inc. by agreeing to protect spectrum leases with educational institutions...

Calif. driving/dialing legislation dies.(News)
July 14, 2003... A bill to ban driver use of handheld cell phones in California unexpectedly died in the state legislature after a Senate amendment so watered down the measure as to prompt the bill's chief sponsor to seek its defeat. The Assembly in May...

UbiquiTel moves back to Nasdaq National Market.(Business)
July 14, 2003... Reversing a trend of market delistings by its fellow Sprint PCS affiliates, UbiquiTel Inc. reported beginning July 10 its stock will move from the Nasdaq SmallCap Market to the Nasdaq National Market. UbiquiTel said the transfer was...

GSMA issues call for MMS interoperability.(News)
July 14, 2003... The GSM Association issued a call to the industry to speed the interoperability of multimedia messaging services across the world. The group said it is working with the Open Mobile Alliance, the 3G Partnership Project and the vendor...

Business Briefs.(Briefs)
July 14, 2003... AT&T Wireless Services Inc. signed a GSM/GPRS roaming agreement with Western Wireless Corp. that will enable AT&T Wireless customers to roam onto Western Wireless' planned GSM/GPRS network in portions of 17 western states. Western Wireless...

UTStarcom bucks the trend in down market.(Global Wireless)
July 14, 2003... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE UTStarcom Inc. is one of few wireless vendors walking with a swagger these days. A relatively new player in the field, UTStarcom offers a technology known as Personal Access System, which contrasts with cellular...

Challengers take aim at RIM.(Business)
July 14, 2003... Byline: MIKE DANO The battle over wireless e-mail seems to be heating up, with various players looking to shoot down the industry's top star, Research In Motion Ltd. Indeed, RIM rival Good Technologies Inc. today made a series of...

AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless ask court to overturn FCC's MSS ruling.(News)
July 14, 2003... AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Verizon Wireless last week asked a federal appeals court here to overturn a Federal Communications Commission ruling permitting mobile satellite service operators to use their frequencies to provide land-based...

Three new studies examine hot-spot potential.(Business)
July 14, 2003... The number of worldwide hot spots will grow from 28,000 in 2003 to 160,000 in 2007, according to analyst firm ABI, in spite of challenges in the market like achieving interoperability between hot spots and attracting users. ABI suggests...

Intel strides deeper into wireless with chip news.(Business)
July 14, 2003... Byline: DAN MEYER Intel Corp. is delving deeper into the wireless space having announced plans last week to partner with nationwide wireless operator AT&T Wireless Services Inc. to distribute both wide area network and wireless local area...

FCC requires 50% of phones be hearing-aid compatible.
July 14, 2003... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The Federal Communications Commission last week voted to require some digital mobile phones to be compatible with hearing aids under a phased-in approach in which industry by early 2008 must make half of all handsets...

Another strong quarter for phone sales expected.(Business)
July 14, 2003... Byline: MIKE DANO Analysts expect another strong quarter for mobile-phone sales, as the industry's leaders continue to augment their businesses, and struggling players continue to suffer. "We maintain our view that the handset market...

TransDimension solution enables data transfer between devices sans PC.(News)
July 14, 2003... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Master-slave relationships are most commonly experienced in the realm of humans, but technology has appropriated them into a metaphor of the interaction among devices. Universal Serial Bus, otherwise known as USB,...

For the love of the game.(Opinion)
July 14, 2003... Byline: Jeffrey Silva Somehow the beauty contest for the most prestigious, highest-paying lobbying job in the wireless industry became something much more. In the end, the competition was not between Washington insiders for the...

House anti-spam bill to include wireless.(News)
July 14, 2003... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER When the House Commerce Committee takes up anti-spam legislation this week, language will be included to combat wireless spam, Rep. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) told RCR Wireless News following a hearing on spam...

Who will pay for and who will profit from WLNP?(News)
July 14, 2003... Byline: DAN MEYER Wireless carriers continued to reveal their cost-recovery plans associated with the government-mandated Nov. 24 implementation of wireless local number portability, though some industry observers are beginning to question...

JP Morgan calls Vodafone 'overvalued,' reduces rating.(Global Wireless)
July 14, 2003... JP Morgan reduced its rating on Vodafone Group plc from "overweight'' to "underweight,'' noting the company's stock is overvalued among its peer group and it expects Vodafone to begin reporting reduced margins and lower market share. "We...

EC expands MobilCom probe.(Global Wireless)
July 14, 2003... The European Commission widened its inquiry proceedings into German company MobilCom, specifically looking at $157 million in loans paid to MobilCom, covered by guarantees issued by the German federal government and the Land of...

New shoes.(Opinion)
July 14, 2003... Byline: Tina Eichner Samsung will not allow camera phones in its camera-phone factories. Wow. Here we have this great technological innovation... the camera phone... and a new great problem for the constantly evolving wireless...

ACT authorizes common stock increase.(Business)
July 14, 2003... NEW YORK-Advanced Communications Technologies Inc. said its shareholders have increased its authorized common stock to 5 billion shares. The company markets a software-defined radio system known as SpectruCell.

Start-up Extend America brings Nextel service to rural markets.(News)
July 14, 2003... Byline: DAN MEYER Rural portions of the Midwest will soon be able to sign up for iDEN-based wireless services following an agreement announced last week between wireless start-up Extend America Inc. and Nextel Communications Inc., allowing...

UWB to overtake WLAN, CDMA.(News)
July 14, 2003... Ultra-wideband (UWB) products will inevitably dominate the high data rate wireless marketplace, according to recent analysis from West Technology Research Solutions L.L.C., which estimates annual shipments of UWB chipsets in the communications...

Wi-Fi Alliance certifies eight 802.11g products.(News)
July 14, 2003... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE The Wi-Fi Alliance said it has certified eight 802.11g products from six companies based on the specifications of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The companies include Atheros Inc., Broadcom...

T-Mobile offers route planning via mobiles.(Global Wireless)
July 14, 2003... T-Mobile Deutschland launched a new navigation service for automobile drivers that integrates several technologies. The service offers route planning via mobile phones using Bluetooth and global positioning system technologies, along with...

Which U.S. carrier will report the most 2Q subscriber adds?(News)
July 14, 2003... Most respondents to rcrnews.com's online poll for the week of July 7 said T-Mobile will see the most second-quarter subscriber adds. See related story on page 14. For this week's poll and the latest news and analysis, visit rcrnews.com.