RCR Wireless News articles from June 2004

RCR Wireless News archives from June 2004

Test companies benefit from network improvement demands.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY Validation of increased efforts by carriers to improve the quality of service of their still-expanding wireless networks recently came in the form of ramped up announcements, including financial and product news, from...

Ofcom hits U.K. carriers with price reductions.(Global Wireless)
June 7, 2004... U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom said U.K. mobile carriers must reduce their mobile termination rates, in a further blow to the highly competitive market, which has already been forced to lower the prices of terminating calls on wireless networks....

DotPhoto announces printing service for camera phones.(Business)
June 7, 2004... DotPhoto Inc. introduced a new service for camera-phone users that the company said would allow them to quickly and easily print camera-phone photos. Under the new Click & Deliver service, camera-phone users can take photos and e-mail them...

Business Briefs.(Briefs)
June 7, 2004... AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said the Securities and Exchange Commission has selected the carrier to provide 800 Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerry devices for the government agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters and 11 regional and district...

Carriers improve inventory management in 1Q.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Byline: KRISTEN BECKMAN Wireless carriers made improvements in inventory management during the first quarter, according to a new study by InfoTech Marketing. While total cost of equipment sales rose, inventory levels fell by $195...

Verizon purchases Ark. spectrum.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Verizon Wireless purchased a 10-megahertz section of a C-block PCS license from American Wireless License Group L.L.C. covering 1.1 million potential customers in the Little Rock and Pine Bluff, Ark., basic trading areas for $7.75 million in...

Plan to use auction revenues for first-responders withdrawn.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER A plan to use auction revenues to fund grants for first-responder interoperable communications was withdrawn Thursday, allowing the House Commerce Committee to pass the Faster and Smarter Funding for First...

California bill would put retailers at forefront of recycling solution.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: JOE TRUINI Legislation establishing the nation's first cell phone recycling law has passed the California State Assembly and now advances to the Senate. The law would require any entity selling mobile phones to take them back and...

Take broadband back.(Opinion)
June 7, 2004... Byline: Jeffrey Silva By coincidence, the hotel hosting last week's Wireless Communications Association conference was also home to a three-day rally of the ReDefeat Bush crowd. Meeting rooms of the two diverse meetings were practically...

Report: Users want wireless headsets, PTT.(News)
June 7, 2004... A new report by Strategy Analytics found high interest among cell-phone users in cordless headsets and push-to-talk connectivity. The report, "US Cellular Device Market Dynamics: End User Interest,'' found 54 percent of respondents want...

Symbol's former executives indicted.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Symbol Technologies Inc. and several of the company's former executives, including its former president and chief executive officer, have been officially charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with securities fraud and related...

Leap names Freeman CEO of Cricket.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Leap Wireless International Inc. named William Freeman chief executive officer of its Cricket Communications Inc. subsidiary, where he will oversee the carrier's corporate and local business operations. Freeman will also assume a seat on Leap's...

Global Signal returns to public market with IPO.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY Wireless tower owner Global Signal Inc., formerly known as Pinnacle Holdings, has returned to the public market with an initial public offering of 7 million shares of common stock priced at $18 per share. Shares of...

Chipmakers sample EV-DV product in Nokia collaboration.(News)
June 7, 2004... DALLAS-Two marquee chipmakers Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics said they are sampling what they describe as the first standard CDMA2000 1x EV-DV solution. The chips will be embedded in cell phones, personal digital assistants and...

McCaw unveils cautious wireless broadband plans.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Craig McCaw, who made a fortune in the cellular industry before stumbling in satellite and local telephone ventures, last week unveiled plans to leverage wireless technology to compete against dominant telephone and...

The Crystal Ball.(Opinion)
June 7, 2004... Byline: Tina Eichner I spoke last week with Steve Lamont and Al Delattre, both senior partners at Accenture, on the challenges companies face bringing mobility to the enterprise. The two have developed five predictions on "how the most...

FCC denies Qualcomm extension for auction voucher.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau said Thursday that it had turned down Qualcomm Inc.'s extension request to use the remaining 5 percent of its auction discount voucher. "We do not agree with...

FCC trying to 'get it right' at 2.5 GHz.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The Federal Communications Commission, besieged by educators who oppose any auction of their spectrum, is expected this week to approve a new 2.5 GHz plan designed to foster wireless broadband deployment and...

Nortel delays earnings in latest financial setback.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE As it continues to grapple with accounting woes, Nortel Networks Ltd. dashed market expectations last week by failing to announce its second-quarter results. The inaction drove down the company's stock by 6.1...

Expanded BREW UI deepens capabilities; Tech leader's show starts in San Diego.
June 7, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO In preparation for its developer's conference this week in San Diego, Qualcomm Inc. today announced it has broadened the scope of its BREW technology far beyond the confines of games, ring tones and other simple...

Late News: North Korea bans cell phones.(Late News)
June 7, 2004... North Korea has apparently banned the use of mobile phones, according to international news reports. Details on the secretive country's ban were unclear. The country banned the use of mobile phones in late May, according to reports quoting...

Barton proposes Berlin-style subsidies for faster DTV transition.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER The chairman of the House Commerce Committee said last week he wants his committee to consider a "Berlin'' subsidy plan to end the transition to digital TV so broadcasters can return spectrum to be...

Downgrade dims RIM's recent shine.(News)
June 7, 2004... Research In Motion Ltd.'s stellar growth was dimmed slightly due to a downgrade from Bank of America Securities, which forced the company's stock down from around $120 per share to about $115 per share. RIM's shares were trading at about...

Cingular merger deal scores, loses points on different issues.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA Cingular Wireless L.L.C's proposed $41 billion purchase of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. picked up support from a leading disability organization, but the deal continues to be dogged by a group that claims Cingular...

NAD report requests T-Mobile limit claims.
June 7, 2004... Byline: DAN MEYER In a rare review of wireless advertising claims, T-Mobile USA Inc. received a modest slap on the wrist last week as The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus Inc. found that while most of...

Technology potential still awaits fulfillment.(Focus)
June 7, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE The new wireless gizmos may be humming with new applications, but promises keep outweighing results. CDMA, the technology leading the march toward a full third-generation era, continues to confront challenges. ...

Price is key differentiator for business sale.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO Paul Neilson, senior vice president of technology services for Monster Worldwide, doesn't really care about latency statistics for push-to-talk services, kilobit-per-second measurements of high-speed wireless networks or...

Global carriers push forward with varying PTT technology.(Global Wireless)
June 7, 2004... Countering a similar offering by rival wireless provider Tata Teleservices, Indian wireless carrier Hutchison Essar launched Fastmobile Inc.'s push2talk service, which combines walkie-talkie services with instant messaging, short message...

Cellular South expands 1x network, makes data plans.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Rural wireless provider Cellular South said it has added more than 100 cell sites since last September as part of the planned expansion of its CDMA2000 1x-based network, which is an overlay of its legacy TDMA network. The carrier noted that...

Motorola to promote first megapixel phone with online film.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Motorola said it will sell its first megapixel camera phone in the United States starting this summer. The company also said it has teamed with Hollywood director Scott Sanders to develop an online "advertainment'' film promoting the phone. ...

Tropos upgrade will allow bigger Wi-Fi networks.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY Tropos Networks today unveiled an upgraded Version 3 of its system, a feat that will allow the company to target bigger and more densely populated metro areas with its widescale Wi-Fi solution. By providing...

Market to feel minimal impact from Cometa demise.(News)
June 7, 2004... Byline: DAN MEYER Cometa Networks' recent announcement that it was suspending operations due to a lack of capital is expected to have a minimal impact on the deployment of wireless local area networks by mobile operators as the Wi-Fi...

IMS will provide environment for delivering converged services.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE The advent of the push-to-talk technology has turned the eyes of many wireless players to an underlying technology known as Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems. And the hype PTT enjoys has tended to play down...

Infrastructure Awards.(Wireless Metrics)
June 7, 2004... Following are mobile infrastructure contracts announced in May: Alcatel China With Shannxi Mobile to expand and upgrade the existing GSM network to GPRS in six cities. Value: $10 million Europe With BT as the prime...

Handset-locking lawsuit expected.
June 7, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA A consumer group today plans to bring a lawsuit against AT&T Wireless Services Inc., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. in California state court, alleging the firms illegally prevent customers from...

Nokia updates camera-phone portfolio.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Nokia Corp. continues to increase its camera-phone presence with the release of its first megapixel device and the introduction of a new low-end camera phone. Separately, Research In Motion Ltd. announced a new device for Rogers Wireless in...

PalmSource loses revenue with Sony's Clie shutdown.(Business)
June 7, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO The first major casualty in the declining market for personal digital assistants appears to be Sony Corp., which said it will shut down its Palm OS-based Clie PDA business in the United States and Europe. The move is a...

Stock Watch: May 27 - June 3.(Wireless Metrics)
June 7, 2004... table: Stock Watch: May 27 - June 3 * 3 graphics: Market diary * Indices * RCR Index: see print copy.

Customer contract expiration horizon.(Wireless Metrics)
June 7, 2004... Wireless operators have used the recently enacted wireless local number portability mandate to entice customers to sign long-term contracts or extend existing agreements with aggressive rate plans or handset subsidies to varying effect....

Top selling PDAs/smartphones.(Wireless Metrics)
June 7, 2004... April sales showed smart phones rising on the list, according to Swedish carrying case manufacturer Krusell International. The list is based on the number of pieces of model-specific PDA and smart phone cases ordered from Krusell during...

AirPath Wi-Fi business grows.(Business)
June 14, 2004... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY Companies, venturing to figure out a successful long-term business plan in a market that has yet to be fully defined or to produce predictable revenues, continue to precariously appear on the Wi-Fi scene. ...

WLAN infrastructure market sees steady growth.(Wireless Metrics)
June 14, 2004... Worldwide wireless local area network hardware for the first quarter of this year trumped the fourth quarter of 2003 by 2 percent with a revenue of $696.4 million, according to Infonetics Research. The industry will witness another 2-percent...

Sidekick user petitions for synch technology.(Business)
June 14, 2004... A Sidekick device fan has set up an online petition asking Sidekick vendor T-Mobile USA Inc. and creator Danger Inc. to offer synchronization technology to Sidekick users. Sidekick user Levi Wallach launched the online petition in an...

Rural youth potential goldmine.(News)
June 14, 2004... Byline: DAN MEYER High-profile nationwide carriers and niche-focused mobile virtual network operators are not the only wireless service providers that stand to benefit from specific marketing geared toward the highly desirable youth...

Western Comm. launches iDEN in S.D.(News)
June 14, 2004... Western Communications Inc. in conjunction with Airtel Montana said it has launched an integrated wireless service in Rapid City and the Black Hills of South Dakota using Motorola Inc.'s iDEN and Harmony technologies. The service provides...

Intel to deploy WiMax technology in China.(News)
June 14, 2004... Intel Corp. said it has signed an agreement to deploy WiMax broadband wireless technology with the Dalian and Chengdu Chinese municipal governments.

Nextel runs into SouthernLinc as it sweetens 800 MHz pot.
June 14, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER Nextel Communications Inc.'s offer to give more spectrum to the government to solve public-safety interference at 800 MHz has brought to light a lesser-known class of licensees that are hopping mad. ...

Telenor orders EDGE network.(Global Wireless)
June 14, 2004... Norwegian mobile carrier Telenor Mobil said it is upgrading its GSM network with EDGE technology, although it emphasized that EDGE is not a replacement for its ongoing UMTS rollout. "By combining the two technologies, we will more quickly...

Music, wireless intersect to tune in on revenues.(Focus)
June 14, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO "You just heard `Turn off the lights' by Frank de Jojo.'' For $1 per message, wireless users in the United States can identify virtually any song they hear, whether it's on the radio, in a supermarket or at a club....

FCC carves out 200 MHz for broadband deployment.(News)
June 14, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA The Federal Communications Commission last week opened up a huge swath of spectrum for wireless broadband services, creating incentives for businesses to invest in a third digital pipe to homes and businesses across...

Congress probes spectrum management issues.(News)
June 14, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER AND JEFFREY SILVA Five percent of the nation's broadcasters are holding the nation hostage by refusing to give back their spectrum, which has been allocated to public safety, charged Rep. Jane Harman...

Late News: Verizon Wireless dumps BCGI for internal prepaid billing platform.(Late News)
June 14, 2004... Boston Communications Group Inc. said it has received notice that Verizon Wireless will move forward with a national launch of an internal prepaid platform, rather than keeping its customers on BCGI's platform. Verizon said it will...

They're playing our song.(Opinion)
June 14, 2004... Byline: Tracy Ford At the advent of every new industry, people simply cannot predict how the industry will evolve. VCRs were supposed to be used only to record missed TV shows. Today every parent watching their daughter's piano recital has...

Calif. bill would force carriers to make wireless directory opt-in.(News)
June 14, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA A bill introduced in the California State Assembly would require mobile-phone carriers to obtain expressed written consent of subscribers in separate contracts before their phone numbers can be shared with the public,...

Mforma scores $44M in first-round funding.(Business)
June 14, 2004... Wireless content and entertainment company Mforma Group Inc. announced it scored a whopping $44 million in venture funding in its first institutional round. General Catalyst Partners, eFund and Bessemer Venture Partners led the round. The...

Leap to add data, roaming to try to entice customers.(News)
June 14, 2004... Byline: DAN MEYER With competitors cannibalizing and usurping its once unique position in the wireless industry, Leap Wireless International Inc. said it plans to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection later this year with new...

BREW says advantage lies in simplicity.(News)
June 14, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO Qualcomm Inc. and its BREW partners released a rash of announcements in conjunction with the BREW developer's conference last week. The CDMA technology pioneer joined carriers, handset makers, technology vendors and...

Auctions, magic asterisk and the triumph over malaise.(Opinion)
June 14, 2004... Byline: Jeffrey Silva The nation's capital ordinarily would have been aflame in controversy last week over Solicitor General Ted Olson's decision not to invite the Supreme Court into the Bell unbundling imbroglio, election-year crossfire...

E-rate program vulnerable to abuse.(News)
June 14, 2004... The Federal Communications Commission's inspector general last week warned lawmakers that a $2.25 billion government program subsidizing wireline and wireless Internet links for schools and libraries remains highly vulnerable to fraud. ...

Business Briefs.(Briefs)
June 14, 2004... Western Wireless Corp. subsidiary Cellular One said it completed the expansion of its CDMA 1x network upgrades in Arkansas, Nevada and Texas following upgrades to its CDMA digital network in Kansas and Nebraska last year and upgrades to...

Bluetooth hits 2M weekly shipments.(Business)
June 14, 2004... The Bluetooth Special Interest Group reported that the Bluetooth industry is shipping more than 2 million units per week worldwide, which is less than nine months after the Bluetooth SIG said the industry had passed the 1-million-units-per-week...

Vonage demos VoIP over EV-DO technology.(News)
June 14, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER Wireless Voice over Internet Protocol is here with the advent of Qualcomm Inc.'s CDMA2000 1x EV-DO service as deployed by Verizon Wireless, said Brooke Schulz, vice president of corporate communications for...

Nokia market share drops amid healthy handset sales in Q1.(Business)
June 14, 2004... The worldwide market for mobile phones continues to swell, as new research shows handset makers sold 153 million devices in the first quarter. However, market leader Nokia Corp. witnessed a significant drop in its market share, despite managing...

Verizon, Cingular expand networks.(News)
June 14, 2004... Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. announced network expansions. Verizon Wireless will provide additional coverage in the Northeast, while Cingular customers will see better coverage in Texas and Alabama. Verizon Wireless said...

Georgia newest state to form wireless group.(Business)
June 14, 2004... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY A regional wireless industry association could be coming to a neighborhood near you. A movement is afoot in the wireless industry, and the tower sector, hungry to learn the intricacies of the industry from the experts,...

Service allows U.K. customers to book flights with mobiles.(Global Wireless)
June 14, 2004... Byline: FARAH JIFRI Online travel firm ebookers has launched a mobile service allowing U.K. customers to book flights via their mobile phones. Users will be able to search and purchase flight tickets up to eight hours before departure,...

Access releases dynamic menu for user interfaces.(Business)
June 14, 2004... Wireless Internet browser vendor Access announced its new NetFront Dynamic Menu, which the company said allows wireless carriers to remotely update the user interface on their users' mobile phones. The offering follows similar products from...

Australia's Telstra licenses DoCoMo i-mode technology.(Global Wireless)
June 14, 2004... Australia's leading wireless carrier said it will license i-mode technology from NTT DoCoMo Inc. in the Japanese carrier's ninth partnership for the wireless Internet technology. Telstra is licensing the i-mode brand, technology and...

Kodak, Fujifilm embrace wireless.
June 14, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO Although many agree the swift ascent of camera phones will cut into the market for digital cameras and traditional film, the camera-phone industry could also provide a new avenue of growth for well-known companies that...

Mississippi woman seeks $15M in distracted-driving lawsuit.(News)
June 14, 2004... Byline: JEFFREY SILVA A Mississippi woman filed a $15 million lawsuit in state court alleging a driver talking on his cell phone ran a red light and killed her husband. But while individuals and their employers find themselves in the line...

Airgo's MIMO technology seeks spot in WLAN space.(News)
June 14, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE Described by its supporters as disruptive, MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) technology has spawned a triangle of love and suspicion. Airgo Networks, which claims to have pioneered the idea of MIMO as we currently...

NextWave moves to auction New York.
June 14, 2004... Byline: DAN MEYER NextWave Telecom Inc., at one point a symbol of all that could go wrong with government auctions, is hoping to use an auction to its advantage. Less than two months after reaching an agreement with the Federal...

Stock Watch: June 3-June 10.(Wireless Metrics)
June 14, 2004... table: Stock Watch: June 3-June 10 * 3 graphics: Market Diary * Indices * RCR Index: see print copy.

Fast Fact.(Wireless Metrics)
June 14, 2004... Carriers can reduce churn by 25 percent and increase net present lifetime subscriber value by up to 40 percent by bundling mobile service with other telecommunications services, according to the Yankee Group.

Fast Fact.(Wireless Metrics)
June 14, 2004... 3G Americas reported that in the first quarter of 2004, GSM remains the number one mobile technology chosen by new customers in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. There were nearly 10.5 million new GSM customers added in the...

OSS vendors may over-reach on integration services.(News)
June 21, 2004... Byline: SAM OMATSEYE In a bid to provide comprehensive operation support systems, big vendors and carriers may be biting off more than they can chew, according to a new study. Many smaller players are using bigger vendors like L.M....

Comarco enters Wi-Fi space through PCTEL.(News)
June 21, 2004... Comarco Wireless Test Solutions will begin distributing PCTEL Inc.'s Wi-Fi Analyzer, marking Comarco's entrance into the Wi-Fi space. The analyzer operates on PocketPC platforms to allow information technology managers to optimize performance...

Hands-free happenings.(Opinion)
June 21, 2004... Byline: Tracy Ford Two trends in wireless are colliding in the ongoing debate over whether people should talk on cell phones while driving. ExxonMobil Corp. last week announced a strict driver-safety policy that prohibits its employees...

Verizon, Nextel continue to spar over public-safety interference solution.(News)
June 21, 2004... Byline: HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER Verizon Wireless charged last week that changes to the Consensus Plan proposed by Nextel Communications Inc. June 2 would only recreate the interference problem in the 800 MHz band that it purports to solve,...

Siemens announces two new handsets.(News)
June 21, 2004... Siemens Information and Communication Mobile announced the launch of two new mobile handsets, the CFX65 and the SL65. The CFX65 is a clamshell phone targeted at young consumers. It features a loop antenna, an integrated camera with flash,...

Firm nixes steel for lighter weight composite to construct towers.(Business)
June 21, 2004... Byline: EMILY MOTSAY AeroSolutions L.L.C. has found its niche in the oft-neglected wireless tower infrastructure industry. The company said it is being discovered by bigger players that increasingly rely on its expertise to forge their own...

High volume key to success in China.(Business)
June 21, 2004... Byline: MIKE DANO As China continues to grow as the world's biggest wireless market, virtually all segments of the industry have been attracted to the country's prospects. Handset makers, infrastructure vendors and technology companies...

Satellite players satisfied with FCC's spectrum-sharing plan.(News)
June 21, 2004... The two main players in the mobile satellite services market reacted favorably to the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum-sharing plan. The FCC approved a plan for Iridium Satellite L.L.C. to share 3.1 megahertz of spectrum in the...

Wi-Fi system for tracking school bus riders released.(Focus)
June 21, 2004... National Scientific Corp. has released a Wi-Fi-enabled version of its IBUS school bus passenger authentication system, which allows school districts to track and identify school bus passengers. IBUS, a student tracking system, includes an...