Wireless Carriers Archive

FCC may reduce data collection on phone companies

Posted on : Sep 04 2008 | Posted under Wireless Carriers

The FCC is expected to approve a request from AT&T that will allow the telecom company to stop filing yearly reports on customer service quality, customer satisfaction and infrastructure investment. Verizon and Qwest Communications, which have filed similar requests, also are expected to be approved.
Consumer groups and state regulators have objected to the FCC approving […]

T-Mobile USA to merge with Sprint Nextel?

Posted on : Aug 24 2008 | Posted under Wireless Carriers

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, T-Mobile USA parent company Deutsche Telekom is mulling a bid to acquire Sprint Nextel. The acquisition would lead to a combined T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel, which would make for the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. Sprint Nextel boasts a market capitalization of $22 billion […]

Vodafone makes first mobile Internet acquisition

Posted on : Aug 24 2008 | Posted under Wireless Carriers

Vodafone made its first acquisition in the mobile Internet space, paying $49 million in cash for Zyb, a private Dutch company that provides social networking and contacts management technology–two hot applications in the mobile space. Zyb enables mobile users to back up their contacts on a website and offers IM services and calendar-sharing with other […]

FCC may cap early termination fees

Posted on : Aug 24 2008 | Posted under Wireless Carriers

According to the Associated Press, the FCC is quietly negotiating with wireless carriers to reduce termination fees that carriers charge customers when they cancel their contracts. Many carriers still charge customers $175 for quitting their service contract early. The FCC is supposedly proposing that wireless carriers give customers up to 30 days after they sign […]

Qualcomm embraces the widget idea

Posted on : Aug 24 2008 | Posted under Wireless Carriers

Building on the growing personalization phenomenon, Qualcomm Internet Services is announcing Plaza, a platform-agnostic service that provides a framework for widget development enabling operators to provide users with personalized access to the mobile Internet. Plaza will let operators and developers produce and deliver Internet-based content across devices. “We are leveraging our service delivery ecosystem with […]

Tower climbing a deadly job

Posted on : Aug 24 2008 | Posted under Wireless Carriers

Maintaining cell phone towers is the deadliest job in the country, according to the Occupational, Safety and Health Administration. There were five tower climbing fatalities during a 12-day span this Spring and seven deaths overall this year. During the National Association of Tower Erectors conference earlier this year, Edwin Foulke Jr., head of OSHA, said that the majority […]

FCC will field test white space devices

Posted on : Aug 24 2008 | Posted under Wireless Carriers

The FCC will begin field testing white space devices next week to see whether the devices that access unused television airwaves, called “white spaces” will interfere with television broadcasts. Companies such as Google and Microsoft want to use this unused spectrum to develop new mobile communications devices, however the initiative has raised the ire of the National […]