When AT&T pulled its proposed T-Mobile merger application with the Federal Communications commission (CP: FCC response bashes AT&T, gives T-Mobile unexpected pat on the back) it left it to deal with another bit of government inquiry, a Department of Justice proceeding examining the deal. Today, the DOJ said it planned to file a motion to postpone its inquiry until AT&T resubmitted its proposal to the FCC. (more…)
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Archive for the ‘3G/4G’ Category
Universal Service reform order has bad news for Halo Wireless
The Universal Service and inter-carrier compensation reform order recently issued by the FCC contains some bad news for Halo Wireless, the company that offers wholesale voice termination services that enable at least one enhanced service provider customer to avoid paying long-distance access charges (CP: Halo Wireless defends access charge avoidance methodology). Halo Wireless claimed its mode of operation is legal because it re-originates long-distance calls placed by its ESP customer’s customers through its mobile network infrastructure, thereby converting the calls into local calls. (more…)
AT&T exec: We’re hanging on to iPhone customers
The iPhone may have made its way to other carriers, but customers at AT&T – which had an exclusive on the iconic device for years – aren’t following. That’s the word today from Glen Lurie, president of emerging devices for AT&T, who added that AT&T sales of Apple’s new iPhone 4S are off to a fast start as well. (more…)
So Steve Jobs envisioned massive carrier route-around…ask Google how easy that is
So we waited and waited and waited for Google to build a fiber network to compete with telecom operators – and we got a small experiment in the Midwest (CP: Kansas City, here we come: Google makes good on first fiber pledge). So with the Web buzzing today about aborted plans by Apple’s Steve Jobs to build a Wi-Fi driven, mobile route-around network for the iPhone, forgive us if we aren’t wondering “what if?” Consider our reaction more along the lines of “come on now…” (more…)
Open Mobile Summit: T-Mobile experimenting with services, trying out ‘new muscles’
San Francisco — It comes as not one bit of a surprise when one finds out that Brad Duea, T-Mobile senior vice president of value-added services, comes from Napster. Duea, who sat on a panel at today’s Open Mobile Summit event here on carrier “innovation,” brings a unique perspective to that topic. Even today, what carriers think of as innovation remains quite painful to developers, content providers, Internet players and the like.
T-Mobile, with Duea’s help and energy, is aiming to change that. (more…)
Open Mobile Summit: Value in 3G beyond spectrum re-farming, VZW CTO says
San Francisco – A bit of a surprise for a panel on monetizing 4G, but one of the most interesting nuggets this morning at Open Mobile Summit came from Verizon Wireless CTO David Small, who talked about monetizing…3G. According to Small, EV-DO, the network technology underlying Verizon’s 3G network, “will be monetized for a long time,” rather than simply having its underlying spectrum re-farmed to support higher speed 4G services. (more…)
Traffix gets funding more LTE signaling push
We’ve been following the LTE/Diameter routing market a fair bit lately (CP: The LTE signaling challenge) and (CP: Just how big is the LTE Diameter routing market, anyway?), and today one of the early players in the market, Traffix Systems, announced first round funding to fuel its move deeper into this growing opportunity.
Clearwire preps for future with changes to board and biz model
In the wake of Clearwire’s topsy turvy row and reconciliation with parent Sprint, the WiMAX operator is making some big changes. Last week, an SEC filing revealed that director Ben Wolff has resigned, making him the latest member of Clearwire’s original management team to depart. Today Clearwire revealed to DSLReports that it is simplifying its mobile broadband pricing structure, eliminating contract plans entirely and charging a simple prepaid flat rate of $50 a month for its WiMAX to all new customers. (more…)
Towerstream grows its California network with Color Broadband buy
Towerstream is about to get a lot bigger in Southern California. The metro wireless ISP is buying Color Broadband, a competing fixed wireless WiMAX provider in Los Angeles and Orange County. Towerstream didn’t disclose the financials of the deal, but operationally the acquisition gives the WISP much more visibility (both figuratively and literally) in one of its most important markets. (more…)
Femto Forum working on Wi-Fi offload–that’s right, the Femto Forum
The Femto Forum is quite the busy when it comes to standards, always trying to get its technologies incorporated into whatever release the 3GPP happens to working on. Its latest standardization work is somewhat bizarre for on organization dedicated to promulgating femto and small cell technology. The Forum is developing carrier Wi-Fi offload technologies. (more…)