FierceWireless

Cindy Christy resigns from Alcatel-Lucent

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:58:49 -0400

Cindy Christy, the Americas region head of infrastructure firm Alcatel-Lucent, resigned from the company Friday.

A spokesman told Telephony magazine that Christy notified co-workers in an email that she was leaving for personal reasons. Christy will be replaced on an interim basis with Jim Cocito, the region's chief operating officer.

The move comes just three days after Alcatel-Lucent named former British Telecom CEO Ben Verwaayen as its new CEO, replacing Pat Russo who resigned in July.

For more:
- see this article

Startup brings together spectrum buyers and sellers

Sue Marek — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:19:58 -0400

Lake Mary, Fla.-based start up Spectrum Bridge is hoping its new website specex.com will bring together wireless spectrum buyers and sellers. The company, which is making its debut today, says it has an inventory of $250 million in spectrum, mostly in secondary markets.

The FCC doles out wireless spectrum licenses during its auctions but wireless carriers often buy additional slices of spectrum from other parties such as universities, religious broadcasters and spectrum-holding companies. These transactions are then approved by the FCC.

But Spectrum Bridge says this process is inefficient because spectrum buyers don't always know how to find the spectrum sellers and spectrum sellers don't know how to accurately value the spectrum they are selling. Spectrum Bridge believes it can solve those problems by creating this online marketplace. The firm will vet the buyers and sellers and take a cut of each transaction.

For more:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)

Related articles:
How much spectrum do AT&T and Verizon have?
NextWave selling big swathes of spectrum

J.D. Power study praises Verizon, nixes T-Mobile, AT&T

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:39:19 -0400

J.D. Power and Associates, in its 2008 Wireless Call Quality Study, gave high marks to Verizon Wireless, naming it the best--or tied for the best service--in four of the six regions surveyed. T-Mobile and AT&T were beat out for top spots in all of the regions, and Sprint Nextel tied Verizon for best service in the Southwest. Article

Verizon's launch of Blackberry Storm delayed until November

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:23:10 -0400

Research in Motion's latest BlackBerry device, the 9530 Storm, will not debut until November due to bugs that still need to be worked out and time needed for a formal technical acceptance process by Verizon Wireless.

The Storm was already delayed 3-4 weeks, and now will be pushed back an additional 3-4 weeks as the technical acceptance winds down. Verizon and RIM are hoping that the Storm--the company's first foray into the touchscreen arena--will become a major competitor to Apple's iPhone 3G as the holiday season dawns.

For more:
-see this pic of The BlackBerry Storm
- see this article

Related article:
Report: BlackBerry will be threatened by iPhone

Carriers may subsidize Dell's new netbook for 3G, WiFi service contracts

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:52:20 -0400

Carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Sprint may soon be subsidizing the cost of Dell's new Inspirion Mini-9 notebook when customers sign a long-term wireless service contract.

Though unconfirmed, Dell CEO Michael Dell predicted earlier this week that the move would happen soon, and John Thode, Dell's VP of small-screen consumer devices, said the announcement of such a deal would be forthcoming. The move would turn the traditional model of carriers subsidizing the cost of handsets and transfer it to ultra-mobile PCs, an untested market which brings its own risks and rewards.

For more:
- see this article

Related articles:
T-Mobile joins 'free laptop' parade
Study shows untapped mobile broadband PC market

Sprint Nextel outlook darkens following S&P downgrade

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:33:41 -0400

Sprint Nextel, the U.S. carrier, saw its outlook turn bleak following a downgrade by a Standard & Poor's analyst who forecasted the carrier's credit measures will perform poorly over the next year.

The report, by credit analyst Allyn Arden, said rising competition and weak subscriber growth would contribute to Sprint's woes, and it comes as the company is reeling from the side-effects of the credit crisis. Though the carrier has taken steps to shield itself from customers affected by the subprime crisis by tightening credit checks, it looks to be another a victim of the spreading effects, as its iDEN network, acquired when the carrier bought Nextel, continues to lose high-revenue subscribers.

For more:
- see this article

Related article:
Sprint Q2 churn down, data ARPU strong

Sprint to launch HTC Touch Diamond

Sue Marek — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:52:33 -0400

The Wall Street Journal apparently beat Sprint to the punch by reviewing the HTC Touch Diamond which is slated to launch next week. The Windows Mobile smart phone features a touch screen and a 3-D interface.

The device is designed to showcase Sprint's EVDO Rev. A network by providing access to the streaming live Sprint TV, Sprint Radio, downloadable music store and YouTube.

The phone is expected to retail for $249.99 with a two-year contract after rebates and discounts.

For more:
- see this article
- see this photo slideshow of the HTC Diamond

Related article:
HTC launches Windows Mobile powered Diamond

U.S. 3G adoption surpasses Europe

Sue Marek — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:37:19 -0400

When it comes to 3G adoption, the U.S. has caught up with Europe. Research firm Comscore says that 28.4 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers have 3G devices vs. 28.3 percent of European mobile subscribers in the largest countries in Europe.

During the past year the number of U.S. subscribers with 3G devices has grown to 64.2 million while European subscribers with 3G devices total 63.4 million. The only major European countries to exceed the U.S. in penetration are Italy and Spain, the research firm says.

However, Comscore's numbers do differ slightly from Informa. In May, Informa Telecoms & Media reported that the number of WCDMA subscribers in Europe totaled 101.5 million.

For more:
- see this article

Related article:
European 3G subscriptions top 100 million

FCC may reduce data collection on phone companies

Sue Marek — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:24:47 -0400

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 AT&T's request, saying that the data is valuable. The FCC is expected to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking that will look at how to overhaul the collection of data on complaints and other issues from phone companies, including wireless carriers.

One of the big issues in this debate is whether the FCC's data collection requirements have kept pace with the changes in the industry. Many consumers are foregoing their landline phones in favor of wireless phones or VOIP phones and yet the FCC still only requires a handful of traditional phone companies such as AT&T, Verizon and Qwest to file the information.

For more:
- see this article (sub. req.)

Related article:
FCC fines Amp'd, Sprint, Cricket, AT&T

Cablevision completes first-phase of WiFi network

Sue Marek — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:01:25 -0400

Cablevision Systems has finished the first phase of its WiFi network in New York and says it is on track to complete the project in two years. The cable operator is offering WiFi free to its 2.4 million broadband customers.

The WiFi network is expected to cost the company about $310 million. Initially the network is intended to allow people to access the Internet, however Cablevision has said that it will eventually offer other services including voice and video.

For more:
- see this news report

Related articles:
Cablevision will launch WiFi network this fall
Cablevision's answer to WiMAX: WiFi