Carmen Nobel

While wireless carriers have spent the last several years fighting for spectrum licenses for cell phone networks, WLANs have been relegated to unlicensed radio bands. But thats about to change with the introduction of a band set aside for automotive and other outdoor applications. The Federal Communications Commission has been hurrying the allocation of 75MHz […]

Wireless application service provider 724 Solutions Inc., which has kept itself alive for the past two years by focusing on the financial services market, is taking its business to the carriers. The Austin, Texas company is planning to focus on three areas for carrier services – payments, alerts and messaging, and portals, according to Dick […]

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, the joint venture between Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and Sony Corp. this week announced the launch of its first joint product. The Ericsson Bluetooth Handsfree HBH-20 is designed to eliminate the need for a wire between a cell phone and earpiece by linking the two via a short-range wireless connection. The HBH-20 […]

Sprint Corp. late Wednesday announced that it is terminating its broadband Integrated on Demand Network and ceasing customer acquisition for its Multipoint Multichannel Distribution Service fixed wireless services. The company plans to lay off 2,200 employees in connection with those moves as well as an additional 3,800 employees in the carriers Global Markets Group and […]

In an effort to increase its spectrum and market coverage at the same time, AT&T Wireless Services last week announced plans to acquire TeleCorp PCS Inc. in an all-stock transaction worth $4.7 billion. AT&T Wireless already owns 23 percent of the Arlington, Va., company, which also provides wireless services. The boards of directors of both […]

Wireless enterprise software Extended Systems Inc. announced Monday that the company has signed an agreement with Compaq Global Services under which Compaq will resell Extended Systems XTNDConnect Server software to corporate customers who use Compaqs iPaq handheld computers. “This agreement gives us access to a substantial customer base that is ready to deploy mobile technologies […]

Handspring Inc. on Monday officially introduced the Treo — a PalmPilot, telephone, wireless Web and messaging device in one. Should the Treo arrive on time it could be a blow for Palm Inc.s hardware company, which at last earnings announced that its own wireless messaging device has been put off indefinitely. When it ships at […]

Motorola Corp. this week announced a loss for the third quarter–its third consecutive quarter of loss after 15 years without one–and predicted further losses for the fourth quarter. Officials for the Schaumburg, Ill., telecom equipment maker announced that it will cut 39,000 jobs in 2001, up from the 32,000 the company had planned on during […]

Hewlett-Packard Co. this week introduced several products designed for carriers and enterprises that want to offer mobile services. Based on existing HP products and revamped consulting offerings, the new products include the following: * Advanced voice interactive services and mobile extentions to the HP Opencall media platform; * A mobile advertising delivery platform for service […]

Handheld devices are only as good as the applications that run on them. Realizing that, Microsoft Corp. brought several application developers up on stage when it launched the latest version of the Pocket PC operating system last week. New to Pocket PC 2002 are the ability to do instant messaging and support for the 802.11 […]

AT&T Wireless on Monday announced that it will buy the 77 percent of TeleCorp PCS Inc. that it does not own already, in an all-stock transaction worth $4.7 billion. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2002. It is the […]

The whole wireless world watched this week as NTT DoCoMo introduced the first third-generation cell phone network, but it seems clear that it will be a while before such a network hits the United States. The service, dubbed “FOMA” (freedom of multimedia access), is based on wideband CDMA and is available within a 30-kilometer radius […]