Roy Mark

Sprint said Dec. 17 it is expanding its open network approach by partnering with location aggregators WaveMarket and uLocate Communications to aid third-party developers interested in location-based services. The effort, Sprint said, would reduce developers’ difficulties in certifying applications that use GPS, triangulation and other location services. Veriplace, WaveMarket’s location aggregation platform, was built using […]

President-elect Barack Obama should spend $44 billion in broadband stimulus funds over the next three years as part of his immediate economic program, according to a new study from the media reform group Free Press. The proposed tax incentives and grant programs would not include projects previously planned by telecommunications companies. Instead, according to “Down […]

When Congress approved the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act on October to bail out Wall Street, it marked a major expansion of the government’s role in the markets. Unfortunately, as taxpayers have already discovered, just who got what out of the bailout is still unknown, even to members of Congress. The Pew Charitable Trusts […]

Sprint Nextel said Dec. 17 it is introducing a laptop modem that will operate on both Sprint’s 4G WiMax service and the company’s 3G cellular network. The country’s first 3G/4G dual mode device will allow customers to use the increased speeds of WiMax while in WiMax coverage and to switch to the company’s 3G network […]

With one WiMax outpost established in Baltimore, the newly combined Clearwire and Sprint Nextel Xohm WiMax division have put a west coast footprint in Portland, Ore., as the next step in their plans to build a nationwide 4G wireless network. The Jan. 6 debut will be first citywide effort marketed under the merger’s new Clear […]

President-elect Barack Obama hit 100 percent on the Information Technology Industry Council’s Congressional Vote Scorecard for the 2007-2008 U.S. House and Senate session released Dec. 15. In all, 53 senators scored 100 percent on ITI’s scorecard. ITI based its rankings on five key Senate tech votes considered “critical” by the Washington trade group that counts […]

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin finally gave in to pressure Dec. 12 from both Congress and the Bush administration to cancel a scheduled Dec. 18 agency vote on a controversial proposal to impose a free wireless broadband mandate on the FCC’s next spectrum auction. Martin’s decision to cancel the vote came after Sen. John […]

Network neutrality proponents are savaging a Dec. 15 Wall Street Journal report that search giant Google is abandoning its longtime pro-network-neutrality stance in order to facilitate its own plan to create a fast lane for itself. According to the story, Google is seeking preferential treatment from broadband providers by seeking to place Google servers directly […]

Two Democrats with Federal Communications Commission oversight authority in the U.S. Senate and House asked FCC Chairman Kevin Martin Dec. 12 to postpone the agency’s scheduled Dec. 18 vote to impose a free wireless broadband mandate on the FCC’s next spectrum auction. Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., the incoming chairman of the Senate Commerce and […]

The Bush administration is opposing a Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction plan that would require the winner to provide a free wireless broadband tier to 50 percent of the United States in four years and 95 percent of the country within 10 years. The FCC is expected to vote on the plan as early as […]

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is moving aggressively on the acquisition front, announcing Dec. 11 it has an agreement to purchase content delivery platform Chalk Media in an $18.7 million all cash deal. The deal follows a Dec. 10 formal filing launching RIM’s hostile takeover bid for security vendor Certicom. Chalk Media, a member of […]

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have one WiMax deployment up and rolling in Baltimore and at the October debut of the nation’s first 4G wireless service, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire officials crowed that they have the time-to-market drop on larger rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which are just now pushing out their 3G services. Verizon Wireless […]