Sprint, SBC in Wi-Fi Deal
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U.S. telecom carriers Sprint (NYSE: FON) and SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC) have announced a reciprocal deal, under which their customers will be able to use both companies' wireless Internet connections more easily.
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Starbucks has upgraded its Wi-Fi offering from a tall to a venti, switching partners from T-Mobile USA to AT&amp;T in a deal that will mean free coffee-shop wireless for millions of U.S. broadband subscribers.The chain&#39;s network of hotspots, the best-known in the U.S., covers more than 7,000 company-owned stores. Users of AT&amp;T Broadband and U-verse DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) services will get free access to the networks, and the carrier will soon extend benefits to AT&amp;T Wireless customers as well, according to a news release. AT&amp;T business customers with remote-access subscriptions will be able to buy unlimited, flat-rate access at any Starbucks location.AT&amp;T had 14.2 million lines of DSL in service at the end of last year. Its wireless arm has about 70 million subscribers. T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Germany&#39;s Deutsche Telekom, said it had 28.7 million subscribers at year&#39;s end.Although 3G (third-generation) cellular networks are nearing typical wired broadband speeds, Wi-Fi hotspots in key locations such as airports, hotels and cafes remain an attractive option for people who need high-speed connectivity on the road. T-Mobile has provided the Starbucks networks as part of its national hotspot service for several years, with a variety of paid plans including US$6 for one hour, $9.99 for a day and $29.99 per month with an annual agreement. Prices under AT&amp;T will be slightly lower, including $3.99 for two hours and $19.99 per month.But the deal also opens up a whole new customer base for the hotspots: Starbucks customers with an active Starbucks stored-value card will get two hours of free access per day. All that&#39;s needed to keep a card active is to have money stored on it and to buy something with it at least once a month, said Starbucks spokeswoman Bridget Baker. Starbucks employees will also get free access.AT&amp;T will take over the networks market by market, starting in the next few months and finishing by the end of the year, the companies said. Under a roaming agreement to be implemented by March 31, T-Mobile subscribers will also be able to use the AT&amp;T Starbucks networks, Baker said.The deal significantly expands AT&amp;T&#39;s network of hotspots, giving it 17,000 U.S. sites (about 70,000 worldwide) and adding a popular Web-surfing location to its lineup, which today includes McDonald&#39;s restaurants, Barnes &amp; Noble bookstores and some hotels and airports. It builds on an existing relationship in which AT&amp;T has provided back-end networks for Starbucks stores for more than 10 years, Baker said. The carrier will provide Starbucks an enterprise-class network with increased bandwidth and redundancy, according to the release.The prospect of high-speed access at Starbucks should help AT&amp;T attract new DSL customers and hold onto existing ones, telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan wrote in a commentary on the deal.&quot;The customer wins because they get to take advantage of money saving bundles, and AT&amp;T win&#39;s because it keeps customers happy which means hanging on to the customer in an increasingly competitive marketplace, and Starbucks win&#39;s because it expands their digital entertainment platform and gives customers more reasons to spend time in the stores,&quot; Kagan wrote.
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The merger of Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications, unveiled last week in a deal valued at more than $35 billion, is likely to spur deployment of broadband wireless services as three giant
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NEW YORK - Just two months after the announcement that Cingular Wireless will acquire AT&amp;T Wireless, Sprint has announced that it plans to buy Nextel Communications for $35 billion.
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SBC Communications Inc.  said on Monday it would offer access to its network of 3,900 public Wi-Fi Internet access points to its high-speed Internet subscribers for &#36;1.99 per month.
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Telecommunications giant Sprint Corp. is acquiring Nextel Communications Inc. in a &#36;35 billion deal that would create the nation's third largest wireless telephone service provider.
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Sprint Nextel Corp , which recently  said it would spend up to $5 billion on a mobile high-speed  wireless standard by 2010, said it had awarded the New York  WiMax market to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. .
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Lucent, Motorola and Nortel won about $3 billion in contracts to help Sprint upgrade its wireless network to handle high-speed Internet traffic over mobile phones and computers.
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Sprint Nextel is taking a different path to high-speed wireless than its rivals: Instead of bidding billions of dollars on airwaves in a federal auction, Sprint is building a network that uses WiMax technology, a move that has attracted plenty of criticism.
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Sprint Nextel is holding new discussions to team up with other firms to deploy a nationwide high-speed wireless network, according to company and industry sources.
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Sprint Corp. and cable television provider Mediacom Communications Corp. announced an agreement Wednesday that will allow Sprint to offer Internet telephone service to Mediacom&#39;s 2.7 million household subscribers.
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Round two of US wireless industry consolidation is officially under way, with Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc.making the much anticipated announcement that they have agreed to a $35 billion merger Wednesday, Dec.
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Almost a year after Sprint Nextel Corp. announced it would develop a mobile broadband network using WiMax technology, the wireless provider said Thursday it was teaming up with competing provider Clearwire Corp. to help build it.
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SBC Communications Inc. SBC.N said  on Monday it would offer access to its network of 3,900 public  Wi-Fi Internet access points to its high-speed Internet  subscribers for $1.99 per month.
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Sprint Nextel has tapped Samsung Telecommunications America to develop the mobile network infrastructure in New York City for Sprint&#39;s Xohm-branded WiMax broadband effort.
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Cingular Wireless LLC, the joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp., has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice that will allow the companyâs proposed acquisition of AT&amp;T Wireless to proceed on schedule.
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Sprint Nextel Corp.  and Clearwire Corp.  said on Thursday they plan to jointly construct a nationwide mobile broadband network in the United States using WiMAX technology, designed to run more than five times faster than current wireless networks at a lower cost.