MetroPCS asks to swallow Leap Wireless
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'You don't do contracts. I don't do contracts. Let's get it on.' MetroPCS wants to buy Leap Wireless, intent on creating one big we-don't-do-contacts wireless carrier. And it wants the world to know it wants to buy Leap Wireless. But there's no telling what Leap wants.â¦
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DALLAS -- Discount wireless phone service provider MetroPCS Communications Inc. on Tuesday offered to buy rival Leap Wireless International Inc. for about $5.12 billion in stock.
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Qualcomm and Texas Instruments have unveiled two competing schemes for delivering video to cell phones that bypass 3G. Is the market big enough to get them off the ground?
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Major mobile voice and data carriers in the United States have pledged to open their networks to outside handsets and applications, but regulators and customers need to be vigilant to make sure those promises are fulfilled, one member of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said.Carriers including AT&amp;T and Verizon Wireless have promised to open up their networks, but the FCC will need to watch the prices that carriers charge customers who bring their own devices to the networks, said the FCC&#39;s Michael Copps, speaking Tuesday at a New America Foundation forum. The FCC will also need to monitor the complexity of certification for new devices and applications, he said.Mobile carriers still dictate what features can be used on most phones, with Wi-Fi features unavailable on most U.S. mobile phones because of carrier opposition, Copps said. The FCC needs &quot;trust but verify&quot; the open network promises from the carriers, Copps said.&quot;I hope it is as good as it sounds,&quot; he added. The FCC should step in if the carriers don&#39;t live up to their promises, Copps added.Carriers have in recent months taken steps to block text messages and some types of applications, Copps added. They need to pledge to &quot;no blocking, no locking, and no discriminatory degradation of service,&quot; he said.Copps, a Democrat, seemed to disagree with the FCC&#39;s Republican chairman Kevin Martin, who was quoted in The New York Times as saying the issue of open networks has &quot;melted away&quot; as AT&amp;T, Verizon Wireless, and other carriers have moved to open their networks.Advocates have been pushing for customers to be able to take their mobile devices from carrier to carrier for about a year. Weeks after&#160;Google announced its Open Handset Alliance&#160;in November,&#160;Verizon Wireless announced it would open its network&#160;to outside devices and applications by the end of this year.About a week after the Verizon announcement, AT&amp;T announced that it&#39;s long been its policy to allow outside devices and applications onto its mobile network.But Copps and critics of the carriers said Tuesday it&#39;s too early to tell if the carriers are serious about open networks. For example, mobile carriers could discourage customers from bringing their own devices by charging higher prices, Copps said.Carriers have often argued that they need to sign up customers using lengthy contracts because they&#39;re subsidizing the cost of a mobile phone. But if customers bring their own phones, there&#39;s no carrier subsidy, so&#160;the plan should cost less, said Robert Frieden, a professor of telecommunications and law at Penn State University.Right now, &quot;you don&#39;t get a discount for bringing your own phone,&quot; said Frieden, author of a New America Foundation paper calling on the FCC to regulate open network access.Some of the same companies pledged to offer stand-alone DSL service more than three years ago, and in many cases, customers have to fight through layers of customer service to get DSL without accompanying wireline phone service, added Christopher Libertelli, senior director for regulatory and government affairs at Skype.A Skype handset that allows calls to be made over Wi-Fi or a mobile network is available in parts of Europe and in Hong Kong but not the United States because carriers have opposed it, he said.&quot;Sitting here, we can&#39;t predict how these press release will turn into real consumer rights,&quot; Libertelli said.But representatives of Verizon Wireless, AT&amp;T, and T-Mobile said they were serious about offering customers choices of devices and applications.Verizon Wireless wants to encourage new types of devices and work with developers and handset makers to create innovation, said Anthony Lewis, vice president of the company&#39;s Open Development Initiative. &quot;This will not work if I dictate to my customers,&quot; he said.AT&amp;T will monitor devices for bandwidth hogging and security, but otherwise, the company is open to outside devices, said Robert Quinn Jr., AT&amp;T&#39;s senior vice president for federal regulatory affairs. AT&amp;T customers want to be able to use more devices on the network, he said.Asked, however, if AT&amp;T would unlock Apple&#39;s iPhone to use on other networks, Quinn said the company couldn&#39;t do that.
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Prime real estate up for grabs Ofcom, the UK's the broadcast regulator, has tagged WiMAX mobile wireless as a likely source of revenue for the public purse.â¦
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By Nuntawun Polkuamdee, Bangkok Post, Thailand  Dec. 19--Metro Systems Corporation Plc (MSC) is negotiating with several  foreign companies to form a strategic partnership to support future business  growth, according to president Narong Charuvajana.
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Europe has been slow to adopt 3G mobile-phone services, and now the opportunity for cashing in may have passed. A new Wi-Fi design from a British company threatens to cut away the ground 3G has gained. By Wendy Grossman.
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Leap Wireless International Inc.   said on Sunday its board of directors had rejected an  unsolicited bid from larger rival MetroPCS Communications Inc.  .
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[&lt;a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/financial/qualcomm.html"&gt;Qualcomm&lt;/a&gt;] has single-mindedly focused on its patented Code Division Multiple Access cellular technology, which is only now starting to bring useable wireless data links to mobile enterprise users.
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Cingular Wireless has urged U.S.  communications regulators to reject a request by rival Nextel  Communications Inc. NXTL.O to lower the cost of its plan to  swap airwaves with the government, which is aimed at reducing  interference with public safety communications.
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Wireless phone provider Leap Wireless International Inc. said Sunday that it is rejecting an unsolicited buyout offer from MetroPCS Communications Inc.
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A Macromedia executive says wireless carriers are demanding specific menus, buttons and functions. Could Flash be the answer?
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Leap Wireless, the wireless company behind the Cricket and Jump Mobile brands, said Sunday that it will reject an unsolicited acquisition offer from competitor MetroPCS.
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Telecoms standards group seeks developers
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The two vendors are reportedly in talks to combine their wireless infrastructure units.
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Here&#39;s one way to jumpstart WiMAX deployment: make a &quot;significant investment&quot; in a wireless broadband company that promises to use your technology and products.
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Company said Thursday that it's seeking alternatives that might include selling off its cell phone business.