Nokia on Monday announced that its bid to buy Alcatel-Lucent has received approval from China’s regulators. The clearance in China completes the material antitrust review process required for the transaction. In a statement, Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent said they will continue to cooperate with the French government to obtain formal approval from the Ministry of Economy…
Sprint, T-Mobile Among Those Against New Cybersecurity Bill
A group of technology companies is voicing its displeasure with a new cybersecurity bill making its way through congress. The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which counts Sprint and T-Mobile among its members, is asking that the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) be altered before moving forward. The CISA aims to improve sharing of…
Dish Network’s DEs Return $3.3B in Spectrum to FCC
Dish Network’s designated entities (DE), Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless, surrendered 197 spectrum licenses to the government, following a ruling by the FCC which found them inelligible for the $3.3 billion in small-business discounts they received in the AWS-3 auction. According to a statement on the Dish’s website, the DEs paid a $413 million fee…
T-Mobile Settles Cramming Suit with FTC for $90M
T-Mobile has settled with the FTC for $90 million to cover cramming charges. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler called the settlement a win for consumers and promised to do more to ensure the practice is stopped. “It means compensation for T-Mobile customers who were fraudulently billed for third-party services that they did not want…
MVNO Ting to Support GSM and CDMA Devices
MVNO Ting today announced that it will now allow GSM and CDMA devices to exist under the roof of a single plan. According to a press release, Ting has signed an agreement with a GSM network provider. That service will go live in February of 2015 and will allow CDMA and GSM devices to coexist…
Aereo Files Bankruptcy Following Court Ruling
NEW YORK (AP) Online streaming service Aereo says that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying an unfavorable ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court was too difficult to overcome. The Internet startup, which is backed by Barry Diller, made waves earlier this year by letting people record and stream broadcast TV online. At…
Former BlackBerry Chief Heins Tapped as Powermat CEO
Former BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins has taken over the reigns at Powermat Technologies, a provider of wireless charging solutions. Heins replaces company founder and outgoing CEO Ran Poliakine, who will serve as vice chairman of the Powermat board. Heins takes over as Powermat begins the deployment of wireless charging stations at Starbucks. The company’s board…
Qualcomm, Ericsson Hit 450 Mbps with CA Tests
Qualcomm and Ericsson Tuesday said they’ve Successfully completed an inter-company Category 9 Carrier Aggregration (CA) interoperablity testing. According to press release, a Qualcomm modem was used in conjuction with Ericsson LTE-A network infrastructure. Anritsu’s MD8430A/RTD LTE Simulator was used for testing with three LTE FDD or TDD component carriers, each with a bandwidth of up to…
Cisco’s New Project Squared Brings Collaboration to Mobile
Cisco on Monday unveiled a new enterprise-grade, cross-platform collaboration app. Called “Project Squared” the new platform allows for everything from simultaneous video and text conferencing to document sharing. Project Squared also integrates with things like calendars, Active Directory, WebEx and Box, so users can draw from those sources for contacts and materials. The new offering…
Apple, Google Push for Passage of Freedom Act
Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! are among companies urging the U.S. Senate to pass legislation that would curb the government’s ability to collect massive amounts of metadata. In an open letter to the Senate, the companies asked that the USA Freedom Act be passed in order to prevent the bulk collection of Internet metadata under…
Report: North America Growing on Subscribers with Multiple Devices
Ericsson on Monday dumped its massive cache of mobile stats via the company’s Mobility Report, and North America actually stands out as a growth region. While Ericsson points to the usual suspects of China, India and Indonesia as the fastest growing regions, Patrik Cerwall, head of strategic & tactical marketing at Ericsson, said that North…
Ericsson Plans Job Cuts as Part of Savings Plan
Ericsson is eyeing job cuts as part of a plan to cut costs. As part of the company’s 2014 Capital Markets Day, the Swedish telcom equipment maker said it is looking to save $1.2 billion with job cuts and other cost-saving measures that will be fully realized by 2017. President and CEO Hans Vestberg,…
AT&T Pauses Fiber Expansion On Title II Concerns
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Monday that his company couldn’t afford to continue its fiber buildout until regulatory uncertainties were resolved. “We can’t go out and invest that kind of money deploying fiber to one hundred cities not knowing under what rules those investments will be governed,” Stephenson said during an investor conference that was…
American Cities Struggle with Optimizing Connectivity for Greater Good
While American cities might be well connected, they’re behind some European cities in putting that connectivity to use for the greater good. Ericsson today rolled out its annual Networked Society City Index, which links investment in Internet and Communications Technology (ICT) with overall economic, social and environmental improvments. The report indexes 40 citiies around the globe. …
Obama Urges Title II Classification for ISPs
President Obama Monday made his strongest statement yet in support of strict net neutrality rules, urging the FCC to reclassify Internet service providers (ISPs) as Title II providers. In a video statement broadcast online, Obama said that current Internet policies, which have refrained from so-called “toll roads” and “gate keepers,” have been essential to maintaining…
Wearables, Smartphones Shift Power from Doctors to Patients
STOCKHOLM – Smartphones and wearables are creating a more informed patient, a development that is rapidly changing the face of healthcare. “The change of power to the patient is here to stay,” said Professor Martin Ingvar of the Karolinska Institutet, as he held up his smartphone during a talk at Ericsson’s Business Forum in Stockholm.…
Ericsson CEO Vertberg Not Worried About North America’s Slow 3Q
STOCKHOLM – Ericsson’s third-quarter earnings might have been hit slightly by a slowdown in North American network deployments but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Some operators in North America might have been optimizing their cash flow, but our position hasn’t changed,” said Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg at a conference in Stockholm. “I don’t…
Shares of Ericsson Fall on Uncertainty in North America
Uncertainties about growth in North America sent shares of Ericsson’s lower Friday as the Swedish network equipment manufacturer posted third-quarter earnings. Ericsson posted third-quarter revenue of $7.9 billion, up 9 percent annually. Operating income was down 9 percent from last year at $537 million, while gross margins increased annually from 32 percent to 35.2 percent…
Report: Lenovo Crafting Bid for BlackBerry
BlackBerry stock got a nearly 8 percent bump in early trading Monday as new rumors surfaced that Lenovo may acquire the Canadian smartphone maker. According to Benzinga, which cited a source familiar with the matter, Lenovo could make a play for BlackBerry as early as this week. Lenovo is apparently eyeing a $15 per share…
FCC Looks Above 24 GHz for More Spectrum
The FCC today announced an official inquiry into how it can make use of high-frequency spectrum for wireless networks. The inquiry comes on a recommendation from the Technological Advisory Council to better understand how it can make use of millimeter wave spectrum above 24 GHz for next-generation wireless services. In a statement, the FCC said…
AT&T Fires Employee for Security Breach
AT&T is cleaning up the mess after an employee violated the company’s security guidelines. In a letter sent to affected customers and obtained by Seeking Alpha, AT&T said that it had determined that in August an employee had wrongfully accessed customer accounts and would have been able to access customers’ account information, social security number and…
Verizon Cans Plans to Throttle Unlimited Customers
Following criticism from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Verizon has decided to kill its plans to throttle unlimited users. According to a report from Gigaom, Verizon said in a statement that it “greatly valued the ongoing dialogue over the past several months concerning network optimization” and had subsequently “not to move forward with the planned implementation…
GSMA Summit Focuses on M2M Challenges, Opportunities
The GSMA wrapped up its 360 Summit in Atlanta this week. The event was part of a series of regional meetups that seek to address issues specific to a given market. This year’s Summit in Atlanta featured keynotes by AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega, CTIA’s Meredith Atwell Baker and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, among…
Amid Passport Launch, BlackBerry Posts $207 Million Loss
Just days after launching its unusual Passport flagship smartphone, BlackBerry today announced a $207 million loss for its second fical quarter of 2015. Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 was $916 million, which broken out included approximately 46 percent for hardware, 46 percent for services and 8 percent for software and other revenue.…
T-Mo Taps Ericsson for Next Phase of LTE Deployments
T-Mobile has tapped Ericsson to help in the next phase of its LTE deployments. According to a press release, Ericsson has been selected to provide equipment and services to help T-Mobile improve in-building, highway and rural performance, and expand the availability of VoLTE services. Specifically, the contract is an expansion of T-Mobile’s 2012 network transformation…