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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: telecom industry

telecom industry stories: 28 news summaries

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(Newser) - The Obama administration is looking into the country’s top telecom companies, including AT&T and Verizon, to determine whether they’ve abused their market power with anti-competitive actions, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The Justice Department is concerned that, among other things, the big players are locking... More »

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Department of Justice • Verizon • telecom industry • antitrust • AT&T • Obama administration

AT&T Rolls Out $50 Mini-Laptops

For customers who sign up for a combined home-and-mobile broadband plan

Apr 1, 09 12:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - AT&T is trying out a program that would make buying a laptop a bit like buying a cellphone. Walk into one of its Atlanta or Philadelphia retail outlets, and you’ll soon be able to nab a “mini-laptop” (or netbook, as the rest of the world calls them)... More »

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telecom industry • mobile Internet • AT&T • Netbooks

analysis

Comcast Web Caps May Signal End of an Era

Though limits affect only 1% now, high-def video will change that

Sep 2, 08 4:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - With Comcast setting a limit on Internet usage beginning next month, the end of the Internet as we know it may be at hand, as ISPs move toward usage-based models like public utilities. Comcast, the second-largest US Internet provider, was careful to say that the bandwidth limit is so high—... More »

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Internet • Comcast • telecom industry • net neutrality • Internet service providers • bandwidth usage • Time Warner Cable • Frontier Communications

OPINION

 ISPs Should Stay
 With Flat-Rate Pricing 

Analyst argues metered service will halt innovation and stunt growth

Jun 5, 08 5:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cable companies are wooing Wall Street by saying they’ll offset expensive implementation of a new, high-speed software protocol by metering broadband Internet access. Bad move, Om Malik writes on GigaOm. Flat-rate high-speed access has enabled recent revolutionary innovation in the telecom business, which led to almost 70 million broadband... More »

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broadband Internet • telecom industry • Internet service providers • cable operators • telecommunications companies • Time Warner Cable • tiered broadband

France Telecom Offers
$42B for TeliaSonera

French telco looks to expand into Turkey and Russia

Jun 5, 08 7:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - France Telecom’s long-anticipated takeover bid of Swedish telco TeliaSonera finally landed today—with a thud. TeliaSonera immediately rejected FT’s $42 billion cash-and-stock offering—worth some $10.33 per share—as too low, reports the New York Times. Investors appeared to disagree, pushing France Telecom stock down 4%... More »

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telecom industry • acquisition • France Telecom • telephone • TeliaSonera

New Vodafone CEO Has Tough Calls Ahead

Verizon partnership, growth will be at the top of Colao's to-do list

May 28, 08 9:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - A slowing global economy and continued investor unease over Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless will likely provide a turbulent welcome for new CEO Vittorio Colao when he takes the reins of the wireless provider in July, the Wall Street Journal reports. Colao will succeed Arun Sarin, who's set... More »

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Verizon • telecom industry • Vodafone • Arun Sarin • Vittorio Colao

Sprint in Talks to Sell Struggling Nextel Unit

Wireless carrier reportedly ready to give up on troubled acquisition

May 6, 08 8:03 AM CDT
(Newser) - Sprint is considering selling or spinning off its Nextel division, signaling the end of a troubled, disappointing merger, the Wall Street Journal reports. Talks are already under way with Nextel founder Morgan O'Brien, who would integrate the unit into his new wireless public-safety network, and other prospective buyers, including... More »

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telecom industry • mergers and acquisitions • Sprint Nextel • Sprint • wireless industry • Nextel

earnings report

 Wireless Drives AT&T Growth 

Company posts 22% increase in net income for Q1 despite dip in landline earnings

Apr 22, 08 2:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - AT&T posted a 22% increase in net income during the first quarter, thanks to strong growth in its wireless unit. Its wireless earnings nearly doubled, while landline earnings dropped 2.1%. The company’s net income was $3.46 billion (57 cents a share), compared to $2.85 billion... More »

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telecom industry • earnings reports • wireless industry • land lines • telephone • AT&T

Congress Looks Into FBI's Telecom Spying

Pipeline for intercepted data raises red flags

Apr 8, 08 12:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Congressional Democrats are questioning the cozy relationship between the FBI and telecom companies, the Washington Post reports. Thanks to a 1994 law, all telecom firms have “Quantico circuits”—little-known electronic lines straight to the FBI technology office in Virginia. Telecom technicians can instantly send data over those lines,... More »

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FBI • Verizon • telecom industry • privacy • FISA • John Dingell • domestic wiretapping • Quantico circuits

Deutsche Telekom to Buy Greek Stake

Deal for 20% of Greek phone co. conditional on management control

Mar 17, 08 1:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - Deutsche Telekom plans to buy a 20% stake in Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) of Greece, for $3.92 billion. The deal is conditional on the German carrier getting management control, and the company will open talks immediately with the Greek government, the only larger shareholder. The OTE stake will let... More »

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Eastern Europe • telecom industry • mergers and acquisitions • Greece • Deutsche Telekom • telecommunications • corporate governance • Hellenic Telecommunications Organization • OTE

Liberty Looks to Leverage DirecTV Deal

In for a tough battle with better positioned telcos, cable companies

Feb 28, 08 9:26 AM CST
(Newser) - Closing Liberty Media’s $12 billion deal for a 41% share of DirecTV took more than a year, but positioning the satellite-TV service to rival telcos and cable companies offering triple-play packages of TV, phone, and broadband could be a bigger test, reports the Wall Street Journal today. The deal... More »

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DirecTV • cable TV • Verizon • telecom industry • satellite TV • Liberty Media • News Corp • telcos

T-Mobile Launching
Net Phone Price War

New plan follows hard on news of wireless price war

Feb 21, 08 3:00 PM CST
(Newser) - T-Mobile is giving an extra push to the millions contemplating ditching their landlines. The low-cost wireless carrier is launching a new dirt-cheap VoIP service, which lets T-Mobile customers hook up traditional phones to an Internet router and make unlimited local and long distance calls for $10 a month, the More »

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Vonage • Verizon • VoIP • telecom industry • telecommunications • Internet phone • AT&T • T-Mobile

McCain Denies Lobbyist Scandal, Attacks Times

Candidate slams article, 'smear campaign'

Feb 21, 08 7:26 AM CST
(Newser) - John McCain’s camp came out swinging at the New York Times last night, calling a “hit and run smear campaign” a report alleging that the senator had been involved in an improper and possibly romantic relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman eight years ago. “The New York Times... More »

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ethics • John McCain • telecom industry • lobbyists • Election 2000 • McCain 2008 • Election 2008 • Vicki Iseman

'Kosher' Phones Block Porn

Rabbis sign off on no-call list in Israel

Feb 4, 08 5:37 PM CST
(Newser) - Israel’s top phone company is betting that its most orthodox customers need less temptation in their lives. Bezeq Israel Telecom launched a “kosher” phone service yesterday that will block calls to and from “improper” numbers, such as porn lines. In true kosher fashion, Israel’s top rabbis... More »

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Israel • telecom industry • pornography • Judaism • kosher • orthodoxy • Bezeq Israel Telecom

Porn Moves Toward Bold, Tiny New Era

Adult entertainment, already huge overseas, aims for US cellphones

Feb 1, 08 12:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Porn is setting its sights on the small screen—the really small screen. As both mobile phone screens and internet capabilities expand, pornographers see American opportunity in a trend that's already sweeping Europe, Reuters reports. “It will be impossible to stop the adult business exploitation of mobile entertainment,... More »

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cell phones • telecom industry • pornography

Sprint Plans Major Asset Write-Off

So much for goodwill: $31B in losses pegged to Nextel merger

Feb 1, 08 12:27 PM CST
(Newser) - Sprint Nextel says it may write off up to $31 billion related to the merger that created the combined company. The move comes just after a regime change at the company, which has struggled since the 2005 merger, and lost about 1 million customers last year. The write-off, accounting for... More »

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telecom industry • mergers and acquisitions • Sprint Nextel

Verizon Sues Alltel Over Guinea Pig Ad

Wireless giant says claims made in commercial are untrue

Jan 6, 08 1:23 PM CST
(Newser) - Verizon Wireless is suing rival Alltel for false advertising over a television commercial featuring a vicious guinea pig, the Register reports. In the ad, a caged rodent named Alice is compared to Verizon customers who lack the freedom to change calling plans without extending their contracts. Released from her cage,... More »

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cell phones • Verizon • telecom industry • commercials • telephone • Alltel • false advertising • guinea pig

As Razr Loses Edge, Motorola Could Cut Itself

Top investor wants the
struggling company
to break up

Dec 13, 07 8:37 AM CST
(Newser) - In an era of rampant telecom convergence, Motorola may be headed the other way. With its once-popular Razr phone leading a money-losing cellphone business, Carl Icahn, the company’s No. 3 shareholder, thinks slicing up the company would create $20 billion in shareholder wealth. The math works, the Wall ... More »

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Razr • Carl Icahn • telecom industry • Motorola • Greg Brown • telecommunications companies

India and China Drive Mobile Growth

Big developing markets adopt most phones, text the most

Dec 12, 07 12:20 PM CST
(Newser) - Telecom companies must be brushing up on their Hindi. India doubled its cell phone user population in 2006, adding more subscribers than Britain had total, according to a new international communications report. The 150 million Indian phone-toters represent just 14% of the population. China meanwhile sent 429 billion text messages,... More »

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China • India • cell phones • telecom industry • texting • television watching

AT&T Disconnects
Pay Phones

Call a friend on your cell to report end of 129-year-old business

Dec 3, 07 12:12 PM CST
(Newser) - In 1878, one of AT&T’s ancestors introduced the first pay phone—an ordinary phone with an attendant nearby to take callers’ cash. Now the company is discontinuing its pay-phone operations, it announced today, 129 years later. With roughly 80% of Americans owning cellphones, pay phones had shrunk to... More »

MORE ABOUT:
cell phones • telecom industry • AT and T • telephone

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