Verizon Communications, the parent company of US operator Verizon Wireless, is about to sell off some of its assets including mobile towers and parts of its fixed-line business, a report by the Wall Street Journal has claimed. The company is said to be selling the assets in several separate deals whose value could be over $15 billion.
Google is reportedly planning to start an MVNO business, which according to unnamed sources quoted by the Information would operate on T-Mobile US (TMUS) or Sprint’s network. The report claimed the project, apparently codenamed Nova and headed by Google Executive Nick Fox, is set to launch this year.
The German government has decided to cancel a contract with Verizon Wireless prompted, at least in part, by the revelations of US spying unveiled by NSA contractor Edward Snowden last year. The apparent assumption on the part of the German government is that, as a US company, Verizon will be obliged to allow US security agencies access to German government communications over the Verizon network.
US telecoms regulator The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has endorsed a voluntary industry agreement to establish interoperable LTE service in the Lower 700MHz band. The move should give smaller US players access to a wider range of devices and increase competition.
Vodafone has confirmed that it is discussing the potential sale of its 45 per cent stake in US operator Verizon Wireless to JV partner Verizon Communications. Verizon’s desire to assume full control of the largest mobile operator in the US is well known and the deal has been the subject of speculation for the better part of a decade.
The boards of the world’s ten largest operators are dominated by executives with legal, financial and engineering backgrounds, resulting in a conservative culture that “struggles to drive and nurture innovation”, according to recruitment consultancy European Leaders.
It’s quarterly results time again, with Vodafone, Verizon, Microsoft and Google reporting varying degrees of success for the quarter ended June 30.
Operator group Vodafone reported almost flat revenues for the quarter, climbing by just one per cent, to reach £10.8bn ($17bn).
As operators in mature markets take steps to move away from low margin or loss making all-you-can-eat data pricing models,US carriers are pioneering a model that enables families to draw data for each member’s personal device from a single monthly allocation. AT&T this week became the latest carrier to introduce the play.
US carrier Verizon Wireless restored LTE service across the country yesterday after suffering an outage, the third it has experienced this year. On Wednesday this week, its LTE customers found that they were unable to connect to the high-speed network, with most devices falling back to 3G speeds.
Despite facing criticism for poor battery life it seems Verizon’s LTE devices have proved popular with consumers after the company revealed that it sold 1.2m LTE devices in the second quarter of 2011. It also managed to add an additional 2.2m subscribers to its network in the same period, having now expanding its LTE network to a total of 102 US markets. It said that 69 per cent of the post-paid additions to its subscriber numbers came from LTE devices or the Apple iPhone.
Verizon Wireless, the US operator, has announced that it has extended its LTE network to an additional 28 markets, taking the total number of cities the network covers to 102. Areas now enjoying LTE include Colorado Springs, Portland, Oregon, and Honolulu.
The limited roster of LTE enabled smartphones worldwide was boosted yesterday by the arrival of the LG Revolution on Verizon Wireless in the US. The operator said that the device, which is now available online and in stores, will deliver download speeds between 5 and 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5Mbps, in areas covered by its LTE network.
Convergence Technologies, a US network provider, has announced that it has signed up to the Verizon Wireless LTE in Rural America Program. As part of the deal, CTI will provide LTE to rural communities in Indiana that are within the IN-5 Cellular Market Area.
Verizon Wireless’ LTE network ground to a halt on Wednesday, as users of the HTC Thunderbolt handset reported difficulties getting online. As word began to spread, Verizon acknowledged on its Twitter page that it was experiencing “an issue” with the service, following up with a post stating that the problem had been identified and the telco was “working with major vendors to restore connections.”
Verizon has released the 4G LTE MiFi 4510L a, a mobile hotspot device that will enable up to five devices to connect to it via wifi and gain access to Verizon’s LTE network.
Under rules approved by America’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC), AT&T and Verizon will be required to share their data networks with smaller operators. Network sharing arrangements for voice calls are already mandatory; prior to yesterday’s ruling, network sharing for mobile data was arranged on a voluntary basis.
The pending deal between AT&T and T-Mobile USA is symptomatic of growing market maturity in the US but will be better for the American telco than it will for Deutsche Telekom, according to Ovum analyst Steven Hartley.
Nordic carriers TeliaSonera and Telenor and Turkish operator Turkcell are among the shortlisted bidders for Polish operator Polokomtel, according to reports in the Polish media. Also said to be on the shortlist is a bid from Polish media mogul and Forbes rich-list regular, Zygmunt Solorz-Zak.
US mobile operator Verizon Wireless has announced that it will be activating what it claims is the world’s first “large-scale” LTE network this coming Sunday, December 5th. The carrier’s data plans start at $50 for a monthly data allowance of 5GB, and Verizon will be offering USB modems from LG at launch and Pantech in the near future.
US mobile operator Verizon Wireless said Thursday it has agreed to acquire regional mobile carrier Alltel for $28.1bn in cash and assumed debt. UK-based Vodafone, which holds a 45 per cent stake in Verizon, had confirmed the discussions earlier on in the day, sparking concerns over Vodafone’s long awaited dividend from its Verizon stake. Voda […]
UK comms regulator @Ofcom has released an update to its Connected Nations report, which shows the country is nearin hhttps://t.co/D4fdJpWwuE
28 May 2023 @ 13:15:10 UTC
Facebook owner @Meta has been issued a 1.2 billion fine for ##GDPRviolations in relation to data on European citiz hthttps://t.co/xMcjvqVNUQ
28 May 2023 @ 11:10:10 UTC
President Biden has nominated telco lawyer Anna Gomez for Commissioner of the US Federal Communications Commission hhttps://t.co/So1MdLMx9J
28 May 2023 @ 09:20:11 UTC
