Sep 7, 2023

Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories! Texting is the hot new trend Whether you’re looking for true love or virtual love-or simply want to play hooky from work-your mobile phone can help. While handset manufacturers and carriers are scrambling to make space-age mobile devices that double as on-the-go entertainment centers, savvy wireless users are using phones for a decidedly old-fashioned purpose: to meet people who share a common interest. Even if the common interest involves, say, cheating on a lover. That’s the idea behind the “alibi and excuse club,” a text message-based network of 7,500 wireless users who provide alibis and excuses for fellow members. A married man who’s late coming home from work, for instance, will solicit help via a text message, then arrange for someone to call his wife, pose as his boss, and explain his tardiness. The club is just one of about 150,000 such cliques that have been created at Sms.ac, according to Greg Wilfahrt, executive vice president and co-founder. Club topics range from the obvious (flirting and sports) to the political (George Bush for president) to the inexplicable (Fans of Vanilla Ice, a club with 18,000 members based in Romania). The popularity of short message service has been enormous in Asia and Europe for years, but only recently have American users warmed to text messaging. And what’s driving it is simply a need for people to connect with like-minded wireless users. “I think it’s one of the major trends,” said Scott Ellison, program director of wireless and mobile communications for IDC. “We’ve gone from voice communications to messaging to now forming communities” through wireless devices. Indeed, a recent poll by The Yankee Group shows 63 percent of wireless users have the ability to send and receive text messages-up from just 27 percent last year. And teens are among the most active users, sending or receiving an average of 10 text messages every week. … Read more Fingerprint recognition comes to cell phones Still sounding like something from a sci-fi flick, fingerprint-recognition technology is coming to fruition in the wireless arena, with funding from top technology firms pushing along product development and launches. AuthenTec Inc., which develops biometric fingerprint sensors and fingerprint algorithms, has watched demand for its product grow in the past year. To date, the company has shipped several million fingerprint sensors, which are about one-third the size of a paper clip, into cell phones in Japan and Korea, said Steve Mansfield, AuthenTec’s vice president of marketing. NTT DoCoMo’s 505 series phones, which launched a year ago, include AuthenTec fingerprint sensors, as do the three newer versions of the device introduced since then. By the end of 2004, AuthenTec expects to have more than 3-percent marketshare penetration in Japan. “That’s pretty impressive for a start up company here in Melbourne, Fla.,” said Mansfield. The private, venture-backed company, 55-employees strong, has raised $65 million in private venture money. Its funding rounds have been led by technology investors including Texas Instruments Inc., Sierra Ventures and Carlyle Venture Partners. … Read more Earthlink gets a BlackBerry Internet Service Provider EarthLink has added wireless voice provider to its resume with the release of the all-in-one color BlackBerry 7750 Wireless Handheld with wireless voice and e-mail service. The device works as a phone, e-mail device and Internet access device. It will be sold, supported and provisioned by EarthLink. “By adding voice to our growing list of applications-including e-mail, wireless Internet access and attachment viewing-EarthLink becomes the first ISP to offer a comprehensive wireless data and voice solution,” said Brent Cobb, vice president of EarthLink Wireless. “Beyond giving mobile professionals the benefits of an EarthLink experience when they are away form the office-including blocking virtually all spam from reaching the handheld-offering the BlackBerry 7750 is an important early step in our overall strategy to expand our voice and data offerings and become a complete communications provider,” said Cobb. EarthLink Wireless will offer unlimited data plans starting at $40 per month and will sell 500 anytime minutes with no roaming fees and free night and weekend calling for an additional $40 per month. … Read more APAC surpasses North America as largest mobile market GENEVA-The Asia-Pacific region continues to show strong telecommunication market growth, according to research from the International Telecommunication Union, which kicked off ITU Telecom Asia 2004 in Busan, Korea, this week. The group found that growth rates for mobile subscribers, fixed lines and Internet users during the past few years have soared in a number of countries across the region. Mobile subscriber numbers rocketed by 31 percent per year between 2000 and 2003 to reach 560 million-overtaking North America as the world’s largest market. … Read more Crown Castle sells UK towers, considers buying Sprint sites As expected, Crown Castle International Corp. completed the sale of its U.K. subsidiary, including 3,600 tower sites, to British utility company National Grid Transco plc for $2.035 billion in cash. Upon completion, Crown used $1.3 billion of the proceeds from the transaction to fully repay the credit facility of its restricted group operating company. Earlier this summer, when it announced the pending sale, Crown said bond indentures require it to move the remaining $740 million in proceeds within 12 months. Ben Moreland, Crown’s chief financial officer, emphasized the company will remain prudent about where it invests those proceeds, indicating they likely would be used to repay debt, fund a share repurchase, pay down dividends or to possibly invest in new U.S. business opportunities. The lump of cash could put Crown in the running to buy Sprint Corp.’s 6,300-strong tower portfolio, currently being reviewed by players across the industry and by other investors. The towers, which analysts say could sell for as much as $1 billion, would return Crown to the No. 1 ranked tower company, a place it lost to American Tower Corp. with the U.K. sale. American Tower owns 13,219 towers. … Read more Check out the  RCR Wireless News Archives  for more stories from the past.