Sep 21, 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! US subscribers text more than they call The typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends and receives more text messages than phone calls. In a finding that might benefit mobile marketing, Nielsen Mobile found that during the second quarter of this year, domestic wireless subscribers sent or received an average of 357 text messages each month, compared with an average of 204 phone calls placed or received. It was the second consecutive quarter in which mobile texting significantly eclipsed the number of phone calls. Teens aged 13 to 17 had the highest levels of text messaging, sending and receiving an average of 1,742 text messages per month, while only logging 231 mobile phone calls in the same period. Not surprisingly, the next age group, adults 18-24, had the second-largest gap in text-to-call ratio, 790 to 265. To come up with its tally, Nielsen tracks billing activity through an opt-in panel of more than 50,000 personally liable, postpaid U.S. mobile lines across the nation’s top four carriers, AT&T Mobility, Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Verizon Wireless. Paul Okimoto, corporate VP for Nielsen Mobile, said the trend has several roots, not the least of which is an inundation of new devices with integrated keyboards. “If you look at where mobile phones were just 10 years ago, we’ve come a long way,” he said. … Read more Huawei sets sights on US market, increases workforce In three to five years, a Chinese company could become the world leader in the mobile infrastructure market without a major presence in North America, according to a recent study by ABI Research. However, Huawei Technologies Inc. is gearing up to tackle the U.S. market as it has increased its U.S. workforce from 200 to 500 employees in the past 18 months, said Charlie Martin, Huawei CTO of North America. As Huawei attempts to break into the U.S. market, the company has seen considerable growth in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and China, the leading wireless market, said Nadine Manjaro, ABI Research senior analyst. “They have made an aggressive push in a number of areas,” Manjaro said. The 20-year-old company is emerging in a market that has been dominated by L.M. Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent. As of the first quarter, Ericsson owns nearly 29% of the world’s cellular infrastructure market, followed by Nokia Siemens Networks at 23%, Alcatel-Lucent with 13%, and Huawei at 8%, according to ABI Research. “Don’t be fooled by that disparity. Huawei is the vendor to watch, given its overall increase in market share over the last six quarters,” Manjaro said. “And squarely in its sights is the No. 3 vendor, Alcatel-Lucent.” The Chinese employee-owned company saw substantial growth between 2006 and 2007, where contract sales increased from $11 billion to $16 billion, according to ABI. In recent years, Huawei entered into agreements with European giants Telefonica S.A. and Vodafone Group plc. The company has also been aggressive in countries with emerging markets, such as India and Africa, Manjaro said. Huawei owns 44% of the market in Africa and the Middle East and is among the leaders in the Asia Pacific market. Manjaro said Huawei’s place in the market will grow because the top three operators in China are planning to spend close to $80 billion on infrastructure in the next three years. She estimates Huawei will get 20% of the business. … Read more New roaming requirements on the table Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, introduced legislation to require telecom recipients of rural universal-service funds to provide automatic roaming on just and reasonable terms to wireless carriers, adding a new dynamic to  a raucous roaming debate  that until now has played out almost exclusively at the Federal Communications Commission. Waxman’s bill, the Universal Roaming Act of 2008, has been referred to the House Commerce Committee. Further action on the bill is not expected until next year, with Congress trying to adjourn by week’s end but unlikely to do so because of work on the Bush administration’s $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan. Waxman’s panel has been analyzing responses from two dozen telecom companies to detailed inquiries on high-cost USF support – totaling billions of dollars – which the firms have received in recent years. High-cost rural subsidies are but one component of a stressed universal-service fund that is the focus of reform efforts at the FCC and in Congress. Last month, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, lacking adequate support, postponed a scheduled vote on revisions to the roaming rule. The proposed changes, among other things, would accord roaming rights to some AWS-1 and 700 MHz auction winners that cannot yet access their spectrum. Under the FCC’s in-market exclusion rule – designed to promote efficient spectrum use – such entities lack standing to secure roaming from wireless operators in markets where new and incumbent licensees have spectrum rights, but only the latter have facilities in place. Small, rural, mid-size and even national operators like Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. favor changes to the in-market exclusion in a cellphone market dominated by AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless. … Read more Google’s GI handset debuts The long-awaited Google Inc. Android-powered handset by HTC Corp. for T-Mobile USA Inc. – dubbed the G1 – debuted today and its pre-launch reception appeared positive. Timed for release on Oct. 22 at $180 with a two-year voice and data contract, the touchscreen-and-QWERTY device may bring T-Mobile USA the sought-after combination of customer retention and attraction all carriers crave, raise HTC’s brand awareness and begin the process of wooing mobile subscribers worldwide to use an integrated suite of Google’s mobile services. Three potential drivers to the G1’s uptake: 1) The price slightly undercuts the iPhone’s less-expensive model – which has reset pricing for smartphones. 2) The touchscreen lends itself to browsing, now a crucial function of high-end devices. 3) And the QWERTY – not available on the iPhone – may attract an increasingly text-crazy subscriber base. According to Nielsen Mobile, between the end of last year and the beginning of this year, the number of text messages sent by American subscribers exceeded the number of voice calls made. Observers will now watch closely to see how the Linux-based, Android operating system – given away, license free – will spread, versus Nokia Corp.’s intent to do the same with the Symbian OS. Another open Linux-based effort, led by the LiMo Foundation, has released as many as two dozen handsets from various vendors to less media acclaim. … Read more Tweens want cell phones The back-to-school rush is over and, inevitably, the holidays will soon be upon us. Cue up the chorus of young voices in your household tentatively suggesting that you might want to take them shopping for new handsets. Hmm … just how young is that chorus, overall? Data from iGR Research spells out an eye-opening picture. Between 5% and 10% of five-year-olds have a mobile phone. By age 10, fully one-third of American kids have a phone. By the first teenage years, nearly 100% of America’s kids have a phone. Tweens, thus, are the transition demographic, between childhood and adolescence, where future marketing and handset design will focus, according to Iain Gillott, principal at iGR Research. The research and analyst firm plans to launch another tween survey to demonstrate how swiftly cellphone penetration has reached into the elementary school set. But previous surveys in 2005 and 2007 of more than 800 parents and 400 children tell a sobering story. Staying in touch has become the mantra serving both tweens and their parents, Gillott said. Except, of course, tweens want to stay in touch with each other via text messaging and parents simply want to know their tweens are safe. “What do parents like?” Gillott asked, rhetorically. “Pure peace of mind.” If a text enquiry to one’s tween – “R U OK?” – is returned in the affirmative, mission accomplished, the analyst said. And with the advent of inexpensive handsets, family plans and parental control software, the cost and ease of this contact and monitoring is affordable for an increasing number of parents. … Read more LTE vs. WiMAX It’s become quite clear which technology the top four carriers have sided with in the next-generation debate between WiMAX and Long Term Evolution. Sprint Nextel Corp. is the lone supporter for WiMAX; Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility Inc. made public their plans to deploy LTE, a decision expected to be echoed by No. 4 operator T-Mobile USA Inc. (It should be noted that while Sprint Nextel has thrown its support behind the WiMAX camp in regards to its vast 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings, the carrier has yet to announce any next-generation plans for its traditional cellular properties that operate in the 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz band.) So what about the smaller, not-as-highly publicized carriers? Following in the footsteps of their larger-scale competitors, most small carriers are latching onto LTE, if anything at all. Decisions are not final for most, but they are clear, and there isn’t much mention of WiMAX. MetroPCS Communications Inc. said it will go with LTE as its 4G technology during its second-quarter conference call. And during that call, Roger Lindquist, chairman, president and CEO of MetroPCS, said it will happen sooner, rather than later. MetroPCS was not available for follow-up questions on its plans. U.S. Cellular Corp. is also betting on LTE. Mark Steinkrauss, VP of corporate relations for U.S. Cellular, said although the carrier hasn’t made any huge decisions yet, it will pursue the LTE path. Steinkrauss said the main pull toward the technology is all the money the company expects to save by doing so. “We think that offers the bulk of where the U.S. and the world is going,” Steinkrauss said. “[That] suggests to us that besides the benefits of LTE, spectral efficiencies and speeds, you’ve got the opportunity for reasonable infrastructure costs and equipment costs.” … Read more Check out the  RCR Wireless News Archives  for more stories from the past.