Yarrrrrr!
Ahoy, you online pirates -- you're safe for at least another week from the likes of the United States Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced in a statement, "In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday's vote on the Protect IP Act." The events he refers to were the wave of online blackouts protesting that act, also known as PIPA, and also the House version, known as SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act.
First spawn
The initial results of the co-marketing agreements between Verizon
There's already some controversy over those deals. Verizon says the market agreement details should not be included in the FCC's review of the spectrum transfer because the details are too competitively sensitive to be aired in public. Sprint Nextel
A new definition of "unlimited"
AT&T
Some AT&T customers may have a different definition of "throttle" in mind.
Food fight!
Remember just after Thanksgiving, when the FCC released its report essentially dooming AT&T's proposed merger with T-Mobile? If you do, then you certainly read about AT&T's rebuttal, calling the report an "advocacy" piece. Well they're at it again. A very spectrum-hungry AT&T is upset about pending legislation allowing for the sale of broadcast spectrum to also include a provision for the FCC to choose who could or could not join the bidding. But in a turning of the tables, T-Mobile has defended the FCC's right to do just that. Now that the nation's No. 4 wireless carrier is out from under AT&T's wing, it doesn't want the No. 2 carrier's deeper pockets -- or Verizon's, as carrier No. 1 -- to just take it all.
Tower sale?
T-Mobile may have to sell some of its towers to raise enough spectrum-buying money. Bloomberg has reported that Macquarie Capital USA analyst Kevin Smithen raised the possibility of "a hotly contested auction" for T-Mobile's towers. Bidders could include American Tower, Crown Castle International, and SBA Communications.
More LTE for Verizon
Verizon announced on Wednesday that its lead in the race to blanket the country with its LTE network has gotten a bit wider. The carrier will add five new markets, bringing its total LTE coverage to 195 markets. The network would then cover more than 200 million people.
They're giving it away!
Wal-Mart is doing what it does best -- undercutting the competition. And to make sure it can't be underpriced, it's giving this particular product away -- that's for free, gratis, zip, nada -- with a two-year contract. The item? The Nokia
Last one out, turn off the lights
Ah, WiMAX -- the technology that got Sprint off the ground first with a 4G-ish network, and what motivated the Sprint/Clearwire
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