Wireless/Mobile Service Companies

Why Spectrum Matters. As a former tech entrepreneur and a co-founder of Nextel, people often assume I know everything there is to know about spectrum.

The fact is, I don’t. But what I do know is that esoteric debates about the government’s spectrum policy have a profound effect on innovation. Let’s face it: Spectrum is a dry topic. Few members of Congress spend much time thinking about it. These days, though, we all spend a lot of time talking about jobs. Like land or pockets of natural gas, spectrum is a valuable limited resource. Smartphone users in major metropolitan areas eagerly purchase the latest mobile devices with their ever-growing capabilities, even as wireless network providers struggle to keep up with unanticipated demands for data. Tiny Transmitters Could Help Avert Data Throttling. Major carriers, arguing that their networks are clogged with smart-phone and tablet traffic, are increasingly implementing data throttling, the practice of targeting heavy users by slowing down data-transfer speeds.

Now a gadget invented at Bell Labs—a programmable, pint-sized transmitter that requires no new traditional cell towers—could rapidly add capacity and thus help avoid data bottlenecks. The gadgets are known as light radio cubes. Measuring just six centimeters on each side, they are miniature transmitters and receivers that can be programmed to work flexibly in different contexts to add capacity.

Two devices together can serve a compact area such as a stadium or train station—handling just as much traffic, in that compact area, as a whole cell tower can serve a wider area. Start thinking about 5G wireless - Mar. 8. 5G technology is going to bring a wireless Internet of 'things,' rather than just phones and tablets.

BARCELONA, Spain (CNNMoney) -- Just as consumers are wrapping their heads around 4G, the wireless industry is thinking ahead to 5G. Soaring smartphone and tablet sales mean networks are growing clogged with cellular data traffic. AT&T CEO pay docked $2 million for T-Mobile debacle - Feb. 22. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson's paycheck is $2 million lighter because of his failed T-Mobile takeover bid.

Spectrum Crunch: The cell phone industry hits its limits - Feb. 21. This is part one of a week-long series on the cell phone capacity crunch.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The U.S. mobile phone industry is running out of the airwaves necessary to provide voice, text and Internet services to its customers. The problem, known as the "spectrum crunch," threatens to increase the number of dropped calls, slow down data speeds and raise customers' prices. U.S. Approves Verizon-Cable Spectrum Deal, With Restrictions. The U.S.

Justice Department allowed the sale of unused airwaves from Comcast and other cable companies to Verizon Wireless Thursday. Originally announced in December of last year, regulators raised anti-competitive concerns over the unprecedented purchase, specifically because it would allow Verizon and cable companies to cross-sell services. The rationale: If they were permitted to do so, then they would be able to drive up prices and drive out the competition for services.

To calm those concerns, heavy restrictions on the deal prevent the companies from selling each other’s services in FiOS markets. “A rigorous review by the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice staffs revealed that the deal as proposed by Verizon Wireless and the cable company owners of SpectrumCo posed serious concerns, including in the wired and wireless broadband and video marketplaces,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. Everything You Need to Know About Wireless Spectrum [INFOGRAPHIC] Spectrum is going to be a hot issue in the upcoming year.

Freeing up spectrum is a major part of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) National Broadband Plan, and last week Congress passed a law allowing TV stations to auction their spectrum to the highest bidding wireless broadband companies. But what is spectrum, you wonder? I'm glad you asked. All wireless signals — TV, radio, GPS and, yes,mobile broadband — fly through the air on public, invisible signals called spectrum. Why your cell phone bill is going up - Feb. 23. Cell phone bills are going up as a result of increased demand and a spectrum crunch that is limited the supply of wireless data bandwidth.

This is part three of a week-long series on the cell phone capacity crunch. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Has your mobile phone bill jumped this past year? Spectrum crunch is creating wireless carrier mergers - Feb. 22. Big wireless carriers are all hunting for spectrum -- which often means buying out their rivals.

This is part two of a week-long series on the cell phone capacity crunch. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- As airwaves become scarce, the spectrum crunch is turning a field of "haves" and "have-nots" into a sharply divided set of winners and losers. Those carriers with the biggest batches of high-quality spectrum have more bandwidth to satisfy customers' growing demands for mobile phone calls, texts and Internet usage. That means fewer dropped calls and faster download speeds. Solutions to the spectrum crunch: Staving off the apocalypse - Feb. 24. The wireless industry is facing a capacity crunch.

FCC Chair: U.S. Needs 'Spectrum Policy Innovation' Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), told attendees of the GSMA Mobile World Congress on Monday that the U.S. needs to "enter the next era of spectrum innovation. " In his address, Genachowski credited two former "major policy innovations" with creating economic value for people across the world: spectrum auctions and the freeing up of "junk band" spectrum for unlicensed use. A spectrum auction allows the government to sell the right to broadcast on certain frequencies to the highest bidding company in an open auction. According to Genachowski, these auctions raised more than $50 billion in revenue and created "more than 10 times that much" in other benefits. LightSquared, Would-Be New Cell Provider, Fights FCC Ban. LightSquared blew it, and here's why.

LightSquared today fired back at the Federal Communications Commission, saying the agency's decision to squash the company's planned wireless network would harm the American public. But it appears to be too little, too late for the embattled company. The start-up wireless provider was dealt a fatal blow yesterday when the FCC suspended a key waiver that would have allowed it to build its 4G network , citing concerns over potential interference with critical GPS equipment. The denial of the waiver effectively turned the company into the walking dead. While the FCC may have officially stamped out LightSquared's hopes yesterday, the company's fate was sealed a long time ago. The company failed to play the political game well and let its opponents control the debate. "Politicians, rather than engineers and scientists, dictated the solution to the problem from Washington," CEO Sanjiv Ahuja said in a statement issued today. 5 Paradoxes Shaping the Future of Mobile Commerce.

Igor Faletski is the CEO of Mobify, a web platform that optimizes ecommerce and publishing sites for mobile and powers more than 20,000 sites. Remember when it took 23 clicks to find movie showtimes on your mobile phone? Your Bandwidth Will Be Throttled. Here's Why. The days of all-you-can eat mobile bandwidth are already ending, and landline broadband could soon follow suit. You, my data-hungry friend, my not be ready for it, but your Cookie Monster-like habit of gobbling up data has made this a certainty.

Rogers promises to end internet throttling - Technology & Science. Rogers has promised to stop "throttling" internet traffic on its network by the end of this year, in response to an investigation by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.