WiMax

How a WiMax iPod Touch could be a non-AT&T iPhone alternative

If you want an iPhone in the U.S., you've got two choices: use AT&T's wireless service, or risk unlocking your phone to use T-Mobile (the only other American provider that's compatible with the iPhone's SIM-based GSM design). And with AT&T's exclusivity contract in effect until 2012, we'll be well into the next presidential election cycle before that changes. But maybe there's a loophole in the form of the iPod Touch--and its eventual successor. … Read more

Nortel cuts jobs as losses widen

Telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks said it will cut more jobs as the company's losses widen.

The company's stock plunged some 13 percent on Wednesday to $9.96 after the company reported that its fourth-quarter earnings declined about 3.7 percent to $3.2 billion. The company reported a loss for the fourth quarter of $884 million compared to a loss of $80 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. The higher losses were due to a tax-related charge, the company said.

To help curb spending and get the company back on track, Nortel said, it would cut … Read more

Report: Intel backing Sprint, Clearwire WiMax venture

Intel has spent a lot of time and money backing WiMax as a next-generation wireless standard, and it looks like the company isn't ready to watch its partners falter just yet.

The Street.com reported Tuesday that Intel is preparing to fund a $2 billion joint venture formed by Sprint and Clearwire that would own the spectrum rights held by both companies. The two companies had previously planned to build a nationwide WiMax network but shelved those ambitions after Sprint CEO Gary Forsee was sent packing last year. Still, talks remained alive, and it sounds like they might be … Read more

Sprint and Clearwire still working together

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are still collaborating on building their Wimax networks and the companies have made significant headway on a roaming deal, Clearwire Chief Executive Ben Wolff said on Wednesday.

Wolff, who spoke at the company's analyst conference in Portland, Ore., stopped short of making any big partnership announcement with Sprint. And he declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal article published Tuesday that said Sprint was considering spinning off its Xohm network and combining it with Clearwire's network.

In July, Sprint and Clearwire said they would partner to build out their networks and commercialize the service. … Read more

Sprint boots three more execs

Sprint Nextel is looking for replacements at the top of its corporate food chain.

On Thursday, the beleaguered wireless carrier said that three of its top execs, including Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh, are leaving the company effective Friday. The company named Senior Vice President and Controller William Arendt as the interim CFO, while it searches for a permanent replacement.

Tim Kelly, chief marketing officer, and Mark Angelino, president of sales and distribution, are also stepping down.

Sprint has been in the process of reshaping its executive team for the past few months. Chief Executive Officer Gary Forsee was the … Read more

Is Apple readying a wireless announcement? Maybe not

A banner at the Moscone Center in San Francisco where Apple will host its annual Macworld conference has many in the technology sector buzzing about a possible wireless announcement coming from CEO Steve Jobs' keynote on Tuesday.

The banner that reads "There's something in the Air" has prompted much speculation that Apple is readying itself for another big wireless announcement. The most persistent rumor is that Apple will include WiMax on Apple notebooks.

WiMax is a wireless broadband technology that will deliver faster download speeds than 3G wireless over longer distances than is possible with Wi-Fi, making … Read more

Harman hints at new wireless tech

At a party during CES, we sniffed out potential new technology from Harman International that combines wireless transmission with lossless audio. We stumbled on a display unit using the MyGig entertainment system, built by Harman for Chrysler, labeled Harman Wireless. A Harman representative on the scene said that he couldn't tell us anything about the technology, so we talked to him for as long as we could to try and get a few details. From what we could piece together, Harman is working on a device that will use some kind of wireless technology, possibly WiMax, to receive lossless … Read more

Intel CEO predicts a more 'personalised' Internet

In a visionary speech to the CES trade show in Las Vegas, Intel chief executive Paul Otellini predicted the rise of a more "personal Internet" - one which will be proactive in serving users the information and entertainment they need in a more intuitive and personalised way.

Today's Internet, he said, is a "go-to" Internet.

"The Internet reacts to our requests rather than anticipating them," he told the conference at the Venetian Hotel and Casino.

In the future, he predicts Internet services will be more proactive, predictive and context aware.

"The Internet … Read more

Sprint introduces its new CEO

With a mandate to "improve execution across the board," wireless carrier Sprint Nextel named industry veteran Dan Hesse as its president and CEO.

Hesse is a former AT&T Wireless executive and was head of Embarq, the telephone division Sprint spun off in May last year, so he knows his way around the telecommunications business, but his new job nonetheless comes with considerable pressure.

The company's search for a new chief executive began in early October, when the Sprint board pushed out chairman and CEO Gary Forsee and tapped Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh to become acting CEO. … Read more

Sprint considers shift in WiMax strategy

Sprint Nextel may be considering some big changes to its WiMax strategy, which might include a merger with start-up service provider Clearwire, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Sprint Nextel is supposedly weighing its options on the matter as it looks for a new CEO, the article said. The company's former CEO Gary Forsee was forced out of the company last month. Sprint, the third largest wireless operator in the United States behind AT&T and Verizon Wireless, has been bleeding customers for the past few quarters as it deals with integrating the … Read more