Wireless, Wireless Carrier | featured news

Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and six other state attorneys general join the Justice Department's antitrust suit, say the deal would result in less competition in the wireless market.

Looking at AT&T and its planned acquisition, it’s fair to suggest that it could not attract the financing necessary to complete the purchase if its plan was to raise prices. Not only would such a move be unrealistic given the existence of Verizon and other smaller competitors, it would also be self-defeating for high prices signaling to those outside the mobile-phone space a potentially profitable competitive opportunity.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, speaking at the CTIA trade show, said he's concerned AT&T's plan to take over rival T-Mobile USA would stifle innovation and hurt consumers. The chief of Verizon Wireless said he isn't interested in buying Sprint.

AT&T announced on Sunday that it agreed to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom, in a $39 billion deal that will reshape the cellular telephone industry. The merger — one of the largest since the onset of the financial crisis — would combine the second and fourth largest cellular carriers in the nation, bringing together AT&T’s 95.5 million wireless subscribers with T-Mobile’s 33.7 million customers.

Verizon Wireless increased subscribers to 94.1 million in the fourth quarter, up from 93.2 million in the third quarter, a small increase that shows how saturated the US wireless market has become even for the top ...

To the average consumer, the intricacies of the wireless technologies used by cellphones and other mobile devices are confusing. Fortunately, cell phone carriers have made it easier on us by inventing the “G,” a nebulous standard that makes people think they understand what they’re getting when they sign up for that two-year contract. The bad news: The carriers themselves typically don’t care about what a 3G or 4G network should actually be. And now, as proof of concept, AT&T has re-branded their existing 3G network as a 4G network.

Consumer Reports, the influential product review publication, says AT&T remains the country's worst-rated cellular provider, a blow to the carrier's effort to rehabilitate its network and reputation.

Evidence continues to mount to support expectations that Apple's iPhone 4 will finally launch on Verizon this coming January.

AT&T reported a 26% increase in second-quarter earnings amid an investment gain, lower costs and fewer customer defections.

It was speculative before given the lack of independent confirmation, but now apparently Apple has gone on record to confirm that the original deal signed with AT&T for iPhone exclusivity back in 2007 was a five-year deal.