Wireless Blog

Wireless carrier United States Cellular Corp. said Thursday it lost 59,000 net retail customers in the second quarter.

AT&T, in partnership with Jasper Wireless, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, announced commercial availability of a new platform designed to connect and support a variety of emerging consumer electronic and business devices on AT&T's nationwide wireless network.

The Obama administration plans to spend an additional $100 million on a weather satellite program that a congressional watchdog agency says has been beset by mismanagement, delays and cost overruns. The satellites are at least $8 billion over budget and the launch of the first satellite will be at least five years late, reports USA Today.

The NPOES satellite project is “a poster child for mismanagement,” says David Powner, author of a Government Accountability Office report issued June 17 (pdf). “It’s clearly up there as one of the most troubled programs that we’ve looked at.”

“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that our national polar satellite program is on a disastrous path, and unless we make changes immediately, the program will fail,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the satellite program.

The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, was begun 15 years ago to save money and avoid duplicate military and civilian weather satellites. NPOES program would be a joint venture. NPOESS would replace both the DOD’s DMSP weather satellite and the NOAA Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES).

NPOES would integrate both systems.

It would be run and financed by both the Defense Department and NOAA. But red tape, infighting and a huge $8 billion cost overrun made the system one of the best examples of fraud and abuse in the federal government.

In March 2005, NPOESS was budgeted at $6.8 billion, but current cost estimates have ballooned to $13.8 billion. NOAA’s entire annual budget is $4 billion. NPOESS is now 5 years behind its targeted year for becoming operational.

Gaps in coverage are possible during that time, if enough older satellites fail. Long range weather forecasting could be in jeopardy.

The GAO Director of Information Technology Management Issues, told Congress: “NPOESS is a program in crisis”.

Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), the committee’s ranking minority member, and Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) ranking member on the environment technology and standards subcommittee, said NOAA’s Administrator, and Gen. John J. Kelly Jr., Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, should be fired.

“Until I am provided sufficient information, I can’t trust that the budget and leadership problems of the past will go away,” said Rep. Wu. “We must find a way forward that maintains the quality and continuity of our weather forecasting system. Billions of taxpayer dollars are tied to those forecasts, and not only quality of life, but actual American lives can hang in the balance. We can’t afford to get this wrong.”

See Dailywireless: Crisis at NOAA and Advanced EHF - Wait for It

KDDI, a Japanese cellular carrier, has developed a microSD WiFi card and exhibited it at Wireless Japan 2009, in Tokyo this week.

KDDI showcased two types of cards, which are manufactured by Mitsumi Electric Co Ltd and Renesas Technology Corp, respectively. Both of them are feature 802.11b/g with a transceiving antenna and other components.

As a wireless LAN IC, Mitsumi Electric employs the Atheros AR6002 chip, whose RF transceiver circuit and baseband processing circuit are integrated, while Renesas Technology uses its “KS3021″ RF transceiver IC and “KS7010″ baseband processing IC.

For both microSD cards, the area of the antenna is about one third that of the microSD card. The release date of the product is yet to be determined.

Alvarion Ltd. , the world's leading provider of WiMAX and wireless broadband solutions, today announced the launch of Star Management Suite, a new comprehensive network management solution designed to manage complete WiMAX network infrastructure with the necessary level of control, and to enable operators to simplify management of innovative IP ...

AT&T said it racked up 2.4 million new iPhone activations in the second quarter, with the bulk of the additions coming from the wireless carrier's launch of Apple's iPhone 3GS on June 19.

The first day of the iPhone 3GS launch was "the best sales day ever" for AT&T's retail and online stores, noted Chief Financial Officer Richard Lindner. Moreover, 35 percent of all iPhone buyers in the quarter "were customers new to AT&T," he said.

iPhone Trade-Offs

Still, surging iPhone demand isn't without its downside, given that AT&T is heavily subsidizing initial device sales. The company said its wireless service margin fell nearly three percentage points year-over-year to 38.3 percent in the quarter. Without the increased acquisition costs associated with the iPhone 3GS launch, AT&T estimates that its service margin would have been more than 40 percent.

Nevertheless, AT&T is more than willing to trade off short-term margin gains in exchange for a long-term boost in the average revenue per user (ARPU) that it receives from each iPhone customer over time.

"As we start to benefit from recurring ARPUs from this customer base, the margins will grow," Lindner said. "But it is difficult to predict" what the ARPU will be in "the next quarter or two given that we have been surprised by the strength of demand."

Some industry observers worry that AT&T's wireless fortunes are too heavily tied to its iPhone exclusivity agreement with Apple and wonder what would happen should the deal come to an end. But Lindner pointed out that AT&T's smartphone growth isn't limited to iPhone sales.

AT&T recorded a 3.5 million increase in the number of 3G handsets with QWERTY or virtual keyboards running on its network in the June-ended quarter, Lindner observed. This resulted in a 37.2 percent increase in wireless data revenues to $3.4...

PC World reviews the the Samsung Mondi which features a 4.3-inch LCD touch display, 4GB of onboard memory, QWERTY keyboard, WiFi and WiMax. The Mondi runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and comes preloaded with Opera 9.5 and Route66 for turn-by-turn GPS.

Overall, in my first impressions, the good outweigh the bad: I can live with the keyboard and the UI is only sluggish occasionally. The future of WiMax is unclear right now, but if you live in an area where the technology has been deployed, the Mondi might let you take advantage of WiMax’s promised, potentially appreciable performance boost over 3G. I relished The ability to have faster-than-3G Internet speed on-the-go is incredibly useful.

But be sure you know what coverage is like in your area. In my experience in Portland, I had a lot of difficulty using WiMax in various parts of the city. Often, I had to switch to Wi-Fi, which was problematic when I encountered secure or unreliable networks. While Samsung hasn’t officially announced price, we’ve been told the device will cost over $300 subsidized and over $400 unsubsidized.

But — really — who wants a Windows Mobile phone? It appears a dozen or more Android devices will soon be available offering thousands of innovative applications and services at little or no cost.

Waiting for a WiMAX-enabled Android device looks like a better bet. Especially with tethering.

San Francisco-based start-up Touch Revolution says a string of well-known companies will introduce a range of Android-powered household gadgets before the end of the year for home control, media control and home phones.

About 10 phone manufacturers are developing handsets for Android including HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung. Google’s Android is Now a Contender, says Business Week.

AdMob’s June 2009 Mobile Metrics Report says Android traffic has increased 25 percent month over month and now has a global market share of five percent, which puts it ahead of Windows Mobile. HTC has been responsible for manufacturing 80 percent of all the 50 million Windows Mobile phones sold to date. By next year, more than 50 percent of phones shipped by HTC will be based on the Google’s Android, increasing from just 30 percent this year, reports MocoNews.

Crossbow Technology, a leading supplier of wireless sensor technology, announced the release of an Environmental Sensor Bus development platform. The plug-and-play architecture hooks to a wide range of sensors with ease analogous to USB, says the company.

The ESB capability allows users to quickly and effortlessly customize the rugged system by integrating smart and custom sensors for their own applications whether it be groundwater contamination or wildfire monitoring.

“Scientists at UMass Boston Center for Coastal Environmental Sensing Networks (CESN) have been researching the development of ’smart’ sensor networks for observing interactions of coastal systems around Boston Harbor. According to Francesco Peri, Managing Director of CESN, “the eKo real-time system is an ideal platform to bridge the land-water sensor network barrier and is helping us to detect hot spots and hot moments.”

The eKo system is a miniaturized, solar-powered outdoor wireless monitoring system that enables users to quickly and easily set up a wireless communication infrastructure. It’s designed for any outdoor wireless monitoring requirement and features the ES9000, ES9100 and ES9200 all designed to enable the specific interface for the diverse sensors that can be integrated with the eKo solution.

The Massachusetts Bay is being stitched together by scientists at UMass Boston under the leadership of Dr. Robert Chen, who is developing an inexpensive and more accurate sensor to detect total bacteria. Surfers, swimmers, and fishermen can be alerted to dangerous bacterial levels in the water, unusual environmental conditions, or predictions of rising seas. These scientists envision forecasts of beach conditions delivered on demand to mobile handsets.

Open source resource mapping projects like Oregon Explorer and Willamette Basin Explorer can make those databases available to everyone. Oregon’s Ecotrust is developing an Open OceanMap, collected through interviews with fishermen using a computer-based map interface in preparation of Ocean Sanctuaries. OpenOceanMap is an ambitious project to break the ties of traditional geo-spatial data collection and embark on the development of a truly cross platform, Open Source, and transportable decision support tool.

U.S. researchers are developing new wireless sensor networks for Mount St. Helens explains the Wireless Sensor Blog.

WSU Vancouver Professor WenZhan Song, and hydrologist Rick LaHusen teamed up to develop a dozen of smart robotic sensors which talk to each other and send information to a central information hub at the Johnston Ridge Observatory located atop the Mount St. Helens visitor center. A high-bandwidth microwave link relays the signal between Mount. St. Helens and the WSU Vancouver campus, with support from the USGS.

Related Dailywireless stories include; Wireless River Monitoring, Shipboard AIS Gets a Satellite Swarm, Emergency Mapping, Cascadia Peril ‘09, Swine Flu Gets Social, Tracking Soldiers, Mapping Relief, Wildfire, MIT’s CarTel, Volcano Sensor Net, Alaskan Volcano Monitored, California Wildfires Networked, Fish Net, Wireless River Monitoring, Remote Ocean Viewer, Wireless Recon Airplanes, Mt St Helens Erupts, On Mt. Saint Helens and Global Tsunami Warning System Announced.

South Korea's fair trade regulator said Thursday it was slapping U.S. chip maker Qualcomm Inc. with a record fine over what it said was abuse of market dominance. The company vowed to fight the decision.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission said in a statement that it was fining the San Diego, California-based company 260 billion won ($208 million), the largest such levy ever in South Korea.

The commission, which had been investigating Qualcomm since 2006, said the company abused its dominant position in CDMA mobile phone chips by charging higher royalties for companies that used rival chipsets. It also said that Qualcomm favored customers who used its products by offering rebates.

The commission also ordered Qualcomm to correct the practices.

Donald Rosenberg, Qualcomm executive vice president and general counsel, said the company "strenuously" disagreed with the decision and called the fine "overly excessive and unwarranted."

After receiving a formal written decision, which could take several months, Rosenberg said the company's options included fighting the ruling in South Korean courts.

Qualcomm developed CDMA, or code division multiple access, a rival standard to the dominant cellular standard GSM, or global system for mobile. The company controls most of the key patents.

CDMA is used in the United States and South Korea. Every handset in South Korea has a CDMA chip and manufacturers of handsets have to pay royalty fees to Qualcomm.

Qualcomm, which licenses technology for mobile phones and manufactures semiconductor chips that run them, earns money by licensing the CDMA technology to other chip makers, handset manufacturers and wireless technology companies.

The previous highest fine was one of 113 billion won slapped on a South Korean telephone operator in 2005, the commission said.

Microsoft Corp. was fined 32.5 billion won in 2006 for what the commission ruled was the company's abuse of its dominant market position by tying certain software to...

Alvarion announced today that it has agreed to expand their OEM agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks. Nokia Siemens Networks will resell Alvarion’s latest Mobile WiMAX solutions to Nokia Siemens Networks’ current and prospective WiMAX customers.

Nokia Siemens Networks will resell the Alvarion 4Motion® Mobile WiMAX Solution, including the BreezeMAX base stations, ASN Gateways and 4Motion Element Management System.

Alvarion’s Star Management Suite is designed to manage complete WiMAX network infrastructure, enabling operators to simplify management of IP services such as VoIP and IPTV while enhancing quality of service in a centralized, integrated manner.

The company will also provide deployment, management and maintenance services for the products and leverage its multi-vendor capabilities. Alvarion and Nokia Siemens Networks are already cooperating on WiMAX projects under this expanded agreement. Nokia’s OEM agreement with Alvarion will keep NSN in the WiMAX ball game. And the mobile WiMAX market is likely to be significant, even if LTE eventually dominates broadband wireless, as Nokia believes.

Nokia Siemens Networks originally said they would be a major player in WiMAX, and was one of Clear’s three major suppliers, but has recently largely abandoned their own WiMAX development in favor of LTE. There is clear difference between the WiMAX and LTE in terms business focus. WiMAX is focused on internet access and LTE is focused on voice.

Alvarion’s similar OEM agreement with Nortel Networks ended with Alvarion getting stung on payment, after shipping a ton of equipment to Nortel.

On January 14, 2009, Nortel filed for protection from creditors in order to restructure its debt and financial obligations. At its height, Nortel accounted for more than a third of the total valuation of all the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Nortel’s market capitalization fell from C$398 billion in September 2000 to less than $5 billion in August 2002, and their stock price plunged from C$124 to $0.47.

This week, Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson said it is in the bidding for Nortel’s mobile network unit. Ericsson reportedly submitted a bid worth $730 million, competing with a $650 million bid from Nokia Siemens Networks for Nortel’s CDMA and LTE wireless technology businesses. RIM had said it was prepared to pay up to $1.1 billion for Nortel’s wireless business and other undisclosed assets, but had been prevented from participating in the auction unless it agreed to refrain from bidding on other Nortel assets. On July 28, a judge at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware will decide on which bidder should get the assets. A similar hearing in Canada is scheduled for July 30.