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Sprint Nextel Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse said he’s on a hunt for wireless spectrum after watching Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. devour more and more of the mobile-phone industry’s most precious resource.
Sprint, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, needs to add capacity to keep its data service from buckling in the future as more users watch sports and music videos on phones and tablets. The company is looking for deals with other companies or through government sales, Hesse said. A cash infusion is helping Hesse get more aggressive. In the two months after Softbank Corp.’s October agreement to spend $20 billion to take over Sprint, Hesse’s company agreed to $2.6 billion in purchases, mostly in an attempt to seize control of Clearwire Corp. In the previous 12 months, Sprint had spent almost nothing, standing by as its two biggest competitors cobbled together more than $5 billion in purchases.
Sprint CEO Hesse Seeking More Deals as Data Demand Surges
Apple’s preliminary victory in a patent-infringement case brought by Google’s Motorola Mobility unit over a phone sensor will be reviewed by a trade agency that has the power to block imports of the iPhone.
The U.S. International Trade Commission said it will take a second look at parts of ITC Judge Thomas Pender’s findings that the Motorola Mobility patent is invalid. Notice of the decision was posted on the agency’s website. The commission is scheduled to make a final decision April 22. The patent, for a sensor that prevents the phone from accidentally hanging up when close to a person’s face, is all that’s left of a case Motorola Mobility brought against Apple in 2010. The ITC in August said Apple didn’t infringe two Motorola Mobility patents related to wireless technology used throughout the mobile 3G patents.
Apple Win in Google Case to Be Reviewed by Trade Agency
Anyone that has used Wi-Fi recently doesn't have to be told that Wi-Fi networks, particularly in public hot spots like airports and conferences, can be iffy, depending on how many people go on at the same time. Today, more than 60 percent of mobile data consumption happens on Wi-Fi networks, per Arbitron Mobile. By all forecasts, Wi-Fi demand is only going to explode. Living up to his nickname as "the spectrum chairman," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski will deliver on a promise he made to start the process of freeing up more spectrum for high-speed, high-capacity Wi-Fi known as Gigabit Wi-Fi. At the FCC's monthly meeting, the commission is slated to vote on a notice of proposed rulemaking to increase by 35 percent the amount of mobile spectrum available for unlicensed use. It will be the largest block of unlicensed spectrum made available to expand Wi-Fi in 10 years. Specifically, the rule will allow Wi-Fi networks to share a chunk of spectrum that is infrequently used by radar and some intelligence automotive systems (talking-cars technology).
Your Sluggish Wi-Fi Nightmare Could Soon Come to an End
For help with its massive NFL rights bill and likely re-upping with the NBA, ESPN can continue to count on hefty per-subscriber fees that look to cross the monthly $7 mark in 2017. Based on distribution in 100 million homes, that $7 amount would give it an annual take of about $8.4 billion in affiliate fees alone within five years. ESPN’s current deal with Time Warner Cable calls for it to receive more than $5.40 a sub a month starting in the middle of this year; then passing the $7 mark in 2017; and closing in on the $7.50 mark the following year. The deal calls for an annual increase in the 6.5% range. By the end of this decade, ESPN is set to collect just about $8 a sub a month.
ESPN Set To Pass $7 Sub Fee In 2017
Should a company be allowed to run a generic term such as tire, insurance or book as a domain and wall off its use from competitors? That’s the question the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is wrestling with as it prepares to begin awarding firms new top-level domains — the words to the right of the dot. The nonprofit firm has been evaluating about 1,900 applications for new domains, many of them common dictionary terms.
ICANN’s Debating what’s in a domain name
As everyday users become aware of cyber crime and a mounting cyber war, companies such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google are opening up about their private security forces.
The Internet’s Secret police Come Out of the Shawdows
Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has announced the winners of the 4G mobile spectrum auction.
After more than 50 rounds of bidding, Everything Everywhere Ltd, Hutchison 3G UK Ltd, Niche Spectrum Ventures Ltd (a subsidiary of BT Group plc), Telefónica UK Ltd and Vodafone Ltd have all won spectrum. This is suitable for rolling out new superfast mobile broadband services to consumers and to small and large businesses across the UK1. The auction has achieved Ofcom’s purpose of promoting strong competition in the 4G mobile market. This is expected to lead to faster mobile broadband speeds, lower prices, greater innovation, new investment and better coverage. Almost the whole UK population will be able to receive 4G mobile services by the end of 2017 at the latest. A total of 250 MHz of spectrum was auctioned in two separate bands – 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz. This is equivalent to two-thirds of the radio frequencies currently used by wireless devices such as tablets, smartphones and laptops.
Ofcom announces winners of the 4G mobile auction Auction of 4G spectrum draws to close (Financial Times) The results are in: UK 4G spectrum auction has five winners, raising $3.62B (GigaOm)
[Commentary] President Barack Obama is a master at limiting, shaping and manipulating media coverage of himself and his White House. Not for the reason that conservatives suspect: namely, that a liberal press willingly and eagerly allows itself to get manipulated. Instead, the mastery mostly flows from a White House that has taken old tricks for shaping coverage (staged leaks, friendly interviews) and put them on steroids using new ones (social media, content creation, precision targeting). And it’s an equal opportunity strategy: Media across the ideological spectrum are left scrambling for access. The results are transformational. With more technology, and fewer resources at many media companies, the balance of power between the White House and press has tipped unmistakably toward the government. This is an arguably dangerous development, and one that the Obama White House — fluent in digital media and no fan of the mainstream press — has exploited cleverly and ruthlessly. And future presidents from both parties will undoubtedly copy and expand on this approach.
Obama, the puppet master Just as companies and even armies are becoming media entities, so are governments (paidContent)
Lawmakers and the White House said that a report accusing a Chinese military unit of orchestrating hacking attacks against U.S. computer systems shows the need for cybersecurity legislation.
The report from American computer security firm Mandiant concluded that a 12-story building in Shanghai is almost certainly the headquarters of China's secretive cyberwar division, the People's Liberation Army Unit 61398. The firm said that since 2006, the Chinese unit has stolen data from at least 141 companies across 20 major industries. At least 115 of the companies were in the United States. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday that the United States has "substantial and growing concerns" about cyber attacks. Senate Homeland Security Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) said the report is "yet another important reminder" of the nation's frightening vulnerability to cyber attacks. "The report shows what we already knew," said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. "China is robbing American companies blind, stealing our valuable trade secrets and stealing our jobs. We must give our businesses the cyber threat intelligence they need to protect themselves from these cyber attacks."
US officials say report of Chinese hacking proves need for cybersecurity bill
President Barack Obama’s high-profile cybersecurity order last week faces a brutal reality with news of the latest case of Chinese cyber espionage: The U.S. government has work to do to keep up with the attackers.
The federal government is slow, the regulations are voluntary and cyber defenses at this point aren't yet up to snuff. Substantive changes may move at a snail’s pace in comparison with the rate at which new, sophisticated attacks are coming to light. If anything, the slow wheels of the federal bureaucracy contrast greatly with the swift tidal wave of new stories and revelations about cyberattacks from China and elsewhere.
WH cyber policy will be slow in wake of Chinese hackers