Wireless Ink Corp., which runs the Winksite service, claims that Facebook Mobile and Google Buzz are infringing a patent issued in October. In a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Manhattan, the company is seeking cash compensation and a court order to prevent further use of its invention.
The patent is related to ways of offering content that is accessible by mobile devices, Wireless Ink lawyer Jeremy Pitcock said in an interview. The closely held software maker develops Web sites that can be made available over [...]

Under a long-awaited proposal outlined by the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, broadcasters and other existing spectrum holders would voluntarily give back some spectrum and share in proceeds raised by government auctions of those airwaves to wireless companies.
Wireless carriers have been clamoring for more spectrum as their customers increasingly check e-mail, update Facebook and watch video on the go. Broadband services are already choking in some markets, and next-generation services will tax wireless networks even more.
“Although the potential of mobile broadband is limitless, its oxygen supply is not,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at the New America [...]

Lawrence Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission on Monday that wireless connections offer the best hope for injecting new competition into the duopoly market for broadband services in the United States.
The NTIA, an arm of the Commerce Department, offered its input as the FCC drafts a plan for bringing affordable high-speed Internet access to all Americans. That plan, mandated by last years stimulus bill, is due next month.
The NTIA letter draws heavily on a Justice Department analysis of the state of competition in the broadband market, which was [...]

As mobile phones become more sophisticated, they transmit and receive more data over the airwaves. But the spectrum of wireless frequencies is finite - and devices like the iPhone are allowed to use only so much of it. TV and radio broadcasts, Wi-Fi networks and other communications services also use the airwaves. Each transmits on certain frequencies to avoid interference with others.
Now wireless phone companies fear theyre in danger of running out of room, leaving congested networks that frustrate users and slow innovation. So the wireless companies want the government to give them bigger slices of airwaves - even if [...]

In a report released Thursday, the Government Accountability Office said the Federal Communications Commission needs to ramp up oversight of the wireless industry and do a better job of enforcing consumer protection rules.
The GAO report comes almost four months after the FCC opened a series of inquiries into the state of the wireless industry, including an examination of so-called “truth-in-billing” rules, which require phone companies to clearly describe charges on consumer bills.
The Government Accountability Office produced the report at the request of Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the [...]

Manufacturers of standalone GPS products will have to move quickly and smartly to transform their dumb map readers into intelligent devices that can provide a host of services such as traffic avoidance.
Otherwise, they risk obsolescence in a future in which customers view navigation as simply one more application for their phones. Some of the newer apps already closely match what basic, dashboard-mounted gadgets can do.
“You have to redefine the category somewhat, like what Apple did with the iPod Touch,” said Ross Rubin, technology analyst for research firm The NPD Group. “That turned it from something that was just a media [...]

“What you will see in Brazil this year and next year is that subscriber growth will be faster in Brazil than in the rest of the region,” Garcia Moreno, 52, said yesterday in an interview in Mexico City. “The next big surge of growth will come from Mexico.”
America Movil gets about 20 percent of its subscribers from Brazil, where its annual pace of customer growth equaled 19 percent last quarter, more than twice the rate in Mexico. The carrier, controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, is relying [...]

The purchase of Centennial would “deprive smaller carriers of an ally and consortium partner in buying arrangements,” Cincinnati Bell told the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in a meeting Oct. 16, according to a disclosure filing on the agencys Web site.
The Justice Department approved the $945 million merger on Oct. 13 on condition the combined company sell wireless assets in Louisiana and Mississippi. The FCC will make a decision “very soon,” Ruth Milkman, who heads the agencys wireless bureau, said at the time. [...]

The Federal Communications Commission is continuing to review the wireless merger, which was announced late last year. Under the terms of the deal, Centennial stockholders will receive $8.50 per share in cash.
The Justice Department said it is requiring AT&T to divest Centennial assets in southwestern and central Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi in order to preserve competition in those markets. In May, AT&T agreed to sell certain Centennial wireless assets in five of the eight markets to Verizon Wireless for $240 million.
Dallas-based AT&T expects the Centennial deal to close early in the fourth quarter.
AT&T is [...]

Julius Genachowski said the government is tripling the amount of spectrum available for commercial uses. The problem is that many industry experts predict wireless traffic will increase 30 times because of online video and other bandwidth-heavy applications.
Genachowski promised “a full-throated, strategic look” at how to close that gap between demand and supply, declaring it one of the FCCs highest priorities. The review will consider reallocating existing spectrum now used for other purposes, and encouraging development of new technologies that use spectrum more efficiently. He said the FCC is open to ideas.
The chairman asked industry executives to imagine a scenario when [...]