News

It seems that Sprint Nextel wants to sell of its iDEN network to either NII Holdings or a group of private equity investors.

The deal supposedly would be extremely complex due to the integration between Sprint's CDMA and iDEN networks and would likely involve long term service agreements between Sprint and whatever entity ends up buying the iDEN network - if it even happens.

After posting its second quarter results, AT&T reported an increase of 9.2 million when compared with Q2 of 2007. The company has said that it has seen a 52 percent increase in data revenue from Q1.

All of this adds up to a Q2 2008 wireless income of US$2.998 billion on revenue of $12.0 billion, an income figure that is up a staggering 92.9 percent from the Q2 2007 figure.

From the numbers posted yesterday by T-Mobile, the company stands at 31.5 million subscribers, a net addition of 668k subscribers for the quarter. Its churn rate for contract customers sits at a relatively high 1.9%, up from 1.7% in the prior quarter.

The company posted income of US$452 million, up from $350 million for the same quarter in 2007. Service revenue figures are up over 10 percent year over year to $4.85 billion, and the company says that its revenue from data services is up an impressive 31.5 percent. T-Mobile also said that it has added a million MyFaves users since the prior quarter, with the current total reaching 6.5 million.

The company reiterated its plan to light up over 20 more 3G markets before the end of the year.

Japan's NTT DoCoMo allows their subscribers to make new accounts only on its 3G FOMA network, which was the first 3G network in the world, launched in 2001, stopping their acces to its older 2G mova network. The upgrade costs 2100 yen (US$20).

45 million are already using the faster 3G FOMA network, from the 53 million subscribers.

The new TM506 is the Sony Ericsson's upcoming cellphone. The handset seems to feature a 2 megapixel camera, supports stereo Bluetooth and supports 1700/2100 MHz UMTS & HSDPA.

The TM506 is headed to T-Mobile USA and is supposed to hit the markets on September 3rd in Green with Black, and Chrome with Amber and Black color schemes.

Telefonica of the Czech Republic, EMT in Estonia, and Bharti Airtel of India have all announced that they will start offering the iPhone 3G to their customers on August 22nd. Bharti Airtel does not have a 3G UMTS compatible network yet - so its users will be restricted to EDGE speeds in spite of the fact that they will be using a 3G device.

On Monday AT&T announced new international data roaming plans. The new international data plan for smartphone users provides 50MB of data usage and costs $59.99/month. Travelers using a LaptopConnect card are allowed 5GB of data in the U.S. and 200MB of international usage for $229.99/month.

The company also announced an increasing roaming coverage, now topping 150 different countries. The number of cruise ships covered also rose from 75 to 120.

Today T-Mobile launched its 3G network in Las Vegas. The company hopes that, by the end of this year, will have 3G service in at least 20 additional markets.

By the numbers posted today by Sprint, the company has a net loss instead of a profit. The company's total revenues for the quarter were US$9.1 billion, down $1.1 billion from Q2 2007. Its income figures worked out to a loss of $344 million for this quarter as compared to a Q2 2007 profit of $19 million.

Sprint loss a net 900k customers over the course of the quarter, dropping to 51.9 million total. The company had 54 million subscribers at this time last year. Its subscriber churn rate has improved, though, dropping .45 percent to just under 2.0 percent. Sprint says that its subscriber base is made up of 35.5 million CDMA users, 14.6 million Nextel iDEN users, and 1.7 million hybrid PowerSource users that have devices that work on both networks.

Sprint reported that its wireless subscriber ARPU (average revenue per user) remained stable at $56, but that data is making up an ever larger portion of that figure, standing currently at $15 per user.

The latest music-focused clamshell to come from the ailing U.S. manufacturer is the new Motorola ROKR EM28. It comes in a white and blue color scheme and featuresa 1.3 megapixel camera with video capture, a built-in FM radio and a standard 3.5mm audio port for music enjoyment, built-in microSD card slot and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support for stereo headsets.

With tri-band GSM (850/1800/1900MHz or 900/1800/1900MHz), the Motorola ROKR EM28 is planned to be available during Q3 2008, though pricing has not yet been announced.