The FCC today fined three wireless carriers for failing to meet deadlines for providing E911 service to their mobile phone customers. Sprint Nextel was fined $1.325 million, Alltel was fined $1 million, and U.S. Cellular was fined $500,000. U.S….

The California State Senate yesterday passed Bill 362, which would make it illegal to force anyone to have an RFID device implanted, by a vote of 28 to 9 - Wisconsin and North Dakota have already passed similar bills….

The California State Senate yesterday passed Bill 362, which would make it illegal to force anyone to have an RFID device implanted, by a vote of 28 to 9 - Wisconsin and North Dakota have already passed similar bills….

Cisco this week announced the results of a study conducted by InsightExpress which found that a large number of companies are planning to increase spending on wireless security by as much as 20 percent next year. The study was…

Since 1999, Eugene’s Embassy camp and Tachyon have brought Internet access to Burning Man.

Now everyone’s doing it.

Rock’em, roll’em, rammin’, jammin’ — 60 Minute Man

Government Computer News has an interesting interview with Google technologist Michael Jones (video). Jones was formerly chief technology officer at Keyhole, the company that developed the technology used in Google Earth, was director of advanced graphics at SGI and helped build the Gigapixel Camera. He oversees Google […]

The Federal Communications Commission appears poised later today to reject M2Z Networks’ plan to offer free nationwide broadband service on the 2155-2175 MHz band, reports RCR News. The move could prompt a court challenge, says RCR.
M2Z, co-founded by former FCC wireless chief John Muleta, promised to return to the U.S Treasury 5% of […]

Make Magazine describes Steve Paine’s solar-powered bike tour, along the Rhein River.
His Solar-UMPC.com blog describes powering Ultra Mobile PCs through solar and natural energy sources. He’s blogging with a Samsung Q1b UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC) and portable solar gear. Here’s his gear and project photos.

The original plan was to cycle during the day with the solar […]

Size matters, according to Wireless Week. Market researcher Gartner estimates smartphone sales grew 50% last year, to 72.9 million units, and forecasts there will be 450 million smartphones shipped globally by 2010 with Instant Messaging the de facto tool for Voice, Video and Text chat by the end of 2011.
Another study, by Berg […]

Chris Mills, the new Developer Relationship Manager at Opera, sent me an email with this great news :
I just wanted to let you know that we’ve just released Beta 2 of our Opera Mini 4 mobile web browser - download it for free at http://www.operamini.com/beta/.

We’ve also just published an article on dev.opera.com, highlighting some of the features of Beta 2, and giving tips on optimizing web sites for mobile viewing - check out http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/evolving-the-internet-on-your-phone-des-1/.

You must be very well aware about Hello Kitty Pez dispenser and if not then ask a toddler who will tell you about Pez candies available in dispensers with Hello Kitty characters and secondly you must have heard about…

Hong Kong’s telecoms regulator OFTA today issued a statement inviting applications to bid for CDMA2000 mobile spectrum, including auction rules and conditions. The watchdog announced: ‘Apart from facilitating overseas and mainland [China] visitors and business travellers to continue to use CDMA2000 services whilst in Hong Kong, Hong Kong consumers will benefit by having a new choice of third generation (3G) mobile services and may be able to enjoy roaming services in those countries which offer CDMA2000 services…One [15-year] licence will be issued for the provision of CDMA2000 services starting from 20 November 2008. Radio spectrum with a bandwidth of 7.5MHz x2 in the 850MHz band will be assigned to the licensee. The use of such radio spectrum will be subject to a one-off lump sum payment…the amount of which is to be determined in the auction exercise…Parties interested in the auction will have six weeks to prepare their applications and the deadline of application is 12 October 2007. The auction is intended to be held around late October or early November…The current spectrum assignment for [2G] CDMA services will expire on 19 November 2008.’

Vimpelcom, Russia’s second largest mobile operator by subscribers, has posted a second-quarter year-on-year net profit rise of 84.3%, well above market expectations, due mainly to growing usage. The cellco reported net income of USD359.3 million versus USD194.9 million in the same period of 2006 and USD277.3 million in the first quarter of 2007. In a poll, analysts had forecast second-quarter earnings of USD324 million. CEO Alexander Izosimov said in a statement that his company achieved all-time records in key parameters, including revenue, OIBDA, net income, operating cash flow, and growth was further supported by improving operating parameters, including monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) and minutes of use in all markets. The consolidated results include Vimpelcom’s operations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia. OIBDA increased 59.7% to USD896.8 million, and net operating revenues rose 53.1% to USD1.72 billion. ARPU reached USD12.3 from USD9 a year before, above analysts’ expectations of USD10.6. ‘This further validates our belief in the high growth potential of the CIS, which is becoming an increasingly important part of our business,’ Izosimov said.

European media and telecoms investment group Altice has agreed a two-stage deal to buy up to 55% in French alternative fixed line and broadband provider Completel Europe via Altice B2B France, its 51%-owned joint venture vehicle, 49% owned by UK-based private equity fund Cinven. The deal values Completel at EUR723.7 million (USD987.6 million). Altice B2B France will acquire an initial 21% of Completel at EUR35-EUR35.5 per share, then, subject to certain conditions, another 34% at EUR35.5 a share. By 17 September at the latest, the buyer will launch an offer for the remaining shares of Completel at EUR35.5 each. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database says that Altice and Cinven already control a significant slice of the French cable broadband market, including the country’s largest cable TV operator, the YPSO/Numericable group, which was created as a result of the acquisition of several cable operators, namely: Est Videocommunication, France Telecom Cable, TDF Cable, NC Numericable, UPC France and Noos, Coditel Brabant and Coditel Luxembourg. Cinven won approval from the European Commission for its purchase of UPC France for USD1.59 billion in July 2006. The deal included merging the operations of UPC-Noos and Numericable. Cinven completed the acquisition of Noos via French cableco Altice One in September 2006. The purchase of Completel should see the group expand its footprint to new areas via the operator’s DSL network. Completel specialises in business and wholesale services. It generated a 2006 net loss of EUR38 million on revenues of EUR233 million.

Croatia’s government has approved of the sale of a minority stake in national PTO T-Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT), with a planned flotation on the Zagreb and London stock exchanges by 5 October. An initial public offering (IPO) of between 20 and 23% in the telco, will run from 17 September to 4 October. Book-building for Croatian citizens will last from 17-27 September, and for local and foreign institutional investors until 1 October, with the deadline for payments on 4 October. The government will set a price range and determine the final price after the books are closed. Local analysts estimate the value of the shares at USD933 million. T-HT is 51% owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, with 42% retained by the government, which recently distributed 7% to the country’s war veterans. It has earmarked proceeds from the T-HT sale to repay a decade-old debt to pensioners.

In related news, T-HT has confirmed that it will lay off 390 employees as part of a restructuring programme by the end of this year.