Sprint extends purchase deal with US Federal States
A national association of States has selected Sprint as an approved wireless provider, extending the company’s contract to serve as a supplier of wireless products and services to state and local governments across the nation for an additional year.
The consortium — Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA) — extended the contract with Sprint through Oct. 31, 2012.
The latest deal extension, worth an estimated US$360 million, increases the total lifetime value of the contract to US$1.4 billion since 2006.
The Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA) enables cooperative multi-state contracting to help states acquire quality services in a cost-effective and efficient manner. States purchasing Sprint’s products and services under WSCA include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. State and local governments in most states are able to utilize this dynamic contracting vehicle.
Sprint’s Business Markets Group is composed of sales, support, marketing and operations personnel solely dedicated to enterprise, small and medium-sized business and public sector customers.
Integra Telecom names Stephen Zimba Chief Marketing Officer (Portland)
Integra Telecom Inc., a fiber-based, integrated wholesale and retail telecommunications provider for business, has hired Steve Zimba as chief marketing officer.
He will work to strengthen Integra’s long-time reputation of having innovative and user-friendly solutions that leverage Integra’s extensive fiber network and meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.â€
Zimba brings 23 years of experience in the communications and technology industry where he has led the development and growth of several new products and businesses. Prior to Integra, Zimba held a variety of roles including vice president marketing and products at Cbeyond, director of strategic development at BellSouth, and managing director of the Global Telecom Business at Microsoft. He attended Syracuse University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics and policy studies as well as a master’s degree in public administration and finance.
Steve brings extensive marketing expertise and telecommunications and managed services knowledge to Integra’s executive management team,†said Dudley Slater, CEO of Integra Telecom. He will work to strengthen Integra’s long-time reputation of having innovative and user-friendly solutions that leverage Integra’s extensive fiber network and meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.â€
About Integra Telecom
Integra Telecom Inc. provides voice and Internet solutions to thousands of business and carrier customers in 11 Western states, including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington. It owns and operates a best-in-class fiber-optic network comprised of metropolitan access networks, nationally acclaimed Internet and data networks, and a 4,700-mile high-speed long haul network. The company has earned some of the highest customer loyalty and customer satisfaction ratings in the telecommunications industry. Primary equity investors in the company include Goldman, Sachs & Co., Tennenbaum Capital Partners, funds managed by Farallon Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus. Integra Telecom and Electric Lightwave are registered trademarks of Integra Telecom Inc. For more information, visit: www.integratelecom.com.
AT&T launches 3G in Yuma
AT&T has announced the availability of its 3G mobile broadband network in Yuma; widening the access for advanced mobile services, devices and feature-rich audio and video content to customers in the area.
According to Chris Percy, vice president and general manager for Arizona and New Mexico, they are really excited about the move. The company just got a lot faster here in Yuma It’s all about speed.
According to a news release from the company, AT&T has already invested more than US$60 million in its wireless network to continue improving customer service in Arizona. In addition, the company’s investment is part of an overall capital investment of more than US$75 million in to the company’s wireless and wire line networks in Arizona during the first half of 2010.
According to Jerry Fuentes, president of AT&T Arizona-New Mexico, demand for wireless bandwidth is growing rapidly, whether it’s for sharing video and photos with friends, watching a movie, checking the latest scores, or listening to music on a phone, netbook or other on-the-go devices. With this expansion, the customers will enjoy the nation’s best, most advanced mobile broadband experience with emerging devices and tens of thousands of mobile applications.
According to Yuma County Supervisor Lenore Stuart, when businesses look to expand or relocate, it is crucial that Yuma is able to offer them technology and services that rival those found in Arizona’s biggest cities. This investment in a stronger wireless network will help attract business and strengthen our local economy.
AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband network is based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of technologies that includes GSM and UMTS which is the most widely used wireless network platforms in the world.
Commnet Wireless & ZTE launch LTE trials
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an aim to build the network spanning parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, equipment has been ordered from ZTE by US regional operator Commnet Wireless. ZTE’s core dual-mode CDMA/LTE platform to meet the service requirements of roaming subscribers will be leveraged by Commnet. ZTE’s LTE platform can also be customized for other bands such as GSM and UMTS.
Navajo Tribal Utility Authority and ZTE are in discussions for additional US Broadband Stimulus funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Verizon stands tall, Dolan Family running out of gas
WASHINGTON-Verizon Wireless appears to be in a bidding war with T-Mobile USA Inc. over the valuable F-block licenses up for grabs in the advanced wireless services spectrum auction. Meanwhile, Sprint Nextel Corp.’s joint venture with four cable companies is focusing on buying spectrum within the footprints of the cable operators. Also, another cable bidder-Dolan Family Holdings L.L.C., backed by CableVision System Corp.’s chairman-appears to be close to dropping out of the auction.
The 25 highest bids placed in the 22nd round of bidding were all from wireless operators, except for three placed by the Sprint Nextel-cable company JV covering licenses in Los Angeles and New York City.
Verizon Wireless made high bids on four of the six 20 megahertz regional F-block licenses; T-mobile
USA hung onto the other two, along with 124 other regional and local market licenses. T-Mobile USA bid a total of $3.2 billion in the latest round, and Verizon Wireless bid $2.8 billion on the four F-block licenses.Charles Dolan’s Dolan Family Holdings bidding entity appears close to dropping out of the auction. The bidding entity dropped from initial bidding eligibility of about $150 million to $71 million in round 18 to less than $2 million in round 22. After provisionally winning as many as nine licenses in earlier rounds, Dolan Family Holdings had no high bids in the two latest rounds of bidding.
Dolan Family Holdings could follow satellite television providers EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Group Inc., which dropped out of the auction yesterday.
As for other players in round 22, MetroPCS Communications Inc. ended the round with high bids on nine licenses: two 10 megahertz regional licenses in the West and Northeast and market-specific licenses covering cities such as Dallas-Ft. Worth;
Flint, Mich.; and
Sarasota and
Orlando, Fla.Leap Wireless International Inc. stayed in the game, garnering high bids of $247 million for 29 licenses covering parts of
Georgia,
Tennessee,
California,
Arizona and the
Carolinas as well as one 10 megahertz license covering the Central region of the
United States. Meanwhile, Leap-backed Denali Spectrum License L.L.C. placed two high bids worth about $700 million on a regional 10 megahertz license in the
Great Lakes and a
New Jersey-
New York metro area license.Other auction action included:c U.S. Cellular Corp. placed high bids of $232 million for two licenses: one covering the
Chicago metro area and parts of
Indiana and another regional 10 megahertz license for the
Mississippi
Valley.c Dobson Communications Corp. placed high bids of $12.3 million on 25 licenses in
New York, Maryland,
Alaska and
Pennsylvania.Almost 75 percent of the total 1,122 available licenses have now received bids. More then 260 bids were placed in the 22nd round, and the auction has raised a total of $10.7 billion so far.
Source - http://www.rcrnews.com
Technorati : MetroPCS, Mobile, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless
Ice Rocket : MetroPCS, Mobile, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless
