LIME wants regulator to assess Digicel-Claro deal (Jamaica)

By Editor on March 21, 2011 · Leave a Comment

LIME Jamaica has stated that given the significance of the Digicel- Claro merger to the Jamaican telecommunications industry, the Government, the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) and the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) should carefully assess the deal, before approval is given by the relevant minister.

Digicel and Claro last week announced that Digicel would sell its businesses in El Salvador and Honduras to America Movil, while in turn Claro Jamaica would be sold to Digicel.

According to Lime’s Managing Director, Garry Sinclair, as a company proudly serving Jamaica for over 140 years, providing employment for more than 1,400 Jamaican workers and with almost 25,000 Jamaican shareholders, they stand ready to cooperate with all industry players to ensure the interests of their country and the Jamaican consumer are best served.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with America Movil, Claro, Digicel, El Salvador, Fair Trading Commission, FTC, Garry Sinclair, Honduras, Jamaica, Lime, Managing Director, Office of Utilities Regulations, operator, OUR

FTC asks Court to shut down text messaging spammer (USA)

By Editor on February 28, 2011 · Leave a Comment

The USA’s Federal Trade Commission asked a federal judge to shut down an operation that allegedly sent millions of illegal spam text messages, including many messages that deceptively advertised a mortgage modification website called “Loanmod-gov.net.” The FTC is also asking the court to freeze the defendant’s assets.

According to the FTC complaint, the defendant, Phillip A. Flora, sent millions of text messages, pitching loan modification assistance, debt relief and other services.

According to additional Court documents filed by the agency, in one 40-day period, Flora sent more than 5.5 million text messages – at a rate of about 85 per minute – every minute of every day.

The FTC claims that consumers lose money as a result of Flora’s Spam text messaging because many of them have to pay to receive text messages.

The text messages told consumers to respond to the messages or visit one of the operation’s websites. One of the sites, loanmod-gov.net, used a web address that appeared to be a government web address, claimed to provide “Official Home Loan Modification and Audit Assistance Information,” and displayed a photo of an American flag.

According to the FTC’s complaint, Flora collects information from consumers who respond to the text messages, even those asking him to stop sending messages. They, then, sell their contact information to marketers claiming they are debt settlement leads.

The FTC charges that Flora violated the FTC Act by sending unsolicited commercial text messages to consumers and by misrepresenting that he was affiliated with a government agency.

In addition, the FTC charges that they advertised their text message blasting services by sending consumers e-mail spam that violated the CAN-SPAM Act – a law that sets the rules for commercial email. The FTC alleges that his e-mail spam failed to include a way for consumers to “opt-out” of future messages and failed to include the physical mailing address of the sender, as required by the law.

The FTC acknowledged the assistance it received from Verizon Wireless, AT&T and the CTIA infilling its case against the defendant.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with American flag, AT&T, CAN-SPAM Act, CTIA, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Loanmod-gov.net, Mobile, Official Home Loan Modification and Audit Assistance Information, Phillip A. Flora, spam text messages, USA, Verizon Wireless

T-Mobile wins a multi-year mobility contract from FTC

By Editor on October 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment

T-Mobile USA has won a multi-year mobility contract from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to cover the agency’s wireless service needs.

As per the terms of the agreement, the FTC and its employees will have access to the full range of T-Mobile products and services including the company’s Wi-Fi calling capabilities and broad selection of government-approved devices and high speed packet access plus mobile broadband network, which now delivers 4G to metropolitan markets across the country.

According to David Pepe, divisional director for government solutions at T-Mobile USA, the speed at which business is being conducted in today’s global marketplace requires government agencies to be able to react to events in real-time, no matter where their employees may be. As such, the company is confident that the strength of the T-Mobile brand’s global network, industry-leading mobile solutions and customized account support model will provide the perfect fit for the FTC’s current and future communication needs.

Filed under Mobile · Tagged with 4G, FTC, high speed packet access, Mobile, mobile broadband network, multi-year mobility contract, T-Mobile, USA

Google rivals asked for declarations by FTC (USA)

By Editor on March 11, 2010 · Leave a Comment

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A sworn declaration has been seeked by US regulators from Google Inc. competitors and advertisers. The declaration is the part of the regulators probe of the Internet Company’s bid to buy AdMob Inc., indicating the government may challenge the deal.

Google’s proposed purchase of AdMob is under the Federal Trade Commission investigation to find out whether the deal would reduce competition in the market for Internet advertising on mobile phones.

AdMob sells ads that appear on Web pages and applications on mobile phones and the agency is assessing whether the purchase would let Google parlay its dominance in Internet searches on computers to phones.

Declarations are collected by Agency officials when they think there is some significant chance. The court will be asked by the agency to block a merger, or seek to modify a deal.

Google on the other hand has decided to continue the talk with the FTC and provide information. The deal between Google and AdMob will give rise to the largest mobile- advertising company in the USA reigning over 21% of the market in 2009.

According to Thomas Ensign, counsel in the antitrust, competition and trade practice of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in Washington, it is difficult to envision a scenario where this development, if true, is positive for Google-AdMob but it doesn’t necessarily mean the agency is going to challenge the deal.

Agency’s staff might be persuaded by the negotiation between Google and the FTC that the deal won’t harm competition but at the end of the investigation it’s up to the agency’s commissioners to decide whether to challenge the deal in court.