19th June 2008, 9:16 AM   by Eric M. Zeman

Sprint has officially asked the FCC to give it more time to clear certain portions of spectrum that it agreed to vacate to reduce interference on certain public safety frequencies. The original deadline was set for June 26, 2008. Sprint was to swap the spectrum in question with some public safety agencies. Those agencies have also requested that the deadline be extended, and they proposed a date of July 1, 2009. Sprint is asking for the FCC to give it a phased schedule for vacating the spectrum over the coming months. Just last month a federal court mandated that Sprint adhere to the deadline.

more at Reuters »

18th June 2008, 6:09 PM   by Eric M. Zeman

Today Sprint CEO Dan Hesse confirmed that the company will launch Baltimore as its first public, commercial WiMax network in September. Sprint will launch Chicago and Washington, D.C., its two other trial cities, as full commercial networks before the end of 2008.

more at Telephony »

18th June 2008, 1:19 PM   by Eric M. Zeman   updated Today, 11:42 AM

New documents seen on the FCC web site provide some information about the Sony Ericsson TM506. The TM506 has at least dual-band GSM/EDGE 850/1900, and likely packs 1800, too. The user manual notes that it also has WCDMA 1700/2100, which would earmark it for T-Mobile USA. Photos included in the FCC documentation also show the phone branded with T-Mobile logos and services. Aside from 3G, it also has Bluetooth, aGPS, a memory card slot and a camera of unknown quality. The draft documents suggest that the TM506 can access TV and streaming videos. This means the TM506 might be one of the first phones for T-Mobile that can access T-Mobile's 3G data services, but that cannot be confirmed by these documents. The last Sony Ericsson phone sold through T-Mobile USA was the T610, released five ... Read more »

18th June 2008, 9:51 AM   by Eric M. Zeman

Sprint and technology partner Thrrum are offering a beta version of an MMS-based search service. The beta, which is free to all Sprint subscribers with camera phones, allows users to take a picture and send it as an MMS message to Thrrum. Thrrum will then use its visual recognition software to configure a result, and send information back to the phone.

more at Thrrum »