February 1, 2008 - Motorola mulls handset-unit divestiture

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February 1, 2008 Sign up Forward Archive Advertise Read more at SmartBrief.com News for telecom industry leaders Search recent stories:       News of the Day  Motorola mulls handset-unit divestiture Motorola is considering selling or spinning off its flagging handset division, the company said Thursday. As mobile technology began to aggressively spin forward, the company has failed to develop a hit to follow its hugely popular Razr line, and the activist shareholder Carl Icahn has been pushing Motorola's new management team for a breakup. Bloomberg/ClipSyndicate (2/1) , The Seattle Times/Chicago Tribune (2/1) , BusinessWeek (2/1) , The Wall Street Journal (free content) (2/1) Publish Press Releases in USTelecom dailyLead USTelecom dailyLead has joined with Business Wire to allow customers to post press releases. Push your release directly to your audience and afterwards you'll receive a click report to measure ROI. Releases will reach the audience you're looking for -- that industry's movers and shakers. Visit www.dailylead.com/businesswiread/ for more information!   Business & Industry Watch  Mueller trods different broadband path to homes Qwest Communications Ed Mueller is focusing on pumping huge volumes of bandwidth into consumers' homes and looking for partners to help deliver those services, instead of following other telecom companies' triple-play strategies. Critical to Qwest's future, Mueller believes, is development of an innovative interface that "you can scroll through to do everything you want." Telephony Online (1/31) Microsoft bids $44.6B for Yahoo! Microsoft has proposed to acquire struggling Web portal Yahoo! for $44.6 billion, or $31 per share -- a significant premium over yesterday's closing price. The offer was contained in a letter sent Thursday to the Yahoo! board by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. In an accompanying statement, Ballmer wrote, "We believe our combination will deliver superior value to our respective shareholders and better choice and innovation to our customers and industry partners." Yahoo! issued a statement saying it intends to "evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo's strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders." The New York Times (2/1) , The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (2/1) Wireless-spectrum bidding reaches record $15.6 billion Bidding in the FCC's wireless-spectrum auction stood at a record $15.6 billion Thursday as a key milestone was reached that will allow subscribers greater choice in choosing handsets and software on some of the publicly owned spectrum. A bid on the open-source frequencies came in at $4.7 billion, and the FCC has received one offer for a block of spectrum designated for creation of a national public-safety network. Yahoo!/Associated Press (1/31) Ericsson to pare work force Ericsson will cut 4,000 jobs globally in expectation of a flat market in its core area of making mobile devices. The company reported a lower-than-expected profit today, mainly because of a poor performance at its multimedia division, and while its core areas performed in line with analyst predictions, CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg said that the company needed to prepare for a "flattish mobile infrastructure market." The Washington Post/Reuters (2/1) New AT&T campaign tugs at heartstrings With Valentine's Day on the horizon, AT&T has launched a Cupid Goes Wireless campaign with 1-800-Flowers today in a marketing and advertising campaign, the carrier said. The promotion will enable the company's wireless customers to send free animated flowers through their cell phones, as well as place flower orders using the AT&T's MEdia Net mobile Web service. MediaPost Communications (2/1) USTelecom Spotlight Measuring and Managing Service Delivery Partnerships Wednesday, Feb. 6, 1 p.m. (EST) Register today for this free webinar from Vertek that explores service-delivery partnerships as a critical component to life-cycle and financial management. Hear how 100% visibility into all aspects of partnership performance can easily be attained, consolidated, presented and monitored repeatedly. Learn how to use this actionable intelligence to maintain positive relationships, improve margins and significantly reduce financial risk. Register today. Learn more about USTelecom -> NXTcomm  |  News  |  Join USTelecom  |  Bookstore  |  Webinars   Video Upload  AT&T's U-verse TV reaches more L.A. area homes AT&T launched its U-verse TV service in more than a dozen cities in Southern California today, including nine in the San Fernando Valley and five in the San Gabriel Valley as well as the city of Moorpark in Ventura County. Ventura County Star (Calif.) (free registration) (2/1) Opinion: IPTV set-tops grow, but market is fragmented Shipments of set-top boxes for IPTV service rose sharply in 2007, and analysts predict they will continue to do so through 2011. But with an increasing number of companies entering the market, fragmentation could complicate the manufacturers' business models. Light Reading (1/31) DVR data show Super Bowl is tops for commercial viewing Some of last year's Super Bowl marketers experienced nearly a one-third bump in viewership for their spots through time-shifted watching, according to an analysis by Starcom of TNS and TiVo data. The report also showed the Super Bowl had the best commercial retention of any TV program, with just 1% of live viewers channel-surfing during breaks. Mediaweek (1/31)   Technology Trends  Optical vendor eyes "big markets" Calient Networks' new CEO, Daniel Scharre, says the company intends to focus on metro and access markets this year. "The company went through a period where it was focusing on niche things like lab automation and government customer work that were relatively price-insensitive markets but also very time-consuming to break into from a sales point of view. Now we need to move into the big markets," Scharre said. Telephony Online (1/31) Russia's Comstar turns to WiMAX for Armenian network Comstar UTS is looking to have a mobile broadband network up and running this year in Armenia based on WiMAX technology. Airspan Networks has signed on to supply the needed equipment to the Russian fixed-line operator. CNET/Reuters (1/31)   IP Download  PTT taps VocalTec for VoIP solutions PTT plans to use VoIP technology from VocalTec Communications to deliver voice services over its WiMAX network in Latin America. TMC Internet Telephony (1/31) U.K. broadband prices dip, services speed up Broadband prices in the U.K. have fallen by one-third over the last four-year period, according to uSwitch.com. Broadband speeds in the country have increased from an average of 0.5 Mbps in December 2003 to an average of 8 Mbps. Google/The Press Association (1/31)   LeadQuote  Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it." --Danny Kaye, actor, singer, comedian       This dailyLead was created for webmaster@freeraovat.com Subscriber Tools       Update account information |  Change e-mail address |  Unsubscribe |  Print friendly format |  Web version |  Search past news |  Privacy policy Advertise Sales Account Director:  Amy Abbey (202) 737-5500 x250 Download Media Kit   Read more at dailyLead.com A powerful Web site for dailyLead readers including: Breaking News Industry Home Competitor News Readers' Choice Press Releases Search Archive       Recent USTelecom dailyLead Issues: Thursday, January 31, 2008 Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Tuesday, January 29, 2008 Monday, January 28, 2008 Friday, January 25, 2008     Lead Editor:  Susan Rush       Mailing Address: SmartBrief, Inc.®, 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005     © 1999-2007 SmartBrief, Inc.® Legal Information