May 5, 2008

T-Mobile USA launched its first commercial high-speed wireless service in New York City, and plans to expand the service to 20 to 25 other major U.S. markets by the end of the year.

April 23, 2008

The battle over cell phones in schools ended with the state's appeals court voting to uphold a ban on cell phones in public schools in New York city.

April 15, 2008

Cuban government has eased restrictions on buying cellular phones for the first time and also allowed registering those they had held illegally.

April 10, 2008

The FCC has approved a new nationwide alert system that will send text messages to cell phones to alert Americans when an emergency, disaster or attack occurs. The plan itself will deliver three different types of charge-free text alerts to mobile phone users.

April 8, 2008

The European Union has approved in-flight cell phone use for all of its 27 member nations. An on-board base station will relay phone signals to either a satellite or ground towers.

April 2, 2008

AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega said that AT&T was expecting a 3G iPhone within the next few months., when asked about plans to sell a third-generation (3G) iPhone.

EU Approves In-Flight Cell Phone Use

The European Union has approved in-flight cell phone use for all of its 27 member nations. Under the new rules, phones usage will fall under the same rules as regular electronics meaning passengers can’t yak on their phones during takeoff and landings. In addition, the flight crew can disable phone usage at any time.

An on-board base station will relay phone signals to either a satellite or ground towers. The EU says the signals are completely safe and won’t interfere with flight navigation systems.

However passengers in the aircraft will have to keep their mobiles switched off during landing and take off for safety reasons. Passengers can turn it on after the aircraft reaches a height of 3,000 feet. At this altitude even other electronic devices such as portable music players and laptops can be used.

EU further said that the system is capable to make 12 calls at a time.

So far the United States Federal Aviation Administration has no plans on allowing in-flight cell phone usage which brings up an interesting sticking point..

(April 8, 2008)