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.

Broadcom Introduces 3G Phone Chip

Communications chip maker Broadcom Corp. said it has developed a single-chip processor for 3G phones ahead of its rivals. Broadcom said the multifunction HSPA, or high-speed packet access, chip will allow mobile phone manufacturers to build sleek 3G phones with a long battery life at a fraction of the cost of the technologies they currently use.

The new "3G phone on a Chip" solution will bring technology typically found in today's high-end multimedia smartphones to feature phones. Not stopping there, however, phones powered by the new Broadcom solution will allow consumers to download content at up to 7.2 Mbps and upload content at up to 5.8 Mbps via HSDPA and HSUPA, respectively. Such a capability holds the key to for instance turn mediocre "one-way" video calling services into full-fledged video conferencing.

The 3G "Phone on a Chip" supports four cellular networks, can transmit and receive FM radio for playing music on a car stereo, features advanced multimedia processing, Bluetooth technology and up to five megapixel camera support.

(October 15, 2007)