> AT&T Mobility said that the company, along with Alcatel-Lucent, identified a software bug that slowed some users' data uplink speeds. Article

> Google said that it has removed all WiFi scanning equipment from its Street View image collection cars and that its cars will resume their image acquisition mission in Ireland, Norway, South Africa, and Sweden. Article

> Apple appears to have moved a step closer to delivering an iPhone with WiFi capabilities to the Chinese market. Article

> More than 500,000 WiFi networks will be implemented in the U.S. health care market this year, representing a 50 percent increase from a year ago, according to a new report from ABI Research. Article

> Sprint launched WiMAX service in Rochester, N.Y., Syracuse, N.Y., Merced, Calif., Visalia, Calif., Eugene, Ore., Tri-Cities, Wash., and Yakima, Wash. Article

> The Russian telecoms regulator, Roskomnadzor, has allowed Yota and Rostelecom to switch from WiMAX to LTE using the frequencies that the two companies have licensed from the government. Initially, the terms of the license allowed them to use the frequencies only for WiMAX. The regulator's approval gives both companies the green light to deploy LTE networks. Article

And Finally... A California woman was sentenced to a year in jail for sending hundreds of threatening text messages - to herself. Prosecutors said Jeanne Mundango Manunga told police her former boyfriend and his sister-in-law were behind the threats. Article

Roke Manor Research claims to have developed the world's first 3G wide area coverage femtocell capability.

The reference design, which uses picoChip's technology as the development platform, has about a 25-mile range, which represents more than 40,000 times the area covered by traditional femtocells. The reference design also supports fully mobility at speeds of up to 75 miles per hour.

Such a solution could be used to serve rural areas or enhance coverage. The femtocell would support up to 12 simultaneous users, with Release 5 HSPA and a software upgrade to Release 6. Roke also developed custom firmware enhancements to picoChip's PC8208 femtocell solution.

"Previously the best range femtocell technology could deliver was two kilometers (less than a mile), useful for wireless services on a campus, but uneconomic for network operators that would have to deploy large numbers in order to fill signal black holes in the countryside," said Prasid Shah, business sector manager with Roke. "Roke's concept means that a reliable 3G mobile service in some of the most remote areas in the world is now a cost effective reality for network operators, which could be a solution to help address the 'digital divide.' Aternatively, the 'plug and play' nature of a femtocell allows carriers to quickly deploy a robust network, even if there is little infrastructure in place. This can be used by emergency services or aid workers to offer complete voice and data service even after an earthquake or natural disaster has destroyed conventional cellular facilities."

For more:
- check out this release

Related articles:
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Report: Sprint Nextel poised for 3G femtocell launch
Report: Sprint adding EV-DO to next femtocell
Femto Forum, WiMAX Forum publish WiMAX femtocell standard
AT&T's 3G femtocell service counts against data usage caps

Intel recently announced in an internal meeting that it would end its WiMAX Program Office in Taiwan, according to a report in Digitimes. The office was established to promote the development of WiMAX equipment. Intel has said that WiMAX has evolved considerably since it launched the office, and the technology is now mature enough with a number of ecosystem partners to make the technology a success.

According to Digitimes, Intel didn't inform Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), which had previously signed a WiMAX cooperation agreement with Intel along with other partners in Taiwan. Digitimes reports that staff members of the WiMAX Program Office will be moved into Intel's Mobile Wireless Group (MWG), PC Client Group (PCCG) or the Sales and Marketing (SMG) division.

Vice Economic Huang Jung-chiou told the publication that Intel's decision won't hurt Taiwan's WiMAX industry as other international players have committed to the development of equipment and services, but Huang said the MOEA will have a meeting with Taiwan WiMAX vendors to talk about possible strategies in light of Intel's move.

"Intel is integrating its WPO into various platform, product and sales organizations as part of a normal course of business today. The progress of WiMAX leads to this organizational transition as a normal process that takes place as new technologies mature and become a standard part of existing computing platforms," the company told Digitimes. "Intel continues to be one of the biggest supporters of WiMAX. WiMAX is our preferred 4G technology for delivering high-speed wireless broadband for data devices, and this organizational change in no way impacts our commitment to WiMAX. We are excited for the growth ahead with WiMAX in 2010 and 2011 where millions of WiMAX devices will make their way into the hands of end users."

For more:
- see this Digitimes article

Related articles:
Intel makes more investments in WiMAX
Will Intel finally realize its dream?
WiMAX's momentum hits a big bump

Analysis from IBM Global Business Services indicates that tiered pricing models for mobile broadband will be the future of the mobile market.

IBM said in a paper analyzing the telecom market during the next five years that as next-generation, IP-based networks--namely LTE and WiMAX--increase their footprint globally, carriers will stop trying to prevent over-the-top players from using their network connections and instead partner with them. Verizon Wireless has already done so with Skype. And because operators will lose revenue attributed to minute-based cellular plans, they'll make up for the shortfall by eliminating unlimited data plan.

"If people value connectivity then they must pay for connectivity," said Ekow Nelson, the global leader for the communications sector at the IBM Institute for Business Value. "With all-you-can-eat models there's going to be no way for carriers to compete. This will be an adjustment because most users have been conditioned to enjoy unlimited access to over-the-top services for free."

IBM outlines four different scenarios for how the mobile industry might develop during the next five years: Declining consumer spending leads to revenue stagnation and hence more consolidation; Government moves to bring broadband into underserved areas leads to market fragmentation; Big operators consolidate and join forces to aggressively compete with over-the-top players; and finally, as open access comes into play, the barriers between over-the-top services and operators come tumbling down.

For more:
- see this Network World article

Related articles:
Tiered data pricing and a missed opportunity
AT&T chief: Industry moving toward usage-based pricing
Is usage-based pricing inevitable?