05/06, 2:10pm
N Carolina Ices Anti-Muni
North Carolina's House of Representatives today said it has sent a controversial bill that would have restricted municipal broadband to a study committee. The move effectively shelves the bill for at least a year and comes after those opposing it put pressure on the House to reevaluate the measure, which would have banned cities from taking advantage of any Obama administration broadband stimulus money while still letting private carriers take advantage of the funds themselves. It would have also in many cases made it difficult for such services to continue.
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10/24, 4:50pm
Verizon settles VM lawsuit
A lawsuit filed by Klausner Technologies regarding visual voicemail technology was filed against a number of wireless providers earlier this summer, and one of those companies, Verizon Wireless, has decided to settle it out of court, according to a Friday report. Klausner reportedly granted Verizon Wireless and its subsidiary, Vodafone Group, a patent license, allowing it to use the voice message alerts. The exact terms of the agreement were not disclosed, though the deal was closed on Thursday.
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12/18, 8:55am
Sprint Picks New CEO
Sprint today ended its months-long search for a chief executive by announcing that it has chosen Dan Hesse as the carrier's president and CEO. The senior staffer has recently been the head of Embarq, an Internet and phone service provider spun off from Sprint in 2006. He previously headed AT&T Wireless before its rebranding as Cingular and is widely credited with spurring the company's growth during that time. This skill will be needed as Sprint hopes to turn around its losses and move up from its third-place standing among US telecom companies, according to Sprint.
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