FierceWireless News

LAS VEGAS--A top Ting executive said that around 40-50 percent of the MVNO's new customers are coming through its newly launched bring-your-own-device program. And separately, the CEO of Ting's parent company, Tucows, announced that Ting would "cross over the breakeven threshold" in the fourth quarter of this year.

Vivendi has appointed its head of telecommunications, Jean-Yves Charlier, as the CEO of SFR in a move that strengthens the leadership of the French operator ahead of a possible initial public offering.

Clearwire reiterated that it is reducing the amount of Huawei equipment it is using in its TD-LTE network buildout as compared with its existing WiMAX network, likely a response to ongoing concerns that Huawei's network gear poses a threat to U.S. national security.

LAS VEGAS--Walmart's top mobile executive said that the Straight Talk service offered by América Móvil's U.S. MVNO, TracFone Wireless, is the fastest growing part of its sprawling mobile business.

Ericsson said there are now more than 1 billion subscribers on networks for which it provides managed services, a milestone it crossed sometime in the first quarter.

If Japan's SoftBank wins control of Sprint Nextel, it has pledged to remove network gear from Huawei that Clearwire uses in its network, a step that, according to a Wall Street Journal article, could cost up to $1 billion. The report, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, said the U.S. government wants Sprint to remove Chinese gear from Clearwire's network.

LAS VEGAS--MVNO FreedomPop plans to release a smartphone case that can connect to Sprint Nextel's EV-DO and LTE networks sometime this year. The case will be tied to a user's smartphone via Wi-Fi, and will provide the user with access to FreedomPop services including the company's 500 MB of free data per month and its forthcoming VoIP calling service.

Absent from the CTIA Wireless 2013 conference here this week were the big, company-sponsored product unveilings or parties (or combination thereof) that used to dominate this show. In fact, many big-name companies, including Samsung Electronics, BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY), HTC, LG Electronics, Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and others did not send their mobile executives to the show.

Nokia cannot afford to lose its nerve now despite calls for a Plan B from some irate shareholders. It needs to keep its focus and not undermine its best efforts.

LAS VEGAS--Walmart is looking to mobile technology to redefine the shopping experience for its retail customers. Speaking at the CTIA Wireless 2013 conference today, Gibu Thomas, global head of mobile at Walmart, said that the company's goal is to create mobile tools that are "indispensable for the customer when shopping in our stores."

LAS VEGAS--Nokia is still struggling to gain traction with its Lumia-branded smartphones running Microsoft's Windows Phone platform. However, now that it has flagship products with three of the four Tier 1 carriers, the company is starting to align its marketing messages with Microsoft and its carrier partners to a greater degree than before, according to a Nokia executive.

Verizon Wireless is teaming with Jennifer Lopez to sell wireless phones and services to the Latino market under Lopez's newly launched brand, Viva Móvil. The goal of the venture is provide a better retail experience for the growing Latino market, which was estimated to have had $1.2 trillion in purchasing power in 2012.

LAS VEGAS--Executives from Cricket provider Leap Wireless strongly hinted that the company's LTE roaming deal is with Sprint Nextel, which already has a nationwide 3G CDMA roaming deal with Cricket. 

Just a few years ago, Wi-Fi offloading was all the buzz as operators searched for a quick solution to ease their network congestion. But today the discussion around Wi-Fi has shifted from offload to integration, as Tier 1 operators such as AT&T strive for more control of the user experience and better quality of service.

Morocco plans to launch tenders for LTE licences by the end of the year according to the Telecommunications Regulatory National Agency (ANRT), Reuters reported. The move would help fulfil Morocco's ambition to be one of the first African countries to offer the higher-speed mobile services.

Cable & Wireless Communications said gaining government approval for the sale of Monaco Telecom was proving more difficult than expected, but the company said it has alternative options if the sale to Bahrain's Batelco falls through.

LAS VEGAS--Trade shows like CTIA Wireless 2013 are often the scene of phone and device introductions. Handset makers often hope to grab conference-goers with new and innovative devices. Check out this slideshow to see them all.

Days after officially taking over as Intel's top executive, CEO Brian Krzanich has reorganized the company's businesses to give himself more direct control. The company also formed a new unit to focus on "new devices" outside of smartphones and tablets.

LAS VEGAS--The troubles for HTC continue as the company acknowledged that its chief product officer has left the company, the most high-profile departure in a stream of executives and employees who have left recently.

Fueling the fire surrounding the likelihood of toll-free data coming to the U.S. market soon, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo told investors at a Barclays Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications conference today that content providers are starting to see the value in paying the wireless operator for the data consumed by their subscribers when they view their content via a mobile device.