More Than 1 Million Phones Donated To Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine Program In 2009 Tweet

69 Million Minutes of Service and $1.6 Million in Cash Grants Provided to Help Survivors of Domestic Violence.

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — For the third consecutive year, Verizon Wireless collected more than 1 million no-longer-used wireless phones through its HopeLine® phone recycling and reuse program, keeping them out of landfills and turning them into support for domestic violence survivors.

Throughout 2009, HopeLine collected nearly 1.1 million old cell phones from consumers and businesses that donated phones, batteries and accessories at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores; by mail using the online postage-paid label; or at phone drives nationwide held by law enforcement partners, entertainment venues and corporations. These donations enabled HopeLine to distribute nearly 23,000 phones with 69 million free minutes of service to almost 600 shelters nationwide for use by clients and award $1.6 million in cash grants to domestic violence prevention and awareness programs.

“Thanks to everyone who gave their old cell phones to HopeLine in 2009. Your actions not only helped us make an impact on the environment, but they also enabled us to fund cash grants to more than 400 non-profit organizations nationwide,” said Dan Mead, chief operating officer of Verizon Wireless. “As HopeLine enters its 15th year, Verizon Wireless remains committed to continuing the momentum we have built to assist those in need and raise consciousness that healthy relationships are important.”

Exclusive to Verizon Wireless, HopeLine accepts no-longer-used wireless phones and equipment in any condition from any service provider. The phones are either refurbished or recycled in an environmentally sound way. Proceeds are used to provide wireless phones with free airtime to survivors and to contribute grants to further the efforts of non-profit domestic violence shelters and prevention programs across the country. Since 2001, HopeLine has collected more than 6.7 million phones; awarded more than $7.9 million in cash grants to prevention and awareness programs nationwide; and donated more than 90,000 HopeLine phones with 300 million minutes of airtime to victims, survivors and domestic violence organizations.

For more information on Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine program and to learn how to donate a wireless phone, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

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Thousands of Fans, the 2010 Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLIV Are No Match for Sprint's Wireless Networks Tweet

Game Attendees Will Have a Chance to Demo the Dynamic Speed of Sprint's 4G Network
MIAMI, Jan 25, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Any wireless provider can claim success, but only one can be the MVP. This is why Sprint (NYSE: S), the official wireless telecommunications service provider of the National Football League, has enhanced and rolled out its network playbook in preparation for the 2010 Pro Bowl on Jan. 31 and Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7 in South Florida.

Sprint has invested more than $2.3 million on telecommunication enhancements for game-day communications, in addition to more than $53million in network improvements Sprint made during 2008 and 2009 in Florida's Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties to augment its wireless networks - the Sprint Nationwide Network and the Nextel National Network.

The network improvements help ensure wireless coverage, capacity and dependability for the thousands of fans expected to attend the 2010 Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLIV.

"Hundreds of thousands of fans are expected to visit South Florida and Sprint is pleased to offer our customers seamless wireless coverage during their Super Bowl and Pro Bowl activities," said Bob Azzi, senior vice president of Network for Sprint. "As the NFL's official wireless service provider, making strategic preparations for the big day is a top priority and with the Pro Bowl returning to South Florida for the first time in 35 years, we want to ensure customers have the best possible wireless experience."

Additionally, at Gate G of Sun Life Stadium in Miami, the Sprint 4G Mobile Marketing Vehicle will be exclusively available - for three hours before the start of the Pro Bowl (Jan. 31) and the Super Bowl (Feb. 7) - to give attendees hands-on demonstrations of Sprint 4G products and services.

Sprint is the first national wireless carrier to test, launch and market 4G technology. Sprint 4G is already available in 27 markets and will continue to expand to new cities, bringing wireless speeds up to 10 times faster than today's 3G from any other national wireless carrier.

During Super Bowl XLI in 2007, which also took place in South Florida, Sprint's wireless service performed well as call volume on the Sprint Nationwide Network and the Nextel National Network increased more than 275 percent and 325 percent, respectively.

For this year's event, Sprint has prepared its networks to accommodate the expected increase in voice and data traffic, including:

* Deploying five Cell Sites on Wheels (COWs) near Sun Life Stadium and the Miami Beach area for additional network coverage and capacity.
* Adding 50 new cell sites between 2008 and 2009 in South Florida to enhance wireless coverage.
* Enhancing in-building coverage at several venues and hotels, including the Super Bowl XLIV Media Center at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center, the Westin Beach Resort - Fort Lauderdale, Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel and Four Points by Sheraton Miami Beach.
* Closely monitoring call and data volumes on its network on game day and on the days leading up to the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl.

"Sprint's dependable network performance during the Super Bowl has been significantly important to NFL fans and the event's success year after year," said Dave Port, vice president of information technology for the NFL. "This year is no different, and we are pleased Sprint is helping to make the 2010 Pro Bowl, Super Bowl XLIV and many of the events throughout South Florida run smoothly."

Sprint offers speed and reliability on a 3G network named "most reliable"* by PC World magazine, along with cutting-edge devices and game-changing price plans to fit everyone's budget.

Current and prospective customers can view coverage maps using the Sprint Coverage Tool, which is available at http://www.sprint.com/coverage and at self-service, touch-screen kiosks at many Sprint retail stores.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving more than 48 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2009 and the first and only 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The company's customer-focused strategy has led to improved first call resolution and customer care satisfaction scores. For more information, visit http://www.sprint.com.

* PC World's tests included thirteen major cities with more than twenty tests per city from all regions of the country during a two month period from March & April 2009. In all, 5443 individual tests from 283 testing locations were conducted for each provider's 3G service. Testing was one minute in duration, and network performance can be highly variable from neighborhood to neighborhood.

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AT&T Wireless Priority Service Now Available When Roaming in Canada Tweet

Service Enables Priority Calling in Time for 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

AT&T announced it has enhanced its Wireless Priority Service to operate when roaming in Canada within the Rogers Wireless coverage area in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. This enhancement is made possible by AT&T’s cross-border roaming relationship with Rogers Wireless, Canada's largest wireless provider.

The AT&T Wireless Priority Service is an easy to use, add-on feature subscribed on a per-month, per user basis for qualified United States government customers. AT&T plans to introduce new pricing for this service in February 2010, which will eliminate the activation fee and lower the monthly recurring charges. Other charges, taxes and fees, including roaming charges when using the feature in Canada, will apply.

“With an increasing number of national security and emergency preparedness personnel relying on cell phones, the AT&T Wireless Priority Service can help them to respond quickly in an emergency by improving access to the wireless network,” said Stacey Black, assistant vice president, mobility product management, AT&T Business Solutions. We’re pleased to provide the choice of expanded service to our government customers requiring cross-border wireless communications in Canada.”

The AT&T Wireless Priority Service, already available throughout the United States, is designed for qualified federal, state, local, or tribal government personnel responsible for the command and control functions critical to managing and responding to national security and emergency situations. The service puts the caller into a priority queue to help them complete calls in an emergency, particularly during the first 72 hours following an event when networks are most likely to experience congestion.

For more information on Wireless Priority Service, please visit http://www.wps.ncs.gov/.

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AT&T Among Top Five Most Inclusive Fortune 100 Companies for Hispanics as Determined by the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility Tweet

AT&T Earns the Second Highest Score for its Commitment to Hispanic Inclusion in the Areas of Employment, Supplier Diversity and Community Service.

AT&T* announced that it has nearly topped the 2009 index of most inclusive companies for Hispanics by the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), one of the most influential advocacy groups in the nation representing more than a dozen Hispanic organizations.

AT&T earned the second highest score – 80 of 100 – on HACR’s 2009 Corporate Inclusion Index, which measured Fortune 100 companies and HACR corporate members on their level of commitment to Hispanic inclusion in the areas of employment, procurement, philanthropy and governance.

“We’re honored to be recognized by HACR for our commitment to the Hispanic community. Diversity and innovation go hand-in-hand at AT&T; we live and operate on the premise that providing opportunities for people from all backgrounds helps us meet our bottom line,” said Cindy Brinkley, AT&T senior vice president, talent development and chief diversity officer. “Investing in our community and future company leaders, whether in the form of contract opportunities for diverse suppliers or development programs for our employees, is key to our success.”

A total of 30 companies and HACR corporate members that took part in the survey were evaluated across various areas, including corporate executive leadership, corporate governance, workforce representation, community philanthropy, and supplier outreach and development.

AT&T was evaluated on its Hispanic employee engagement and its commitment to strengthening communities by supporting underserved populations. AT&T has an employee resource group – the Hispanic/Latino Association of AT&T (HACEMOS) – dedicated to supporting the advancement of Hispanics in the workplace and the community. In 2008, AT&T and its employees contributed $169 million – through corporate, employee, and AT&T Foundation giving programs – to various organizations, including Hispanic-led organizations and programs intended to advance education and improve lives.

AT&T was also measured on its outreach to the Hispanic market, which includes ensuring that its products and services fit into Hispanic consumers’ lives and aspirations. Because AT&T recognizes the value of Hispanic consumers, it has converted more than 700 of its wireless stores nationwide to a bilingual concept to better serve its Hispanic customer base among many other efforts.

Through the HACR Research Institute, HACR publishes annual studies – including the Corporate Inclusion Index (CII) – that report on the state of the Hispanic community and corporate best practices in employment, procurement, philanthropy and governance. The HACR CII results allow HACR to focus on issues relevant to Hispanics including those associated with inadequate workforce representation.

The 2009 HACR Corporate Inclusion Index is available for download on HACR’s website, http://www.hacr.org/. The data collected from HACR’s CII was voluntarily submitted by Fortune 100 and HACR corporate member companies.

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Chip Manufacturing Bent, But Didn’t Break Under the Recession Tweet

But what is in store for semiconductor makers in 2010?

After suffering through one of the most significant declines in manufacturing in the history of the chip making business in the first quarter of 2009, companies were rewarded with three subsequent quarters of improved factory utilization. As a result of conservative management of capacity, most companies ended 2009 with manufacturing levels approaching those of the pre downturn levels of the third quarter of 2008, according to iSuppli Corp.

What’s in store for manufacturers in 2010? Will the recovery continue—or will the global economy again divert consumer spending to more basic necessities, causing a slowdown in semiconductor consumption?

Throughout 2009, the uncertainty of global economics dictated how semiconductor companies managed operations. It was not until late in the fourth quarter of 2009 that companies became willing to make decisions that had implications focused on expansion.

Enter 2010
In 2010, there are numerous indicators that support a much more positive outlook for manufacturing run rates than were apparent 12 months ago.

Innovative new products and a conservative approach to inventory levels throughout the supply chain are probably the two key indicators that are spurring optimism among manufacturers.

iSuppli anticipates that manufacturing run rates in the second half of 2010 will drive total factory utilizations into the high 80’s to low 90’s for most companies. For advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes and memory technologies, factory utilizations will be in excess of 90 percent and will approach 100 percent by year­end.

With significantly increased levels of manufacturing, companies will be forced to expand manufacturing. This will reverse the recent three-year decline in capital expenditures that the equipment companies have been forced to manage. iSuppli anticipates that global capital expenditures will increase by 46.8 percent year-over-year.

The largest year-over-year increase in capital will be for the manufacturing of memory products. iSuppli anticipates that capital in support of memory manufacturing will increase in 2010 by 65.5 percent.

An Alternative
Third-party manufacturing will continue to be focused on Taiwan. However, with the emergence of Globalfoundries and its manufacturing operations in Europe and Singapore, fabless companies demanding state-of-the-art manufacturing will now have an alternative to Taiwan’s TSMC and UMC.

iSuppli anticipates that in 2010, chip manufacturers in China will continue to take the role of low-cost, fast followers. Chinese foundries will continue to face aggressive challenges from Taiwan while attempting to grow their regional market share.

Manufacturers will find 2010 to be a year of recovery and expansion. This does not mean it will be a year without significant challenges. Profitable growth will dominate discussions for most semiconductor companies. Ultimately, the global economic recovery will determine the degree of success for most semiconductor manufacturers.

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Singapore' s M1 Chooses Huawei to Provide ATCA-based IMS Solution Tweet

Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, announced that MobileOne ("M1"), one of the leading mobile communications providers in Singapore, with more than 1.7 million customers, has selected Huawei as the sole provider of an ATCA (Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture) platform based IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) solution to enrich its national broadband services and build its FMC (fixed and mobile convergence) capabilities. This IMS solution will allow M1 subscribers to enjoy rich multi-media services such as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), IPTV, Centrex, and HD video conferencing.

Leveraging Singapore' s Next Generation National Broadband (NGNBN) initiative, M1 will offer both fixed and mobile network services. The integration of Huawei' s IMS solution will enhance M1' s capabilities in an increasingly converged world and enable M1 to smoothly transform from a mobile operator to a fixed and mobile service provider.

"With Huawei' s IMS system, M1 will build up an advanced future oriented network architecture, which gives us the capability to deliver new multimedia services to both our fixed and mobile customers in the future," said Mr. Patrick Scodeller, CTO of M1.

"Huawei' s customized ATCA-based IMS solutions allow operators to achieve rapid network deployment and shorten time to market and support M1' s business transformation by providing subscribers with advanced multi-media services," said Mr. Jin Huang, vice president of Core Network, Huawei.

Huawei' s IMS voice over broadband (VoBB) solution adopted a standard ATCA platform. One ATCA frame is able to provide all of M1's requirements. As a pioneer in global IMS applications, Huawei' s IMS solution is being adopted to enable rapid development and delivery of differentiated IMS-enabled services by leading operators worldwide, including CLP Group (Germany), EDF Group (France), Telefonica, SFR (France), COX (USA), ETISALAT, STC (Saudi Arabia), Vimpelcom (Russia), Telmex (Mexico), Telecom (Argentina), China Mobile, China Telecom, TM (Malaysia), and WIND (Italy).

About M1

M1 is a leading mobile communications provider in Singapore, with more than 1.7 million customers. It provides a full range of mobile voice and data communications services over its 2G/3G/3.5G network, as well as fixed and mobile broadband.

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Shipments of Wi-Fi ICs Grew About 28% Last Year; 802.11n Will Lead the Wi-Fi Chip Market in 2010 Tweet

In 2009, worldwide shipments of Wi-Fi ICs increased approximately 28% compared to 2008, according to data from ABI Research. Total revenue achieved an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18% between 2009 and 2014.

“Despite the uncertain macroeconomic situation, total market demand for Wi-Fi ICs is expected to keep growing” says industry analyst Celia Bo. “The demand for Wi-Fi ICs in mobile devices and consumer electronic devices are the two key engines for Wi-Fi IC’s market growth.”

In recent years almost all laptops, netbooks, MIDs and smartbooks have shipped with Wi-Fi embedded, a trend that will continue for some time to come. Wi-Fi IC placement in mobile handsets grew by more than 50% in 2009 and Wi-Fi-enabled handsets will account for 40% of the total of handsets shipped in 2014. Beyond the already established segments, portable media players with Wi-Fi have also seen strong growth which will continue through 2014.

More and more consumer electronic devices, such as digital still cameras, digital camcorders, TVs, DVD players, set-top boxes (STBs) are adopting Wi-Fi. The total shipments of Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronic devices increased 33% in 2009 compared to 2008; the products with fastest-growing attach rates are digital camcorders, TVs, and set-top boxes.

“The most significant variation in Wi-Fi enabled products is the protocol type of the embedded Wi-Fi,” adds practice director Philip Solis. “802.11g has had the highest attach rate over the past few years, accounting for 50% of total Wi-Fi IC shipments in 2009. But 802.11n revenue surpassed that of 802.11g in 2009 as a result of higher ASPs; and 802.11n shipments will surge ahead of 802.11g starting this year. Between 2009 and 2014, unit shipment CAGR is forecast to reach 41%.”

ABI Research’s market data “Wi-Fi IC Market Share Analysis and Forecasts” addresses market and technical analysis of Wi-Fi ICs. The forecast information is organized by protocol, product application, client type, and vendor market share.

This market data product is included in the firm’s Wi-Fi Research Service.

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