NotePage SMS, Paging and Messaging Blogs

SBC Communications Inc. said Monday it will buy AT&T Corp. for about $16 billion, aiming to bolster its services for large corporations and end "Ma Bell's" independence.

The combined company would have around $71 billion in revenues, the same as top U.S. telecom Verizon Communications Inc. A merger would likely face antitrust hurdles.

SBC's acquisition of the No. 1 long-distance carrier will include $14.7 billion in SBC stock and a special dividend of roughly $1.04 billion to be paid by AT&T to its shareholders when the deal closes.

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SBC Communications, the second-largest regional phone company in the nation, is in talks to buy AT&T for more than $16 billion, according to executives close to the negotiations.

A deal, if reached, would be the final chapter in the 120-year history of AT&T, the first technological giant of the modern age and the original model for telecommunications companies worldwide. A deal would be a reunion of sorts, putting back together some of the largest pieces of the Ma Bell telephone monopoly, which was broken up in 1984.

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More than half of U.S. cell phone customers will soon be offered the wireless equivalent of cable TV in the largest expansion yet of the North American mobile video market.

Cingular Wireless on Tuesday began selling MobiTV, making scores of shows available for $10 a month, plus the cost of downloading data. While offered nationwide, MobiTV is only available on a half-dozen Cingular handsets, including Motorola's white-hot Razr.

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Motorola Inc. announced Wednesday that Mike Zafirovski is resigning as the company's No. 2 executive, a departure that had been widely expected since he was passed over for the chief executive's job a year ago.

Zafirovski, who helped engineer a turnaround at the cell-phone manufacturing giant, is scheduled to step down Jan. 31 as president and chief operating officer after more than four years with Motorola.

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As a convenience to customers using PageGate in conjunction with NetIQ we have added an integration FAQ that steps users through the setup process.

The NetIQ integration FAQ details the steps required to use PageGate in conjunction with NetIQ. Using PageGate with NetIQ will allow alerts to be sent to  to wireless messaging devices like pagers and cell phones.

NotePage has added a number of SBC TAP phone numbers to their large database of TAP numbers.

When sending text messages to pagers and cell phone, the terminal phone number is required we have listed the most commonly used numbers along with the settings. Please let us know of any additional modem numbers that you would like to have added to the database.

The database allows users to look-up telecom companies by name.

The tip came in fast, telegraph-terse, and discreet. Maj. Mohammed Salman Abass Ali al-Zobaidi of the Iraqi National Guard scrolled down to read it: "Black four-door Excalibur. Behind cinema."
From cell phone screen to local authorities: Acting on the recent text message tip to the Iraqi National Guard commander, police in a nearby town tracked down a black car behind theater, and arrested the driver for suspected links to insurgent attacks.

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Some well-known names are lining up behind one company's technology to let consumers and enterprises put away their cell phones--and mobile call charges--when they get to their homes and offices.

IBM, VeriSign, and Airespace want to foster roaming between cell phone systems and IP (Internet Protocol) networks so calls to a user's cell phone number can come to a wired or wireless VoIP  phone instead. And with dual-mode cell/Wi-Fi phones that are starting to emerge, a subscriber could carry one phone and simply switch modes when in range of a Wi-Fi network.

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The global mobile phone market is set to grow to 2 billion subscribers by the end of 2005, fueled by strong demand from developing economies in Asia and Latin America, Deloitte & Touche said on Tuesday.

The consulting firm said it expected voice calls to continue to be the primary driver of profits and revenues for mobile phone companies, with volumes continuing to grow steadily on the back of falling prices and rising ease of use.

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Toshiba has developed software that gives cell phone users the ability to access and control their Windows desktop computers from afar, according to press reports.

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Subscribers to Verizon Communications Inc.'s high-speed Internet services will be able to access customized and premium content from Web giant Yahoo Inc. under a multiyear agreement that combines the companies' offerings into a single brand.

The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, is the latest example of an Internet provider teaming up with a content company to offer more than just a fast connection. For their part, content providers receive greater exposure and a slice of monthly per-subscriber fees.

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Telecom and tech firms, some already in the wireless business and others planning to enter it, are helping foot the bill for President Bush's inauguration Jan. 20.
The donors, according to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, include Qualcomm Inc. ($100,000), AT&T Corp. ($250,000), MCI ($25,000), Oracle Corp. ($100,000), SBC Communications Inc. ($100,000), Southern Co. ($250,000) and Time Warner ($250,000).

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For people fed up with pecking out text messages on their mobile phone, Samsung Electronics may have an answer. The South Korean electronics maker has developed what it is calling the world's first mobile phones that can convert spoken words into text messages.

The phones use two speech-to-text products, called VoiceMode and QuickPhrase, and were shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.

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A Brazilian virus writer has unleashed a new mobile phone virus, called Lasco.A, that is capable of spreading both through the short-range wireless Bluetooth technology and by attaching itself to files, according to the Finnish antivirus company F-Secure.
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Resoruce and site relating to messaging. The Messaging Pipeline contains all sorts of information related to messaging.

People already use their cell phones to read e-mail messages, take pictures and play video games. Before long, they may use them in place of their wallets.

By embedding in the cell phone a computer chip or other type of memory device, a phone can double as a credit card. The chip performs the same function as the magnetic strip on the back of a credit card, storing account information and other data necessary to make a purchase.
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Nokia (news - web sites), the world's largest mobile phone maker, said it would cut costs in its Multimedia Business Group by shedding workers in the division's research and development department.

In November the Finnish giant said it hoped to reduce its overall research and development costs to between nine and 10 percent of net sales by 2006, from 12.8 percent or 3.76 billion euros in 2003, to improve its profitability.

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Comcast Corp. is joining the crowd of major cable TV and telephone companies venturing into Internet-based phone service, but with a higher price and extra features which the nation's largest cable provider hopes will set its product apart.

The company — which plans to charge $40 per month, or $5 to $20 more than most of Internet phone services — said Monday it believes customers will pay more for features such as battery backup to keep the phone line running during power outages.

A Motorola executive on Thursday previewed an upcoming mobile phone that can play music from Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store.

Speaking during a keynote at the International Consumer Electronics Show here, the executive demonstrated a phone that in many ways mimics the iPod.

The phone syncs with a computer and the iTunes Music Store like an iPod does, and incorporates an iPod-like interface for navigating and playing digital music, said Ron Garriques, a Motorola executive vice president.

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The screens may be tiny and the batteries overworked, but the wireless industry is bringing TV to a cell phone near you.

With the mammoth International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as a backdrop, Verizon Wireless detailed a robust multimedia service for mobile phones, promising video, audio and 3-D games custom-designed for the constraints of a handheld device.
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A mobile phone was as essential to the recent New Year's festivities as a party mood and Auld Lang Syne, if the number of text messages sent is anything to go by.
Between midnight on 31 December and midnight on 1 January, 133m text messages were sent in the UK.

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Conversent Communications LLC yesterday announced a plan to combine with a telecommunications counterpart in West Virginia.

Although the deal is being billed as a merger, the larger Conversent will become a majority owner of Charleston-based FiberNet LLC and the two firms will maintain their respective brands.

Financial terms of the stock transaction were not revealed because both Conversent and FiberNet are privately held. The merger, subject to state regulatory approvals, is expected to be finalized in March.

The combined company will serve about 51,000 customers in 10 states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
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When the tsunami hit Sri Lanka, Sanjaya Senanayake found he could not make calls on his mobile phone or regular land line at first - but he could send and receive text messages from his cellphone.
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Senanayake, a 23-year-old television producer, spent last week reporting on the disaster, frantically searching for friends and posting his experiences to the networked world through a Web log, or blog - often via text messages relayed by a friend in Mumbai, India.
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Last year ended with a bang in telecom. During the final three months, Cingular closed its $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless, and Sprint announced a $35 billion mega-merger with Nextel Communications. At a time when interest in traditional telecom companies is as rare as rotary phones, mergers are a sign of the profound changes afoot.
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By making it possible to share information quickly and to quickly raise large sums in relief aid, the mobile telephone has played a valuable role in the Asian seaquake disaster.

By making it possible to share information quickly and to quickly raise large sums in relief aid, the mobile telephone has played a valuable role in the Asian seaquake disaster.
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