U.S. Cellular Reports Net Loss of 37,000 Postpaid Connections in Q1

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U.S. Cellular lost a net 37,000 postpaid connections in the first quarter of the year and reported 1.23 percent postpaid churn in its latest financial report.

The nation’s fifth-largest carrier — which trails far behind the U.S.’s four major providers — noted handset churn was 0.97 percent and that its net smartphone losses totaled just 1,000.

The bulk of the net postpaid losses were due to 15,000 fewer net feature phones and 21,000 fewer net connected devices. The report also indicated that prepaid connections increased by a net of 6,000.

The carrier’s total operating revenues increased from $936 million in early 2017 to $942 million in the latest quarter as a 14 percent increase in equipment sales revenue made up for a 3 percent drop in service revenues.

The company maintained its projections for the full calendar year and said its revenue trends, network performance, cost-cutting efforts and profits were off to strong starts in 2018.

Read More from Wireless Week Here

N.S.A. Triples Collection of Data From U.S. Phone Companies

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The National Security Agency vacuumed up more than 534 million records of phone calls and text messages from American telecommunications providers like AT&T and Verizon last year — more than three times what it collected in 2016, a new report revealed on Friday.

Intelligence analysts are also more frequently searching for information about Americans within the agency’s expanding collection of so-called call detail records — telecom metadata logging who contacted whom and when, but not the contents of what they said.

The new report — an annual set of surveillance-related statistics issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — did not explain why the number of records increased so dramatically. But in an interview, Alex Joel, the office’s chief civil liberties officer, said the N.S.A. had not reinterpreted its legal authorities to change the way it collects such data.

He cited a variety of factors that might have contributed to the increase, potentially including changes in the amount of historical data companies are choosing to keep, the number of phone accounts used by each target and changes to how the telecommunications industry creates records based on constantly shifting technology and practices.

Read More from the New York Times Here

Cell phone inventor makes a call on campus

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When Martin Cooper made his first cellphone call on April 3, 1973, the phone that he made the call on — the DynaTAC 8000x that he had invented — was much different than modern day smartphone technology.

Weighing two and a half pounds and only staying charged for about 20 minutes on average, Cooper and his team at Motorola had created a fully wireless phone that could be used outside.

During a speaking engagement at San Diego State’s Digital Humanities Center on April 17, Cooper discussed his personal career and the history behind mobile device technology.

In the 1960s, AT&T was advocating for the Federal Communications Commission to approve car telephones, not believing that completely mobile phones would be a necessary or viable alternative to landlines.

“What (AT&T) decided was what we wanted were car telephones,” Cooper said. “Could you imagine? We’d been trapped in our homes and offices with this wire, and they were going to solve our problem by trapping us in our cars.”

Read More from The Daily Aztec Here

Man released from prison after serving 17 years for New Haven killing he didn’t commit

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A city man walked out of Superior Court a free man Wednesday after serving 17 years in prison for a 1999 convenience store robbery and murder.

“What took place against me by this criminal justice system is a tragedy, a crime against humanity, and an assault against justice and the United States Constitution. I hope this never happens to anyone else,” Vernon Horn said in the release. “(Many) years of my life were stolen from me, my daughter went without her father. I hope this does not go in vain, but rather the folks who are a part of this system will learn from this mistake to better the system.”

Connecticut Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford vacated 37-year-old Vernon Horn’s 2000 robbery and murder convictions following a motion filed by New Haven State’s Attorney Pat Griffin to set aside the conviction based on previously overlooked cell site evidence and newly discovered telephone records. Griffin informed the court that the state no longer had confidence in the convictions, the release stated.

In light of the newly developed evidence, the State’s Attorney’s Office informed the court, “[t]he totality of information developed to date has sufficiently undermined the state’s confidence in the judgment of conviction such that justice is done by setting the judgment aside and returning the case to the superior court docket.”

Wednesday marked the second time a Connecticut court has vacated Horn’s convictions. In 2014, after hearing eight days of witness testimony, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Robert E. Young set aside Horn’s convictions. Horn was released on bail while the state appealed the decision, during which time he married and had a daughter. In 2016, however, the Connecticut Supreme Court reinstated the convictions, and Horn was then sent back to prison where he has remained, the release said.

 Horn was 17 years old when he was accused by New Haven police of robbery and the murder of 22-year-old Caprice Hardy, who was buying cigarettes at the Dixwell Deli Jan. 24, 1999.

At trial, the primary evidence allegedly linking Horn to the crime scene was a record of calls made from a cellphone stolen during the robbery, but new evaluation of the cellphone call record established that, based on the location of the cellphone at the time of the calls, Horn could not have committed the robbery and homicide as state prosecutors originally alleged, the release stated.

Read More from the New Haven Register Here

T-Mobile Agrees to Buy Sprint in $26 Billion Deal

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T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS 0.66% struck a $26 billion deal to buy Sprint Corp. S 8.33% in a combination that, if allowed by antitrust enforcers, would leave the U.S. wireless market dominated by three national players.  It is the third time in the last four years the two rivals have attempted the combination.  The leaders of both companies are determined to close a deal, if only because their prospects going it alone grow dimmer by the year.

New technology, stiff competition from wireless rivals and an aging cellphone sector keep driving Sprint and T-Mobile into each other’s arms. Both companies hope to squeeze billions in savings by uniting operations despite their owners’ different management styles and a tough regulatory environment.

The all-stock deal would see T-Mobile, which has a market value of $55 billion, take control of Sprint, which has a market value of $26 billion, both based on Friday’s closing prices. The two companies also have about $60 billion of combined net debt.

Read More from The Wall Street Journal Here