Telecommunications Industry

The nation's chief telecommunications regulator on Wednesday reiterated the Obama administration's call for rules to ensure the free flow of Internet traffic, regardless of whether the data traveled over wired Internet connections or over wireless cellular networks. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, in a speech to wireless-industry executives attending the CTIA conference here, said the administration's goal in creating rules would be to eliminate "confusion" over the nation's so-called net neutrality policy, which has existed as a guideline rather than a mandate.

The U.S. attorney general and intelligence director warned Friday that the nation has lost potentially critical intelligence during the last week because telecommunications companies cut their cooperation with the government after a controversial espionage law was allowed to lapse. In an unusually blunt letter to Congress, Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence J.

Bob Barnett's phone call launched a nearly $150-billion-a-year industry. Twenty-five years ago today, during a media event at Chicago's Soldier Field, the president of Ameritech Mobile Communications made the nation's first commercial cellphone connection. He rang up Alexander Graham Bell's grandson on a Motorola DynaTAC handset that weighed 2 1/2 pounds and retailed for $3,995. The industry has changed dramatically in the quarter-century since.

President-elect Barack Obama famously made the World Wide Web a pillar of his campaign, so it is not surprising that the man already being called the nation's first "wired" president has championed the idea of an open Internet. And that is what Sprint Nextel Chief Executive Dan Hesse said recently "should scare" the telecom industry the most.

Hugo Chavez spoke, and investors smelled sulfur. Stocks fell sharply Tuesday in his own country and across Latin America as markets felt the effects of the Venezuelan president's nationalization plans for three key industries. On Monday, Chavez announced his intent to take control of businesses in telecommunications, electricity and oil that have sizable U.S. investments. The IBC index of the Caracas Stock Exchange plunged 18.7% on Tuesday.

A controversial member of the California Public Utilities Commission, serving on an interim basis, is set to win state Senate confirmation despite opposition from consumer groups. On Wednesday, the powerful Rules Committee sent the governor's nomination of Rachelle B. Chong of San Francisco to the full Senate for its expected approval today.

Motorola Inc. said Friday that it would cut 3,500 jobs and take other steps to reduce costs after misjudgments on pricing and sales forecasts for its high-end phones contributed to its least profitable quarter since 2004. The move came as the world's No. 2 cellphone maker reported a 48% decline in fourth-quarter earnings, to $624 million, on a steep drop in profitability in the handset business.

Microsoft Corp. has sued Alcatel-Lucent, claiming it is infringing patents on a system that integrates telephones with computers for calls, messages and video conferences. Microsoft filed a complaint Friday in federal court in Wilmington, Del., and on the same day filed a trade complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission. Both accuse Alcatel-Lucent, the world's biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, of infringing four patents and seek a halt to sales.

Dealing a significant blow to Sprint Nextel Corp., the government Thursday awarded the largest-ever federal telecommunications contract -- a 10-year deal worth as much as $48 billion -- to Sprint rivals AT&T, Qwest Communications and Verizon.

A federal patent ruling Thursday threatens to put a crimp in Christmas sales of next-generation cellphones that wireless carriers may be counting on late this year -- and beyond -- to spur sales. The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington banned the import of new mobile phones containing Qualcomm Inc. chips that infringe patents held by rival Broadcom Corp.