Network access

Huawei, the Chinese mobile company hoping to make its way to the U.S. and elsewhere, expressed disappointment with the Australian government today for not being included in the country's National Broadband Network.

Speaking before the Australian parliamentary intelligence committee, Huawei Australia chairman John Lord said that his company was "disappointed" to learn that it was blocked from participation in the country's $38 billion NBN project. According to Reuters, Lord claimed that Huawei was given no reason for its exclusion and no chance to address any concerns that might have arisen.

A big company -- it … Read more

Apple's iPhone 5 will come to China by the end of the year, a carrier in that country has confirmed.

China Unicom told Chinese technology site Sohu IT in an interview published yesterday that it'll launch the iPhone 5 within the next three months. The carrier didn't say exactly when the device will launch. Separately, China Telecom told the publication that it, too, will be carrying Apple's iPhone 5 around the same time.

The Next Web was first to report on the story.

Apple announced the iPhone 5 on Wednesday. The company said that it'll … Read more

Apple's iOS 6 will allow iPhone users to make FaceTime calls over a cellular network, and Verizon Wireless doesn't want to limit the video-calling feature.

The nation's largest carrier confirmed this evening that will make the data-intensive app available on all its data plans at no additional charge, including those still on unlimited data plans. The move was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Previously operational only on Wi-Fi networks, the app will work on cellular networks when the update to Apple's operating system is released on September 19.

The offering stands in contrast to … Read more

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has pledged to invest $2 billion (£1.3 billion) in the U.K. economy, in an apparent bid for goodwill as the U.S. Congress opens a probe of the company's relationship with the Chinese government. (See the embedded press release below.)

Huawei will plow $1 billion (£650m) into its U.K. research and development efforts. It said  that will generate more than 700 jobs in the country, and pledged to spend a further $1 billion on U.K. procurement over the next five years.

The telecom giant, which already employs 800 … Read more

U.K. network operator Everything Everywhere, which runs the Orange and T-Mobile brands in the UK, has announced the first commercial 4G LTE network across the country.

The company, which will now be known as EE, will launch the service in 16 U.K. cities -- including London, Manchester, and Glasgow -- by the end of the year and will push for 98 percent U.K. coverage by 2014.

While Orange and T-Mobile will remain as two separate operating companies, EE will be reserved for 4G brands and connectivity.

Along with the announcement, the mobile phone giant -- with more … Read more

EarthLink can now offer its Internet customers a high-speed connection through Clearwire's 4G broadband network, the companies announced today.

The agreement allows EarthLink customers to access the service through Clearwire, which runs its own 4G WiMax network. The deal also opens the door to Clearwire's planned 4G LTE network, the companies said in a statement.

EarthLink was a major player in the late 1990s as one of the largest Internet service providers supplying dial-up Web access. But as consumers moved to broadband services largely provided by the big telcos and cable companies, the company saw its user base … Read more

Sprint wants you to know that although it's far behind AT&T and especially Verizon in deploying its 4G LTE network, the carrier is hard at work.

This morning, Sprint announced its plan to roll out LTE in over 100 more cities "in the coming months" where it currently offers 3G coverage -- including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., and cities in Puerto Rico.

You'll likely see LTE service pop up before the official launch, but Sprint warns that service may not be as fast or as reliable during the pre-launch … Read more

A U.S. trade judge has hinted that Apple may struggle to invalidate patents owned by HTC, which could potentially lead to an import ban on the latest iPad and the forthcoming iPhone.

According to Bloomberg, U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) Judge Thomas Pender said in Washington on Thursday that "clear and convincing means something to me," speaking about the legalities of determining whether a patent should or shouldn't have been issued.

"I have to be pretty darn certain a U.S. patent is invalid," Pender added.

HTC accused Apple of infringing two patents … Read more

Hit by legal woes that squashed its dedicated apps, Grooveshark has amped up its mobile Web site to provide users with full access to their music.

The new mobile site has been given a fresh HTML5 paint job, so it now looks and feels smoother. It also gives Grooveshark users access to their entire collection of online tunes, including their playlists and favorites. As always, users can search for specific songs by title or artist and listen to different "stations" based on jazz, rock, classical, country, and other genres.

Overall, the experience is now virtually identical to using … Read more