wireless carriers

Paul Karpowicz has nothing against broadband. But he has no plans to take part in a government effort to bring it to more homes.

Karpowicz is president of Meredith Broadcasting, which owns 12 local TV stations from Portland, Ore., to New Haven, Conn. Meredith also holds unused TV airwaves covering some of those markets and Karpowicz intends to use them to stream programming to handheld devices.

Some Verizon Wireless customers will soon have access to Skype, an Internet telephone service, the companies announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday. Skype, based in Luxembourg, allows people to use the service to make free video and voice calls. Users are also able to send instant messages and other files.

Verizon data customers will be able to make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls, according to the companies. Users will also be able to make international calls using Skype Out, a competitive service.

Verizon Wireless will let customers use the Internet phone service Skype to make free calls on some phones, an application that wireless carriers have been slow to allow.

Fueling speculation that an unlocked iPhone is in the cards, Oppenheimer telecommunications analyst Tim Horan predicted Monday that Apple will not renew its exclusive agreement with AT&T when the wireless carrier's contract expires in May.

"We believe AT&T's iPhone exclusivity arrangement with Apple will be expiring by mid-2010," Horan wrote. "For wireless carriers, customers are demanding the device and they need to remain competitive."

AT&T has been the exclusive carrier of the iPhone since its debut in 2007.

The Nexus One is proving somewhat controversial, and it may be even more challenging to market the device. Some analysts are even questioning whether people will buy the Google phone without the hands-on experience Apple offers to iPhone shoppers in its brick-and-mortar stores.

AT&T and T-Mobile announced major upgrades to their 3G networks Tuesday that eventually should help both carriers overcome problems arising from heavy data demands by smartphone subscribers.

AT&T said it has completed the deployment of software upgrades to all its 3G cell-tower sites as the first step in its rollout of High-Speed Packet Access 7.2 (HSPA+) technology.

Apple is planning to make a major product announcement Jan. 26, and many analysts are betting it's a touchscreen, handheld computer that looks something like an iPhone. Indeed, the speculation surrounding the Apple tablet is growing -- and it's sending Apple's stock up.

Is Google looking to compete with Apple in the consumer hardware business? Even before the Google-branded Nexus One smartphone has been officially announced, news comes that Google is preparing a muscular Chrome OS-based netbook for release in 2010.

According to comments posted at the nookDevs forum, developers have come up with a method for transforming Barnes & Noble's nook e-reader into a web tablet. Demonstrating that where there's a will there's a way, a modification enables the $259 device to become a portable computer featuring free 3G Internet access.

On the downside, cracking the nook's cover voids both the product warranty and the user agreement. Moreover, the modification to the device's internal circuits goes well beyond what the vast majority of consumers may feel comfortable with.

The disparity in usage between smartphone users and other subscribers -- and the stress it puts on the network -- is a problem that AT&T intends to deal with, according to Ralph de la Vega, head of the company's wireless unit. Speaking at the UBS 37th annual Global Media and Communications Conference this week, he reportedly addressed the issue of disproportionate traffic by iPhone users.

Averting PR Disaster