Networking This Week: Get Unwired And Go To Jail

This week was showtime again, this time around, the CTIA Wireless show in New Orleans. And that meant a week of heavy-duty wireless and mobile announcements, both at the show, and away from it as well.

High-speed wireless junkies have something to look forward to: Wireless infrastructure vendors at the CTIA show demonstrated next-generation cellular data systems with speeds approaching 6 Mbps, even though 3G services haven't even been fully rolled out.

AT&T, meanwhile, announced it will build a small WiMAX trial this spring and then later in the year roll out a larger trial with several enterprise customers. Other telecom vendors, including Sprint, have also said they will run WiMAX as well.

Frequent fliers got some good wireless news, when Lufthansa airlines announced that it will significantly expand in-flight broadband service to more long-haul flights.

Kyocera became the latest vendor to jump onto WiFi/cellular convergence, with an announcement at the show that it will team with Boingo Wireless to let its handsets to seamlessly switch between cellular and Wi-Fi networks.Cingular Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless operator after it merged with AT&T Wireless last fall, said that it had passed the 50 million subscriber milestone. Cingular president and CEO Stan Sigman claimed the numbers show that the merger was a success.

Speaking of mergers, what's a week without news about the never-ending soap opera with Qwest and Verizon trying to buy out MCI? By late in the week, Qwest raised the ante to nearly $8.5 billion to buy out the telecommunications company.

In another lifetime, MCI had been bought out by WorldCom, and that former high flyer was in the news this week, as Ex-WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers was found guilty on all counts -- one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of false regulatory filings. Ebbers will not pass go, and may go straight to jail. In fact, he may face life in the slammer.

For all this and more, check out to Networking Pipeline's News section.

Links in This StoryEnterprises Get Unwired

Vendors Pushing Beyond 3G For Faster Speeds

AT&T Latest To Trial WiMAX Lufthansa To Expand In-Flight Broadband Access

Kyocera Commits To Cellular-Wi-Fi Phones

Cingular Passes 50 Million Subscriber Milestone Qwest And Verizon Vie For MCI

Qwest Raises Offer To Acquire MCI To Nearly $8.5 Billion

Jury Finds Ebbers Guilty On All Counts

Ebbers Faces Life In Jail For Role In Accounting Scandal

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