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Filed under: Virgin Mobile , MVNOs With acquisitions frequently come layoffs, and Virgin Mobile's submitting to that ages-old tradition today by announcing a workforce reduction of 45 folks in its New Jersey and California offices -- a total of about 10 percent of its 400-strong team. With the closure of the company's Helio buy, it makes sense that there'd be some redundancy, and indeed, the company cites Helio along with its transition to an IBM-contracted IT infrastructure as the justification for the layoffs. The move comes despite Virgin Mobile USA having post a strong quarter , so while Virgin appears to be in solid shape, they're making like most of corporate America and battening the hatches for a presumably brutal '09. Virgin Mobile trims 10 percent of workforce originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Sprint , EV-DO , MVNOs , CDMA , Misc , LTE We know, you're just dying to say this is a complete shock, but we're here to inform you that it's not . If you'll recall, Cox dug deep to snatch up a decent block of spectrum in this year's 700MHz auction , and it even went so far as to promise a differentiated product that would eventually integrate with its other content and services. Sure enough, it's keeping its word. After spending $500 million on wireless capacity in its markets, president Pat Esser says it's time to turn things on. By relying on Cox's own 3G network (along with Sprint's, initially), the carrier will offer up an undisclosed amount of handsets that will "include a network address book that automatically synchronizes with home PCs" and allow remote programming of one's DVR. Furthermore, users will be able to access e-mail and voicemail that they receive at home right on their mobile, and ideally, subscribers could watch TV shows right on their handsets. Get ready for an awkward new rival in the wireless space beginning, um, anytime now. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Indoor telephony is under renewed attack. Emerging coverage enhancement solutions such as femtocells threaten to further erode the already declining market for fixed-line phones. But with adversity has come opportunity. Femtocells mitigate many of the historical challenges that lead to the failure of MVNO's set up to offer converged services and provide another opportunity for wireless and fixed line operators to work together. The significance of having high quality voice telephony inside the house cannot be denied. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 76 percent of an average person's "awake hours" resides indoors. Of that time, 61 percent is spent in the home vs. a separate building. Indoor telephony has traditionally been the stronghold of wireline and cable (fixed line) carriers. However, in the last few years cord-cutting has emerged as the primary threat for fixed line carriers. Declining mobile price is the key driver for this trend. According to CTIA, around 15.8 percent of U.S. households were wireless-only in 2007. But there are limitations to using the cell phone inside the house. Bad indoor wireless coverage is one of the key barriers to cord-cutting. According to a Harris Interactive survey, 62 percent of cell phone owners have done something special to improve signal reception in an attempt to make or receive a cell phone call at home. 30 percent said they used their fixed-line phone. Today the question that is top of mind for all fixed line operators is how best to deal with femtocells. The situation is grimmer for operators such as British Telecom, Embarq, and Qwest that don't own wireless assets. Their past attempts to reduce cord cutting by offering wireline-wireless bundles and converged services through wireless wholesale (MVNO) deals have failed. But there is a glimmer of hope. Femtocells require a broadband connection to operate. Fixed line carriers can leverage this dependence of femtocells on DSL and cable in two ways--obstructive or constructive. The obstructive approach revolves around non-cooperation with wireless carriers and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) marketing. Such tactics are not sustainable in the long term. The constructive approach is difficult, but if implemented correctly can reap long term benefits. This approach involves setting up mutually beneficial partnerships with wireless carriers to revive the convergence play. Naysayer's will immediately shoot down this idea on the basis...

Filed under: Helio , Virgin Mobile , MVNOs The deed is done, and Virgin Mobile is wasting no time giving its fresh acquisition a giant bear-hug to welcome it to the family. Helio is now "Helio by Virgin Mobile," tagged with the line "Plan To Have It All" -- hopefully a nod to the fact that Virgin plans to keep Helio's offerings distanced from Virgin as a higher-end, feature-rich carrier that can compliment Virgin's typical lineup of ultra-cheap prepaid goods. To kick things off, Helio is now offering an upgrade to its $80 A La Carte plan, boosting the 1,500 included minutes to a limitless bucket -- nice, we'll take it -- and Virgin is stealing some of Helio's mojo to offer the Shuttle, a new handset marketed under the Virgin name that'll integrate Helio's Buddy Beacon service. Just stay on track with the Ocean 2 , fellas, and everything's cool by us. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Handsets For some reason, we're quite taken with the Peek email-only handheld, and Gadling's followup review of the love-it-or-hate-it device mostly reinforces that positive impression. The squared-off, Ideo-designed unit did its one task admirably well, sending and receiving emails using T-Mobile's network with only slight delay, and the OS is minimal and easy to use. Sure, at $99 and $20/mo it's still way too expensive for the typical gadget nerd who's already packing a phone data plan and maybe a data card as well, but if you're trying to keep things on the prepaid tip or looking to get a Luddite friend or relative on the mobile email bandwagon, the Peek is certainly worth a second, uh, peek. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Just because its Disney Mobile MVNO failed, that doesn't mean Disney is giving up on selling mobile content to tweens. The company last fall launched a mobile Web site that acts as a clearinghouse for all Disney mobile content. It also started experimenting with mobile marketing campaigns. Now the company is taking its mobile offerings a step further. Next month Disney will debut a registration system that will allow users to access their Disney.com profiles automatically via their cell phones giving them access to their online content. Soon after, the company plans to launch a digital storefront that will give consumers the ability to purchase Disney games, ringtones and wallpapers from their phone and add those purchases to their cell phone bill. For more: - see this Forbes article Related articles: Disney Mobile shutters its doors SPOTLIGHT: On the Hot Seat with Disney's Larry Shapiro