Long-time U.S. Cellular executive Alan Ferber has left his post after the company eliminated his position as chief strategy and brand officer. Ferber worked at the regional wireless operator for nearly 11 years. U.S. Cellular has created three new roles “to provide greater focus to marketing and brand management.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is throwing its support behind Dish Network’s plan to use 40 MHz of satellite spectrum for an LTE network. The group sent a letter to the FCC yesterday urging the commission to allow Dish to move forward with its plan. The agency is currently considering regulations that could allow Dish to use its 2 GHz spectrum for a terrestrial network. The company is currently licensed to use the spectrum for combination satellite-terrestrial service.
Executives from McCaw Communications, Verizon Communications, AT&T Bell Labs and one of the first wireless roaming clearinghouses in the United States have been named as inductees for the Wireless History Foundation’s Wireless Hall of Fame. The inductees for 2012 include Wayne Perry, who began his career at McCaw and helped form CTIA, former Verizon Chief Technology Officer Richard Lynch, and Raj Singh, a key engineer of early cellular networks and the founder of roaming company Appex. The organization is also granting a posthumous award to Amos Joel, an engineer at AT&T Bell Labs who who designed and patented automated mobile switching that revolutionized mobile communications and made cellular telephone service possible. The men will be inducted during the foundation’s Oct. 8 dinner in San Diego, which coincides with CTIA’s fall conference.
Fuel cell company ReliOn is set to expand its presence into the grid support market, where alternative sources of power are needed because the electric grid is unreliable or completely unavailable. ReliOn says an agreement with Hy9 has provided it with multiple fueling options for its fuel cells, allowing it to “more than triple” its addressable market. ReliOn’s customers include telecommunications providers, railway services, utility companies and the government. Fuel cells are an important source of backup power for cell towers.
Qualcomm is moving up some executives in its semiconductor business. Cristiano Amon and Murthy Renduchintala have been promoted to co-presidents of mobile and computing products, Craig Barratt will continue as president of connectivity and networking products and Jim Lederer will continue as general manager, leading the business support organizations. The four executives will report to Steve Mollenkopf, president and chief operating officer of Qualcomm. The changes are effective immediately.
Mobile Posse has announced that it closed $5 Million in Series C funding. New Investor, Harbert Venture Partners led the round, which also included Softbank Capital, Court Square Ventures, Columbia Capital, as well as individual investors. In addition, the company announced that it has reached more than 15 million mobile consumers with active home screen messaging – one third of which are Android users.
