• Alcatel-Lucent has launched a new distributed base station product, the fanless 60 W remote radio head (RRH) node B for WCDMA networks. The company says that the new base station enables a 50% increase in available output power over the previous generation of equipment and offers similar improvements as compared to competitors' products currently on the market. Alcatel-Lucent is introducing the technology to extend the range of deployment options for RRH-based solutions and provide its customers with higher power products as they need them.
• AAA today announced that AAA Mobile is now available for download on the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition and BlackBerry Pearl 8130 smartphones from Research In Motion – the first smartphones compatible with the navigation and local search application from AAA. AAA Mobile subscribers, whether they are AAA members or non-members, can now use a BlackBerry smartphone to receive visual and audible directions to any U.S. travel destination; locate AAA-approved points of interest, including Diamond rated hotels and restaurants; and search more than 100,000 locations that offer AAA Show Your Card & Save member savings. If AAA members experience vehicle difficulties, users can press a single button on the BlackBerry smartphones to send the member's GPS location to AAA.
• Sierra Wireless introduced the latest, and smallest, addition to its USB modem product line. Scheduled for commercial availability by mid-year, the Compass 597 USB modem combines high-speed mobile broadband access to EV-DO Revision A networks with a microSD card slot for convenient storage, all in a USB stick.
With the current economic climate, wireless operators face shrinking marketing budgets and reduced consumer spending.
Globally, the credit crunch is very much alive, and operators will be tightening their belts into the foreseeable future by putting off capital purchases.
