July 9-10, 2013
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Fastback Networks has raised $15 million to save mobile data networks from total collapse. OK, perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but Fastback has created radio technology to transfer mobile data at fast speeds so that companies can expand and plan mobile networks to handle huge voice and data networking loads in the future. Fastback’s technology could be a key piece in mobile networks that can transfer data as quickly as land-based infrastructure such as cable modems.

Matrix Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors Foundation Capital, Granite Ventures, and Juniper Networks. The latter wasn’t previously disclosed before. These investors believe that the San Jose, Calif.-based Fastback has the capability to deliver on technology that will make “small cells” practical. Right now, the world has more than 5 million macrocells, or fiber-connected cell sites that can handle the world’s voice and data traffic. The small cells are expected to offload a lot of the work the macrocells do into smaller networks, such as Wi-Fi networks, that handle the needs of users in a smaller cell sizes such as the neighborhood cafe.

Fastback provides what it believes is a vital connection between the macrocells and small cells: a wireless radio technology that can glue together the small Wi-Fi networks with the larger cell sites. Fastback chief executive Kevin Duffy said in an interview with VentureBeat that the company will use the money to scale up its operations and expand customer trials with major carriers.

“We founded this company because we saw a few years ago what was happening with the load being carried on the cellular network,” Duffy said. “The demand is overwhelming. But fiber networks won’t be able to reach everywhere. They will need a wireless radio solution. We call this technology that bends around buildings the ‘intelligent “backhaul” radio.’”

Fastback has created small cell “backhaul” data transfer technology — the Fastback Intelligent Wireless Transport solution — to bring together LTE carrier (licensed) networks with unlicensed Wi-Fi computer networks. Backhaul technology is for connecting infrastructure with big data pipes. Fastback’s patented technology can deliver data transfer speeds for small cells that are equivalent to the speeds of fiberoptic networks. The radio networks do not have to be within line of sight in order to transfer data from a small cell (Wi-Fi network) to a macro cell, which is connected to a fiber network. This so-called “any line of sight” technology means that mobile network operators can deploy small cells in any location without line of sight or access to fiber.

It took about 25 years to create the 5 million cell towers that are sprinkled across the globe. In the future, 10 to 20 times more towers may be needed, and the only way to handle that demand is to create small cells or to tap existing networks in the unlicensed spectrum. Fastback’s technology can transfer data at 500 megabits per second over a 10-kilometer radius.

Companies need this technology not only because of the need for mobile data transfer but also because of the increasing transfer of video over data networks and the pending improvements to voice technology that are coming to make cellular reception as good as landlines.

Stan Reiss, a general partner at Matrix Partners, has joined Fastback’s board. In an interview, Reiss said that Fastback has a technology advantage and it can remove barriers to widespread adoption of small cells. Juniper invested via the Junos Innovation Fund.

“I saw the technology required to make small cells possible, and that drove me to these guys, who have the best mousetrap,” Reiss said.

Fastback previously raised $11 million in a first round of funding in 2011, and it came out of stealth in February. Fastback has 35 employees. Duffy, formerly the chief executive of Proxim, cofounded Fastback with Kevin Negus in 2010. Negus, Fastback’s chief technology officer and chairman, was previously the chairman of WiDeFi and chief technology officer of Proxim.

“We should be shipping in 60 days,” Duffy said.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Update on March 19, 2013 7:30 a.m.: Vasona Networks’ funding has been confirmed, with $22 million in total raised.

Vasona Networks has raised $12 million in fresh funding to help it continue to fix bandwidth problems plaguing mobile networks and smartphone owners, according to a Form D filed today with the SEC.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based Vasona Networks was founded in 2010, but it only came out of stealth mode in January. The company’s focus is on developing devices and software that enables mobile network operators (like AT&T and Verizon Wireless) to fine-tune all the traffic happening on their networks, down to each cell.

The company’s recently introduced SmartAir1000 edge application controller allocates bandwidth on mobile networks based on where it needs to go. So, for example, if someone is watching Netflix over LTE 4G, the SmartAir1000 gives that person more bandwidth that isn’t being used by the text-messaging teen down the street.

“We understand the nature of the cell, and we understand the capacity of the cell,” Vasona CEO Biren Sood told GigaOM in January. “With that understanding, we can get the right bits to the right applications in the most efficient way.”

The new funding was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation by New Venture Partners and Vodafone Ventures.

Top photo via Vasona Networks

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Why call when you can text, e-mail, or instant message someone?

That’s the typical line of thinking of most smartphone owners, and eventually that’s going to add up. According to a report today from the mobile operator consortium GSMA, mobile data revenues will surpass voice revenues globally by 2018.

The prediction doesn’t come as a major surprise, since many carriers now offer unlimited voice plans together with tiered data offerings. Before smartphones were ubiquitous, it was the other way around (unlimited data was likely a major reason why AT&T’s network crumbled under the onslaught of new iPhone users for the first few years). Now smartphones seem less like phones and more like tiny cloud-connected computers.

GSMA also pointed out that Japan became the first country where data revenues exceeded voice revenues in 2012, and it predicts Argentina to surpass that milestone this year. The U.S. and U.K. are set to hit it in 2014.

GSMA offered several predictions over how the mobile economy will affect the world over the next five years. The GSMA expects mobile health to save a million lives in sub-Saharan Africa, mobile education will help 180 million students, and mobile automative innovations will help feed more than 40 million people every year. The group also expects smarter transport systems, assisted by widespread mobile technology, will reduce commute times by 35 percent.

“Mobile data is not just a commodity, but is becoming the lifeblood of our daily lives, society and economy, with more and more connected people and things,” said GSMA chief marketing officer Michael O’Hara in a statement today. “This is an immense responsibility and the mobile industry needs to continue collaborating with governments and key industry sectors to deliver products and services that help people around the world improve their businesses and societies.”

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
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More than 110 high-speed LTE networks have now been deployed around the world with the potential to connect almost 500 million people in 50 different countries. But how is the new cellular technology affecting what mobile phone users do?

Mobidia, the carrier software company, just released a study of LTE early adopters, particularly in market-leading countries such as Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.

As of late last year, Verizon had the highest number of LTE customers on the planet, at 14.9 million, trailed by Japan’s NTT DoCoMo with 6.2 million and Korea’s SK Telecom with 5.7 million. AT&T has only 5.1 million LTE subscribers.

Source: Mobidia

Average data use

In all three countries, LTE subscribers use significantly more data than 3G subscribers. And in Korea, where 3G subscribers use under a gigabyte per month, LTE subscribers gobble up more than double: almost 2.2 GBs of data each and every month.

That increase in data on cellular networks seems to go hand-in-hand with a proportional decrease in data accessed via Wi-Fi. South Korean LTE subscribers actually used less Wi-Fi than 3G subscribers, while in Japan the share of Wi-Fi to cellular traffic for LTE users fell from 60 percent to 51 percent, and in the U.S., share dropped more gradually from 62 percent to 59 percent.

Interestingly, when Mobidia combined data consumed via both Wi-Fi and LTE, a “saturation point” of total data consumption emerges: 4.5GB per month in Japan and South Korea, and 3.2GB per month in the U.S. Apparently, you can use only so much data on a handheld device.

The shift in data transfer technologies is an occasion for mobile carriers to shift from all-you-can-eat plans to volume-limited plans, the study revealed. For instance, at SK Telecom in Korea, unlimited data volume plans drop from 24 percent of 3G users to only 7 percent of LTE users. Verizon has a smaller drop, from 19 percent to 16 percent.

The reason? Carriers are bundling large but not unlimited data volumes in LTE plans, and consumers are choosing those plans over unlimited options. Which might be as beneficial for mobile users’ pocketbooks as it is for carrier’s network availability.

Still, carriers should be aware: LTE means more data. Especially video data:

Source: Mobidia

YouTube data used on 3G vs LTE smartphones.

July 9-10, 2013
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Super stealthy mobile services startup ItsOn says it’s going to change the way mobile subscribers use data. So investors are giving it some money.

The company is getting a $15.5 million funding round from Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel, and an investor group led by Jim Davidson.

While ItsOn doesn’t plan to announce the full extent of what it does until next year, the company does lay out the problem it solves fairly simply: Our wireless data networks are ancient and not prepared to sustain the rapidly increasing burden of smartphone data use.

The company plans to offer wireless customers real-time visibility and control over their voice, text, and data services. This is a big deal for any major carrier, because giving consumers more control could mean getting more of them to sign up for more extensive data plans.

The other big component of ItOn’s product is sponsorship, which will allow brands to pay for discrete kinds of data. Imagine a video service like YouTube sponsoring a big streaming event with free video data, or Amazon shelling out cash so that customers can browse its site at higher speeds. For ItsOn, these type of things aren’t out of the realm of possibility.

Founded in 2008, ItsOn is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. The company has raised around $24.4 million to date.

Photo: Mike Johnson/TheBusyBrain.com

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Sure, the iPhone 5 passed Samsung’s Galaxy S III in web traffic just three weeks after getting on the market. But does that say more about mobile operating systems and differences between Android and iPhone users than it says about device sales numbers?

Online ad network Chitika released a study this morning based on millions of mobile ad impressions across the Chitika network. Chitika added up all the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy SIII web traffic, and 56 percent of it is iPhone 5, while 44 percent is Galaxy S III.

The iPhone 5, of course, has been in the market for just a few weeks, while the S III was launched a few months ago. But here’s the question: Is this due simply to sales numbers or also to different user behavior?

I asked Chitika’s data engineer for his insights.

“The differences between iPhone and Android users boil down to a couple of things,” Chitika’s Gabriel Donnini told me. “First is demographics, which translates to behavioral tendencies, and the second is the functionality and accessibility of the device.”

While Chitika could not provide data about per-capita web usage between iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III, and it does not track individuals due to privacy concerns, the company definitely sees that iPhone users access web data much more frequently than Android users. After all, there are 20 million S IIIs to perhaps 10 million iPhone 5s in the market today.

But is it also a user interface/user experience difference?

Donnini said that while up until very recently the general consensus was that the iPhone user interface has been more accessible than Android, and that has led to usage pattern differences. But, he says, with the last few iterations, Android has caught up … and the Galaxy S III, of course, runs Ice Cream Sandwich (or Jelly Bean, for those who have updated).

But this still has one big difference, according to Donnini:

“With the iPhone you basically have to use the default browser, versus on Android you can between choose multiple browsers. The majority of people just want a seamless experience, and if you have that, you might be more willing to surf and share content.”

So iPhone users access the web more due to both demographics, and — possibly — the iOS 6 user experience. That makes sense, and it follows existing trends.

But we’ll know more about the specifics of that when Apple releases hard sales numbers.

photo credit: liewcf via photopin cc

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Openet, a mobile network transaction software company, announced a fourth round of funding, for $21 million, Wednesday. Openet manages network engagement, insights, and control of a mobile network. AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone use its software to keep tabs on their networks.

Based in Dublin, Ireland, Openet manages the cost of data usage on mobile networks and helps carriers decide what to charge for data services. If you’re hogging bandwidth by watching Netflix movies on your iPhone for several hours, Openet’s software can pick up on that behavior and show it to your mobile network. Your service provider can then decide how much to charge you and other users for data coverage.

The company’s ability to uncover how you are using your data spurred some controversy and raised privacy concerns. However, despite net neutrality arguments being thrown around, the company’s software hasn’t changed.

Japanese investor NS Solutions led the round of funding, with participation from existing investors Balderton Capital, Cross Atlantic, and Kreos Capital. The funding includes $16 million in equity and $5 million in debt financing.

Openet has raised a total of $55 million since its founding in 1999.

Group of people with cellphones image via Shutterstock

July 9-10, 2013
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Wireless carrier T-Mobile will soon offer new contract-free mobile broadband plans, which are designed for the growing number of Americans who prefer prepaid options to long-term contracts, the company said today.

T-Mobile is in a precarious position as the No. 4 wireless carrier behind Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. The other three networks offer true next-gen 4G data networks in some form, while T-Mobile only offers HSPA+ (think 3.5G). While HSPA+ data can be quite good at times, the company’s lack of LTE data has hurt its perception as a tech leader. But by offering affordable plans and cutting jobs, the company can likely survive until it offers up LTE data in 2013.

The new contract-free data plans, which become available May 20th, are listed below:

• 300MB 1-week pass for $15
• 1.5GB 1-month pass for $25
• 3.5GB 1-month pass for $35
• 5GB 1-month pass for $50

“Although most of our mobile broadband customers choose postpaid rate plans for the best device prices and data rates, we know that many of our customers want the flexibility to be able to experience mobile broadband without committing to an annual contract up front,” said Jeremy Korst, VP of marketing for T-Mobile USA, in a statement.

T-Mobile previously offered contract-free mobile broadband data plans, but they were less enticing in cost. Plans started at a crummy 100MB for $10, 1GB for $30, and $50 for 3GB. The new plans are much, much better for the contract-averse consumer who needs mobile broadband.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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AT&T announced today it is easing up on its “unlimited” data plan restrictions, bowing to public pressure.

Previously, AT&T would slow down your data service if you were among the top 5 percent heaviest data users in your area for each month. Now, to get a slow down, you’ve got to hit the data cap of 3 gigabytes during your billing cycle. But there’s good news for AT&T’s 4G LTE customers; you’ve got 5GB to play with before your data speed slows down. The company explains the new plan on its website. AT&T put this statement on their site:

In response to soaring mobile broadband usage and the limited availability of wireless spectrum, we implemented a network management program back in 2011 to help ensure the best possible mobile broadband experience for all of our customers.

AT&T users had complained that their download speeds were throttled, meaning slowed down, after hitting just 2 gigabytes — a low data-threshold for any mobile user. AT&T makes it clear that you won’t be charged for going over, your speed will just drop. The reduced speeds after your hit the data cap are reportedly too slow to stream Pandora or Netflix on your phone. You’ll get a handy text message that lets you know you’ve gone over your limit.

In contrast, Sprint offers “truly unlimited data” with no throttling. Verizon doesn’t offer unlimited plans any longer and instead charges $30 for 2GB, $50 for 5Gb or $80 for 10GB of mobile data. Customers who go over their caps are charged $10 per gigabyte. T-Mobile offers a few unlimited plans, with mobile Hotspot capabilities and without. Hotspot plans offer 10Gb, which can be shared with other Wi-Fi devices by tethering. The regular data plan caps out at 2GB. T-Mobile follows AT&T strategy by not charging overage fees, but will throttle your speed if you exceed your limits.

If you are really paranoid about going over your data limits, apps that monitor your data usage and compress your data, like Onavo, can help. For a frame of reference, I am a T-Mobile customer who has an older 5GB data plan. I use my phone daily to check e-mail, stream music, check Twitter, and browse the web, and I rarely use more than 3GB per month.

VentureBeat is holding its second annual Mobile Summit this April 2-3 in Sausalito, Calif. The invitation-only event will debate the five key business and technology challenges facing the mobile industry today, and participants — 180 mobile executives, investors, and policymakers — will develop concrete, actionable solutions that will shape the future of the mobile industry. You can find out more at our Mobile Summit site.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Onavo, a company known for its iPhone app that shrinks mobile data, announced today that it has raised an additional $10 million in a second round of funding from Horizons Ventures and Motorola Mobility Ventures.

Guy Rosen, Onavo’s co-founder and CEO, told VentureBeat the  funding is an “excellent validation” of the company’s work. The company has won several awards and accolades for its seamless data compression technology (including top prize at our MobileBeat 2011 conference) after launching on the iPhone in April 2011.

“The coming year is about pushing that forward, taking it to the next level,” Rosen said.

One big task the company still needs to tackle is making its mobile apps comparable in functionality. The Onavo Android app doesn’t offer data compression but does feature slick ways to track which apps are using data. It also has a crowdsourced engine that tracks app data hogs. Meanwhile, the iPhone app doesn’t yet have access to the crowdsourced engine, even though it can compress mobile data.

Rosen tells me the company wanted to focus on the initial problems each mobile platform faced. On Android, it’s easy for apps to run in the background and eat up data, so it made more sense for Onavo to release a tool to help keep that under control. On the iPhone, background data usage is less of a concern, so the company focused on compressing overall data usage.

Of the awards Onavo has earned so far, Rosen tells me his favorite was the “Grandmothers Award” from last year’s International Startup Festival in Montreal. Onavo was chosen as the most innovative app by a group of technology-agnostic older women, which is a clear indication that the company’s value is easily recognizable.

Onavo is based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and with today’s funding has now raised a total of $13 million. Horizon’s Jason Wong will be joining Onavo’s board as part of the round.

July 9-10, 2013
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Now Android users will have an even better sense of just how much precious bandwidth their apps are using.

Onavo, a company known for its iPhone app that compress mobile data, has upgraded its Android app today with a new widget that can give you real-time feedback on app data usage.

While there are lots of apps that can report on mobile data usage, Onavo’s is the first to let you see in real-time which apps are hogging bandwidth. This allows you to kill data hogging apps before they wreak havoc on your cellphone bill. The app also adds two other new widgets that can tell you how much of your data plan is left, as well as how much total data each app uses.

Onavo’s updated Android app is available for free on the Android Market. Unfortunately, the new app doesn’t yet offer the data compression capabilities of Onavo’s iOS app (which was so cool we awarded the company the top prize at our MobileBeat 2011 conference) — instead it focuses on keeping you aware of your phone’s data usage.

“When you go to the gas station you see exactly how much gas you have pumped and what it costs – now it’s the same for your smartphone,” Onavo CEO Guy Rosen said in a statement today.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Ericsson, a company providing technology to the world’s mobile operators, predicts mobile data subscriptions will hit five billion in 2016, 10 times larger than the current figure.

When you sign up for a smartphone, you are usually required to sign up for a data plan. The application you downloaded, the email you sent, the social app you updated, they all use the mobile web and whittle at the allotted amount of data allowed by your subscription. These plans can be expensive, and unlimited data plans are now being phased out by top US mobile providers Verizon, AT&T, and now Sprint, which recently killed off unlimited data for tablets.

Ericsson predicts data usage will continue to rise, with 900 million subscriptions increasing to 5 billion in only five years. The reasoning? People are watching videos on their mobile devices much more often. Tablets are prime for watching video on the go, and smartphone screens have only increased in quality, including some crazy new innovations from companies such as Samsung, which plans to release flexible screens in its 2012 mobile line-up.

Perhaps even more fascinating is the fact that 60 percent of our data usage in 2016 will come from users occupying only 1 percent of the Earth’s landmass, according to the report. Ericsson predicts that in 2016, 30 percent of the world’s population will exist in high-density metropolitan areas, with around 1,000 people per square kilometer.

Given the small land-share for so many people, it’s worrisome that Ericsson also reports that in 2011, 69 percent of people have used their devices for activities other than voice while commuting. Thankfully, however, the majority of that usage in the US comes from listening to music, about 30 percent of commuters, and GPS, about 28 percent. Gaming comes in at around 14 percent as the third most performed activity.

The increase in data subscriptions may mean more pressure on operators to provide better plans and download speeds, or even reinstate unlimited data plans.

See some of Ericsson’s charts below:

[Cell towers via Shutterstock]

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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If you’ve ever gone on a road trip through the US, you know how maddening keeping track of mobile coverage areas can be. Enter “Coverage?”, an app that compiles data coverage maps across all major US cellular carriers.

Available for the iPhone and iPad ($1.99 on the iTunes Store), Coverage gives you the ability to plan out your trips with mobile data in mind. And since it downloads the map data to your device, you don’t need an internet connection to use it.

The app is a dead simple alternative to fishing through coverage maps on carrier websites, and it’s something that would be increasingly useful to users as they begin to adopt multiple mobile devices. That’s why we’ve selected it for VentureBeat’s Mobile App Spotlight, which highlights some of the most interesting new apps.

Coverage gives you access to 3G, 2G and roaming maps from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. When using the app, you can toggle the coverage maps from each carrier individually, and each is designated with a specific color. With multiple maps, the colors are combined to resemble something like a weather report from your local TV news station. The Maps cover the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The app is universal, so you only need to purchase it once to use it on your iPad and iPhone.

Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard, who make up the app development team Two Steps Beyond, describe themselves as “technomads.” They came up with the idea for Coverage after setting up their RV  to work in a Colorado wildflower field last summer, where they expected to receive strong signals from both Sprint and AT&T. Unfortunately, they were quickly informed that they were roaming on both networks. They created the app so that they could better plan out where they can travel and have guaranteed mobile data access.

Dunphy tells us that they create Coverage’s maps manually through a time and labor-intensive process, using the carrier-provided maps as a reference. The next major version of the app will add 4G maps and user-interface improvements. In the future, they plan to implement social features to allow users to report their own mobile coverage findings — something which would make the app even more useful. Dunphy says they have been approached by a partner to port the app over to Windows Phone 7, and they’re currently seeking a partner to create an Android version.

Check out a video of Coverage in action below:

Developers: Want to get your app featured like Coverage? Then submit your app for consideration!

The Intel AppUp developer program is sponsoring VentureBeat’s Mobile App Spotlight. However, VentureBeat’s editorial staff selects apps for the program according to its customary editorial standards, without input from Intel.

July 9-10, 2013
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Notoriously well-connected Russian-American billionaire Len Blavatnik has decided to place a sizable bet on mobile data leader Acision, on Tuesday announcing he would lead the way in a $100 million funding infusion into the firm.

Blavatnik will partner his existing shareholdership in Access Industries with Irish investor Dermot Desmond’s International Investment and Underwriting, and private equity fund Atlantic Bridge, to underwrite the deal.

Privately held Acision currently offers a range of mobile services through its proprietary communications network, including mobile messaging, mobile internet browsing, voicemail, mobile broadband and close to a trillion text messages a year.

The company said that it will use the funding to shore up its position as a global leader in the current frenzy to capitalize on smartphone-ready mobile data. It is rumored to be going public sometime in the next two years–good timing considering its internal forecasts show that global mobile data traffic is set to increase 39 times between 2009 and 2014.

The $100 million shot in the arm will be needed. Acision recent coups in swooping up the business of companies including Pakistan’s Mobilink, MTS, Videocon Telecommunications, Telus, Tata Teleservices and VimpelCom will leave it needing as many resources as it can muster.

Photo via Ed Yourdon

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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Verizon Wireless announced yesterday that it’s refunding $90 million to around 15 million customers who were mistakenly charged for data access on their phones over the past few years.

The majority of affected customers will see credits in the $2 to $6 range on their next bill. Former customers who have moved on to another carrier will receive checks.

The charges stemmed from customers who mistakenly accessed data sessions on their phones, even though they didn’t have data plans. As Verizon explains: “These customers would normally have been billed at the standard rate of $1.99 per megabyte for any data they chose to access from their phones. The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones; others involved accessing the Web, which should not have incurred charges. We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future.”

Many, including the New York Times’ David Pogue, complained about Verizon’s practice of charging small fees to access data services — particularly because it seemed like its phones were designed to encourage launching data apps by mistake.

According to a Pogue reader who worked for Verizon, the company was well aware of the issue, but allowed it to continue. “The phone is designed in such a way that you can almost never avoid getting $1.99 charge on the bill. Every month, the 87 million customers will accidentally hit that key a few times a month!” he wrote. “That’s over $300 million per month in data revenue off a simple mistake! Our marketing, billing, and technical departments are all aware of this. But they have failed to do anything about it—and why? Because if you get 87 million customers to pay $1.99, why stop this revenue?”

Verizon at last seems to have grown a conscience — or maybe it realized that with its great Android superphone success, which demand heftier data plans, it no longer needs to nickel and dime its customers.