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Telecom Daily

Welcome to Faulkner's Telecom Daily. We publish Monday through Friday, updating top stories as events warrant.

Friday, August 17...

T-Mobile Resurrects Free Trial Offer with New Hotspot Promotion
T-Mobile has resurrected its Test Drive program in select markets. The company announced that it is now offering 30-day trials of its service in Atlanta, Boston, and Austin. The promotion begins this Thursday, August 16 and runs through the end of the year. Under the terms of the trial offer, potential customers can sign up to receive a Wi-Fi hotspot and a SIM card via two-day shipping. The hotspot can be used to connect a smartphone or other device to the T-Mobile network, with an allowance of 30GB of data to use during the period. If the user exceeds the 30GB limit, the trial will end early. It is also worth noting that the terms of the trial offer only 200MB of roaming data, and, as with most T-Mobile plans, video is throttled to 480p resolution. Interested customers can sign up at the T-Mobile Web site.

AT&T Completes Acquisition of AppNexus
AT&T announced that it has officially completed its acquisition of AppNexus, a digital advertising and publishing agency. The newly acquired company will now be integrated into AT&T's own advertising & analytics division, which will be led by AppNexus' former CEO, Brian Lesser. AT&T believes the assets acquired as part of the transaction will help it to enhance its business in the areas of machine learning, engineering and advanced analytics. The company also plans to leverage the new tools to expand its ad-supported offerings across its entire portfolio, including Turner Networks, Otter Media, and DIRECTV. No financial terms were disclosed.

Motorola Lists All Smartphones Receiving Android 9.0 Updates
Motorola confirmed which of its devices will receive the upcoming Android 9.0 (Pie) update. The full list includes the Moto z3, Moto z3 Play, Moto Z2 Force Edition, Moto z2 Play, Moto x4, Moto g6 Plus, Moto g6, and Moto g6 Play. If it is not listed here, chances are the Motorola device in question will not be receiving an official update to Android 9.0. While the company did not provide an exact timeframe for when any of these updates might be available, it does suggest that those waiting for said updates to be available for download follow its progress at this Web page.

... Michael Gariffo, Faulkner Information Services

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