Nextel Communications Inc. and Verizon Wireless unexpectedly resolved a heated dispute Tuesday over a federal proposal to clear up interference between cellphones and emergency response radios by moving Nextel’s signals to a more valuable band of the spectrum. In exchange for Verizon dropping its opposition to the spectrum proposal, Nextel is withdrawing its claim of trademark rights for the phrase “Push to Talk” and the word “push” to describe the popular walkie-talkie service that Nextel introduced to cellphones and which Verizon and other rivals now offer.
Gateway buys back shares held by AOL
Computer maker Gateway Inc. Tuesday said it has agreed to repurchase stock held by America Online Inc. for $316 million. AOL, which is a unit of media and entertainment company Time Warner Inc., invested $800 million in Gateway in 1999.
Christmas travel bookings heat up
Travel agents and industry executives say bookings for the Christmas holiday period are at their highest level in at least four years. An unusually large number of prime warm-weather destinations in Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean and Florida already are sold out for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. The fact that both Christmas and New Year’s land on a Saturday makes for a shorter, more compressed travel window. In 2003, when the holidays both fell on Thursday, it created an unofficial holiday period stretching over two full weeks, which spread out the demand.
AOL to lay off 700 as users decline
America Online, which has been trying to turn its fortunes around as users leave the service for broadband connections, plans to cut about 700 jobs next month, or 5 percent of its U.S. work force, in a bid to meet financial targets, a source familiar with the matter said Tuesday. Jim Whitney, an AOL spokesman, declined to comment.
State buys out rail right of way
The state Department of Transportation has bought nearly 300 miles of Eastern Washington rail right of way in a move to ensure continued local rail service to more than 70 businesses in six counties, the state said Monday. The Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad handles nearly 20 percent of Washington grain shipments. It serves businesses in Whitman, Lincoln, Grant, Spokane, Columbia and Walla Walla counties. The state paid $8 million for the right of way and plans to make as much as $22 million in track improvements over the next eight years.
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