Nextel plans to ask for a waiver from a December deadline that 95 percent of its customers' wireless phones be capable of identifying the location of a caller to emergency personnel.
Nextel (NXTL) said it will ask the Federal Communications Commission for the waiver, saying it could take up to an extra two years to reach that goal.
As a stand-alone carrier, the company said 70 percent of customers' phones would be able to pinpoint the location of a caller to 911 emergency services by the deadline. As a merged company with Sprint, it would reach 80 percent.
The FCC has already expressed concerns about another wireless carrier, Western Wireless, that also has said it would likely miss the deadline by as much as two years.
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CDs struggle: Universal Music grabbed more of the U.S. market to widen its lead as the world's biggest record company, despite facing a rival of similar size for the first time.
Annual statistics reveal that music consumers have aged as the industry chases older listeners, after losing younger fans to file sharing and illegal downloading.
More records are being sold in mass-market retailers such as Wal-Mart and Tesco, which cater to older customers, while teenagers are more prone to download songs, which are not counted in the industry statistics.
Universal's share grew to 25.5 percent of the $33.6 billion market. Its biggest rival is Sony BMG, a joint venture combining the recorded music divisions of Sony (SNE) and German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, which had 21.5 percent of the market.
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Judicious video: Court TV viewers will now have more access to their favorite legal programming through a new partnership with mobile video provider SmartVideo.
The cable network's deal with SmartVideo (SMVD) -- which provides live, full-motion TV to cellular phones -- will deliver four kinds of content to four different channels in a subscriber-based service. Viewers will have access to Court TV News and the network's Seriously Entertaining primetime programming through video on demand.
Subscribers will also have access to online content, including web clips and trial coverage, and the live network feed directly from the satellite.
The service can be viewed on any smartphone or other device using Microsoft Windows Mobile OS, independent of carrier.
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Qwest recuperating: Three months after its failed multibillion-dollar bid for MCI, Qwest Communications said it narrowed its second-quarter loss by 79 percent, citing higher revenue driven in part by bundling products.
Qwest reported a $164 million loss, or 9 cents a share, including one-time charges equal to 2 cents a share. That is compared with a $776 million net loss, or 43 cents per share, in the 2004 second quarter, which included one-time charges of 25 cents.
Earlier this year, Qwest (Q) and Verizon (VZ) engaged in a highly public battle for MCI, hoping to land its nationwide fiber-optic network with a lucrative roster of government and corporate clients.
MCI's board rebuffed Qwest's offer four times, saying it was concerned about Qwest's financial health and the long-term value of the shares. The board also questioned whether Qwest could meet its forecast of nearly $3 billion a year in cost savings from the merger.
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Compiled by David Cohn. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
