James F. Booth

For more than 25 years, James Booth has provided consulting and legal services to telecommunications carriers and to enterprise companies that manage their own telecommunications networks. Since June of 2009 he has also served as General Counsel of Spread Networks, LLC, which is the industry leader in the construction and operation of low latency high speed networks. Before joining Spread he was General Counsel for OnFiber Communications, a competitive telecommunications provider, and was the sole attorney for Qwest Communications International in support of its construction of an 18,800 mile fiber optic network spanning the United States. Earlier he was lead counsel for U S WEST in its wireless and cable television ventures in the United States, Europe and Hong Kong.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

AT&T to Offer Option to Forgo Wireless Contract

AT&T Inc. T -0.73% will begin offering wireless customers the option to forgo contracts and get more frequent upgrades if they pay full price for their smartphones, allowing the carrier to cut back on the profit-sapping cost of subsidizing devices like the iPhone. The country's second-largest wireless company is beginning a program later this month for subscribers to buy their phones using a monthly financing plan that will add payments to their monthly bills. After a year, they will be allowed to upgrade the device. Under the new option, called AT&T Next, there are no service contracts other than the financing commitment. It is available for tablets as well. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324348504578608663708960382.html