Telecom news roundup

AT&T is offering a secure wireless fleet management system with tracking capabilities for government organizations.With WebTech Wireless, the company targets agencies responsible for public works, waste management, public transit and public safety.The single-source solution “aims to provide government organizations with the tools they need to track mobile assets and improve security, increase efficiency and reduce fuel and insurance costs,” said Xavier Williams, senior vice president of Government Education and Medical Markets for AT&T Business Solutions.Cable giant Comcast Corp. claims it has leapfrogged Qwest Communications International Inc. as the nation’s No. 3 home service provider, while Google Inc. makes a new assault on the telecom business and debuts a free voice service.Google Voice is an extension of startup GrandCentral, which Google acquired 20 months ago, .The new service is meant to simplify dealing with phone calls, voice mail and text messages. Currently, only GrandCentral subscribers may use the new service, but in coming weeks, it will open to the public, Google said.Comcast, which began offering phone service four years ago, now has 6.47 million phone subscribers as contrasted with Qwest’s 5.96 million primary consumer access lines, .  Frank Ianna, former AT&T Network Services president, was named to the board of directors of Sprint Nextel.“I have been impressed with the progress [Sprint CEO Dan Hesse] and the board have made in improving Sprint’s financial stability, customer care and marketing in the last year,” Ianna said in a release. “I look forward to helping the board take the company’s performance to the next level.”Ianna is CEO and director of Attila Technologies LLC, a Technogenesis company incubated at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J.