GigaOM

For those of you jonesing for AT&T Wi-Fi and a highly caffeinated cup of Starbucks java, your wait is finally over — unless you live outside of San Antonio. A little more than a month after AT&T announced it was replacing T-Mobile as the branded Wi-Fi provider in local Starbucks, the denizens of AT&T’s hometown can enjoy free Wi-Fi with either an AT&T account or a Starbucks card.

The rest of you will have to keep using your T-Mobile access (and can continue to do so for the next five years) or just wait. AT&T will be unveiling the service in other markets throughout the year beginning May 1. This way AT&T can milk a steady stream of city-wide launches and positive PR.

NextWave Wireless has hired Deutsche Bank and UBS Investment Bank to help it sell spectrum in three different frequency bands, ranging from 154 AWS licenses in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band to 39 licenses and spectrum leases in the 2.5 GHz band that others are using for WiMAX. After spending about $500 million since 2005 acquiring the spectrum — which now covers about 84 percent of the U.S. population (but not Miami) — NextWave has decided it wants to focus on its gear.

The company had spent the last few years assembling intellectual property and expertise for designing products, everything from chips to video services for 4G networks, especially in frequencies where NextWave had licenses. Services such as broadcast mobile TV over WiMAX are exactly the sort of thing that could add some curb appeal to the spectrum for sale.

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Jeff Pulver said today that he has resigned from the board of Pulvermedia, the company he founded. Pulver is a pioneer in the VoIP world and Pulvermedia — the company behind the VON conferences and magazine — has been a rallying point in the VoIP community.

As Om reported last month, rumors have been swirling recently that Pulvermedia was being shut down. TICC Capitol Group, which invested $11 million in Pulvermedia last summer, had expressed concern over its financial state and seized control the company’s bank accounts. It was believed that Pulvermedia and senior management was trying to make moves to stabilize the company, and Pulver leaving at this stage in the game is not a good sign.

Who knows what the state of Internet telephony would be without Pulver’s accomplishments. There are no details yet as to where he’ll land next, but I’m sure he’ll have something exciting coming down the pike soon.

(full disclosure: Our columnist Daniel Berninger is a long-time business associate of Jeff Pulver’s.)

Hot on the heels of a report that Comcast will no longer offer Sprint’s wireless service through Pivot, GigaOM has learned that the cable company is creating its own wireless division and has hired the former CTO of Telefonica O2 Europe, Dave Williams, as the unit’s CTO SVP of wireless and technology strategy to “explore wireless options” for Comcast, according to the company. Williams apparently took on the role earlier this month, although no announcement has been made to that effect and Comcast has not responded to a request for comment.

Williams has worked in wireless for several years. Prior to his role at Telefonica he was the VP for strategic planning at Cingular Wireless, a position he rose to in the wake of the SBC Wireless-BellSouth Cellular merger. Before the merger he was in charge of technological operations for the Western region of SBC Wireless and helped integrate the company into the Pacific Bell Mobile network, which he had also helped create.

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Last Friday, four executives of satellite holding company TerreStar Networks suddenly resigned, leaving just three people behind to fill the void. I don’t expect this lack of management to last for too long, but until TerreStar calls me back with details, I’m betting that the change in management signals a change in TerreStar’s strategy in that it’s no longer looking for a larger partner to help it build and finance a combined 4G satellite and terrestrial network, but is preparing to move ahead alone.

TerreStar is the new name of a former pager company called Motient. In 2004 Motient scored the regulatory jackpot when, despite protests from the cellular carriers, the Federal Communications Commission approved plans for an ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) network. Since then, it has found itself tangled up in a web of financial transactions designed to maximize the value of its two bands of satellite spectrum.

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