2006

And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us …

CANNES, France-Motorola Inc. will supply the infrastructure equipment and services for six municipal Wi-Fi networks in the United Kingdom as part of BT Group plc’s Wireless City initiatives. BT plans …

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.-Nielsen Entertainment’s mobile division has launched its RingScan service to monitor the U.S. ringtone market. The company said it will issue a weekly report of polyphonic, master and …

NEW YORK-A new report from consulting firm Katzenback Partners L.L.C. says leading wireless carriers must evolve from network operators to managers of complex and diversified businesses as new technologies and …

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-NextHop Technologies Inc., which makes software for wired and wireless local area networks, announced it scored $4.8 million in its third round of venture financing. The company said …

ATLANTA-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. joined smaller rival T-Mobile USA Inc. in offering Research In Motion Ltd.’s latest BlackBerry, the consumer-focused Pearl. Cingular is selling the gadget for $200 with a two-year …

NEW YORK-Big box retailer Best Buy has branched out with a new emphasis on wireless, opening new stores in the New York metro area that focus exclusively on offering a …

BOSTON-American Tower Corp. posted third-quarter profits of $3.5 million, a swift turnaround from the same period a year earlier when the company reported net losses of $22.1 million. Revenues rose …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission officially awarded more than half of the 1,087 advanced wireless services licenses won at the agency’s auction that began in early August and ended Sept. 18. …

HONG KONG-Sun Microsystems Inc. used the ITU Telecom World 2006 trade show in Hong Kong to launch a new industry association that says its aim is to simplify technology integration …

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. launched a downloadable e-mail client from Seven that allows users to access multiple accounts from various e-mail providers. The application is available as a free …

WASHINGTON-TracFone Wireless Inc., the nation’s largest pre-paid wireless company, said it is considering filing suit in federal court to repeal a new Library of Congress rule exempting mobile phone locking …

BELGRADE, Serbia-Nortel Networks Ltd. said it is working on a joint venture with advisory firm Southeast European Communications and Investments Inc. to help the Canadian vendor gain a foothold in …

LOS ANGELES-Carriers worried about becoming a “dumb pipe” should jump headlong into the digital music waters, according to entertainment executive Kedar Massenburg. Network operators have “the opportunity to become the …

BELLEVUE, Wash.-InfoSpace is offering customers with select handsets the chance to use its mobile local search for free for 60 days. The InfoSpace Find It Java application includes GPS-enabled local …

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.-Nielsen Mobile announced a deal with Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation’s No. 3 wireless carrier, to monitor the operator’s weekly ringtone and full-length over-the-air song download sales data. …

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-Nokia Corp. apparently will pursue an incremental strategy of portfolio expansion in the U.S. market, rather than gunning for a hit handset in the mid-priced sweet spot, according …

BEAVERTON, Ore.-Chinese handset manufacturer Datang Mobile announced it is joining the Open Source Development Labs consortium, which is focused on encouraging adoption of Linux and open source software. Datang is …

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-Refresh Mobile took top honors as “Developer of the Year” in the 2006 Forum Nokia Pro Awards. Other winners included Telcogames’ The Silhouette Game, an addictively simple puzzle …

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.-3Com Corp. said it will secure full ownership of its H3C joint venture with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. by buying Huawei’s 49-percent stake for $882 million. The agreement was …

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-Nokia Corp. and Yahoo Inc. extended their partnership to include Yahoo services on three new Nokia handsets running on the handset vendor’s Series 40 platform. The two companies …

ALBANY, N.Y.-Free Wi-Fi powered by Cisco Systems Inc. is on the loose in Albany, N.Y., as the state capital begins deploying a Wi-Fi network aimed at boosting the city’s public …

Qualcomm Inc.’s MediaFLO USA subsidiary said the industry’s No. 4 operator T-Mobile USA Inc. is trialing its mobile TV service, adding another national carrier to its list of partners even …

HAMPSHIRE, England-European mobile users will help the mobile adult content market grow from $1.6 billion this year to more than $3.3 billion by 2011, according to new figures from Juniper …

Centennial Communications Corp. plans to sell its Dominican Republic operations to Trilogy International Partners for about $80 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in first-quarter 2007. Centennial …