2006

WASHINGTON—A federal court has ordered a Florida firm to immediately halt “unlocking” TracFone Wireless Inc. pre-paid cell phones. Unlocked phones can be used on cellular networks other than those affiliated …

LOD, Israel—Radio-frequency component maker Celldor Ltd. acquired Telrad Connegy, said the companies. The deal is strictly a financial investment for Celldor, said the companies, and there are no plans to …

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Motorola Inc. says it’s combining its Networks and Government & Enterprise Mobility Solutions business units into one entity for the sake of cost savings and efficiency. The company named …

SARASOTA, Fla.—Global Signal Inc. blamed its fourth-quarter net loss of $18.8 million on costs it incurred while integrating and financing the tower sites it acquired from Sprint in May. In …

ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Qpass extended an agreement for Qpass to provide its mobile-commerce platform to the carrier, according to the companies. Qpass is a mobile-commerce solutions company that sells …

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Pyramid Research issued a cautious view of the young mobile virtual network operator market in its latest report, “MVNOs and MVNEs: Analyzing the Viability of Virtual Mobile Players.” The …

The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.   Carriers Prudential Equity Group lowered its subscriber net adds …

The following list details this week’s infrastructure awards for the cellular, Wi-Fi and WiMAX industries. The contracts are broken down by transmission technology, country and vendor. The value of the …

BONN, Germany—Vodafone Group plc shares surged more than 9 percent on the London Stock Exchange Friday after the company confirmed reports that it is in talks to sell its Japanese …

LOS ANGELES—Amp’d Mobile Inc. is offering three months of unlimited calling minutes to subscribers who sign up for its $15 per month Amp’d Live 20-channel video plan. The mobile virtual …

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. and patent-holding company NTP Inc. announced they ended their long-running legal quarrel under an agreement that calls for RIM to make a one-time payment …

WASHINGTON—Iraq today officially launched the first mobile phone license tender under the new government, a competition intended to result in four national wireless carriers. “After decades of oppression under the …

WASHINGTON—California state Sen. Martha Escutia (D) today said she plans to redouble efforts to pass a law creating a consumer telecom bill of rights similar to the one utility regulators …

SAN FRANCISCO—VeriSign Inc.’s mobile content business is “looking like a disaster,” according to a report released this week by American Technology Research analyst Albert Lin. Lin downgraded VeriSign to a …

BONN, Germany—T-Mobile USA Inc. posted the best overall performance last year among parent company T-Mobile International’s subsidiaries, helping to drive solid gains in parent company Deutsche Telekom AG’s full-year profit …

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has yet to convince his colleagues to reorganize the FCC with a new homeland security and public-safety bureau, thus was unable to ask Congress …

ESPOO, Finland—Frank Nuovo, the designer who helped Nokia Corp. attain the world’s largest market share of the mobile handset business, will turn over his primary duties to a new design …

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands—In the parallel 3G universe occupied by China, the world’s largest mobile-phone market, the cart apparently comes before the horse. The first video phone destined for the country’s TD-SCDMA …

MUMBAI, India—Mauj Telecom, a mobile entertainment company based in India, said it raised $10 million in venture funding. The financing round included investments from WestBridge Capital Partners, Intel Capital and …

WASHINGTON—The California Public Utilities Commission today voted to replace the existing bill of rights for telecom consumers with one far less regulatory and highly dependent on state enforcement. “This decision …

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Yahoo Inc. scored an early victory in its latest legal battle, securing a temporary restraining order barring Mforma Group Inc.’s new employees from accessing or using Yahoo’s proprietary …

OKLAHOMA CITY—Dobson Communications Corp. said it signed an agreement with WorldCell Inc. to expands international service options for Dobson wireless customers. The agreement gives Dobson’s subscribers discounts on international phone …

TOKYO—Japanese mobile browser company Access Co. Ltd. announced it plans to acquire IP Infusion Inc. in a deal valued at around $50 million. IP Infusion is based in San Jose, …

ESPOO, Finland—Nokia Corp. and Telenor R&D announced that after teaming up to develop converged services, they are now able to deliver Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem-based services over Nokia’s broadband platform, …

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—Google Inc. continued the expansion of its mobile applications portfolio with a wireless version of its Google News service. Google News for mobiles, which can be accessed via …