2006

SAN MATEO, Calif.-Mobile game publisher Digital Chocolate Inc. welcomed six new investors as it scooped up $22.5 million in Series C funding. New investor Bridgescale Partners led the round; other …

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.-Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA Inc. tied for the top spot in the most recent J.D. Power & Associates survey of wireless carrier customer care performance. Both carriers …

Welcome to Hedgehogging. As you know from your own jobs, there is always something happening in the wireless industry. Some of it makes us stop what we’re doing to clap, …

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Forget the car charger. Sprint Nextel Corp. is the first to market with a portable charger from Energizer, the Energi To Go, which can charge a cell phone …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Alltel Corp. announced plans to purchase up to $1 billion of its outstanding notes, as part of the carrier’s strategy to reduce debt. The cash tender offers is …

NAPERVILLE, Ill.—Tellabs Inc. announced that its board authorized a new share buyback program for up to $300 million of the company’s outstanding common stock. The repurchase plan follows Tellabs’ completion …

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.—Verizon Wireless hopes that, as it claims, “everybody loves chocolate,” especially the $150 variety from LG Electronics Co. Ltd. that provides multimedia functions. Verizon Wireless launched the Chocolate …

CHENNAI, India—India has become so attractive to foreign mobile-phone vendors that by next year it may no longer need to import handsets. The two top handset vendors together will produce …

ATLANTA—SmartVideo Technologies Inc. is powering a new, ad-supported mobile news service from MSNBC.com. The wireless TV provider said the free service will support ad insertion, dynamic ad serving and pre- …

CHICAGO—U.S. Cellular Corp. and its parent company, Telephone and Data Systems Corp., reported their much-delayed fourth-quarter figures for 2005 and updates to their 2006 guidance. U.S. Cellular saw its customer …

WARREN, N.J.—Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. is expanding it customers’ ability to earn free airtime by launching a prepaid Visa debit card that will be linked to Virgin Mobile USA phones. …

HAMPSHIRE, England—Mobile WiMAX is set to outpace fixed WiMAX technology, according to a new report from Juniper Research, which claims that mobile WiMAX will grow from 1.7 million subscribers in …

A growing number of colleges and universities around the country are grappling with how to communicate with and provide services for students who are part of a mobile generation, often …

ROSEMONT, Ill.-The answer to industry’s and investors’ lingering question-what the heck is Motorola Inc. going to do to follow up its monster handset hit, the Razr?-came last week in this …

Inspired by the U.K.’s renowned V Festival, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Who will headline a U.S. concert for Virgin Mobile USA. VirginFest, an all-day music festival, is …

From carriers to content providers to messaging companies, everybody in wireless wants to drive data revenues. And a couple of companies are focusing on users’ fingers. Digit Wireless Inc. hopes …

As news of Motorola Inc.’s joint venture with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. sinks in, analysts offered insights as to what the partnership means to the two companies as well as …

ROSEMONT, Ill.-Though much pent-up interest was focused on Motorola’s handset announcements, company execs talk about operations, supply chain, finances, product roadmap and whether Motorola could sustain its recent robust performance-in …

WASHINGTON-EF Johnson Inc. protested Motorola Inc.’s proposal to allow 800 MHz licensees to replace their radios before they complete rebanding negotiations with Sprint Nextel Corp. and the 800 MHz Transition …

LOS ANGELES-Toyota Motors North America plans to expand its mobile marketing efforts with a new wireless TV series from Fun Little Movies. The automaker is sponsoring “The Pool,” a made-for-mobile …

WiMAX base-station and subscriber unit developer Aperto Networks Inc. inked a deal to ship its WiMAX Forum-certified products to Alvacom, a leading systems integrator and equipment reseller in Russia. The …

BOULDER, Colo.-Equipment manufacturer Carrier Access Corp. reported second-quarter net losses of $903,000 from revenues of $24.9 million, vastly improving on the company’s year-ago net loss of $1.44 million based on …

MURRAY HILL, N.J.-Manx Telecom, a subsidiary of O2 Group plc, has partnered with Lucent Technologies Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. on a UMTS and HSDPA field trial using 900 MHz spectrum …

Many are asking what Nokia Corp.’s and Motorola Inc.’s ascendancy is doing to all the other handset vendors-the two together hold 56 percent of the world’s handset business-and one answer …

ESPOO, Finland-Nokia Corp. said it had begun real-world testing of Unlicensed Mobile Access software on its 6136 device in the Finnish city of Oulu, prior to moving the technology to …