WASHINGTON—The California State Assembly passed legislation prohibiting driver use of handheld cell phones in the nation’s most populous state, likely paving the way for the bill’s passage by the legislature later today or tomorrow. The measure, authored by Sen. Joe Simitian (D) and pursued by the Palo Alto lawmaker repeatedly in recent years, passed the [...]

WASHINGTON—NextWave Telecom Inc. continues to elbow other companies for spectrum in the advanced wireless services spectrum, holding 144 high bids on spectrum through its AWS Wireless Inc. bidding subsidiary worth about $121 million at the end of round 61. Click here for the latest headlines from the AWS auction. Click here for full AWS auction [...]

BRISTOL, Conn.—Mobile ESPN L.L.C. reported plans to offer college football fans the chance to watch up to 25 live games each month during the season from their Mobile ESPN wireless phones. The mobile virtual network operator announced that it will offer live video from a line-up of games from ESPN and ESPN2, kicking off the [...]

DETROIT—A new driving-directions option from General Motors’ OnStar telematics service will be standard for one year on more than 2 million GM vehicles starting with the 2007 model year. After the first year, customers can renew the Turn-by-Turn Navigation service for $300 a year. The new price point falls between OnStar’s current options: an emergency [...]

WESTLAKE, Ohio—Mobile virtual network operator Beyond Wireless Inc. announced new distribution points for its JOLT Mobile and JOLT PCS products. The company said the products are available in Toys R Us stores and will soon be available in 100 Kerr Drug store locations. In addition, the company said online retailer TigerDirect.com recently began offering the [...]

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Fixed-mobile convergence technology developer Azaire Networks Inc. picked up $21 million during a third round of funding led by Investor Growth Capital, and new investors in the company. Existing investors Convergence Partners, Rustic Canyon Partners and Woodside Fund also participated in the round. In addition, the company said Mike Ricks, chief executive officer [...]

METHUEN, Mass.—SiGe Semiconductor raised $19.5 million in an expansion round of financing led by venture-capital and private-equity firms, the company announced. SiGe Semiconductor makes radio frequency modules that are integrated into GSM-, GPRS- and EDGE-enabled mobile handsets, Bluetooth-enabled devices, GPS and telematics systems, WiMAX equipment and 802.11a/b/g/n wireless local area network equipment. TD Capital, Prism [...]

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Yahoo Inc. launched an expanded Go for Mobile service, extending its software to devices running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile operating system. According to a company spokesperson, the Go for Mobile software had previously been available in the United States only on one model of Nokia Corp. phone at Cingular Wireless L.L.C. Yahoo Go for [...]

SAN DIEGO—Leap Wireless International Inc. said it completed a public offering of 6.4 million shares of common stock for $42 per share. The sale included 840,000 shares of common stock sold as part of an over-allotment option granted to the underwriters. Leap also said it entered forward sale agreements with affiliates of Goldman, Sachs & [...]

WASHINGTON—In a sign that the auction is drawing nearer to conclusion, the Federal Communications Commission increased the number of bidding rounds per day from 4 to 6. The auction has garnered nearly $13.6 billion in bids following round 58, though the number of bids per round has fallen by half to around 150 bids per [...]