March 2006

SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. announced it filed a patent infringement suit against chipmaker Broadcom Corp., the third in a running dispute over what Qualcomm alleges is misuse of its intellectual property. The latest suit focuses on what Qualcomm charges is Broadcom’s …

PLAINFIELD, Ind.—Brightpoint Inc. will supply Motorola Inc.’s handsets and accessories to some of its customers in the United States, Brightpoint announced. The agreement between the two companies is something of a coup for Brightpoint, as Motorola is the No. 1 …

RALEIGH, N.C.—Oasys Mobile Inc.’s makeover has been expensive. The company formerly known as Summus Inc. reported a net loss of $1.82 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, up more than threefold from its net loss during the final quarter …

OTTAWA—Canadian mobile data company ZIM said it will pay $1.1 million in cash and stock to acquire U.S.-based content provider Advanced Internet Services Inc. ZIM hopes to use the acquisition as an “immediate entry” point to the mobile content market. …

SEATTLE–Hearst Magazines is going both on- and off-deck to offer ringtones, images, daily horoscopes and editorial content from Cosmopolitan, Seventeen and CosmoGirl to wireless users. Hearst is teaming with Volantis to targeting 12- to 34-year-old females with its offerings, which …

TORONTO—Current and former directors, officers and employees of Nortel Networks Ltd. are forbidden by the Ontario Securities Commission to trade shares of the company’s stock, Nortel said in a statement. Nortel said the temporary cease trade order came as a …

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.—Operators struggling with decreasing profits from basic services may want to look to mobile music, according to two new studies. The worldwide market for full-track mobile music downloads increased 2,000 percent from 2004 to last year, according to …

BOULDER, Colo.—The Mobile Marketing Association has created a committee to address the operational and technical guidelines surrounding wireless video. The committee, which is open to all MMA members, seeks to establish best practices for marketing through wireless video and create …

NEW YORK—Mobile virtual network operator Cool Mobile has run into trouble, with Motorola Inc. ending its relationship with the MVNO less than two weeks after Cool announced plans to use the equipment manufacturer’s devices and services. Cool soft-launched in December …

BELLEVUE, Wash.—The Bluetooth Special Interest Group picked the WiMedia Alliance multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing version of ultra-wideband for integration with Bluetooth technology, thus taking the next step in its plan to create a high-speed data rate version of version …

BOGOTA, Colombia—A national survey of Colombian wireless users finds Nokia Corp. dominating the Latin American country’s mobile handset market, which despite its modest size—at 43 million in population, the world’s 30th largest country—provides a glance at a rapidly growing emerging …

WASHINGTON—The House Commerce Committee released a draft of its communications bill, a somewhat limited piece of legislation that focuses on franchising efforts, but does not address some key areas of telecom reform. The measure does not address universal service or …

BRUSSELS, Belgium—European Union telecom regulators today announced plans to force wireless operators to lower their international roaming rates within EU countries, with the goal that subscribers would be charged for calls made while traveling within the EU at the same …

MENLO PARK, Calif.—LimeLife Inc. snared $10 million in Series B financing, the women’s mobile content publisher said. U.S. Venture Partners led the round; other investors include Rustic Canyon Partners, i-Hatch Ventures and Monitor Ventures. LimeLife publishes casual games targeted at …

WASHINGTON-Online wireless retailer InPhonic Inc. unveiled a business unit targeting small business users. The company launched Wirefly.biz, an Internet storefront hawking products and rate plans designed for home office workers and small businesses. The site carries offerings from Cingular Wireless …

ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX, France-Wavecom announced plans to acquire Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P.’s machine-to-machine business, which specializes in automotive and industrial wireless solutions, in a deal valued at a maximum of $39.5 million. The deal is expected to close near the end …

AURORA, Ill.-The city of Aurora, Ill., a suburb about 40 miles west of Chicago, awarded two contracts this month as it prepares to launch a citywide Wi-Fi network that is scheduled to offer free public Internet access as well as …

More reality-check news on embattled U.S. tech competitiveness and the eager evolution of offshoring as something a bit more than a passing industry trend. The competitiveness issue-currently getting big play at the White House and on Capitol Hill-actually is just …

Regional telecommunications operator Ntelos Holdings Corp. reported strong growth in the fourth quarter and full-year 2005, generating wireless operating revenues of $73 million during the final three months of 2005 and $280 million for the year. Ntelos Inc., the company’s …

SAN JOSE, Calif.-Nvidia Corp. said it plans to acquire Hybrid Graphics Ltd., a Finnish company that provides embedded 2-D and 3-D graphics software for handheld devices. Under the definitive agreement, Hybrid is to become a subsidiary of Nvidia, maintaining support …

TORONTO-Nortel Networks Ltd. said its insurers have agreed to put $228.5 million toward Nortel’s settlements of a pair of class-action lawsuits that stemmed from an accounting scandal. In February, Nortel agreed to pay more than $2.4 billion in cash and …

LAS VEGAS-BellSouth Corp. unveiled a pre-WiMAX wireless broadband back-up system for businesses’ Internet connections. The carrier said the system allows customers to activate a Wi-Fi hot spot at a business location, with a WiMAX backhaul, in the event the wireline …

WASHINGTON-The Supreme Court and Congress are jumping into the powder-keg patent debate, one encompassing a morass of complex issues increasingly confronting wireless and high-tech sectors at a time when innovation in knowledge-based economies is driving significant growth in developed and …

Qualcomm Inc. and Chinese firm China TechFaith Wireless Communication Technology Ltd. announced they would form a new venture, TechFaith Software China Ltd. (TechSoft), to develop software applications for wireless devices. The deal is worth up to $35 million in cash …

BRISTOL, United Kingdom-Icera Inc., a wireless soft modem company based in the United Kingdom, announced it secured $40 million in a Series C round of venture funding. Amadeus Capital Partners led the round, with existing investors Accel Partners, Atlas Venture …