NewsFactor - In a move that will bring fierce competition to AT&T, Verizon Wireless on Thursday agreed to buy Alltel for $28.1 billion in cash and debt. The acquisition will make Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone, the largest mobile-phone company in the U.S. -- read full article
Reuters - Verizon Wireless said on Thursday it
would buy rural mobile phone service provider Alltel Corp for
$28.1 billion, including debt, which would vault it to first
place in the U.S. market ahead of AT&T Inc.
AFP - Verizon Wireless, the second biggest US mobile operator, is in advanced talks to buy American peer Alltel in a deal that would enable it to leapfrog market leader AT&T, Verizon part-owner Vodafone said Thursday.
Reuters - Stocks pulled back from session highs
on Thursday after Standard & Poor's cut the credit ratings of
bond insurers MBIA Inc and Ambac Financial ,
keeping worries alive about credit losses.
TechWeb - InformationWeek - HTC's Touch Pro features a five-row sliding QWERTY keyboard, a touch screen, 3G support, and integrated Wi-Fi and GPS. -- read full article
NewsFactor - Japan's third-biggest mobile carrier has announced it will begin distributing Apple's new 3G iPhone later this year. What makes Apple's latest iPhone deal with Softbank so significant is that the Japanese have a long history of preferring locally made products over imports. -- read full article
Reuters - Researchers who spied on 100,000
people using their cell phone signals confirmed on Wednesday
that most human beings are indeed creatures of habit.
TechWeb - InformationWeek - This latest deal is important for Apple in reaching its goal of selling 10 million iPhones, or about a 1% share of the global cellular phone market this year. -- read full article
InfoWorld - AT&T said Wednesday it has upgraded its 3G wireless network to reach downlink speeds of up to 1.7Mbps, a 20 percent increase over previous top speeds. -- read full article
PC World - AT&T tries to steal some of Verizon and Sprint's thunder with somewhat faster downstream and much faster upstream rates on its newly updated 3G cell data network. -- read full article
Reuters - Softbank Corp (9984.T), Japan's
third-biggest mobile phone operator, has agreed with Apple Inc
to sell iPhones in Japan by the end of this year,
Softbank said in a statement on Wednesday. -- read full article
Investor's Business Daily - China forged ahead with the restructuring of its telecom market Monday, as China Unicom, the country's No. 2 mobile phone company, agreed to buy China Netcom Group for $23.8 billion in stock and to sell off part of its wireless business to China Telecom for $15.9 billion. -- read full article
AP - China pressed ahead with a restructuring of its telecommunications market Monday as mobile phone company China Unicom Ltd. announced plans to take over a fixed-line provider and sell off a mobile business.
