NTT DoCoMo spends $45.5 million to take 35 percent share in US mobile tech firm PacketVideo

September 14th, 2009 NEC, Casio, Hitachi to merge handset businessesTOKYO — Japanese electronics makers NEC Corp., Casio Computer Co. and Hitachi said Monday they will combine their mobile phone handset-manufacturing operations by April next year in a bid to boost their competitiveness at home and abroad.

September 7th, 2009 China Unicom, Spain's Telefonica expand allianceBEIJING — Spanish phone company Telefonica SA and China Unicom Ltd., one of China's three main state-owned carriers, say they will expand a strategic alliance and buy $1 billion worth of each other's shares. The companies said they will cooperate in development of technology for mobile phones, providing services to multinational customers and other areas under the agreement signed Sunday.

August 28th, 2009 Chipmaker Marvell's 2Q profit falls as sales dropSANTA CLARA, Calif. — Marvell Technology Group Ltd., which makes chips used in phone networks, said Thursday its second-quarter net income fell 18 percent to $58.5 million as revenue slumped.

August 20th, 2009 China Mobile first-half profit up 1.4 percentBEIJING — China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest phone company by subscribers, said Thursday its first-half profit rose just 1.4 percent from a year earlier as growth slowed due to competition and an economic slump. Profit for the six months ending June 30 was 55.3 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), the Beijing-based carrier said.

August 10th, 2009 Speech recognition firm Nuance rises on upgradePHILADELPHIA —Shares of Nuance Communications Inc. rose Monday after an analyst upgraded the stock due to improving growth prospects for its speech recognition technology in the mobile phone and other markets.

August 6th, 2009 T-Mobile adds 325,000 net subs, mostly prepaidNEW YORK — T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the country, says it added a net 325,000 subscribers in the second quarter, with most of them choosing to prepay rather than sign two-year contracts. The news cements this year's trend in wireless: The two biggest, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., are attracting the valuable contract-signing customers, while Sprint Nextel Corp.

August 6th, 2009 Telecom Italia 1H down 17 percentMILAN — Telecom Italia SpA says first-half net profit dropped 17 percent from a year earlier because of a shrinking customer base, lower handset sales and regulations limiting termination fees on mobile phones. Italy's largest telecommunication operator said Thursday that net profit in the period that ended June 30 was euro964 million ($1.38 billion), compared with a restated euro1.1 billion a year earlier.

July 30th, 2009 NTT DoCoMo profit slips 15.1 percent in 1QTOKYO — NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest mobile phone carrier, said Thursday net profit slipped 15.1 percent last quarter as increased competition led to lower income from voice charges. DoCoMo's net profit was 147.4 billion yen ($1.55 billion) for the April-June quarter, down from 173.5 billion yen in the same period last year.

July 30th, 2009 NTT DoCoMo profit slips, Softbank soars in 1QTOKYO — NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest mobile phone carrier, said Thursday net profit slipped 15.1 percent last quarter as increased competition led to lower income from voice charges. Separately Softbank Corp., the No.

July 28th, 2009 Sprint focuses on prepaid with Virgin Mobile dealNEW YORK — Sprint Nextel Corp. is intensifying its focus on the fast-growing market for prepaid cell phone service with a $483 million deal to buy Virgin Mobile USA Inc.

July 7th, 2009 Gartner says tech spending to drop 6 percentNEW YORK — Research firm Gartner says worldwide spending on technology products and services is on track to decline 6 percent this year. Gartner Inc.

June 30th, 2009 Report: Worst may be over for US tech marketNEW YORK — As bad as the technology market fared in the first quarter of this year, the worst may be over, at least in the United States, Forrester Research said in a report Tuesday. The research firm nonetheless revised its forecast for 2009.

April 29th, 2009 India's Bharti Airtel says quarterly profit roseMUMBAI, India — Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's largest mobile telephone company, said Wednesday that record subscriber growth fueled a 21 percent rise in quarterly profit, despite increasing competition in India's booming mobile phone market. Net profit for the January-March quarter rose to 22.39 billion rupees ($459 million), while sales grew 26 percent to 98.25 billion rupees ($2.01 billion).

April 28th, 2009 NTT DoCoMo's annual profit falls 3.9 percentTOKYO — NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's top mobile phone carrier, said Tuesday its annual net profit slipped 3.9 percent to 471.9 billion yen ($4.9 billion) as the recession hit sales of handsets. The company sold 20 million handsets during the fiscal year ended March 31, down 21.8 percent year-on-year as more consumers opted to keep their old handsets during tough economic times.

April 20th, 2009 China Mobile quarterly profit up 5.2 percentBEIJING — China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest phone company by subscribers, said Monday its first quarter profit rose 5.2 percent but growth slowed due to China's economic slowdown and stronger competition. Profit for the three months ended March 31 was 25.2 billion yuan ($3.7 billion), compared with 24 billion yuan for the same period last year, the Beijing-based company said.