Webwire: Apple media deals probed; Cameron backs Vodafone in India

Apple faces a fresh competition probe this time by US antitrust officials probing the deals offered to media companies selling content on the iPad.
 
UK prime minister David Cameron has urged his counterpart in India to intervene in Vodafone’s continuing tax battle with the country.
 
Technology business leaders including Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Eric Schmidt talked future R&D with US president Barack Obama late last week. The president was exploring ways to kick-start the country’s economy.
 
Libya cut off internet access throughout the nation over the weekend in response to pro-democracy protests.
 
One in three US households still lack a broadband connection, with the nation having the highest number of broadband blackspots, according to the FCC's new Interactive National Broadband Map.
 
Huawei has reportedly offered to gift a mobile network worth £50 million (59.3 million) to the London Underground train system, which is in talks with suppliers to conduct the project for the 2012 Olympics.
 
Telecom NZ has asked New Zealand's Serious Fraud Office to investigate the alleged fraudulent use of its wireline customer information database by competing ISP Slingshot. The breach reportedly could have cost the operator 100,000 customers, or NZ$60 million (€33.5 million).
 
Indian regulator Trai will calculate the value of all spectrum awarded between 2001 and 2008 to provide an estimated loss covering India's 2G spectrum scandal.
 
China's largest social networking site Renren is preparing a US IPO this year, with a goal of raising about $500 million (€365 million), according to people familiar with the plan.
 
Zimbabwe regulator Portaz will no longer extend the deadline for compulsory SIM card registration, and has revealed it has already ordered operators to start penalizing users who haven’t supplied their personal details.
 
Australia's Telstra has revealed plans to open 100 new retail stores over three years, and to establish a new customer service unit as part of its drive to improve user satisfaction.