News Corp has abandoned its £7.8 billion (€8.86 billion) bid for full ownership of satellite broadcaster BskyB, after the coalition government pledged to block the deal in the wake of the phone hacking scandal at shuttered tabloid News of The World.
Nokia and Siemens appear to have given up on a search for private equity interest in joint venture NSN, announcing that “the current shareholders are in the best position to further enhance the value of the company.” Nokia has reportedly been reluctant to commit more funds to the JV.
The Indian government has asked web companies including Google and Skype to let security agencies monitor their encrypted communication services for terror plots or evidence of other crimes.
Nearly half of executives in the financial, tech, telecommunications and retail industries expect mobile payment to hit the mainstream by 2013, compared to just 9% who view them as mainstream already.
UAE operator Etisalat is clashing with its partner in India, DB Group. India's DB has accused Etisalat of operational inefficiencies at JV Etisalat DB, while Etisalat struck back with claims DB is merely trying to take the focus off the corruption claims leveled against two of its promoters.
China Telecom will launch the iPhone by the end of the year, joining China Unicom in offering the device in the market, sources claim. China Telecom's president, Shang Bing, has meanwhile quit to become deputy minister of the MIIT.
US operator Sprint has announced it would begin throttling on its prepaid Virgin Mobile brand from October, even as it runs ads highlighting the fact that it is the last major US operator to still offer unlimited wireless data plans through its postpaid operations.
Australia's NBN Co has won 2.3GHz spectrum licenses in 24 areas in a frequency auction, giving the company the coverage needed to complete the wireless portion of the National Broadband Network.