Webwire: Skype moves on GroupMe; Symbian Belle devices imminent

Skype is acquiring group messaging app developer GroupMe, and will integrate functionality from the company into its core Skype desktop app.
 
Nokia is tipped to unveil a new line of Symbian handsets – running a variant of the OS named Belle – tomorrow.
 
Cisco is acquiring UK-based service fulfillment software company Axiom Systems from parent Comptel for $31 million (€21.4 million).
 
Researchers have developed a material that acts as an omni directional mobile antenna when woven into clothing and coupled with a belt-mounted controller.
 
New Zealand cable start-up Pacific Fibre has met its target for pre-finance customers after signing Vodafone NZ to a ten-year capacity deal, and expects to have financing in place for the cable between NZ, Australia and the US by the end of the year.
 
Web firm Sina has pumped between $30 million (€20.7 million) and $40 million into online video site Tudou, in a deal which may lead to deeper co-operation between the two Chinese companies.
 
Traffic analysis indicates that internet services are slowly being restored in Libya after a six month outage.
 
Kenyan regulators has given the nation's mobile operators until the end of next month to block fake mobile phones from accessing their networks, despite objections that many consumers may not realize their phone is a fake.