Mobile operator

US lawmakers said that mobile privacy rules should be applicable to third-party app developers along with wireless carriers.

Thursday, representatives Edward Markey and Joe Barton, co-chairs of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, released letters they received from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc, Sprint Nextel Corp and T-Mobile in response to their inquiries last month about the collection, use and storage of location data.

AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for an approximate price of $39 billion. AT&T is the largest wireless network in the United States having nearly 95.5 million subscribers, while T-Mobile runs the fourth largest, with 23 million. Both networks use the same GSM technology and thus the merger will leave America with only one GSM provider.

Verizon, the second largest mobile network, and Sprint, the third, use the CDMA standard.

Yahoo may sell its last stake in its joint venture with Japanese mobile phone operator Softbank Corp in a move to have a better focus on Chinese assets.

At the moment Yahoo is in advanced talks with Softbank to transfer its 35% stake in Yahoo Japan entirely to the Japanese stakeholder who already owns 42% of the JV. The public value of the stake is about $8 billion.

Mobile operators announced a commercial launch of their Wholesale Application Community that will rival Google in Android applications market. The WAC comes with eight operators and 12,000 apps, but developers will have to wait for the APIs that make the platform unique.

Eight operators supporting the WAC are Vodafone, AT&T, SMART, Verizon, Telenor, MTS, Orange and China Mobile.

Serbian mobile carrier Telenor is implementing a new payment services dubbed PlatiMo to enable consumers to pay their bills and perform other financial services via their mobile phones directly from their bank accounts.

At the moment Telenor in association with partner banks are working with merchants to have them join the network as soon as possible, which will allow Telenor to offer paying utility bills for electricity, cable TV, water, Internet etc. through mobile payment.

China is taking actions to crack down on Android running mobile phones. The measures aim to involve network operators, target retailers and ensure that selling handsets featuring pre-installed Trojans is explicitly illegal. The authorities plan to set up a central unit to manage complaints, though it seems the scam has been going on long enough to build up considerable momentum.

An article posted on the PCWorld Magazine website analyzed the reports and data from the mobile industry and found that no wireless carrier in the United States actually has a 4G network while the companies persistently claim the opposite.

Yahoo is making its way to the Android market through the partnership with Sprint and T-Mobile. The Internet company announced the agreements to make its products and services more accessible to users of certain Android devices.

Yahoo explained on the Yodel Anecdotal blog: "We announced an extended partnership with Sprint around Sprint ID - providing Sprint customers with a Yahoo! ID pack of services, including 1-click access to 12 different Yahoo! Android apps."

Sunday the mobile carrier Verizon Wireless announced its plan to repay millions of dollars in refunds to 15 million cell phone customers who were unjust charged by the company for data sessions and Internet use.

While the amount for repayment was not disclosed by the carrier it is known that 15 million consumers will receive credits or refund checks that in most cases would range from $2 to $6 but would go beyond this in some cases, on their October or November bills. Former customers will get refund checks while existing customers will get credits.

A Japanese mobile operator NTT DOCOMO unveiled its plans to acquire PacketVideo Corporation, a company that develops multimedia software for mobile phones. DOCOMO reached an agreement to acquire the remaining 65 percent of PacketVideo from NextWave Wireless for US$111.6 million. DOCOMO already owns a 35 percent stake in PacketVideo, which it bought from NextWave in July 2009. If the acquisition is approved, which DOCOMO hopes will happen by the end of September, PacketVideo will become a wholly owned subsidiary of DOCOMO.

British Columbia-based research firm Vision Critical released a new study that polled 4,000 adults in Canada, the United States, and the UK to see what missing elements would make them feel all warm and tingly about Apple's latest offering of iPhone 4.

1. 39% of potential buyers of the Apple iPhone said they would like to be able to choose a mobile operator themselves for their handset

2. 38% of US participants said they want the option to use 4G also known as EVO.

3. 33% of Americans want to have an 8-megapixel camera.

Samsung Electronics announced this week that its Galaxy S series phones based on Google Android operating system will run on five of the top six US operators.

Galaxy S series phones represent Samsung’s challenge to Apple iPhone 4. The phones have high resolution screens aimed at mobile media usage. And while Apple keeps to exclusive carrier strategy Samsung takes a different course with several carriers to sell its Galaxy S phones at once.

A provider of mobile payment solutions mopay has reported the addition of several more countries in Latin American region to its worldwide coverage list. In addition to its coverage in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela, mopay just added 11 new countries. The total number of states where mopay offers its services now makes up 75.

Japan plans to allow users of one mobile carrier to use SIM cards of other operators on their mobile phones. At present time three main carriers in Japan ban customers from swapping SIM cards.

In regards to the governments’ plans to change the policy of the SIM lock system NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile carrier, responded frigidly, saying "careful discussions" would be needed. A NTT DoCoMo spokes person stressed that their “unique” services are dependent on their “unique” handsets.

Apple is rumored to be developing a new iPhone model for No 1 US wireless operator Verizon. The news was reported by the Wall Street Journal which cited the sources with the knowledge of the matter.

The Journal says that Apple is apparently working on the model compatible with CDMA that would work on Verizon's network. Both Apple and Verizon declined to comment on the speculations.

When asked about the report, an AT&T spokesman said: "We have a great relationship with Apple and we don't comment on the specifics of that relationship."