Deutsche Telekom

Wireless carriers are going head-to-head in what is turning out to be a pricing war. The two largest U.S. carriers -- AT&T and Verizon Wireless -- have cut subscription prices this week.

For the mobile-phone software Android, popularity may carry a high price tag. The operating system created by a Google-led consortium is being adopted by a growing number of mobile-phone manufacturers and wireless service providers.

In the past couple of years it's gotten easy to take rampant rumors of a Sprint Nextel takeover with a grain of salt. That wasn't the case on Sept. 12, when the London Telegraph reported that Deutsche Telekom is considering a multibillion-dollar bid for the troubled U.S. wireless service provider.

Las compañías France Télécom, propietaria de Orange, y Deutsche Telekom, de T-Mobile, han confirmado esta mañana que están en negociaciones "exclusivas" para fusionar sus operaciones en el Reino Unido, operación que puede crear la mayor empresa de móviles de este país, con 28,4 millones de clientes y una cuota de mercado del 37%, superando al actual líder, Telefónica 02.

As the world's top cyclists spend three weeks speeding across the French countryside in July, viewers of the Tour de France may find themselves wondering: Who the heck are all these companies with their names plastered on the riders' jerseys? When a rider sporting an Agritubel jersey speeds from the front of the pack in yet another doomed breakaway, for example, even French viewers could be forgiven for not knowing that the company is a leading maker of dairy farming equipment.

Consumers on the prowl for new PCs may soon find themselves heading for the local wireless carrier instead of a big-box retailer. In a move that could dramatically change the way people shop and pay for computers, AT&T and other mobile-phone service providers are swooping in on the PC retailing business.

Skype's free iPhone application is stirring up debate again. Available on Apple's App Store on March 31, the app first stirred debate after being blocked by Deutsche Telekom in Germany. Now Skype is fueling debate on network neutrality.

Skype's Voice over Internet Protocol app gives users Skype calling and instant messaging on Apple iPhones and second-generation iPod touches. The application, which saw more than one million downloads in the first two days after being made available, allows users to make calls on the iPhone over a Wi-Fi connection, but not on AT&T's 3G cellular network.

Just two days after announcing an application for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, Skype has hit a roadblock. On Thursday, Deutsche Telekom, a German wireless provider, banned use of the application on the iPhone and said anyone caught using it will face a contract suspension.

Skype, owned by eBay, has more than 405 million registered users who communicate for free by voice, video calls, and instant messages.

Imagine if makers of, say, vacuum cleaners needed to design different models for different stores. One for Wal-Mart, another for Target, another for Tesco, and yet another for Carrefour. That's a bit what it's like to be in the business of writing programs for mobile phones.

With the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona coming up next month, new developments around the Android open-source mobile platform are beginning to build expectations.

On Monday, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile announced that it will soon begin selling its G1 Android phone in several European countries. The phone has been available for the last few months only in the United States and Great Britain. The first countries on the list are the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Poland.

$1.33 in Germany