Ericsson

Japanese electronics giant Sony has been busy developing new handheld devices in an effort to better compete in the mobile market. Under way is a suite of new devices, including a PlayStation game-playing phone.

For decades Sony has kept its focus on consumer electronics. When the company wanted to compete in the mobile-phone market, it formed a joint venture with Ericsson. Now Sony is expanding its presence in the smartphone and portable-device market.

AT&T has tapped Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson to deliver network equipment and related engineering services for the U.S. wireless carrier's upcoming deployment of a high-speed 4G network based on long-term evolution (LTE) technology. The financial terms of the supplier contracts were not disclosed.

TeliaSonera has launched the world's first commercial mobile services based on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) -- the final stage in the development of fourth-generation (4G) mobile technology based on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard. Starting Tuesday, laptop users equipped with dedicated 4G modems in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway, can access super-fast mobile broadband connections that are 10 times faster than turbocharged 3G networks can deliver now, the company said.

Nortel Networks Corp. said late Wednesday it won court approval in the U.S. and Canada to sell two of its business units.

The larger unit, Nortel's global optical networking and carrier ethernet businesses, is going to Ciena Corp. The business is one of the most sought-after assets of Nortel, a once-dominant network gear maker that is selling itself off in pieces after filing for Chapter 11 protection in January.

The deal gives Ciena all products, contracts, and intellectual property, including technology that improves the speed and capacity of fiber optic networks.

Telefónica ha realizado con éxito pruebas de transporte de señales de 100 gigabits por segundo en distancias mayores a mil kilómetros de distancia con los sistemas DWDM de larga distancia que ya tiene desplegados en su red. Telefónica España ha contado con sus tres suministradores de transmisión -Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson y Huawei- y con el apoyo de Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo para realizar las pruebas.

The telecommunications industry has escaped the worst of the global economic downturn but a lack of funding is slowing the rollout of next-generation mobile networks, a U.N. report said Monday.

Governments should consider investing some of their stimulus funds in cell phone networks, fiber-optic connections and broadband infrastructure as part of an effort to boost the wider economy, the International Telecommunication Union said in a 90-page report.

Nortel Networks Inc. won approval Wednesday from judges in Delaware and Ontario for the $900 million sale of a Nortel unit that makes communications systems for businesses.

In a joint hearing involving a video link between courtrooms in Wilmington and Toronto, where Nortel Networks Corp. is based, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross and Canadian Justice Geoffrey Morawetz approved the sale of Nortel Enterprise Solutions to New Jersey-based Avaya Inc. for $900 million in cash and a $15 million contribution to a Nortel employee retention program.

The day when you can regularly receive and send high-definition video from your smartphone is closer, following Verizon Wireless' announcement Friday that it has completed its first successful field test of 4G/Long Term Evolution (LTE) data calls. The tests, using the 3GPP Release 8 standard, were conducted in Boston and Seattle, and the company said the calls involved file uploads and downloads, streaming video, and Web browsing.

Verizon also said it successfully made data calls using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) on the LTE 4G network.

Struggling carrier Sprint Nextel announced Thursday that it will contract with Ericsson to run its mobile-phone network. The agreement has a seven-year life span, and the company positioned it as a win for itself and its customers.

"Sprint is breaking away from competitors," the company said, calling the move "an operational best practice for network operators" that has been "proven successful worldwide and praised by business experts and communications analysts."

$4.5 Billion To $5 Billion

In its latest cost-cutting measure, a struggling Sprint Nextel announced Thursday a seven-year network service agreement with Ericsson. Dubbed Network Advantage, the deal turns over the operation of Sprint's networks to Ericsson.

Sprint will pay Ericsson $4.5 billion to $5 billion over the term of the renewable contract. About 6,000 Sprint employees will be transferred to Ericsson sometime in the third quarter.