Finance

A bidding war for T-Mobile UK could soon ensue. Just a few days after reports surfaced that Vodafone wants to buy the Deutsche Telekom-owned wireless provider, news broke that Telefonica has the same thought. Observers speculate that Spain-based Telefonica probably fears O2, its UK mobile business, falling to second place.

Adding another wrinkle to a long-running battle over digital video recorder technology, an appeals court granted EchoStar Corp. (SATS) and its consumer subsidiary Dish Network a stay in its patent dispute with DVR originator TiVo Inc. (TIVO). The stay delays a contempt order, issued last month by a U.S. District Court judge, that would force Dish to disable the DVRs in millions ...

There’s some disagreement over the value of Nortel Networks Corp.’s (NT) LTE patents, which Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) hopes to snap up in a $650 million deal. This week, a JP MorganChase analyst said Nortel’s 4G intellectual property is worth as much as $2.9 billion. Yes, billion with a “b.” But another analyst, this one at ABI Research, says the number ...

AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless might be exploring netbooks lately, but the next wrinkle in the device wars will be a new category of connected device — call it the smartbook, or the netphone. Regardless of nomenclature, the coming smart-net-phone-book will embed broadband — 4G and HSPA, most likely — and be sold with open source operating systems and a ...

The CenturyTel Inc.-Embarq Corp. merger closed Wednesday morning, creating the nation’s largest rural LEC. CenturyTel said late last year it would buy its larger rival for approximately $11 billion. The official total came to $11.6 billion. For now, the two carriers will operate separate brands. They’ve already announced they’ll go by CenturyLink , but that name won’t take effect until ...