News of the Day

• AT&T chief: Wireless "at heart" of company
  Having gained control of Cingular Wireless through its $86 billion purchase of BellSouth Corp. approved by the FCC last week, AT&T is adding new wireless services -- including marketing wireless under its own name -- and planning to offer ads on mobile phones and its TV and Net-access service. "The biggest asset we bought here was Cingular," said AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr. "We're about to become a company with wireless at its heart." NYTimes.com/Reuters (1/2) , The Wall Street Journal (1/2)

• Analysis: What the AT&T deal will mean for consumers: Now that AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth has been approved, consumers across 22 states will be privy to discounted DSL services and stand-alone DSL. The Seattle Times/Associated Press (12/30)

Business & Industry Watch

• Alcatel-Lucent purchase of Nortel UMTS business completed
  Alcatel-Lucent said Tuesday it had completed its purchase of Nortel Networks' UMTS radio-access business. As a result of the $320 million cash sale announced in December, one in four UMTS operators worldwide are expected to be using Alcatel-Lucent UMTS technology. The Boston Globe/Associated Press (1/2)

• SK Telecom: Sony Ericsson to enter South Korean phone market
  Sony Ericsson is in discussions with Korean mobile-phone companies to install Wi-Fi on its phones to be distributed in that country and is also considering launching high-end models to the market, according to news reports quoting a SK Telecom official. America's Network (1/2)

• Analysis: The year in broadband
  CNET Networks notes that 2006 was the year market segments started to blur, with major telecom players jumping into TV and more Internet companies making telephony moves. The year also was marked by Wi-Fi's push into municipalities and VoIP. CNET (1/1)

• AT&T outlines new management structure
  Three BellSouth directors have been named to the board of AT&T, and several top company executives received new responsibilities after the merger of both companies was approved by the FCC last week. The Wall Street Journal (1/2)

• Mobile marketing gains momentum in the U.S.
  Now that major carriers, such as Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless, have opened up the mobile-marketing playing field, mobile advertising is picking up steam in the U.S., with major brands, including Nike, using the platform. Consumers remain skeptical, but a Forrester Research report shows that consumers are open to ads that are perceived as having value. E-Commerce Times (1/2)

• Capital flows to would-be Google rivals
  Powerset, hakia, ChaCha and Snap are the latest start-ups trying to top Google as the king of search. Over the past three years, 79 such Google wannabes have garnered almost $350 million in venture capital, according to the National Venture Capital Association. NYTimes.com (12/29)

• Other News

• 2007: Interactive media forecast
  Mediaweek (12/31)

	The Top 10 Telecoms Operators By ranking and profiling the major players in the global telecoms industry, this report will provide insights into the dynamics, trends, and technologies that are shaping today's telecommunications market; growth estimates for the telecoms industry are predicted to be around 5-7% per year with total revenue reaching $2.2 trillion in 2010.
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Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by USTelecom dailyLead® readers in the past week.

• Analysis: Sprint's big bet on WiMAX (Bloomberg Businessweek)

• AT&T makes new offer on BellSouth deal (Bloomberg)

• 2007 to bring heightened competition between telecoms and cable (The Seattle Times)

• Verizon to expand FiOS to apartment market (Telecommunications)

• AT&T embraces three-screen concept (Telecommunications)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Technology Trends

• IPTV devices deliver content beyond the TV
  Honest Technology's My-IPTV & Cam Anywhere Deluxe is among the growing IPTV devices that enable users to play television content on PCs. The company is developing a digital version as well. The Boston Globe (1/1)

• Other News

• WCDMA to surpass 100 million subscribers in early 2007
  cellular-news (U.K.) (1/2)

LeadQuote

Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account." --Oscar Wilde, Irish author, poet and playwright