News of the Day

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Icahn targets Motorola
Activist investor Carl Icahn is vying for a seat on Motorola's board after snapping up a 1.4% stake in the cell-phone manufacturer. While Motorola is not commenting on Icahn's intentions -- which include calling on the company to use its cash to repurchase shares -- the company has said it intends to use a portion of its cash to make acquisitions and buy back stock. BusinessWeek (1/31) New York Post (1/31) The Wall Street Journal (1/31)

Business & Industry Watch

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Vodafone hits 200-million-subscriber mark
Vodafone reported a 6.1% increase in customer additions to reach 200 million subscribers. The operator calculates its 3G-subscriber base has reached 13.6 million. MSNBC/Financial Times (1/31)

Sony Ericsson to produce handsets in India
Sony Ericsson forged a deal with Flextronics and Foxconn to begin manufacturing low-cost handsets in India. The company expects to produce 10 million handsets in India by 2009. The Boston Globe/Reuters (1/31)

Towerstream arrives in Seattle
Towerstream purchased select assets from Speakeasy to launch wireless broadband services in Seattle. Towerstream's high-speed service is up and running in seven major markets. Telephony Online (1/30)

LG Telecom benefits from subscriber gains
LG Telecom reported a 9.4% increase in fourth-quarter sales and $116.7 million in net profit thanks in large part to the addition of 113,000 new customers. The company ended the period with 7 million subscribers. The Wall Street Journal (1/31)

SIPphone plugs in to VoIP
SIPphone launched Gizmo Call, which enables users to make VoIP calls using a Flash plug-in rather than having to download a software client. The service works on landline and wireless phones. Silicon.com (1/31)

Mobile telephony boosts Entel
Entel reported a 38% jump in net profit and a 3.4% increase in revenue in 2006. The Chilean operator attributes the gains to increases in mobile-telephony customers. Reuters (1/30)

Technology Trends

Study: Rising broadband use to increase download revenue tenfold
Worldwide revenue from legal downloads of TV programs and movies will rise tenfold to $6.3 billion within the next five years, according to a research report from Informa. Increased broadband penetration, particularly in Asia, will drive the increase. Variety (1/29)

Competition leads video sites to pay for contributions
Growing competition for user-generated video is pushing the industry to begin paying contributors for content. By the end of this year, "almost every big site that focuses on viral video will have a revenue-sharing component to it," according to one executive. Chicago Tribune (1/30)

Spending on wireless data services on the rise, report finds
Mobile-phone users are expected to spend $150.2 billion on wireless data services in 2011, which will represent 19.9% of mobile revenue for operators, according to Informa. The firm expects entertainment applications to account for 25.4% of data revenue in 2011. Financial Times (free content) (1/31)

Regulatory & Legislative

Colorado bill would allow statewide cable franchise
A bill introduced Tuesday into the Colorado legislature would permit the statewide franchising of cable television services, potentially easing the way for telecommunications companies to offer video services to its customers without negotiating franchises in cities and towns. Denver Rocky Mountain News (1/31)

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