Qualcomm has tapped financial services industry veteran Rocco Fabiano to head its mobile commerce subsidiary Firethorn. Fabiano succeeds Firethorn founder Tripp Rackley, who will be transitioning to a new role on Firethorn's advisory board. Fabiano has more than 25 years experience in the financial services industry, including overseeing a $17 billion private label credit card business and a credit card rewards program. He also served as head of a $12 billion retail bank.
• AT&T has expanded the availability of its free account management application. MyWireless Mobile is now available to both BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve customers. The app allows subscribers to pay bills direction from their phone, monitor voice and data usage and add or remove features.
• Sprint is marking the one-year anniversary of its Premier loyalty program. The program offers an annual loyalty reward, six-month plan check, early upgrades and accessory discounts. Customers eligible for the program have to have been with Sprint for six months and maintain a three-month average rate plan of at least $69.99 for individuals or at least $99.99 for shared plans or have been a Sprint wireless customer for at least 10 years. Sprint's most popular plans, including those with Any Mobile, Anytime, automatically qualify for Premier.
• In-Stat estimates the total number of mobile VoIP users will reach 288 million by the end of 2013. Of these, well over half will be associated with online mobile VoIP providers, under one-third will use mobile VoIP with 3G MVNOs or mobile operators, and 11 percent with WiMAX/LTE operators. On a geographic basis, mobile VoIP will be heavily biased toward the Asia Pacific region, particularly among the online mobile VoIP services.
• Software and application development services company Aditi Technologies says its services are now available to T-Mobile USA's Partner Network development community. Aditi will provide carrier grade mobile applications development on Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and J2ME platforms.
• Shenandoah Telecommunications says it made $6.3 million in its fourth quarter on a slight uptick in sales, which was $40.3 million. The company's total PCS subscribers hit 222,818 and the company said its EV-DO data services are now available to 95 percent of the population covered by its PCS network. For the full year, the company made $25.1 million on sales of $160.6 million.
• Enterprise messaging company USA Mobility has approved a third extension of its share repurchase program from March 31, 2010, to Dec. 31, 2010. The company's board also reset the amount available for purchase under the plan from $20.3 million to $25 million. Since the inception of the company's share repurchase program, USA Mobility has repurchased $42.9 million of its common stock at an average price of $8.82 per share.