• Unfazed by the closing up of its MVNO here in the United States, Disney's Japanese unit announced that it will launch a new Japanese mobile phone service, starting March 1. Disney has partnered with the third largest local carrier Softbank to create the MVNO and has said it will use Softbank's pricing plans and sales channels to promote the new service. Disney also said its first handsets will be manufactured by Sharp.

• The ATIS OBF (Ordering and Billing Forum) Wireless Committee has made several recommendations to the telecom industry regarding the FCC's local number portability obligation report. To support compliance with the new porting rules, the ATIS OBF Wireless Committee recommends that wireless service providers, when responding to simple port requests, should refrain from using the following response codes (RCODES) on a "Resolution Required" response including: 1E End user not ready; 6C Customer information does not match; 6P Mobile Directory Number (MDN) has service provider port protection; 7C Prepay MDN; 8B SSN/Tax ID required or incorrect; 8E First name required or incorrect; 8F Last name required or incorrect; 8G Business name required or incorrect. The ATIS OBF Wireless Committee encourages wireless providers to continue to use and process the above listed RCODES for non-simple ports with a "Resolution Required" response.

• Aeroprise has announced the availability of its Mobility for BMC Service Desk Express, an out-of-the-box solution that extends to handheld devices the power of BMC Software's IT service management application for mid-size businesses.

• Multiregional TransitTelecom (???), an international and domestic long-distance telecommunications operator in Russia, and WeRoam, a worldwide WLAN roaming provider, have entered into an agreement to launch international WLAN roaming service to Russian service providers and their subscribers. After a successful period of service testing in 2007, ??? and WeRoam have implemented outbound roaming, to provide Russian Wi-Fi users access to WeRoam's aggregated global hotspot network. The worldwide WeRoam footprint spans more than 35,000 Wi-Fi hotspots from 54 network operators in 62 countries.

• India's Infosys Technologies said, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, that it has fined its CEO for not reporting a change in his share ownership on time. The audit committee has imposed a fine of $12,658 on S. Gopalakrishnan for "inadvertently failing" to notify the company within one business day following the change in his shareholding as per its insider trading rules.

• Romanian CDMA operator Zapp announced that its has selected China's ZTE as its partner and supplier for the expansion of its current 450 MHz network and the rollout of the 2100 MHz network.

• Nokia has two new handsets for emerging markets: the Nokia 2600 classic and the Nokia 1209. Nokia says that both handsets will offer useful features and a range of colors. The 2600 classic already has begun shipping, and the Nokia 1209 will become available globally during the second quarter of 2008. Nokia also announced that its N95 8GB handset is the first-ever mobile phone to receive Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certification. The DLNA is a body advocating the interoperability of wired and wireless consumer devices, meaning this designation translates into convenient and intuitive connectivity between DLNA certified home electronics devices, personal computers and Nokia's N95 8GB.

• SkyCross, a global wireless company providing antenna-centric RF solutions, announced that its antennas are embedded in wireless earphones by Sennheiser. Sennheiser revealed the new earphones, model MX W1, at the CES show earlier this month and received Popular Mechanics' Editor's Choice award as one of the Top 20 products at the show. The earphones use wireless technology from Kleer, which enables unique features such as "true wireless earbuds" and CD-quality stereo sound.

• SimulScribe, a co-defendant with Apple in the patent infringement lawsuit recently filed by Klausner Technologies, announced it has settled the litigation and has licensed the Klausner Technologies visual voice mail patents. The license covers SimulScribe's visual voice mail service, which allows subscribers to selectively retrieve voice messages from a mobile phone or computer display. Under the patent license agreement, in addition to SimulScribe's visual voice mail service, its new 'SimulSays' visual voice mail application for RIM BlackBerry and Windows Mobile phones is now licensed in the United States, Canada and Europe.