• Leap Wireless and Ronald Katz Technology Licensing announced that pending litigation between Katz and Leap Wireless affiliates has been dismissed. As part of a settlement, Leap Wireless has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum for a non-exclusive license under a comprehensive portfolio of patents that Katz owns relating to interactive voice applications. The license covers services offered by Leap Wireless in the wireless voice and data services field delivered through automated systems and live agents. Other terms of the license were not disclosed.

• Groove Mobile, a mobile music service provider, announced a worldwide licensing deal with Indie Mobile that will extend Groove Mobile’s independent music library to include multiple mobile content rights including full music tracks, videos and realtones from an extensive catalog of 70,000 songs.

• Alcatel-Lucent announced it has won a $29 million contract with MTN for the expansion of its GSM/EDGE network in Yemen. The contract includes core and radio network equipment, a microwave transmission system along with network integration and deployment services, radio network optimization and managed services.

• NextWave Wireless has announced a strategic expansion of its ecosystem to enable "no compromise" end-to-end mobile WiMAX solutions. Extending its ecosystem to drive WiMAX market innovation, NextWave Wireless and its partners closely collaborated on the development of a handset reference design, and will enable the creation of even more innovative products. Participating in this partnership are a number of wireless and multimedia technology leaders, including: Qtopia, EB, Opera Software, HelloSoft, MontaVista Software and Texas Instruments.

• Canada-based TELUS and Zi Corporation will offer Qix, a mobile discovery solution, on select models of TELUS phones and PDAs. Qix allows users to access the full range of features on their devices without having to remember where or how to locate them. Qix has been available for Windows-based and Symbian-based Smartphones for some time, but the implementation of Qix on an OEM’s operating system platform is an important breakthrough for Zi Corporation. 

• Orange and T-Mobile UK intend to jointly pilot a new mobile TV and multimedia broadcast service in London using NextWave Wireless' UMTS MBMS based TDtv solution. The pilot, scheduled for the second half of 2008, will demonstrate how the cost of providing high-quality, mass-market mobile TV and multimedia broadcast services can be significantly reduced when mobile operators share unpaired 3G spectrum and a standards-based TDtv broadcast network. During the 6-month pilot, the operators will provide up to 24 high-resolution TV channels along with 10 digital radio stations. Operators in Europe and the Asia Pacific that also own unpaired UMTS spectrum will be invited to participate in the pilot as observers.

• T-Mobile International licensed NewBay’s LifeCache technology to power the MyFaves mobile subscriber service in Europe. Under the terms of the contract, NewBay will provide both handset and Web system solutions. MyFaves has just been launched in the Czech Republic, Germany and the UK.  

• Tektronix Communications added the DT-Synergy to its 3G network optimization portfolio. The application enhances productivity through improved time-to-resolution during optimization campaigns. For network optimization engineers, DT-Synergy combines the benefits of drive test with the network intelligence of advanced protocol analysis solutions.

• Tekelec acquired all of the assets of software development company Estacado Systems, LLC. Established in 2004 by a team of SIP pioneers including Ajay Deo, Ben Campbell,   Adam Roach and Robert Sparks, Estacado provides Tekelec with deeper SIP-based intellectual property. The Estacado team, which will remain based in Dallas,  complements Tekelec’s engineering capabilities and the earlier acquisition of iptelorg GMBH, while bolstering the company’s arsenal of next-generation signaling solutions.

• Anadigics launched its AWT6155 and AWE6174 quad-band polar EDGE power amplifier (PA) modules for 3G wireless handsets and equipment.  Designed to meet requirements for GSM and EDGE mode operation with Qualcomm’s WCDMA and HSPA chipsets, the PAs deliver full power output in  smaller packages of 5 x 5 mm and 6 x 6 mm, respectively.

• Powerwave Technologies unveiled its universal WiMAX digital radio head (DRH) and two new antennas. Designed for operation with next-generation base stations, the DRH is an IEEE 802.16e transceiver, featuring Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) electrical or optical interfaces, which can be optimized for customer-specific applications. The CPRI interface supports redundancy and carries bi-directional signal and control data, including alarms for antenna VSWR, LNA failure, digital input overdrive and erroneous configuration requests from the baseband unit. Powerwave’s universal WiMAX DRH offers up to 20 MHz of instantaneous, multicarrier operation. The company also launched two dual-band antennas – the 2.0 m Dual Broadband Integrated Remote Electrical Tilt (i-RET) and the 1.4 m Dual Broadband Antenna with Integrated Diplexer. Both antennas accommodate lower (824-960 MHz) and upper frequency (1710-2170 MHz) bands within the same housing, providing carriers with maximum flexibility for co-siting and capacity expansion.

• Synchronica plc inked a distribution agreement with Brightstar for its mobile push e-mail and synchronization technology Mobile Gateway. As part of the agreement, the two companies will create a dedicated sales and marketing team that will draw on Brightstar's customer base to promote Mobile Gateway in more than 50 countries.

• Tellabs introduced the 8607 access switch, which features power redundancy and environmental hardening to increase reliability and enable use in a wide range of temperatures. 

• KPN Netherlands selected Aircom International, an leading independent mobile network planning and optimization consultancy, to improve its mobile network performance. KPN purchased a number of licenses for Aircom’s RANOPT tool, which will facilitate the loading and analysis of drive test data from KPN's existing 2G and 3G mobile networks. It enables KPN to pinpoint problem areas in the network that may require corrective action. In the case of KPN Netherlands, it is providing a future-proof solution that can be integrated with the existing network planning and optimization  tools it deploys. KPN already deployed Aircom's ASSET tool for the planning of its RF networks, and has been interfaced with RANOPT to deliver a comprehensive view of its network.

• NextWave Wireless announced its plan to deliver high-performance LTE network solutions beginning in 2009. The company's LTE solution will be based on its V5 multistandard base station platform which currently supports 3GPP-based UMTS ER7 TD-CDMA and is field-upgradeable to WAVE 2 compliant 802.16e-based WiMAX standard. NextWave expects to begin shipping its base stations n the second half of 2008. NextWave's LTE roadmap also includes LTE-enabled Series 3000 Micro and Pico base stations which are based on the company's current Series 1000 and Series 2000 base station lines.

• In-building specialist Zinwave launched its 3000 Active Wideband Distributed Antenna System (DAS).  Designed to support and aggregate a multiservice, multioperator wireless environment, the Zinwave 3000 supports the full wireless spectrum, from 136MHz through to 2.7GHz on a single platform.

• Israeli mobile operator Pelephone is deploying Bridgewater Systems’ AAA service controller as part of  their 1X EV-DO and UMTS  networks. The controller, which will replace Pelephone’s existing AAA (authentication, authorization and accounting) solution, allows the operator to control subscriber access to advanced and differentiated services across its existing CDMA, 3G (1X EV-DO) networks, and a new UMTS/HSDPA network planned for launch later this year.