Cricket Communications unveiled two new CDMA/AWS handsets from Samsung, the MyShot and Spex. Starting tomorrow, the Samsung MyShot, the world's first CDMA AWS cameraphone, and the Samsung Spex mobile phone will be commercially available at Cricket retail stores in Tulsa, Okla., and will be available soon in all Cricket markets nationwide. Cricket launched its first CDMA AWS handset March 7, 2008, and these Samsung handsets further enhance the Cricket portfolio in support of upcoming AWS market launches.

Mobile question-and-answer service ChaCha announced it has added two new members to its executive team. The company’s business development strategy will now be led by Jay Highley, former Sprint executive and 20-year telecom veteran. Kevin Mazzatta, former a global solutions leader for IBM Global Technology Systems will now be ChaCha’s vice president of business development. ChaCha also announced that Tom Kelly, formerly the CMO and COO of Nextel and then Sprint Nextel’s chief strategy officer, has joined the company’s board. Kelly also will serve in a consulting role for ChaCha, helping to position and scale.

Spirent Communications announced the availability of WiMAX testing capabilities on its Landslide test system. The Spirent Landslide WiMAX performance test system supports real-world traffic generation and nodal emulation capabilities. This includes base station and mobile subscriber station emulation that provides user-defined control over all aspects of WiMAX core network performance testing. The system supports WiMAX AAA and data protocols, per-session and aggregate measurements including latency, throughput, average and peak readouts and scales to meet, up to 32 test servers per system; up to 100,000 emulated MSS per test server; up to 1,000 emulated base stations per test server; and up to 1,000 attaches per second per test server.

Alcatel-Lucent signed a 2-year frame agreement with WANA, an operator of fixed and mobile services in Morocco and a subsidiary of ONA group, to extend and upgrade its telecommunication network in Morocco. The contract is valued at $37 million. Under the terms of this frame agreement, Alcatel-Lucent will supply its 9400 AWY for microwave edge links rollouts, its 9500 MXC and its 9600 LSY for long-distance, high-capacity applications. The Alcatel-Lucent 1350 management suite will supervise the entire solution.

Aptilo Networks and O-Zone Networks, a provider of wireless mobility solutions in India, announced that Aptilo has been selected to provide its service management solution for O-Zone’s growing number of Wi-Fi hotspots and metro deployments.  O-Zone is working with India's largest listed real estate developer, DLF, to bring Wi-Fi Internet access to business-focused locales across the country.