Sprint has been selected to provide critical communications support for Pope Benedict XVI’s historic visit to New York City. Sprint’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) is providing, upon request of the Archdiocese of New York, 600 Sprint phones, all of which include Nextel Direct Connect, allowing staff to communicate instantly during all activities related to the Papal visit.

U.S. Cellular announced a plan to hire 153 new full and part-time employees at 20 stores in the St. Louis area. The company’s 5-month recruitment effort will begin April 19 with an open house hiring event at the St. Charles Convention Center. The company said it is seeking store managers, retail wireless consultants, sales managers, service technicians, cashiers and greeters at its retail locations throughout St. Louis and St. Charles counties and in Alton, Wood River, Collinsville, East St. Louis, Granite City and Fairview Heights, Ill. Following this recruitment effort, the carrier expects to employ more than 440 associates.

O2 announced it will begin offering mobile broadband in the U.K., via laptop-compatible modems and also more than 7,500 free Wi-Fi hotspots. The carrier is offering either an 18-month price plan for $40 a month with a free USB modem or $40 a month for a rolling 1-month package plus the cost of the USB modem at $237.

Sinapore’s mobile operator MobileOne selected Huawei Technologies to expand its 3G and high speed packet access network in Singapore.

Verizon Wireless announced that in celebration of Earth Day it has rolled out energy-saving solutions on employee desktops across the country, resulting in reductions in operating costs, emissions and energy usage.