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Feb. 13, 2010

Here's a condensed list of some of the deals and partnerships that were made this week in the wireless and mobile communications segment. The list isn't exhaustive but gives a pretty good idea of the acquisition and merger activity, along with new contracts that are being signed or renewed in the industry at the moment.

Sony Ericsson renewed its global license agreement with Red Bend Software for the company’s vRapid Mobile firmware over-the-air updating software. Sony Ericsson also has expanded its contract with Red Bend to include its vDirect Mobile configuration and device management software. Red Bend has provided remote software updating capabilities for Sony Ericsson since 2004. The first Sony Ericsson product to feature both products is the Xperia X10.

Nuance Communications and Vesta Corp. announced a partnership to co-promote and integrate Nuance’s Mobile Care application with Vesta’s Mobile Payment Platform to create a comprehensive payment service for mobile operators. The partnership will expand the on-device self-service capabilities of Nuance Mobile Care by allowing subscribers to make payments and handle other payment functions directly through their handset. The pair will be showcasing the solution at the 2010 Mobile World Congress next week.

NII Holdings Inc., which operates under the Nextel brand in Latin America, selected Nokia Siemens Networks to manage its network operations. The agreement covers network management in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

Sierra Wireless said it signed a services contract with IBM to host a new services platform dedicated to its software as a service machine-to-machine offering. The contract calls for IBM to provide data center collocation facilities and services.

Transpera, a North American mobile video delivery and ad network, said E-Trade Financial has chosen it to deliver its branding campaign across premium video brands within the Transpera content network. Transpera said its offerings include rich, mobile ad units that combine “Peek” pre-roll video with display banner placements served through the Transpera Ad Platform. Peek pre-rolls are 15-second mobile video ads targeted according to content usage and demographics that are inserted server side in real time to provide rapid delivery without lengthy re-buffering.

Sprint has partnered with app store GetJar to give its customers access to GetJar’s catalog of more than 60,000 free mobile applications.

Syniverse Technologies said it won a contract with VIVA to provide a suite of solutions to support the Bahraini wireless carrier’s network launch. Syniverse said the contract includes a suite of 10 roaming, messaging, network and turnkey solutions. VIVA is part of the Saudi Telecom Company Group. The mobile carrier plans to launch service in the Kingdom of Bahrain this year.

Fraunhofer IIS said it will introduce a range of MPEG audio codecs for Android-based mobile phones next week at the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The audio codecs include MPEG-4 HE-AAC V2 and MPEG Surround.

Telit Wireless Solutions Inc. said its GE865-QUAD machine-to-machine module earned certification with Rogers Wireless’ GSM/GPRS network in Canada. The company bills the product as the smallest form factor GSM/GPRS module currently available. It is targeted for use in consumer electronics or body-worn tracking and tracing or telemedicine applications.

Broadcom plans to make several announcements at next week’s 200 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The company said it will announce Android support in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and VoIP solutions. Broadcom also will showcase its new BCM20751 chip that combines Bluetooth, GPS and FM and includes a built-in media processor to offload MP3 decoding. The company also said it will introduce the BCM-4751 single-chip GPS solution for mobile devices. Broadcom said the solution provides faster signal searches, accurate real-time navigation, improved tracking sensitivity and low average power consumption.

WeFi Inc. and Qik announced a cooperation agreement that calls for the companies to enable high-speed Internet access for Qik’s users on WeFi’s network of Wi-Fi access points. WeFi is a community-based global Wi-Fi network and Qik is a live mobile video streaming platform. WeFi’s network currently is accessible on phones using Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian operating systems.

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Source: RCR.