Mergers & Acquisitions, Cell Phone | featured news

Dish Network Corp. is trying to snag U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. away from its Japanese suitor in recognition of the way satellite dishes are losing their relevance in the age of cellphones that play YouTube videos.

T-Mobile and MetroPCS have agreed to combine their struggling cellphone businesses in a deal aimed at letting them compete better with their three larger rivals. The combined company will use the T-Mobile brand and have 42.5 million subscribers.

AT&T acknowledged that it could not overcome opposition from the Obama administration to creating the nation’s biggest cellphone service provider. The company said in a statement that it would continue to invest in wireless spectrum, but could not overcome resistance from both the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. It added that American wireless customers “will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled” by the regulators’ decisions.

Looking at AT&T and its planned acquisition, it’s fair to suggest that it could not attract the financing necessary to complete the purchase if its plan was to raise prices. Not only would such a move be unrealistic given the existence of Verizon and other smaller competitors, it would also be self-defeating for high prices signaling to those outside the mobile-phone space a potentially profitable competitive opportunity.

Hewlett-Packard has agreed to buy struggling smart-phone maker Palm for nearly $1 billion in cash. HP said Palm's webOS operating system will help it compete in the smart-phone market.

Surprise. Apple has agreed to purchase mobile advertising startup Quattro Wireless for $275 million, All Things Digital reported Monday. That Quattro would be targeted after Google bought rival mobile ad seller AdMob for $750 million by Google last year is no surprise.

Is Google simply buying its way into the mobile advertising market via its $750 million acquisition of AdMob? That’s what two consumer groups allege in a letter sent to the FTC today, as the organization continues to review the deal.

Qualcomm Inc. has acquired the assets that once made up Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s handheld business in a $65 million deal that's expected to help boost the cell phone chip maker' multimedia capabilities.