Latin American and African operator Millicom today said it will return up to US$800 million to shareholders through a special dividend and a share buyback plan. The company said it will pay a special dividend of US$4.60 per share in addition to the proposed annual dividend of US$1.40 per share, and will also initiate a share repurchase plan of up to US$300 million. The share repurchase plan is to be executed through open market purchas

Twitter management opened the company’s inaugural developer conference in San Francisco yesterday by revealing some surprising usage statistics and unveiling more details on its new plans to achieve profitability. Co-founder Biz Stone said in his keynote that the microblogging service has almost 106 million registered users and continues to grow by 300,000 users a day; far bigger than analyst estimates. It has 180 million un

France Telecom and Orascom Telecom have reached a settlement – brokered by the Egyptian government – to end their multi year-long public dispute over the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS, better known as Mobinil), in which they are joint shareholders. According to a joint statement, the two groups agreed to renew their partnership and draw up a “revised shareholder agreement, but with no change to the exist

Mobile operators O2, Orange and Vodafone yesterday announced they will offer dedicated price plans for the iPad, just as Apple was telling the world that the international launch of the device had slipped to the end of May. All three operators will offer all models (3G and WiFi-only): Vodafone will offer the device in Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK; Orange will initially support the device in France, Spain, Switzerland and the UK;

New mobile handset vendor Dell has signed a deal with Telefonica – the world’s third-largest mobile operator group according to the latest Wireless Intelligence research – to develop mobile products and services. In a joint statement, it was noted that the alliance focuses on three areas: “Provide customers with choices they value most now; Deliver next generation solutions first; Enhancing the digital customer

Shipments of Chinese 3G handsets based on the country’s homegrown TD-SCDMA standard are forecast to increase seven-fold in 2010, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. The firm said that the backing of the technology by China Mobile – the world’s largest mobile operator – will lead to TD-SCDMA shipments growing 600 percent this year, establishing it as one of the fastest growing mobile technologies in the world.

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is to acquire QNX Software Systems from Harman International for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 1980 and purchased by Harman International in 2004, QNX says its software is used in more than 200 vehicle models, and by more automakers and suppliers than all other operating-system platforms combined. This amounts to more than 10 million vehicles worldwide, including more than 50 percent of all factory-equippe

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is to acquire QNX Software Systems from Harman International for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 1980 and purchased by Harman International in 2004, QNX says its software is used in more than 200 vehicle models, and by more automakers and suppliers than all other operating-system platforms combined. This amounts to more than 10 million vehicles worldwide, including more than 50 percent of all factory-equippe

Vodafone is to consult its largest shareholders over plans to end its stand-off with Verizon Communications over their ownership of US mobile market-leader Verizon Wireless. According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao is to talk with large institutional shareholders such as BlackRock, Axa and Legal & General after delivering the UK group’s fiscal full-year results on 18 May. Such a move reflect

Germany’s first auction of new mobile spectrum for a decade kicked-off today with all four of the country’s main operators expected to compete for new bandwidth suitable for next-generation mobile technologies such as LTE. According to a Dow Jones Newswires report, the auction is the first of its kind in Europe and is likely to set a benchmark for similar auctions throughout the continent. "Many European countries will foll