AT&T, T-Mobile upgrade 3G

AT&T and T-Mobile have upgraded their 3G networks with technology enabling faster speeds, reports TechNewsWorld.

The carriers have deployed HSPA 7.2 technology at their cell sites across the US, which AT&T says will improve the consistency in accessing data sessions, as well as increase network efficiency.

Faster speeds will come as AT&T increases the number of high-speed backhaul connections to its cell sites, primarily with fibre-optic connections over the course of the next two years.

Verizon Communications beat its mobile-subscriber growth target for its last quarter period, reports BusinessWeek.

The company's goal was to add a net one million customers, says CEO Ivan Seidenberg at a Citigroup conference, also stating the company's 2009 earnings per share fell from the previous year.

Seidenberg is relying on Verizon's mobile phone service, which became the largest in the US last year, to fuel revenue growth. The company started selling Motorola's Web-equipped Droid in November, and plans to offer Google's Nexus One touchscreen phone this year.

Mexico's telecommunications regulator Cofetel says it will complete two auctions of wireless spectrum before the end of June 2010 as part of the government's plan to boost competition in the mobile phone industry, reports The Wall Street Journal.

"The auctions will provide for the entrance of new competitors in the mobile telecommunications markets and promote the growth of existing operators," says Cofetel.

Cofetel will auction nine blocks of spectrum in the 1850MHz to 1990MHz frequency band in eight of the country's nine mobile telephone operating regions, including Mexico City. It will also sell seven blocks of spectrum between 1710MHz and 2170MHz in all nine operating regions.