Vodafone wants to buy Sat Nav company

Vodafone is offering 239 million Swedish kronas (around £20 million) to buy Wayfinder, a Swedish company that makes GPS-based mobile software. The deal is likely to be completed in January next year. [Sources: TheInquirer.net; VNUnet.com; Press release - not for Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa!]

Microsoft considering BlackBerry purchase?

Falling share prices are apparently raising the possibility of Microsoft taking over RIM, the maker of BlackBerry devices, according to Unstrung.com.

Iridium sold (again)

Satellite company Iridium Holdings has been bought by Greenhill & Co's GHL Acquisition Corp to create a business called Iridium Communications Inc. Iridium currently has over 305,000 subscribers using satellite telephone services worldwide. [Press release]

Zed buys mobile game company Mobitween

Mobile entertainment entertainment company Zed has bought games maker Mobitween, which has a number of network deals and also runs its own Ugengames and Mobigamz services. [Source: MoCoNews.com]

Vodafone buys 70% of Ghana Telecom

Vodafone has confirmed recent speculation that it's investing in Ghana Telecom. It's acquiring a 70% stake in Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited for a total of £452 million. The Government of Ghana will retain a 30% stake in the company. Customer growth in Ghana is currently over 55% per year, with only 35% of the population owning mobiles. [Source: Press release]

EC clears Nokia/NAVTEQ deal

The European Commission has approved Nokia's planned acquisition of digital map company NAVTEQ, which is now expected to happen in the next five working days. [Press release]

Takeovers not happening

Phones International Group has had its £120 million bid for rival distributor 20:20 Mobile rejected. And across the channel, France Telecom has abandoned its bid for Scandinavian telecoms giant TeliaSonera. [Sources: Mobile News; IHT.com]

Microsoft buys mobile backup company

Microsoft has said it's buying Portugal-based MobiComp, which specialises in mobile backup and mobile access to social networking sites. [Press release]

Nokia buys Symbian

It seems like only a few days ago that we were talking about Nokia's ongoing series of acquisitions. Here's another: they're buying mobile phone operating system company Symbian. Nokia already owns 48% and is planning to spend around 264 million Euro on the rest. Sony Ericsson, Ericsson, Panasonic and Siemens have already said they'll sell, while Samsung is expected to agree soon. Nokia also says it'll create the Symbian Foundation to offer open-source Symbian software in partnership with AT&T, LG Electronics, Motorola, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone. [Press release]

Phones 4U buying Dial-a-Phone

Phones 4u is to buy Dial-a-Phone, which sells mobile phones online at http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/ and http://www.mobileexpress.co.uk/ and through a London-based telesales operation. 4u Group CEO Tim Whiting said “Dial-a-Phone’s strong brand and high level of expertise in the direct market are a perfect complement to Phones 4u’s brand and strength on the High Street. Combining the Dial-a-Phone business with the Phones 4u direct operation will significantly increase our share of the direct mobile phone market. We are looking forward to welcoming Dial-a-Phone to the 4u Group and believe it will play a significant part in the continued expansion of our mobile phone distribution business.” Cellular-News.com reports that Dial-a-Phone is being sold for £9 million. [PDF press release]