Virgin Mobile USA went public today at $15 per share. The shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VM. By mid-day, shares were at $15.62.

Of the total 27,500,000 shares sold in the offering, 25,467,160 shares were sold by the company, while the remaining shares were sold by certain stockholders. Virgin Mobile has said it will largely use proceeds to repay debt and to buy out 16.7% of Sprint Nextel's interest.

By Wireless Week Staff

Google has acquired Finnish mobile social networking startup Jaiku. Jaiku's service lets users send text messages to the company's Website about where they are and what they are doing. This info is then posted online and/or sent to other users' mobile devices. The service also sends these "updates" to other Websites, blogs or social networking sites; it also can send messages to instant message services such as AIM, Yahoo! or Google Talk.

By Teresa von Fuchs

Southeastern wireless provider Cellular South has introduced a new flat-rate plan that includes unlimited calls and data services. The carrier’s new plan costs $80 per month for phones and $100 per month for PDA devices or smartphones.

According to Suzy Hays, senior VP of marketing for Cellular South, more than 25% of the privately-held carrier’s customers “opt to eliminate their landline due to our flat-rate wireless plans and network reliability.”

By Kelly Hill

Mozilla Corp. is looking to jump onto the mobile browser playground with a version of its popular open-source Firefox offering.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based developer is stepping up its wireless efforts, expanding its team of developers and building an application that will run Firefox extensions on mobile devices.

By Colin Gibbs

Yet another lawsuit has been filed against Apple. This time it's another complaint over the company's decision to lock the handset to only work with AT&T. Attorney Damian Fernandez has filed a lawsuit in California, on behalf of his client, claiming that by locking the handset to the AT&T network, and re-imposing that lock with a recent software update, Apple has created an illegal monopoly.

By Teresa von Fuchs

Not to be outdone by its fast food rival , Burger King, McDonald's has announced a partnership with mobile game developer Glu Mobile to give away 1 million copies of its mobile Monopoly game as part of a McDonald's promotion.

Glu has offered the Monopoly mobile game as a prize on 1 million game pieces. When a winner receives a game piece, they will be able to send a text message to receive a free download of the Monopoly Mobile game.

By Teresa von Fuchs

Neat Wireless, a minority-owned, managed and controlled regional carrier, has filed a complaint against AT&T, with the FCC and the Department of Justice. Neat Wireless claims that AT&T "engaged in illegal conduct and behavior that resulted in Neat Wireless failure to compete in markets it acquired from AT&T Mobility in Northeastern Arkansas."

By Teresa von Fuchs

The Federal Communications Commission has pushed back the 700 MHz auction from Jan. 16 to Jan. 24. The delay will provide interested parties with additional time to develop business plans and assess the market.

By Jeffrey Silva

AT&T announced that it would buy the wireless spectrum licenses of Aloha Partners for about $2.5 billion. AT&T, the largest U.S. carrier by subscribers, said the licenses cover 196 million customers in 281 markets, including 72 of the top 100 U.S. markets in the 700-megahertz frequency band.

By Teresa von Fuchs

Nokia announced that it will collaborate with Spain's Telefonica allowing customers easy access to both Telefonica's Internet services and Nokia's recently launched Ovi mobile service platform.

By Teresa von Fuchs