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Germany will launch a second round of 3G auctions next year, that will allow both new entrants and incumbents to participate, which could put more financial pressure on existing license holders, reports Reuters citing the Financial Times Deutschland. The second round of 3G auctions will give operators a wider spectrum range—in the 1.8 and 2.6 gigahertz range--in which they will be able to offer more bandwith-intensive services such as mobile television and music and video downloads. The first 3G auction, held in 2000, raised a record 51 billion euros ($73.98 billion), making it the most expensive in Europe, but it was widely criticized by operators who complained they did not have enough spectrum to offer high speed voice and data services to mobile devices anywhere in the world. Our mobile application for Blackberry and other Smartphones brings you the latest headlines when you're on the go. Go here to download .

When it comes to mobile, the perception is that the U.S. is always behind Europe, but a new report being released today says that when it pertains to the adoption of 3G, the U.S. is now on top, according to comScore ( NSDQ: SCOR ), which recently bought Seattle-based M:Metrics. In the U.S., 28.4 percent of subscribers now have a 3G device vs. the five largest countries in Europe, which have a combined penetration rate of 28.3 percent. In the past year, the number of U.S. subscribers with 3G devices has grown 80 percent to 64.2 million users. The only countries in Europe to exceed the U.S. in 3G penetration are Italy and Spain. Mark Donovan, comScore svp and senior analyst said: "For years, the American mobile industry has aspired to the level of sophistication of the European market...The advancements in 3G network technology and the introduction of sleek devices into the U.S. market have paid off as adoption of mobile media continues to grow at a rapid pace." -- 3G European penetration rates: Within Europe, Italy has the highest 3G penetration at 38.3 percent; Spain comes in second place with 37.2 percent. The U.K. has a penetration rate of 19.9 percent, and Germany has 23.9 percent and France has 12.6 percent. -- Total Users: The U.S. also eclipses the five European countries when it comes to number of users with a 3G device. The U.S. has 64.2 million vs. Europe, which has 63.4 million. As far as individual countries, Italy has 18 million; the U.K has 13.1 million; Spain has 12.6 million; Germany has 11.7 million; and France has 8 million. -- Growth curve: To be sure, the growth is dramatic in all countries, but most shockingly in the U.S. The total study looked at the number of subscribers on average over three months ended in June 2008. Total subscribers in the U.S. jumped 80.1 percent compared to the same period in 2007. In Europe, the numbers jumped 46.6 percent; in Spain, 75.4 percent; in Germany, 67.1 percent; in the U.K., 46.1 percent; in France, 41...

3 UK, the country's smallest mobile operator, wants to double its customer base to 6.8 million in the next three to four years, reports the FT.com . 3 UK chief Kevin Russell said he is ready to grow the business after reining in costs at the carrier, which is still losing money. Russell told the paper he hoped to "more than double the net revenue" and "double the customer base"--though no mention where these customers will come from in a market with one of the highest mobile penetration rates in Europe. Last year, T-Mobile and 3 struck a deal to share their network infrastructure, which would see both operators reaping major savings in capital and operating expenses. Three has also invested in its retails shops to sign on customers, rather than relying on the more expensive route of getting them through independent dealers. Meanwhile, even if 3 were to double its current size of 3.4 million customers (as of the end of last year), the network would still be smaller than the UK's four main operators—O2, Vodafone ( NYSE: VOD ), Orange and T-Mobile. Three has also been dogged by the steep termination costs it pays other networks. In May, Ofcom dealt it another blow, saying that the carrier would have to cut its termination charges 45 percent, as it was no longer a new player than needed protection in the market. All networks pay each other termination fees to handle the calls their consumer make outside of their own network. But Three is at a disadvantage—while termination rates are usually a wash for its larger rivals, Three routinely pays out more to its competitors for handling calls its customers make to their other networks, than it brings in. In 2006, for example, they paid out £50 million ($99 million). Related 3 UK Strikes Mobile Ad Deal With Yahoo! 3 Group Revenues Up; Hutchison Predicts 3G Mobile Operations May Become Most Profitable Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

-- Sony ( NYSE: SNE ) Ericsson ( NSDQ: ERIC ) said today that it will be partnering with Grammy Award-winning artist Usher and AT&T ( NYSE: T ) to market Sony Ericsson's Walkman music phones in the U.S., Canada and 20 European countries. Sony Ericsson said Usher will discuss the details of the partnership and make a surprise announcement (is it really a surprise if you say it's coming?) at a New York event May 28, or a day after Usher releases his new album Here I Stand . Sony Ericsson will be the title sponsor for Usher's North American tour later this year, and the partnership will include access to exclusive content on Walkman phones, and contests, such as winning a chance to meet Usher on a video shoot, and getting VIP tickets for a concert. Release. -- Social networking site Friendster has launched a mobile site at m.friendster.com , reports WirelessWeek . The site should be accessible from pretty much any wireless device, and is where users can get updates on friends, check messages, review requests, post shoutouts, browse photos, browse profiles, search for users by name or e-mail and post bulletins. It's a little odd that the company is only launching the site now, but said that the mobile site is the first of many mobile offerings coming soon. -- Sprint ( NYSE: S ) said that the Samsung Instinct—an iPhone look-alike—will be available for sale June 20. The phone has a touchscreen, fast EV-DO network connection and GPS. The company is supposedly throwing millions behind the marketing campaign and already has set up a snazzy Web site at www.nowisgood.com . The timing of the phone will be interesting since Steve Jobs is expected to announce the 3G iPhone on June 9 during Apple's ( NSDQ: AAPL ) Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco (although of course that doesn't mean it will go on sale that day). -- NowPublic.com , a news network, said it has partnered with ShoZu so that users can send photos and videos to NowPublic from their...

UK operator O2 has admited limiting the speed of most of its customers 3G connections to 128 kbps, instead of the 384 kbps the technology is capable of reports The Register . This is obviously bad news for content providers, since one of the main benefits of 3G for them is that the less time it takes to download their content, the more content people are likely to download—and the more often they're likely to download mobile content. It's also a problem for O2's 3G customers, who are naturally under the assumption that they are receiving the total benefit of the technology they are paying for. Anyway, after being chased by El Reg O2 said that "customers get the speed they ask for, and those who find themselves capped at 128Kb/sec must be on a "lower-than-normal" tariff" or it's a mistake and they should let the telco know...which is a good way of restricting the lifting of the speed limit to those customers who read The Register. I wonder if O2 is falling victim to the problem of too many 3G users overloading network capacity? That's no excuse, of course, if you can't provide a service you shouldn't sell it. If you want a funny look at at PR mistake on this story, check out this piece . Related Success Of Flat-Rate Data Plans Could Lead To Network Disaster: Report Napster Signs Up O2 In UK For Mobile Music Ofcom Warns O2 To Fulfill 3G License Coverage Obligation

More UK operators sharing their networks to cut costs and extend their network reach. The Guardian reports that Orange and Vodafone ( NYSE: VOD ) have agreed to a UK network sharing deal which could cut the number of mobile phone masts the companies require by several thousand. Orange and Vodafone have some 27,000 masts across the country between them, which serves a combined 34 million mobile phone users. The two won't actually share physical infrastructure, but will cut down the number of mast sites that they have across the country by placing their transmitters on the same site. This will allow them to get rid of a "few thousand" duplicate sites and reduce their network running costs. The partnership, which could be announced as early as today, involves masts sites for both 2G and 3G access. Orange and Vodafone had been in talks over a network sharing deal since last year, and were supposed to sign a deal in September 2007 when Orange bosses "got cold feet". New Orange UK CEO Tom Alexander apparently revived the deal and pushed hard for its completion. In December, T-Mobile and 3 agreed to share not only the sites of their masts, but the actual masts as well. O2 is the only British operator now without a network sharing deal. Related UK's T-Mobile and 3 UK Form JV To Share Networks; 'No Merger Talks'