Rumor: Operators uniting on mobile search

The rumor mill is abuzz with speculation that a cabal of mobile operators including Vodafone, Deutsche Telecom and AT&T/Cingular will meet not-so-secretly at next week's 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona to explore the creation of a mobile search engine poised to challenge U.S. search giants Google and Yahoo. British newspaper The Telegraph reports that operator representatives will discuss a series of alternatives that includes pooling their combined resources to acquire a majority stake in an existing search engine provider or creating a white-label service backed by a single advertising team and technical staff. "There is a big play in mobile search that we need to be part of, and we are exploring those options at a very high level," an anonymous U.K. mobile executive told the paper.

For more on the mobile search rumors:
- read this Telegraph article

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