According to figures from IE Market Research, there are currently 832 million paid users of digital music worldwide, with that number expected to rise to 1.6 billion by 2014. Today, announcements from streamed entertainment provider Aspiro and the music download service 7digital point—respectively announcing a new white-label distribution deal and…

Mobile TV has for years been one of the great white hopes for mobile operators looking for new lines of revenue from their data networks—a sentiment that they have held on to despite some high-profile services having failed to meet expectations. Now Everything Everywhere—the JV of Orange and T-Mobile in…

Another mobile operator is taking a crack at the streaming music market: France Telecom’s Orange is partnering with Deezer—France’s answer to Spotify—to launch an exclusive mobile music service that will effectively be offered “free” to those who sign up for Orange’s premium, two-year service plans.

All change in the UK mobile world: Tom Alexander, the CEO of Everything Everywhere—the mobile operator JV between France Telecom’s Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile—has resigned and is getting replaced by Olaf Swantee, a longtime France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) operative.

A look at some of the big stories in mobile today: Mobile roaming: A big set of proposals were put forward today recommending huge cost reductions on the price of roaming, covering voice, text and data services across Europe. (via European Commission)

UK telco and TV platform Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED) could ape its rival BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) by investing in a public WiFi network, so that its subscribers can consume their TV bouquet on the go.

We still don’t have the official, bigger picture of what Google (NSDQ: GOOG) intends to do in its music strategy, and whether it will have what it takes to make an effective inroad into the legitimate digital music market dominated by Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), but now we have what appears…

Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED) is extending its existing relationship with mobile data company Motricity, as it aims to make mobile entertainment a proper part of its quad-play mix (release).

UK cable telco Virgin Media’s average customer take climbed to a record £47.51 ($76.61) per month in Q4 - but that could boom when it launches TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO) and if it finally gets its quad-play strategy ticking.

More consolidation among mobile content players: LiveWire Mobile, a U.S.-based company that sells music and related content like ringback tones, has bought Fonestarz, a UK-based concern that specialises in wallpapers, ringtones and phone enhancements that it sells through its digital storefront, in an all-cash deal. Other financial terms were not…

Virgin Media has yet to go commercial on an all-you-can-eat music service it announced way back in June 2009, but it is still forging ahead with a separate strategy to sell music via mobile. Monday will see the launch of a new free app, which the quad-play provider created with…

Word reaches us that Virgin’s virgin iPad-only magazine is Christened “Project” and is due to hit the tablet’s iTunes Store at this link with a launch by Richard Branson in New York on Tuesday; price unknown.

—Windows Phone 7: Devices built on Microsoft’s latest mobile platform finally go on sale in the U.S. First models out the door, as listed on Microsoft’s own storefront, include HTC’s HD7 on the T-Mobile network; and the HTC Surround and the Samsung Focus, both on AT&T (NYSE: T). All devices…

Sprint (NYSE: S) had good things to say about in the third quarter: It added more subscribers than it had since 2006, and reported its first quarterly revenue increase in three years. But its loss widened, and was greater than analysts had projected, leading to its shares tumbling in early…

In an effort to beef up its alternative payments efforts, American Express has picked up two additional Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel executives. The two executives will join the company’s Revolution Money unit, which is looking to create an online and mobile payments network. The hires follow the appointment of Dan…

As if a sign of the times, Verizon Wireless is offering data to smartphone users who prefer to pay by the month and not commit to a long-term contracts for the very first time. However, the service is neither discounted, nor more expensive than what you get if you did…

Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR) will be unveiling a new “pay as you go” service on Monday in a webcast for media and industry analysts, according to a document filed with the SEC today. Clearwire initially announced the webcast on Wednesday to disclose a new customer segment, but stopped short of saying…

Within a couple of hours of BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) announcing it’s nicked Virgin Media’s UK VOD rights to HBO shows, the cable operator rushed out confirmation of its upcoming web and mobile VOD offering.

A year after Sprint (NYSE: S) paid $480 million to buy Virgin Mobile USA, the carrier is seeing a trio of executive departures. Dan Schulman, Sprint’s president of prepaid, announced last week that he was leaving to join American Express as group president of enterprise growth. We have also learned…