Sprint Nextel Corp. wants its high-speed wireless Internet effort to do well and is willing to pay the man leading the operation a lot for it.

The tech sector's attention was captured by two major deals this week, as Hewlett-Packard Co. said it will buy Electronic Data Systems Corp. for $13.2 billion and CBS Corp. agreed to acquire CNET Networks Inc. for $1.8 billion.

Shares of telecommunications carriers traded just about flat Friday morning as Wall Street inched slightly lower as oil prices again hit a record high. A surprise jump in new home construction, however, eased some investor worries.

Shares of most telecommunications service providers closed higher Wednesday as the broader market advanced following a better-than-expected report on consumer prices, which eased some inflation concerns.

SK Telecom Co <017670.KS>, South Korea's top mobile operator, confirmed on Wednesday that it was in preliminary talks with Virgin Mobile USA <VM.N> about strategic opportunities for its Helio U.S. arm.

SEOUL (Reuters) - SK Telecom Co <017670.KS>, South Korea's top mobile operator, confirmed on Wednesday that it was in preliminary talks with Virgin Mobile USA <VM.N> about strategic opportunities for its Helio U.S. arm.

Sprint Nextel Corp <S.N> faced multiple questions about how it would turn the company around and stop customers from fleeing its cell phone service at its annual shareholder meeting, where voters only narrowly rejected one proposal that would have let them call special meetings.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp <S.N> faced multiple questions about how it would turn the company around and stop customers from fleeing its cell phone service at its annual shareholder meeting, where voters only narrowly rejected one proposal that would have let them call special meetings.

Shares of telecommunications service providers inched modestly higher Tuesday with the exception of Sprint Nextel Corp., which reported a larger first-quarter loss and lower sales on Monday.

Among the earnings stories for Monday, May 12, from AP Financial News:

High-speed wireless Internet provider Clearwire Corp <CLWR.O> posted a wider net loss on Monday as operating expenses climbed, but said the number of subscribers jumped 72 percent from a year earlier.

Clearwire Corp., which is merging its wireless broadband unit with that of Sprint Nextel Corp. to create a $14.55 billion communications company, said Monday its first-quarter loss nearly doubled year-over-year on surging expansion costs.

Sprint Nextel Corp.'s Dan Hesse had little good news to share Monday on the eve of addressing his first shareholder meeting as chief executive of the troubled wireless carrier.

Among the earnings stories for Monday, May 12, from AP Financial News:

Stocks started the week off higher, led by financials and technology stocks. RIMM and MBIA rose, while HP declined.