Daily Roundup

WASHINGTON

Court: Cell phone users should get to keep numbers

Cell phone users should be allowed to keep their numbers when they switch to new providers, a federal court ruled Friday in rejecting an appeal by wireless companies.

Consumer advocates say not having that option is one of the biggest barriers preventing more wireless customers from switching in search of better service and prices. The Federal Communications Commission is requiring wireless carriers to provide “number portability” by Nov. 24.

Verizon Wireless and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, an industry group, challenged the requirement in April, telling the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that the FCC overstepped its authority. They argued the rule will raise costs while doing little to promote competition.

The court’s three-judge panel rejected that challenge, calling the FCC’s action “permissible and reasonable.” The court also said the cell phone companies waited too long to object to the rule.

BERLIN

VW stops making old bugs

Volkswagen said Friday it will stop making the original rear- engine Beetle later this year, bringing the curtain down on the nearly 70-year history of the classic “bug.”

Production of the last old Beetles at the VW plant in Puebla, Mexico, will “end this summer,” spokesman Fred Baerbock said, adding that an exact date was not set. Volkswagen sold more than 21 million of the cars over the decades, but says it produced less than 30,000 at Puebla last year.

PHILADELPHIA

Charter finishes purchase

Charter Communications Inc. Chairman Paul G. Allen said Friday his company has completed the $728 million cash purchase of Comcast Corp.’s interest in the two companies’ joint cable venture, which is called CC VIII LLC.

The purchase is consistent with the original sales agreement.

Philadelphia-based Comcast reiterated that it will use the money from the sale to pay down debt it incurred when it bought AT&T Broadband in November.

On Monday, Comcast said Allen would delay purchasing Comcast’s stake in VIII for the third time. Although Comcast didn’t give any reason for the delay, it pointed to continuing talks of cable- system swaps among the parties.

MINNEAPOLIS

E-Trade to close centers

Online broker E-Trade Group Inc. has closed its trading stations at all of the SuperTarget discount stores where they had been operating. E-Trade notified customers Thursday that it was closing the E-Trade Zone centers. Minneapolis-based Target Corp., which operates about 100 SuperTarget stores, said it did not initiate E- Trade’s decision.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based E-Trade said that it still has several other ways for clients to do business, including online, in person, wireless and at ATM machines.