Despite – or perhaps in some cases due to – the severity of the recession, telcos still continue to forge ahead with some strategically significant moves in order to get a leg up on the competition and lay the groundwork for future success. Here are some of the key movements that have taken place in this arena in the second quarter of 2009.

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Nortel and China Mobile demonstrated how the reduction of power consumption of GSM networks and a corresponding increase in their efficiency can be brought about by utilizing Nortel’s Smart Power Management Software.

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Continuous Computing is partnering with TeamF1 regarding Femtocell Access Point (FAP) applications, which can aid in fine-tuning wireless networks and improving performance. TeamF1 is to provide Continuous Computing with its Secure Gateway Solution and security and device management software.

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Nokia Siemens Network (NSN) has begun to work to acquire large and strategically significant segments of bankrupt Nortel, which may include Nortel’s carrier networks unit (including its CDMA, VoIP and TDM divisions) and its research and development unit working on LTE. Such an acquisition would aid NSN in growing its presence in the North American market.

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Verizon Wireless’ FCC-required divesture of assets from its $28 billion purchase of Alltel in January has attracted the attention of equity giants Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, and KKR & Co., as well as carriers U.S. Cellular and AT&T.

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Limbo and Brightkite are merging and the Limbo brand has been done away with to make way for a single social network under the Brightkite moniker. The combined company is being touted as an entity that will be capable of executing its combined vision and of satisfying its members more quickly and across different platforms as well.

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Molex has bought up equipment assets formerly belonging to the Denmark-located Motorola Antenna/EMC Measurement lab. The assets are to be utilized for research purposes.

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Prime View International of Taiwan is to buy up E-Ink, the American company that crafts the displays for Amazon’s Kindle Reader. E-Ink is valued at $215 million.

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MTN and Bharti have resumed merger negotiations a year after suspending their last series of merger talks. MTN will negotiate solely with Bharti until the end of July 2009. A combined MTN and Bharti would rank third in terms of the number of subscribers, behind only China Mobile and Vodafone.

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AOL is to be spun off from Time Warner, reversing the landmark 2001 merger between the world’s largest media company and the then largest American ISP. The success of the separation depends on a number of factors, one of the most significant being Google’s pending repurchase of its 5% stake in AOL.

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Huawei has launched the industry’s first All IP-based compact 2G base station (BTS) intended for rural communities in developing countries. The BTS was designed and developed with Vodafone in the firms’ joint Radio Mobile Innovation Center in Madrid, Spain.

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KCOM is to unveil plans to outsource its telecoms infrastructure to BT in an attempt to reduce its operating expenses by approximately £10m yearly, in accordance with new KCOM CEO Bill Halbert’s plans to turn the company around.

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Intel announced its upcoming purchase of Wind River Systems for approximately $884mn, a move intended to help Intel expand its reach into the embedded system and software markets.

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The Femto Forum and the WiMAX Forum are working together to craft a femtocell which will route WiMAX signals to fixed cable or DSL connections in order to improve indoor WiMAX coverage and ease WiMAX network congestion.

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After a drawn-out series of negotiations, Carphone Warehouse has purchased Tiscali UK’s businesses for £236 million, resulting in a company with more than 4.25 million broadband subscribers. This purchase will serve to integrate Tiscali’s and TalkTalk’s networks within two years.