I'm looking for a mobile speech recognition technology that can be
used/licenced by software companies to develop their own mobile
applications.

Cross platform compatibility is very important; meaning the same
technology must be available on various makes and models of
cellphones.

Hello kayser7,

For the software-based speech recognition there is always Java. There
is a technology called Java Speech API (JSAPI) that incorporates
speech recognition, synthesis and other functionalities. It can be
combined with the Java Telephony API (JTAPI) which provides mobile
telephony capabilities; it is also cross-compatible, as is everything
Java(tm). The only thing is that the cellphone/device needs Java
support for this and not every cellphone has it, although most of the
major models/makes do. More information can be found on the Sun
Developer Network: http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/speech/index.jsp
and http://java.sun.com/products/jtapi/index.jsp

Another technology that can be used for the same purposes is the
Microsft Speech SDK and Microsoft Speech Application SDK. Both can be
found at the Microsoft Download Center, and can be used for mobile
applications. The drawback is lack of cross-compatibility, it probably
only works with devices running Windows CE or the like, so you have to
make a choice there.

If you decide for the Java solution, you can create an API based on
what you need from the original API's and provide that as an
integrated framework for mobile speech recognition for any specific
device you want.

Either option you choose, be sure everything is in agreement with its license.