The Earth is flat – in Kansas

I must confess I know little about Kansas, except that it’s the place that Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz came from. Apparently, it’s also the place where the foremost research in mobile phone user habits emanate from, according to research at Kansas State University....

The 'secret sauce'?

Last week I attended a conference in Singapore devoted to mobile financial services. So what you may ask? Well, when I asked some speakers if anything had changed in three years they admitted, very little. Sure, we have those amazing success stories emanating from...

Billing blamed for divorce!

You know how much I love reporting about billing stories from around the world. Sadly they are usually about ‘bill shock’ which seems to fascinate the world press. Occasionally, something turns up that makes you realize how interesting billing really can be. This...

Nice in Nice and magical in Madeira

Firstly, I must apologize for not writing anything for a whole week, but there is good reason. I’ve been at two remarkable events and I have been talking to industry people almost non-stop in that time just trying to get a feel for where we are heading as the...

Google asked to 'please explain', again!

How would you feel if someone was sitting outside your house and tracking details of your Wi-Fi IP address and your usage and recording the details, for no plausible reason? Would you consider it a breach of your privacy or an accepted risk of using wireless...

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Following hot on the heels of the European regulators, the FCC in the USA is taking on the ever-growing problem of ‘bill shock’. The only question is, why haven’t telcos addressed the issue themselves instead of waiting for the heavy hand of the regulator to step in?...

Get ready for ‘hell in the air’

Air travel just got a whole lot worse! Telecom NZ XT customers were told today that they now have access to in-flight mobile services en-route to selected international destinations around the world. That includes making and receiving calls, SMS and email access. As...

Are telcos really that dumb?

If you have been following my blogs over the last two years you will notice a recurring theme highlighting the massive damage to CSPs and the industry as a whole from news articles on ‘Bill Shock’. The latest one really does ‘take the cake’ in...