Philippines regulator shows its teeth

Philippine mobile operators have ‘agreed’ to change the way they bill customers following orders from the regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).   The switch from rating calls in one minute minimum to six seconds blocks is perceived to bring down...

Woolies warming up Aussie mobile market

Australia’s giant supermarket and retail chain, Woolworths (no relation to its UK and US namesakes) is launching itself into the highly competitive mobile market by becoming an MVNO utilising the resources of Optus.  In a move reminiscent of UK’s Tesco, Woolworths...

Keeping Kiwi Kids Safe

At least one country is doing its best to educate children on the dangers the internet poses to them. However, it may be difficult to convince today’s generation that there even is a problem.  Teaching parents about the dangers posed in cyberspace is almost as...

Ex-Alcatelite Quigley to head Australia's NBN

Poor old Stephen Conroy, Australia’s Communications Minister, can’t seem to take a trick.  He was lumbered with the arguably the toughest portfolio in the land and one mismanaged by the previous administration that succumbed to constant bullying from the national...

Villain one minute, hero the next.

Australia’s Communications Minister of repute, Stephen Conroy and his government, have been awarded the rather dubious award of ‘Internet Villain of the Year’ because of plans to introduce mandatory internet filtering.  Not surprisingly, the award was handed out by...

Pay your bill, then pay the fee!

An unusually worded press release emanated this week from Telstra in Australia titled “Customers can choose free options to avoid new billing fees; millions exempt.”  But it’s not what I seems.  In what can only be described as brazen by envious operators in many...

Why Bother with Gen Y?

Anybody that has had the ‘pleasure’ of bringing up teenagers over the last five years or so will know that they communicate, well, ‘differently’.  They are part of what is known as Generation Y or Gen Y and they view mobile phones and the internet as extensions of...

Bank me up, Scotty!

Interstellar ‘kredits’ from in an online game converted to hard cash?  Well, I’ll be beamed up by Scotty, how could that be possible?  According to a Reuters report making the headlines ‘down under’, an enterprising Australian gamer, given the responsibility of...

Voicing Concerns

Microsoft subsidiary, Tellme® Networks Inc., recently announced a mobile voice service that combines content and communications, supposedly simplifying how people interact with their phones every day. Apple’s latest iPhone 3GS also boasts a voice activation feature,...