Welcome to your personal issue of This Week, Australia's only easy to read FREE weekly summary of the the top news stories on wireless communications in Australia and New Zealand. Don't forget if you can't wait for the latest information you can always visit our web site where This Week is updated daily. You can also visit our archive where you can see stories posted since mid-2003. Our search engine is an easy way to locate a specific topic. For those that want to know more, click through hyperlinks are embedded in each story enabling you to view the source information. Note some of these links may require you to subscribe to the publication that provides the source material.

Australia

Parents questions wireless health risk in schools

17 August, 2007

With parents raising concerns about the radiation risks of internet wireless technology in classrooms the Victorian Education Department has been forced to admit that wireless Internet has been introduced to all public schools without researching the health implications due to no evidence to suggest a link between the use of wireless networks and damage to health.

Telstra lead increases as Optus marketing remains grounded

16 August, 2007

Notwithstanding aggressive plans to reign in Telstra's lead in the wireless broadband market, Optus concedes that the telco is at least four months from even beginning to put together a marketing campaign to promote its new agenda.

Ericsson demonstrates its version of mobile TV to Hutchison

16 August, 2007

Hutchison and Ericsson have just completed a six-week trial of a multi-media broadcast multicast system for mobile TV services as mobile operators and infrastructure vendors set about deciding what technology will deliver best.

Competition war requires new market strategies

15 August, 2007

Optus CEO Paul Sullivan confirms that the telco is prepared to sacrifice mobile earnings margins in order to defend and where possible improve market share in an increasingly competitive mobile phone market in Australia.

Wireless broadband an Optus priority

14 August, 2007

In order to counteract the gains that Telstra have made by investing early in the broadband wireless market Optus will now make it a strong area of focus over the next 12 months.

Optus puts in strong performance for its Q1

14 August, 2007

65,000 mobile customers and 3 per cent growth in mobile revenue to AU$1.04 billion are some of the numbers to come out of the Singapore-based company's first quarter ending June 30.

Farmers reportedly prefer CDMA handsets

14 August, 2007

According to an independent report by the Kondinin Group, farmers in fringe areas of rural Australia are concerned about the failure of NextG handsets to hold a call as far as CDMA phones from a base station.

New Zealand

11,000 reasons worth fighting for

14 August, 2007

Both Vodafone and TelstraClear maintain competing claims to the 11,000 business customers that subscribed to the now defunct agency agreement between the two companies.

Telecom deal doesn't include new network

14 August, 2007

For the next five years until it is phased out TelstraClear will only have access to Telecom's CDMA network and not the new $300 million GSM mobile network it plans building to handle mobile calling, video and high-speed broadband.

More on the Telecom TelstraClear deal

13 August, 2007

Some details about the mobile wholesale deal that TesltraClear has reached with Telecom with particular insight into the way it gives TelstraClear far more flexibility to differentiate its mobile service than it could do under its previous agency agreement with Vodafone.

TelstraClear to enter the fray in a big way

13 August, 2007

Despite research that indicates New Zealand has already reached 101 percent saturation in the mobile market, Telstra is confident that its subsidiary TelstraClear can perform well as New Zealand's third mobile operator now that it has reached an agreement to launch on the back of Telecom's network next year.

Vodafone makes it tougher for interconnection

13 August, 2007

Questions have been raised about the operational and financial conditions that Vodafone places on companies seeking to connect to its network with some analysts suggesting it is a way for the telco to recoup the revenue it will lose from having to drop mobile termination charges.

What's new on our site?

Comarco's new automated wireless network test system results integrated onto Google Earth video

To really know how a network is performing… Get inside the phone!

In today’s competitive wireless environment, it’s critical to understand what customers are experiencing on the network. With the Comarco QuOTA system, service quality can be monitored from the customers’ perspective – by using the phone itself.

Running as a software application directly on smart phones, the QuOTA client allows standard commercial handsets to act as QoS measurement probes, measuring the performance of voice, data, and video services

QuOTA gives wireless service providers the ability to monitor the quality experienced by their customers, where they live, work, and travel…the most critical areas of the network.

CLICK HERE to view the video

TeleResources presents 'Look@Me™' a user generated video content platform for personal broadcasting

Look@Me™ is a market-oriented application based on Vidiator’s suite of Xenon products including the Xenon Live Encoder and Xenon Streamer. The technology has proven its stability and interoperability by major operators around the world to deliver a consistent and quality multimedia service to subscribers.

Look@Me™ as an application integrated with Vidiator’s core technologies provides an easy and fun service that takes advantage of the enormous trend of sharing and publishing user generated content. Look@Me™ is the perfect market-oriented service platform that subscribers want and the marketpace demands.

CLICK HERE for more info

TeleResources Managing Director to present at WiMax Summit Australia 2007

TeleResources Managing Director, Maurie Dobbin, will be giving his insights on:

WiMAX here and now, from myth to market reality

* Market trends and the shift towards wireless solutions
* Evaluating the main forces of growth and change
* Assessing the long-term impact of WiMAX
* When will regular commercial deployment of WiMAX start to happen?

CLICK HERE for registration details and to receive your 15% off be sure to quote TELERE15

Upcoming Events

In-Building Solutions Asia Pacific 2007

20-23 August 2007
Singapore

IIR's In-Building Solutions Asia Pacific Summit is the only event of its kind to address the specific technical challenges of Indoor Radio Network Planners. Don’t miss this opportunity to develop and consolidate your knowledge and contacts in this field.

The nature of the event will allow you to discuss strategy for the development of systems considering GSM, WCDMA, HSPA, CDMA, 1xEV-DO, WiFi, WiMAX and multiband solutions, while hearing real-life implementation case studies. Singapore, 20-23 August 2007!

To register email: Registration

Mobile Payments Asia 2007

2-4 September 2007
Bangkok, Thailand

Informa’s Mobile Payments Asia 2007 is back and promises to be bigger and even more focused this year with a comprehensive 3 day programme that will look at all the key issues pertaining to market adoption and technology advancement. Mobile Payments Asia 2007 is a uniquely valuable opportunity for participants to put across their vision of how to meet challenges and maximise opportunities faced by players and stakeholders eyeing the rich potential of the Asian mobile payments market! Join professionals from the region who will be gathering to do business and learn from leading experts and practitioners.

For more information and to register please visit: www.informatm.com

Next Generation Low Cost Handsets (LCH) Asia 2007

4-6 September 2007
New Delhi, India

Low Cost Handsets Asia will once again bring together leading operators, handset and contract manufacturers, technology and content providers and application developers to address commercial and technical strategies to Harness Ultra Low Cost, Entry Level, and Low Cost 3G Solutions to Penetrate Emerging Markets.

It will also assess challenges faced by and provide solutions to operators in their need to maintain profitability and ARPU maximization in the highly competitive emerging markets.

For more information and to register please visit: www.informatm.com

Transport Networks for Mobile Operators Asia Pacific

8-11 October 2007
Hong Kong

Transport Networks for Mobile Operators will be led by senior transport professionals from the Asia Pacific region, who are driving network evolution and rolling out new deployments. Themed sessions include optical core evolution, 3G & HSPA deployment, 3G transport & backhaul optimisation, IP transport evolution, Ethernet RAN and MW backhaul

For more information and to register please visit: www.iir-events.com

IIR’s Billing & Revenue Management Asia Pacific

22-26 October 2007
Hong Kong

IIR's forthcoming Billing & Revenue Management (RM) event will provide you with the unique opportunity to hear exclusive Pan-Asian and European telecom operator case studies. Leading operator speakers will be sharing their valuable and hard won experiences on optimising Billing and RM processes for meeting the requirements of next generation services and capturing maximum revenues.

For more information and to register please visit: www.iir-events.com

Mobile Entertainment Markets (MEM) Asia

6-7 December 2007
Singapore

The mobile and entertainment industries are increasingly merging, so why not have an event which brings together the leaders of both industries. Creating ONE Market-Place for both the mobile and media spheres.

The longest standing and most established event in the global mobile content industry. With market-leading speakers representing: mobile music, games, social networking and advertising, it will be an event not to be missed.
3 days, 6 events, unrivalled networking and a multitude of opportunities to do business!

For more information and to register please visit: www.memasia.com