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

Its a date

20 September, 2007

October 22 has been set for the first Federal Court hearing over claims by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that Telstra's advertisements for its Next G mobile telephone network contravene the Trade Practices Act.

Coonan unrelenting

20 September, 2007

Senator Coonan continues to use the Parliament Senate to attack Telstra, this time advising Sol Trujillo and Phil Burgess they "had just better stand for Australian citizenship first" before meddling in Australian politics and supporting the Labor government.

Vodafone charter gets advertising ball rolling

20 September, 2007

The release by Vodafone of the first charter to regulate mobile advertising has provided the impetus for a number of different interest groups to begin seriously addressing associated issues.

Unwired get extra Engin boost

19 September, 2007

As it promised when it bought the first raft of shares in Unwired, the Seven Network-backed Engin Ltd has increased its strategic stake in the wireless internet provider to about one-fifth of its total shares.

Leaked documents puts onus back on Telstra

19 September, 2007

Confidential Telstra documents that have been leaked to the media indicate that the telco knew its rural broadband bid would not comply with the government tender process that was eventually awarded to the OPEL consortium.

Community concerns can be costly

18 September, 2007

The Mobile Carriers Forum (MCF) has voiced its disapproval over the introduction of the Telecommunications (Amendment) Bill 2007 to regulate the positioning of mobile phone towers for community concern by claiming that making those changes to the existing laws would hold back the growth and development of the mobile phone industry.

Coonan brings out Telstra knives in Parliament

18 September, 2007

In parliament this week, Senator Coonan has claimed the Labor opposition has been colluding with Telstra to stall construction of the OPEL network by influencing an auditor-general's investigation and launching court proceedings.

Damage control

18 September, 2007

Vodafone is expecting significant difficulties with network services when it finally migrates to its new billing system next month after three years of work that will will give its operatives a single view of customer account details across South Pacific.

Why email when you can speak?

18 September, 2007

Organisations that operate across the globe or just within office walls are both discovering the benefits of IP telephony infrastructure that enables presence and click-to-call functionality though Internet and desktop integration.

Damsel in Distress

17 September, 2007

Communications Minister Helen Coonan placed responsibility for CDMA licensing with the Attorney General's office following Telstra's move to take the issue to court last week and Philip Ruddock has come to her rescue by altering the license say as to prevent Telstra from switching off its CDMA network before the government is satisfied the replacement Next G mobile service offers the same or better coverage as CDMA.

New Zealand

Spring clean

21 September, 2007

A technology industry event with the moniker "eDay 2007" is being run to ensure that New Zealanders hand in their old mobile phones and PCs so that they can be be recycled.

Vodafone agrees to hand out keys to network

20 September, 2007

After sustained resistance to competitive pressures to give start-up telcos access to its mobile network, Vodafone has finally agreed to offer a "binding public commitment" to commercial deals on co-location and roaming.

Text Trespass

19 September, 2007

Trespass laws are being used to police severe cases of SMS bullying.

Vodafone bundle bulges with mobile offering

17 September, 2007

Vodafone has added mobile phone service to its landline/broadband offering with cheaper 3G mobile phones in a bid before Christmas to win customers in an increasingly competitive telco market.

What's new on our site?

Italian mobile entertainment leader, Buongiorno, selects Vidiator Xenon streamer and encoders as its technology

With this announcement comes an industry first -- Buongiorno will use Xenon's server-side playlist feature to allow subscribers to sample WAP-based ring tones before they buy. Using Xenon Streamer, customers can also dynamically create personal server-side music playlists from their preferred ring tones, or mix and match music clips through Buongiorno's Internet website and immediately, seamlessly listen to their streamed playlist using the standard 3GPP streaming player on their handsets, offering an alternative to mp3 players and music downloads.

CLICK HERE for more information

TeleResources announces agreement with Elektrobit for distribution of their Propsim range of radio channel emulators

EB Propsim radio channel emulators are tools for air interface testing, replacing the real-world radio channel between a transmitter and a receiver. The EB Propsim product family of radio channel emulators provides realistic and repeatable test conditions for air interface testing in your lab. You can test and verify the performance and functionality of your receiver and transmitter designs, and wireless systems against deployment environment.

CLICK HERE for more information

Upcoming Events

Mobile Payments Asia 2007

2-4 October 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!

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

HSPa towards LTE Asia 2007

9-10 October 2007
Hong Kong

This established event, endorsed by 3GPP, GSA and UMTS Forum, will provide current updates on the industry progress from implementation, deployment and commercialization of HSxPA networks and services as well as evaluate the future evolutions of this technology towards LTE.

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

WiMax Summit Australia 2007

22-25 October 2007
Sydney

WiMax Summit Australia 2007 is the first in the region that will bring together international and domestic service providers to evaluate best practice, assess business models and discuss the projected impact of WiMAX on the Australasian broadband market.

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

IPTV Australasia 2007

22-24 October 2007
Sydney, Australia

IPTV Australasia is the leading destination for the converging ecosystems of broadband and entertainment. Covering IPTV, video on demand and webTV, this event delivers the most comprehensive examination of the convergence of communications and entertainment and its impact on service providers.

For more information and to register please visit: www.terrapinn.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