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Spiral Arm News

Monday, February 20, 2006

3G "finally gaining momentum".




The Register reports that one in three Europeans pick 3G contracts, plus 3G demand grows for Vodafone. "Western Europe saw 4m new WCDMA subscribers in 4Q05, equivalent to 32.3 per cent of the region's 12.39m total net subscriber additions for the period, according to Informa Telecoms, the market research firm. "




ZDNet report that "3G users in the UK are five times more likely to use advanced data services than their second-generation counterparts". However Forrester expect 3G take up to be slow because of the cost of 3G handsets.


by Richard @ 12:01

Monday, February 13, 2006

Mobile tracking security concerns.




The Guardian report on how easy it is to track someone's location without their knowing. "If you have any reason to suspect that your phone might have been out of your sight, even for five minutes, and there is anyone who might want to track you: call your phone company and ask it to find out if there is a trace on your phone."




2600 has details of how to track someone without getting access to their handset.

by Richard @ 08:01

Thursday, February 09, 2006


eGovernment services to go mobile.


Over the next 18 months there will be a push to make egovernment services accessible to mobile devices. John Blundell, the UK cabinet office director of services for local government, is reported in
Computing as making this a priority. "Until recently, we really didn't have mobiles in sight, there was no clear idea of the pace of adoption, or the potential uses mobile devices could have, but a lot have emerged in the past year or so that have shown us the way forward".


Towards the end of last year, the cabinet office announced the "Transformational Government" plan to allow access to "essential public services via mobile technology and interactive digital television".

by Richard @ 14:20

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Networks gain customers over Christmas, but ARPU drops.


There was a Christmas customer boost for O2, while Vodafone customer growth beats forecasts.

  • O2 added 1.75m new customers (895,000 in the UK), taking their total to 27.4m users.
  • Vodafone added 7.1m (561,000 in the UK), giving them 179.3m users globally.


However, average revenues per user (ARPU) had dropped year-on-year.

  • O2's ARPU is £272 in the UK and €338 in Germany.
  • Vodafone's ARPU fell 4.3% in the UK and 7.8% in Germany.

by Richard @ 08:25