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Nokia's 14 year reign as the world's largest mobile phone maker is over. Financial results released by Samsung late Friday show that it almost certainly surged past Nokia in the first quarter to the tune of over 10m more handset shipments. Although Samsung did not release volume numbers, analyst firm Strategy Analytics estimated that the firm shipped 93.5 million units in Q1 2012, giving it a 25.4 percent share of the global market ahead of the 82.7 million units reported by Nokia at 22.5 p! ercent and Apple's 35.1 million iPhones at 9.5 percent.
A leading cloud computing authori! ty has warned that Friday's Federal Court upholding of an appeal by Telstra and the AFL that will put an immediate halt to Optus' TV Now service could threaten innovation and adoption of cloud technology in Australia.
NBN Co did not pay for or have any editorial influence over two NBN advertisements identified as misleading print media marketing by Federal Liberal MP Paul Fletcher, according to a spokesperson.
Current Telstra CEO David Thodey and chairman Catherine Livingstone could have shaped a very different telecoms regime if they'd been supervising Telstras tender for the FTTN NBN Mark 1, according to former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Graeme Samuel.
The federal government is set to release the final report from its Convergence Review today for public scrutiny but has not yet locked down! its official response to the report's recommendations
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Australian telcos which offer IPTV or other media services would be spared the new media regulation proposed by the federal Convergence Review at least for now because their media revenues and customer numbers fall below key thresholds. But the final report from the review committee shows at least one ISP, Telstra, edging close to those ceilings and the firm has already voiced fresh concerns that the report will ultimately lead to excessive regulation. Other industry stakeholders have echoed Telstra's fears - not least because it builds on earlier recommendations for a new media regulator to rep! lace the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
GRAHAME LYNCH comments that probably the most important thing to remember about the Boreham Convergence Review is that the current Federal Government has a very poor record when it comes to acting on signpost sources of external expert advice. This may be a good thing because much about its report is daft.
Telstra is well-placed to take advantage of the growth in machine-to-machine mobile services, although Optus could also pick up business in the SMB sector, according to Telsyte analyst Alvin Lee.
A new Goldman Sachs report has forecast a tough 6-9 months ahead for VHA, with a declining subscriber base, network upgrade execution risk and weakening financials looming as the key challenges.
Wholesale aggregator iTelecom has partnered with credit management agency Veda to provide a service to its retailer clients that will allow them to screen customers for bad debt.
Qualcomm is looking beyond its current market in mobile phone processors, and calling for the development of hardware acceleration to speed the mobile internet.
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Broad adoption of cloud computing could boost long-run Australian GDP by $3.32 billion per annum, according to a new KPMG report. And with that in mind, communications minister Stephen Conroy will woo Google, and potentially other large international players, to host more data on Australian shores even hinting that the country could market itself as a data haven within APAC.
Average and peak connection speeds in Australia increased by the highest rate among Asian countries in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the quarterly State of the Internet report from Akamai Technologies.
Despite next year's federal election and the currently delicate political balance, communications minister Stephen Conroy remains adamant that the government could enact reforms on the basis of its Convergence Review. But he refuses to be pinned down, as yet, on when the Commonwealth will officially respond to the controversial recommendations in the review board's final report.
Optus' decision to slash the price of its fixed-mobile bundles could impact the revenues of rival fixed-line operators as well as cannibalise its own fixed revenues according to analysts from Goldman Sachs
Optus will make some 750 staff redundant over the coming months – almost 8% of its total workforce –
in the face of intense competition in the marketplace. And as part of the same restructure, the telco is
looking to sharpen its customer credentials by creating a new division focused on building and maintaining
customer relationships.
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Optus and VHA have forged a new infrastructure sharing pact that dramatically beefs up their existing alliance and will give both carriers a huge boost to their respective footprints. And while the pair have positioned their new memorandum of understanding as primarily customer-driven rather than as a competitive coup, the deal could well bite into one of rival Telstra's key advantages in coverage at a time when Telstra has been mercilessly ratcheting up competitive pressure in mobile.
Prices for Ethernet over MPLS circuits out of Australia to both the US and Europe have plunged more than 50% year on year, according to the latest research from TeleGeography.
Finally, some welcome news for telcos on the customer service front: a new survey of more than 45,000 customers has revealed that the majority are happy with their broadband service provider.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation team that invented and patented key technology behind most current WiFi networks has been acknowledged in the European Inventor Awards, adding to the more lucrative recognition it received through the US court system last month.
A new Deutsche Bank report has called on Chorus to provide more clarity on a range of topics at its briefing day on 23 May, in particular the customer-led connectivity issues surrounding UFB take-up.
The federal government has confirmed plans for sweeping national security reforms that would include new obligations on the Australian telecommunications industry to protect their networks from unauthorised interference and a revamp of key telecommunications and security legislation. CommsDay first revealed plans for a radical new national security plan in late March following secret talks between the government and carriers on proposals to enhance the security of the country's telecom infrastructure.
New research from KPMG has flagged growing Australian consumer concerns over data privacy and security as a key barrier to the uptake of new digital business models but also an opportunity for competitive differentiation in the telco space.
Communications minister Stephen Conroy has released the long-awaited Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Review report, outlining a raft of recommendations to change the way the TIO operates including additional regulatory compliance measures.
The New South Wales government has highlighted mobile apps, cloud computing and a revised datacentre strategy as key tenets of its new ICT strategy.
Samsung has taken the wraps off the much-anticipated Galaxy S III, seen by analysts as the main challenger to the forthcoming iPhone 5 and likely to reinforce the company's position as the leading vendor in the market.
NBN Co has enlisted the help of Primus Telecommunications to test a new provisioning system that is expected to make it easier for retail providers to launch voice-only services over its fibre infrastructure.
Telstra has flagged serious concerns with proposed new record-keeping rules that would shape fixed-line price regulation during the transition to the NBN in particular, firmly opposing any attempt to delve into its historic cost data.
Dodo has set its sights firmly on the pre-paid mobile market with a new set of plans, leveraging the Optus network as its supplier.
A new Goldman Sachs report has downgraded Chorus from neutral to sell and cut the firm's yield-based 12-month price target by 19% down to NZ$3.00, following the Commerce Commission's draft decision to slash wholesale pricing on Chorus' unbundled copper local loop service.
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The Federal Government has taken a scythe to the communications bureaucracy in its 2012/3 Federal Budget, unveiled last night. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will take a $4.5m cut in its budgeted expenditure with average staff positions to fall from 575 to 540.
The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy will also lose staff, falling from 672 to 641 average head count. The cuts would appear to be a result of the government's 4% efficiency dividend imposed on all departments and agencies.
The number of NBN retailers could shrink to as few as six, according to Internode CTO John Lindsay, with the hundreds of small providers doing business today either being acquired or going under.
The future of telco competition will shift away from interminable disputes over fixed-line access and centre around services, content, and fixed-mobile convergence. That was the message coming out of a Communications Alliance forum on competition law in Sydney, with both Australian Competition and Consumer Commission commissioner Ed Willet and Baker & McKenzie partner Georgina Foster looking to services and bundling as the new battlegrounds in the world engendered by an open-access wholesale-only NBN.
Australia could suffer the same low NBN takeup that Singapore is experiencing if the marketing message stays focused on speed rather than applications, according to Frost & Sullivan.
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Pacnet has named Nigel Stitt as its new ANZ CEO to drive the firm further into the cloud and datacentre space. And the firm has simultaneously committed to a massive expansion of its Sydney CBD datacentre, effectively tripling its size. CommsDay caught up with Stitt who replaces Deborah Homewood in the role and global CEO Bill Barney to discuss Pacnet's future in ANZ, its move away from the wholesale carrier business, and the latest rumours of an external bid to buy the company.
Optus brought on 421,000 net mobile adds in the full year to 31 March, as revealed by parent company the SingTel Group ahead of its annual results briefing today. Meanwhile, the SingTel Group has reached a mobile customer base of 445 million, an 11% year-on-year increase while a Commonwealth Bank report has tipped the group to achieve FY12 EBITDA guidance by the slimmest of margins.
Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused the Federal Government of cooking the budget books with an accounting fiddle over the National Broadband Network. The Federal Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security will meet today to consider the federal government's referral request to review national security legislation.
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The Australian Communications and Media Authority has unveiled its comprehensive strategy for spectrum planning over the next five years including an imminent review of the 1.5GHz band, as the regulator looks for new resources to tackle the voracious demand for more mobile broadband capacity.
senate committee considering the private member's bill from former Greens leader Bob Brown to restrict the deployment of mobile phone base stations has recommended that the bill not be passed.
Primus Australia has seen its first quarter net revenue drop by 6.9% for the three months ended March 31.
Corning Cable Systems Australia has kicked off production of ribbon fibre cable at its Clayton facilities near Melbourne, part of a A$40 million investment push planned in the area to support Corning's work with the NBN.
In the wake of the federal budget, shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has addressed reports that the Commonwealth would be liable for almost A$2 billion dollars should the NBN be cancelled following a change of government saying that a coalition government would not terminate the project outright
Thanks: 
Commsday-Australia
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