• Canadian telecom Telus posted a 28% jump in third-quarter profit thanks to increases in wireless and wireline data revenue. Telus reported that its net income rose to $438 million. The company also boosted its 2007 earnings forecast to between $3.55 and $3.65 Canadian a share.
• Japan's Casio Computer announced plans to launch its own branded W-CDMA mobile phones in Japan between the second half of 2008 and early 2009. Casio currently makes CDMA-based phones for Japan's KDDI, Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and South Korea's LG.
• Challenger Mobile has announced the availability of its new Hosted Mobile VoIP service. Challenger's turnkey offering promises to enable wireless carriers and even new industry entrants to create and deploy their own branded mVoIP service within four weeks. Challenger's white-label Mobile VoIP platform allows subscribers to place calls from their mobile phones over the Internet, using Wi-Fi, GPRS or 3G connection.
With the current economic climate, wireless operators face shrinking marketing budgets and reduced consumer spending.
Globally, the credit crunch is very much alive, and operators will be tightening their belts into the foreseeable future by putting off capital purchases.
