Snapshot Edition 29

Parents should monitor children’s mobile habits Parents should take a close interest in the mobile phone habits of their young children to ensure that they are not accessing inappropriate material, AMTA CEO Chris Althaus told ABC TV this week. He was responding to a Sydney newspaper report that said an 11-year-old boy was suspended from his primary school after downloading nude photos from the internet on his mobile phone and showing them to his classmates.

Rising consumer expectations to test mobiles industry Rapidly rising consumer expectations of their mobile carriers were testing the industry’s ability to meet them, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, John Pinnock, told an AMTA Members Forum in Melbourne last night.

Gosford City Council Drops Buffer Zone Policy The Mobile Carriers Forum has held meetings with planning staff at Gosford City Council expressing industry's concerns about the council's buffer zone policy requiring mobile phone base stations to be kept 500 metres from "sensitive locations" such as hospitals, schools and aged care centres.

Passengers a major source of distractions, says safety committee Chatting to passengers is the biggest source of driver distraction – worse than using new technologies such as iPods, DVDs and car navigation systems – a Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into driver distractions has found. The Age report today said the Parliament of Victoria Road Safety Committee inquiry found that the greatest source of driver distraction was related to interacting with passengers and not technology related.

NRL legend helps round up mobiles this weekend Rugby league legend Steve Menzies will show the precision passing that makes him one of the game’s best ever when he lines up this weekend at Warringah Mall to target mobile phone recycling.

New appointments on AMTA’s Board and new AMTA member AMTA Chair Holly Kramer announced two new Board appointments following yesterday's AMTA Board meeting. Mr Andrew Volard, the Managing Director, Motorola South Pacific, a serving Board member, was appointed the new AMTA Deputy Chair. Mr Bill Zikou, Chief Executive Officer, Ericsson Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, has filled the casual vacancy created by the resignation of Mr Barry Borzillo.

AMTA Mobile Telecommunications Conference 2006 AMTA's annual conference is on in 26 days! If you are interested in policy, regulation or the latest market developments, you cannot afford to miss the conference in Sydney on September 20-21.

China's mobile subscribers reach 426 million by Q2 2006 The number of mobile subscribers in China reached 426 million by the end of the second quarter of 2006, an increase of over 4% quarter over quarter, according to report by Analysis International.