The rapid take-up of data services has highlighted the importance of consumers being aware of and using self-help tools to manage their spending, AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, said today following the release of an Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) report on mobile capped plans.

The mobile telecommunications industry welcomes today’s release of the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s paper on capped mobile plans, which finds a high level of customer satisfaction and awareness of what is included in capped plans.

Mobile Capped Plans: consumer attitudes and behaviours, a report of ACMA commissioned research released today, shows that 39 per cent of mobile phone users have a mobile capped plan.

Australians have helped MobileMuster collect over 5,000 kilograms of old unused mobiles and accessories for its ‘Old Phones, More Trees’ campaign over the past three weeks. However, a further 25,000 kilograms are needed to reach the campaign’s aim of recycling 30,000 kilograms of mobiles and accessories to plant 30,000 trees in partnership with Landcare Australia.

MobileMuster, the official recycling program of the mobile phone industry, is calling on local councils which have helped promote and collect mobile phones for recycling over the last year to enter the 2010 MobileMuster Local Government Awards.

A new technology has been developed that will allow travellers to by-pass the check-in desks and unlock their hotel rooms themselves by using their mobile phones, says News.com this week.

A bipartisan pair of US Senate leaders have introduced a first-of-its-kind bill aimed at stopping terrorist suspects such as the would-be Times Square bomber from hiding their identities by using prepaid cellphones to plot their attacks, the Washington Post reports from the US.

Mobile-telephone customers are being surprised by extra fees and contract terms, a U.S. regulator said, touching off a fight with the wireless industry that said the agency is about to micromanage the companies, Bloomberg reports in CTIA SmartBrief.