Mobile Phone Insurance News

The EU has reached a draft deal to cut the price of texting abroad. They have also come to the conclusion that the rates for using Laptops abroad should be capped.

Apparently the rates are lower than expected. Good news for users - bad new for the network operators who had been lobbying to keep rates at the higher end of expectations.

Watch this space.

Vodafone and O2 have agreed to share their networks and save millions of pounds. The two companies will share masts and build new ones together. The massive amount of overlap will mean that a large number of masts will be decommissioned saving money on rent for the land used for the mast and maintenance costs.

The deal will cover the UK, the Irish Republic, Spain and Germany. They insist that they will still compete fiercely on services and prices offered.

The 2 companies manage 549 million customers world wide.

Vodafone and Telefonica are some of the largets Mobile phone operators in the world, here are some interesting figures comparing the two:

Number of countries where they operate: Vodafone 27, Telefonica 25.

Market Value: Vodafone £63 billion, Telefonica £66 billion.

Number of Customers: Vodafone 289 million, Telefonica 259 million.

Annual Revenue: Vodafone £35.5 billion, Telefonica £54.5 billion.

Employees: Vodafone 72,000, Telefonica 250,000

Interesting stuff

16% of people keep their Bank Details on their Mobile and 80% of us store information that could be used to steel identities. These are the findings of Credant Technologies, a computer security firm. They are highlighting the fact that many people store infomation that might put their security at risk - thinks like PIN number and passwords.

So if you lose your phone it will hopefully be covered by Insurance2go - however we can’t help if your PIN number is on it, a nightmare if they have nicked your handbag with your bank card in it.  

Nokia have announced a further 1,700 redundancies worldwide, 700 of the jobs will be lost in Nokia’s home country Finland whilst the rest will be lost in the US, Britain and france.

Some good news - Vislink the supplier of microwave radio and satellite transmission products have said that they have won three contracts to supply digital wirelss surveillance systems to public safety agencies in Australia, California and Latin America. The contracts are worth in the region of £1.6 million.

Xcel Telecom the indian wirelss group has been aquired by American Tower for a sum in the region of $136 million.   

The South African mobile phone network MTN is to extend its telephone banking services to over 20 countries across Africa over the coming year. The companies have offered financial services by Mobile Phone since 2005.

The BBC has been running a story about rogue traders calling customers just after they have purchased a mobile phone to offer them Insurance on their new mobile. These companies apparently indicate to the customer that they are representatives of the network or retailer where the phone was purchased and get the customer to pass on credit card details which are then used to take money.

The issue is that there is not insurance and the customer cannot contact the company again. Rule of thumb is to make sure the people you take out insurance with as fully FSA accredited.

Naturally Insurance2go are fully FSA accredited.   

Inmarsat the satellite mobile and broadband supplier reported full year pre-tax profits of $193.8 million up from $124.7 in the previous year. They said that customers reliance on the services they provide protect their profits.

Good news for a Friday.

A breakthrough in battery technology made by scientists in the US may mean that charging a mobile phone could be done in a matter of seconds. There are of course lots of applications for faster charging batteries: easier power storage for electricity from solar panels, improved performance in electic cars, speedy recharging for laptops, mobiles and cameras. Early tests are very positive and there is talk of the new technology being available within a couple of years.

We’ve come a long way when early mobile phones would have 11 standby and 30 minutes talktime.    

Shares in Tiscali, the Italian Broadband provider, were suspended after the sales of it’s UK business to BSkyB collapsed. Talks have been taking place between the two parties since November but worsening market conditions made it impossible to proceed.