Mobile operators need to know how to innovate in mobile broadband pricing and transformation is needed both in outlook and systems to make this happen, says Jaco Fourie, senior BSS expert at Ericsson.

In common I suspect with many other longer-serving observers of the telecoms industry, the news that it has been all of 20 years since engineer Neil Papworth tapped out his seasonal text message to a friend and unwittingly launched what was to become next most successful service to voice, bought a wry smile to my face. It is tempting to look back and wonder just how we failed to see that one coming. The fact is however we didn’t see it coming and were collectively taken by surprise by the speed with which the world and his dog adopted text messaging as its second most favourite means of telecommunication. While we may find it deeply ironic that the fickleness of human nature could take a multi-trillion dollar global industry by surprise, we should look for the lessons to be learned from the experience.

Italian carrier Wind this week introduced a Facebook application that enables its prepay customers to top up their credit directly through the social networking platform.

Financial services firm Visa continued its expansion into the mobile payments space by announcing a preferential partnership with Telefónica in Europe.

An MVNO that offers free mobile data in return for viewing adverts has launched in the UK. Samba Mobile is available for tablet and laptop owners and offers users a range of interactive adverts to drive engagement.

More than a third of smartphone users in Europe are thought to pay for applications via operator billing, according to research released on Wednesday.

The biggest innovations in m-payment mechanisms among merchants seem to be at the lower end of the market. But Big Retail is still in the running and everyone is seeking to influence a change in behaviour.