Vodafone Hutchinson Australia has said that the NBN fibre to the premises project is vital to support mobile connectivity, the Register has reported. At an open public hearing of the Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network Matthew Lobb, Vodafone’s general manager of public policy, told the committee that the argument that “because consumers love mobile tech they don’t like wires the NBN is not important” was misleading and that “getting fixed line right is absolutely crucial for mobile networks.”

Mobile operators need to go short if they want to go along with their customers. RCSe can rejoin the broken links between operators and their customers, at a cost.

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will order Bharti Airtel, Idea, Vodafone to end their roaming pact, according to media reports in the country. The three operators had entered into an agreement with one another to offer 3G mobile services in circles, or districts, where they failed to acquire spectrum in the country’s auction when it was held last year.

As the global director for terminals marketing at the Vodafone Group, Peter Becker-Pennrich holds decision making powers over a procurement strategy that deals in serious volumes. Vodafone buys between 60 and 70 million handsets each year, spending $8bn across it’s footprint, including affiliates and partner markets. In this exclusive interview Becker-Pennrich offers frank assessments of the different strategies adopted by the vendor community, their chances for success and the nature of the relationship – ever evolving – between operators, vendors and platform developers.