The Chief Technology Officer of mobile phone operator Vodafone, Jeni Mundy, has spoken out about the difficulties facing mobile operators with the rise in smartphone ownership.

According to Mundy, last year one in five mobiles on the Vodafone network was a smartphone. By 2011, this will rise to one in two. New smartphones, for example the new iPhone 4, are continuously communicating with network even when the user isn’t using the mobile. As you can imagine, this puts a massive strain on networks and many mobile operators are struggling to cope. While smartphones are all well and good, the problems facing their continued usage need to be dealt with if we’re to continue using them.

Virgin Mobile’s entry into the Persian Gulf state of Qatar hasn’t exactly turned out as planned. A mere two months ago, Virgin Mobile entered into partnership with Qatar Telecom (aka Qtel) but unfortunately for Virgin, the other mobile operator in Qatar didn’t like it.

Vodafone Qatar announced that it would be filing a complaint with Qatar’s telecoms regulator about the new Qtel/Virgin partnership. After the regulator, ictQatar, investigated, it released its findings last week. According to ictQatar, the partnership between Qtel and Virgin was anti-competitive and deceptive and the companies would have to pay. Better luck next time Virgin.

Last week saw the release of two fake press releases. Both press releases had the same phone number on the bottom of them with a New Zealand dialling code, although they dealt with different companies not in New Zealand. The first press release was about General Mills Inc. and was published on PR Newswire. The second release concerned Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc. published on Business Wire. The phone number is thought to be a Vodafone phone number and Vodafone New Zealand is currently looking into it.

According to sources, a man answered the phone number on different occasions, giving different names and saying that he was the sender of the press releases. Fraud squads and internet crime units are looking into the case.

Popular mobile phone operator Vodafone may not be so popular after all. Apparently, due to the regulations of Ofcom, UK telecoms regulator, and due to its own zeal, Vodafone smartphones will not let you stream the World Cup. Uh oh.

Ofcom decreed that all mobile internet service providers must be responsible for the protection of children. However, Vodafone’s filtering capabilities don’t stretch to RTSP (audio and video) streams, so all RSTP streams have been blocked. You can have them unblocked should you prove your age, but it’s by a URL-by-URL and stream-by-stream basis. So as you can imagine, Vodafone customers without an iPhone (because of course, iPhones work differently to everything, ever) aren’t too happy!

A year after dumping the England cricket team, mobile phone operator Vodafone has decided to switch sides and sponsor Australia.

About as ironic as you can get, last year Vodafone announced they were going to end their sponsorship of the England cricket team just a few months before England won the Ashes. Vodafone must have been cursing itself!

Now though the mobile company has another shot at glory by backing the Australian team. Once bitten twice shy doesn’t seem to apply to Vodafone – let’s hope for another English victory!

Vodafone, the popular mobile operator, has said that it is considering going to court to challenge a ruling that could see it pay up to $2 billion (around £1.35 billion) in income tax.

A court ruling by the income tax department in India is attempting to tax UK-based Vodafone on a telecoms deal that occurred in 2007. The deal in question saw Vodafone buy a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd. for $11.2 billion (around £7.59 billion).

Vodafone is arguing that because the deal took place on foreign soil, it shouldn’t be liable to pay income tax on the deal. However, as the mobile company is an Indian asset, the Indian government feels that it should be entitled to the income tax.

Vodafone is definitely making a concerted effort to target any and all customers recently, despite its difficulties in India. The mobile phone operator has just reduced data roaming charges and is now offering the Vodafone Business Choice for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Vodafone Business Choice solution offers a mixture of tariffs and services, chosen via SME feedback. The tariffs mix email, text, data and voice and begin with a standard package. After that, businesses choose base packages dependant upon how many employees will be supplied with a business mobile. After this, employers choose a mix of extra benefits such as browsing or tech support. At cost effective prices too, there’s no doubt at all that the plan will prove popular with SMEs.

Vodafone, a leading mobile operator, has been having more than a little trouble with its Indian business recently. After Vittorio Colao’s predecessor Arun Sarin bought the controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, now Vodafone Essar, things started to go downhill. The main problem, is that although India is one of the largest emerging telecoms markets, it doesn’t have the proper structure yet. Rather than four or five main mobile phone operators, India has around fifteen. Hardly conducive to growth and success. It’s for this reason that Vodafone has had to write down the value of Vodafone Essar.

Vodafone has just announced an extremely profitable year however, with shareholders focusing on the £2.3 billion writedown, shares closed down by 0.35p.

Despite incurring an impairment charge of £2.3 billion for spectrum charges in its Indian branch, Vodafone seems to have had a very good year. The mobile phone operator has reported annual profits of £8.7 billion, despite the fiasco in India. This is more than double last years profits for the company.

The huge growth in both mobile broadband and data usage as well as the boom in smartphones has obviously resulted in a good year for Vodafone. Despite worries over the merger between T-Mobile and Orange, it seems that Vodafone is doing OK!

Vodafone, the UK mobile phone operator, has announced new data roaming charges in a move to provide cheaper internet connections for people travelling abroad.

A lot of mobile phone operators are now reducing their scandalous data roaming charges as more and more customers complain about them and stop using mobile broadband whilst abroad.

Vodafone has decided to stop charging £5 per day for anything up to 5MB. Instead, the mobile phone operator will charge £1 before 5MB and £5 for every following 5MB. The new price plan will be implemented on June 15^th.