One technology more than any other has stood out as a success story for the U.S. military in Iraq: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, says C/Net’s Crave.

The best-known of the UAV is the MQ-1 Predator, built by General Atomics. It has evolved from its early use as simply a reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft to become an armed […]

At a recent Telstra Investor day conference (sunday), when asked about Android, Steve Ballmer said
“[Google] can hire smart guys, hire smart people, blah-de-blah-de-blah. … I don’t really understand their strategy, maybe somebody else does. … Turning up to an investor meeting saying, ‘We’ve just launched a mobile operating system with no revenue model, yay!’ — […]

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There’s plenty of commentary today about Vodafone’s half-year results out today. However, given the currency fluctuations that have been going on, you need to be a professor of accountancy to back out some of the more granular underlying trends. Nevert…

The state-backed Russian long-distance operator Rostelecom is predicting that its revenues will triple to more than RUB160 billion (USD5.98 billion) by 2013 as it expands into new lines of business. The company, which is controlled by national telecoms group Svyazinvest, expects operating income before depreciation and amortisation (OIBDA) to increase to RUB48.1 billion in 2013, from RUB11.1 billion last year, Reuters reports. Rostelecom is aiming to win 15% of the retail broadband market within five years as it expands on its core long-distance business, where it is seeing increasing competition. Apart from mergers and acquisitions, Rostelecom would seek to expand its geographical presence through network construction and is exploring other opportunities such as joint ventures and partnership schemes, Reuters says.

Meanwhile, Rostelecom shareholder Svyazinvest is considering a plan to merge its operating units into a single company. The deal would cover Rostelecom and Svyazinvest’s seven mega-regional telecoms operators: CenterTelecom, North-West Telecom, Southern Telecom, Volga Telecom, Uralsvyazinform, SibirTelecom and Dalsvyaz. Svyazinvest is expected to release more details of its future strategy by the end of next month, according to local press reports.

The US wireline operator Frontier Communications (formerly Citizens Communications) has seen a slight decline in third-quarter net income, from USD47.4 million to USD47.0 million, as it continues to lose access line customers. Revenues dropped back 3% to USD557.9 million. Frontier lost around 44,300 access lines during the third quarter, leaving it with 2.3 million lines in service at end-September.

South Africa’s largest cellular operator in terms of subscribers, Vodacom, has seen earnings climb 12.5% in the first half of its fiscal year on the back of subscriber growth. Operating profit for the six months to the end of September reached ZAR6.4 billion (USD635 million), while sales for the period were up 14% year-on-year at ZAR26 billion. The firm said customer numbers were up 13.1% to 35.7 million.

The US mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Virgin Mobile USA has reported higher than expected third-quarter earnings even though it lost around 3,000 net customers during the latest three-month period. The firm saw a net profit of USD4.1 million in the three months to end-September, reversing a loss of USD7.4 million a year before. Revenues rose from USD301 million to USD305 million. The firm claimed 5.2 million customers at the end of September. ‘Our business performed well in the third quarter,’ said Dan Schulman, CEO of Virgin Mobile USA.

US cable operator Insight Communications has reported a 17% year-on-year jump in third-quarter revenues to USD220 million, with adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortisation climbing 8% to USD69.5 million. The gains came on the back of an addition of more than 250,000 net new revenue generating units (RGUs) in the twelve months to end-September 2008, taking the total RGU base to above 1.8 million. This includes 445,100 high speed internet customers and 420,500 digital telephony subscribers. Insight Communications is currently the tenth largest cable operator in the United States with approximately 753,300 customer relationships in the states of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.

The US wireless ISP Clearwire has reported a 47% jump in consolidated service revenues for the three months to the end of September on the back of strong subscriber growth. Revenues for the third quarter reached USD60.8 million, from USD41.3 million a year earlier, with customer numbers climbing from 348,000 to 469,000 over the same period. The firm says consolidated average revenue per user (ARPU) hit a record of USD40.43, up by over USD3.00 on the 3Q 2007 figure. Net loss for the third quarter stood at USD166.6 million compared to a loss of USD328.6 million a year before, though the 2007 period included a non-cash charge of USD159.2 million related to extinguishment of debt. The US telecoms regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently approved a deal which will see Clearwire merge with the WiMAX business of cellular operator Sprint Nextel. Clearwire shareholders will vote on the proposed deal on 20 November.

The Turkish government has finally introduced mobile number portability (MNP), more than 18 months after it was first expected to be implemented. The more than 63 million mobile users in Turkey can now switch service provider while retaining their current phone number, and this is expected to lead to fierce competition as the country’s three cellcos fight to keep existing customers while also aiming to lure new subscribers from rival networks. The market is dominated by former monopolist Turkcell, which has a 55% share of all subscriptions, but smaller competitors Vodafone and Avea will be hoping that MNP can help them win market share from their rival. All three firms have launched promotional campaigns to coincide with the introduction of number portability.

Telkom South Africa is to acquire 100% of internet service provider MWEB Africa and 75% of MWEB Namibia from media group Naspers for ZAR610 million (USD63 million) as it looks to expand its businesses outside its domestic market. The deal also covers MWEB’s satellite internet business AFSAT but does not include MWEB South Africa. MWEB Africa has internet operations in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, an agency arrangement in Botswana and distributors in 26 Sub-Saharan African countries, Reuters reports. Telkom already owns Nigeria’s Multi-Links and Kenya’s Africa Online. ‘Expanding beyond the borders of SA provides Telkom with an opportunity to become less dependent on domestic revenue streams,’ said Telkom CEO Reuben September.

Telekom Austria has announced plans to axe 1,250 jobs by the end of 2009 in an attempt to cut costs at it its domestic fixed line division. A non-cash provision of EUR630 million (USD808.9 million) is being made to represent the estimated future personnel expenses of the redundant employees up to their retirement, and this will impact reported results in 4Q 2008, the telco says. The provision will not, however, have any effects on the firm’s operating performance or cash flow and it will improve future earnings. The measures are expected to improve 2009 EBITDA by approximately EUR35 million, primarily as a result of lower personnel expenses. ‘Against the backdrop of a shrinking domestic fixed line market, downsizing measures are imperative,’ said Boris Nemsic, CEO of Telekom Austria.

Orascom Telecom Algeria has contracted Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to provide its Home Location Register (HLR) subscriber data management solution, allowing Orascom to develop a single database for subscriber information. Orascom says the new system will enable it to move towards smart, subscriber-centric operations, which will reduce time-to-market for service deployment. The solution, which is due to go live early next year, is also expected to generate significant capital and operating expenditure savings. Orascom Telecom Algeria had 14.2 million subscribers and just under half of Algeria’s total mobile market at the end of June, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database.

GrameenPhone (GP) has signed agreements with ten institutions to raise BDT4.25 billion (USD63.2 million) by issuing coupon-bearing bonds in the local market on a private placement basis, arranged by Citibank. Bangladesh’s largest mobile operator said in a statement yesterday that the bonds will be ‘unsecured and non-convertible’ and will not be listed on any bourse, but will be ‘freely transferable’ and able to be bought and sold ‘over the counter’. ‘GP has taken the initiative to look beyond the conventional bank loan structure and into the capital market in the form of issuing a debt instrument to meet its funding needs,’ the company said. GP plans to improve its network infrastructure and pre-pay a portion of its short-term debt with the proceeds of the bonds. Anders Jensen, outgoing CEO of the cellco, said, ‘A placement of this kind will provide the bond market of the country a much needed boost and pave the way for other companies to explore this new avenue of financing.’

As of 30 September 2008, Quebec-based cableco Videotron had 1.692 million subscribers to its cable television service, including 877,000 subscribers to digital TV, with the total viewer base up by 31,000 during the quarter and by 53,000 on a year-to-date basis. At the end of the third quarter Videotron had 1.031 million cable internet access subscribers, an increase of 36,400 in three months, and 98,000 since the beginning of the year. Videotron’s cable telephony service also sustained its success during the third quarter; Quebec households and organisations had activated a total of 798,000 fixed phone lines on the network as of end-September, up by 55,000 quarter-on-quarter and 162,000 since 1 January. The cableco, which recently released plans to roll out its own mobile network, had signed up a total of 58,600 subscribers to its MVNO mobile phone service by 30 September, including 14,000 since the beginning of 2008.