Wireless Asia articles from December 2001

Wireless Asia archives from December 2001

Why cdma2000 is not 3G.(Street Wise)
December 1, 2001... There's been much discussion within the industry on 3G. On one side of the coin, there is Japan, where NTT DoCoMo started the world's first commercial service based on the Europe/Japan-developed Wideband CDMA standard, which many in the...

Industry giants square off against Openwave, M-services: in an unprecedented show of strength, 18 major players in the wireless industry are supporting an open mobile architecture that would enable a non-fragmented global mobile services market. But what the announcement doesn't say is more telling that its message.(News Analysis)
December 1, 2001... In an unprecedented show of strength, 18 major players in the wireless industry are supporting an open mobile architecture that would enable a non-fragmented global mobile services market. But what the announcement doesn't say is more telling...

Cellcos tighten security after base station attacks: Philippines' operators find they are attractive targets for insurgents looking to raise quick cash through shakedown. Art Villasanta reports from Manila.(News Anlysis)
December 1, 2001... Smart Communications and Globe Telecom, the Philippines' leading cellcos, said they would not give in to extortion demands by communist guerillas following attacks on their cellsites in the southern Philippines last month. Both announced...

Thailand's slow crawl to 3G.(News Analysis)
December 1, 2001... Telcos interested in operating third generation mobile communication networks in Thailand are being told to be patient. While remaining frequencies will eventually be put no to tender, there is little likelihood of a bid being called before...

Mobile internet: new vogue in Infosoc.(advertorial)
December 1, 2001... Mobile internet is gradually finding its way into people's everyday life, dramatically reshaping the way we live and the way we conduct business. It is becoming the new vogue in the information society. choosing the right vendor will be an...

Both China and Taiwan are approved for membership of the World Trade Organization.(Movements)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Both China and Taiwan are approved for membership of the World Trade Organization at the WTO's fourth ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar. Taiwan, and three smaller islands under its control, will enter the WTO as the "separate Customs territory...

Hutchison Whampoa places its second order for over 1 million 3G devices with NEC Corporation.(Movements)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Hutchison Whampoa places its second order for over 1 million 3G devices with NEC Corporation. Under the agreement, NEC will begin delivery of 3G devices in the fourth quarter of 2000 to Hutchison 3G operations worldwide. The phones will be dual...

Nokia outpaces Palm and Compaq to take the lead as the market leader in the PDA segment.(Movements)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Nokia outpaces Palm and Compaq to take the lead as the market leader in the PDA segment. According to a new report by Canalys, Nokia shipped 150,000 Communicator devices in the third quarter of 2001, compared to 108,000 units by Palm and 67,000...

Ericsson.(Movements)(Cost-cutting is major focus of presentation executive vice president and CFO Sten Fornell)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Cost-cutting is a major focus of a presentation by Ericsson executive vice president and CFO Sten Fornell during a briefing in Hong Kong. Despite the cost cutting, Ericsson squeezed a tiny 1% operating margin out of its business since March....

Siemens.(Movements)(Siemens board member Volker Jung renews speculation that the company plans to merge its mobile phone business with another vendor)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Siemens board member Volker Jung renews speculation on 21 November that the company plans to merge its mobile phone business with another vendor. Jung tells German paper, Die Financial Times Deutschland, that the company is currently in talks...

Beijing: Beijing approves Toshiba's joint venture with Nanjing Postel Telecommunications.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Beijing: Beijing approves Toshiba's joint venture with Nanjing Postel Telecommunications--one of the 19 firms licensed by the government to produce CDMA handsets--and a Hong Kong-listed investment group, Wong's International (Holdings), to make...

Beijing: China Mobile and China Unicom sign and interconnection agreement.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Beijing: China Mobile and China Unicom sign an interconnection agreement to connect their GSM networks as well as the soon-to-be launched Unicom CDMA network. The two companies also reach an agreement on charge-sharing.

Hangzhou: China Unicom launches its "virtual mobile service" in Zhejiang province, offering prices as much as 50% lower than those of China Mobile.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Hangzhou: China Unicom launches its "virtual mobile service" in Zhejiang province, offering prices as much as 50% lower than those of China Mobile. Unicom says the service targets corporate customers only and acts as an internal VPN for...

Shanghai: Samsung Electronics has obtained Chinese government approval to set up a 49-51 CDMA manufacturing joint venture with Chinese telecom vendor Shanghai Bell.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Shanghai: Samsung Electronics has obtained Chinese government approval to set up a 49-51 CDMA manufacturing joint venture with Chinese telecom vendor Shanghai Bell. The IV, tentatively called Shanghai Bell Samsung Mobile Communications, will...

Hong Kong: Hong Kong CSL says it has signed up 20,000 GPRS customers in the last two months as more handsets come on the market.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Hong Kong: Hong Kong CSL says it has signed up 20,000 GPRS customers in the last two months as more handsets come on the market. "In the first year after the first GPRS handset came out, we ended up selling only a couple of hundred GPRS...

Hong Kong: Hutchison Telecom elists US vendor TSI Telecommunications Services to roll out its GPRS roaming service.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Hong Kong: Hutchison Telecom enlists US vendor TSI Telecommunications Services to roll out its GPRS roaming service. ????? software offers a platform for Hutchison Telecom to connect its GPRS network with global GPRS network operators.

Beijing: China's mobile subscriber count reached 136 million by 31 October, announces the MII--a mobile penetration rate of 9.2%.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Beijing: China's mobile subscriber count reached 136 million by 31 October, announces the MII--a mobile penetration rate of 9.2%. For the year, that works out at an average of 5 million new subs a month.

Beijing: Motorola will invest $6.6 billion in China over the next five years, and boost its annual production to $10 billion by 2006, says company chairman and president Chris Galvin.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Beijing: Motorola will invest $6.6 billion in China over the next five years, and boost its annual production to $10 billion by 2006, says company chairman and president Chris Galvin. Motorola will also spend $10 billion in local purchasing and...

Bangkok: Cellco Advanced Info Services plans to spend 40 billion baht ($901 million) on network expansion next year.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Bangkok: Cellco Advanced Info Services plans to spend 40 billion baht ($901 million) on network expansion next year. AIS president, Somprasong Boonyachai tells reporters the company plans to raise 15 billion baht in an unsecured bonds issue to...

Kuala Lumpur: all five mobile operators in Malaysia enter into a preliminary agreement to share their network infrastructure.(Newsmpa: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Kuala Lumpur: All five mobile operators in Malaysia enter into a preliminary agreement to share their network infrastructure. Maxis, Celcom. Digi, Time Cellular and TM Cellular will now share the use of telecommunications towers and base...

Jakarta: Singtel's regional expansion continues with a $602 million deal to take over KPN Mobile's 22.3% stake in Indonesia's largest mobile carrier, Telkomsel, Parent company PT Telkom holds the remaining 77.7%.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Jakarta: SingTel's regional expansion continues with a $602 million deal to take over KPN Mobile's 22.3% stake in Indonesia's largest mobile carrier, Telkomsel, Parent company PT Telkom holds the remaining 77.7%. The agreement gives SingTel an...

Kathmandu: China's Huawei Technologies scoops the major vendors.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Kathmandu: China's Huawei Technologies scoops the major vendors to pick up a $12 million GSM network contract with Nepal's NTC.

Tokyo: NTT DoCoMo records a 52% year-on-year decline in group net profit--its first decline since listing in 1998--for its fiscal first half, thanks to its devalued 15% investment in Dutch cellular operator KPN Mobile.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Tokyo: NTT DoCoMo records a 52% year-on-year decline in group net profit--its first decline since listing in 1998--for its fiscal first half, thanks to its devalued 15% investment in Dutch cellular operator KPN Mobile. DoCoMo ends up booking...

Seoul: Shinsegi Telecomm completes a reportedly successful field trial of a proprietary all-IP wireless technology from US-based Tantivy.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Seoul: Shinsegi Telecomm completes a reportedly successful field trial of a proprietary all-IP wireless technology from US-based Tantivy. Shinsegi has been conducting "I-CDMA" (Internet CDMA) field trials with Tantivy and local manufacturer and...

Seoul: SK Telecom launches a trial service using the cdma2000 1x EV-DO platform, which promises data transmissions of up to 2.4 Mbps.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Seoul: SK Telecom launches a trial service using the cdma2000 1x EV-DO platform, which promises data transmissions of up to 2.4 Mbps. The trial service is available in selected areas of Seoul, Gwacheon and Anyang, Terminals are expected to be...

Seoul: The Ministry of Information and Communication gets approval from the Ministry of Finance to cut SK Telecom's mobile phone monthly fees by 1,000 won ($0.78) and its per-ten-second usage fees by 1 won.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Seoul: The Ministry of Information and Communication gets approval from the Ministry of Finance to cut SK Telecom's mobile phone monthly fees by 1,000 won ($0.78) and its per-ten-second usage fees by 1 won. Rival cellcos, KTF and LG Telecom are...

Sydney: About three quarters of the extra mobile network equipment Telstra used for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Sydney: About three quarters of the extra mobile network equipment Telstra used for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games has been distributed outside Sydney to metropolitan and regional areas in all states to benefit me growing number...

Sydney: Telecom Corporation of New Zealand will purchase network capacity from Vodafone Australia for TCNZ's Australian mobile unit, Cellular One.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Sydney: Telecom Corporation of New Zealand will purchase network capacity from Vodafone Australia for TCNZ's Australian mobile unit, Cellular One. Under the deal, Cellular One will resell Vodafone's mobile services under its own brand. TCNZ...

Sydney: Cable & Wireless Optus renames itself SingTel Optus.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Sydney: Cable & Wireless Optus renames itself SingTel Optus, after recent acquisition by Singapore Telecom.

Sydney: SingTel Optus kicks off a consumer version of its GPRS service.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Sydney: SingTel Optus kicks off a consumer version of its GPRS service, previously available only as a corporate service, in conjunction with the launch of three GPRS handsets--the Nokia 8310, the Siemens ME45 and the Siemens $45.

Sydney: Standard & Poor's assigns its "A" rating to Hutchison Telecom Australia's planned $154-257 million medium term note issue.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Sydney: Standard & Poor's assigns its "A" rating to Hutchison Telecom Australia's planned $154-257 million medium term note issue. The rating is dependent on the corporate credit rating of the Australian mobile operator's parent, Hutchison...

Sydney: Telecoms industry union CEPU takes SingTel Optus to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission over the 344 job cuts the telco announced on 13 November.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Sydney: Telecoms industry union CEPU takes SingTel Optus to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission over the 344 job cuts the telco announced on 13 November. The CEPU claims Optus failed to deal properly with the job reductions, and is...

Singapore: The IDA is considering the issue of a fourth 3G cellular license after April 2002.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Singapore: The IDA is considering the issue of a fourth 3G cellular license after April 2002. The regulator is canvassing public comment on this and other radio management issues in its first ever information paper on spectrum planning. The IDA...

Singapore: The Infocomm Development Authority establishes projects to re-use mobile phones and PCs.(Newsmap: around Wireless Asia)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Singapore: The Infocomm Development Authority establishes projects to re-use mobile phones and PCs. The regulator says it will equip the hearing-impaired with donated mobile phones with SMS capability, while it will help make available 1,400...

Mobile nation 2.0.(Asia's mobile sector is discussed; includes statistical data in tabular form)(Illustration)
December 1, 2001... Asia 2001 is the year claimed its place as the world's mobile leader. Japan and Korea now host the planet's most advanced wireless networks--the world's first W-CDMA network in Japan and three 3G-compliant cdma2000 1x systems in Korea--with...

New Sony Ericsson alliance strikes out.(1 _ 2 _ 3)(Interview)
December 1, 2001... After a bad year in the handset business, Ericsson's fortunes may be changing through its new joint venture. Jan Wareby, corporate executive president and head of sales and marketing at Sony Ericsson, tells Wireless Editor Tony Chan the new...

MMS ... the next mobile frontier: with the start of the world's first MMS service, the industry will have a chance to see if users are as enthusiastic as the vendors.(Wireless Biz)(Multimedia messaging service )
December 1, 2001... What do you get when you combine the success of text messaging, the speed of 2.5G cellular and the sexiness of image, sound and video? The answer, if European vendors are to be believed, is multimedia messaging service (MMS). Right now...

Economy class roaming with ZEBRA.(Wheel Of Industry)(ZEBRA is "visited network (VN) charges" roaming system under wing of 70% TTI-owned Cellular Roaming Alliance)
December 1, 2001... Intelligent Island! Clever Country! Knowledge Nation! Glib phrases that have been tripping off the tongues of politicians and marketeers in Singapore and Australia over recent years, but is there any real substance behind them? Well, not...

i-mode up for license.(tools)(NTT DoCoMo)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... NTT DoCoMo released the technical specifications of its i-mode service to the world for licensing, including the protocol stack, security, user interface, downloading, and messaging. The guidelines are posted on DoCoMo's newly revamped Web site...

Nokia to license client software.(tools)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Nokia says it will License a series of software technologies to other handset makers, including its MMS and SMS client software, and its WAP/XHTML microbrowser, as well as a SyncML-based synchronization engine. In addition, Nokia introduced its...

Telstra mobile developer scheme.(tools)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Telstra has set up a developers' program for mobile data. Under the Wireless Data Alliance scheme, the carrier will provide a "developers' zone" Web site.

Enhanced J2ME toolkit.(tools)(from Sun Microsystems)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Sun Microsystems is now offering an enhanced version of the Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME) Wireless Toolkit that enables the design and implementation of over-the-air (OTA) provisioning--the wireless delivery of applications and services...

GSM camera phone in 2002.(out now)(Nokia unveil six new cellular handset models)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Nokia has unveiled six new cellular handset models, including the Nokia 7650--the world's first GSM phone with a digital camera integrated on the back. The 7650 also comes with a large color screen and MMS support. Users can take a picture and...

Location service trial in Sichuan.(out now)(by Sichuan Mobile)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Sichuan Mobile has launched a location-based service trial based on a platform developed by SignalSoft. The trial service employs local digital map and geo-coded content from SignalSoft's Chinese partner, A-INFO, delivered via SMS and voice,...

GPRS portal.(out now)(launched by SingTel Mobile)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... SingTel Mobile launched the "e-ideas" portal site for its GPRS service last month. The English-language site includes content from ESPN Star Sports, Lycos Asia, the Golden Village cinema chain, and the Real Estate Developers Association of...

SMS coupons.(out now)(Hutchison Telecom, Visa International launch initiative)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Hutchison Telecom and Visa International have launched an initiative that enables Hutchison's Orange mobile service subscribers with Visa cards to download or receive m-coupons in SMS form, with up to 40% discounts for entertainment, shopping...

Find your friends with GPS.(out now)(NTT DoCoMo launches GPS-based "DLP service")(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... NTT DoCoMo has launched its GPS-based "DLP service", which allows users to pinpoint their location and to communicate that information to others. The service also offers the ability to check the location of other mobile phones--a benign example...

Optus gets GPRS games.(out now)(SingTel Optus)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... SingTel Optus has introduced three new exclusive mobile games designed specially to run over its GPRS service. The games, including a multiple choice trivia game, an anagram game with pictorial hints and a text-based adventure game, were...

Siemens and Materna in MMS partnership.(deals)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Siemens has formed a partnership with Materna to implement multimedia messaging services in its GPRS and UMTS product portfolio. Materna will make its MMS platform available to Siemens as a basis for applications in customer-specific projects.

DoCoMo and IBM Lotus explore feasibility.(deals)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... NTT DoCoMo and IBM Lotus Software signed a MoU to explore the feasibility of developing solutions to run business applications on DoCoMo's mobile networks, including its FOMA 3G platform. DoCoMo says it expects to accelerate the development of...

Intel and Legend combine wireless developer support.(deals)(Legend Holdings)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Chinese computer manufacturer Legend Holdings and Intel have struck a co-operation agreement between their respective support services for wireless developers. Legend's Handheld Initiative Developer Program will co-operate with Intel's Personal...

Vodafone NZ goes for Miles.(Telecom Career)(Vodafone New Zealand, Tim Miles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Vodafone New Zealand has appointed Tim Miles as its new managing director. Miles joined the company in August after seven years at Unisys Corporation where he was vice president operations of global industries.

Senior VP leaves Ericsson.(Telecom Career)(Roland Klein)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Roland Klein, Ericsson's senior vice president for corporate communication, has resigned. Klein, who joined Ericsson two years ago, will join a British-German venture which he partly owns. Ericsson has begun an international...

KTF president joins UN ICT advisory group.(Telecom Career)(Korea Telecom)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Korea Telecom president Freetel Lee Yong-kyung has been named as a member of the United Nations information and communication technologies (ICT) advisory group.

Equant names financial systems head.(Telecom Career)(Graham Russell)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Equant has appointed Graham Russell as head of financial systems. Before joining Equant, Russell worked for NCR Corporation for 18 years. Most recently, he was based in Amsterdam as NCR's chief financial officer and director of business...

Bamboo networks CTO.(Telecom Career)(Bamboo Networks appoints Winston Wong chief technology officer)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... IT solutions provider Bamboo Networks has appointed Winston Wong as the company's new chief technology officer. Wong was formerly managing director of Starnet Generation and CTO of Star East, a Hong Kong-listed entertainment company. ...

Motorola China appoints new president.(Telecom Career)(Tim Chen)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Tim Chen, vice president of Motorola China, will replace P.Y. Lai as the company's new president. Lai will take over as chairman of Motorola's China operations.

Pacific Supernet names new managing director.(Telecom Career)(Eddy Kuk)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Singapore ISP Pacific Internet has appointed Eddy Kuk as managing director of its wholly owned Hong Kong subsidiary Pacific Supernet. Kuk has headed Pacific Supernet's sales department since 1997.

New Netro director.(Telecom Career)(Shirley Young)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Broadband wireless access solutions provider Netro Corp. has appointed Shirley Young to the company's board of directors. Young, a senior adviser to General Motors-Asia Pacific and former corporate rice president, replaces Robert Wynne as a...

Xpedite names Asian VP.(Telecom Career)(Xpedite Systems Ltd, Dominic Cusk)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Xpedite Systems Limited, a provider of multimedia messaging and a business unit of Ptek Holdings Inc., has appointed Dominic Cusk as vice president for the company's Asia operations. Previously, Cusk was Xpedite's general manage for United...

Ovum appoints AP MD.(Telecom Career)(Asia Pacific, Kevin O'Brien)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Analyst and consulting firm, Ovum, has promoted Kevin O'Brien to managing director, Asia Pacific. O'Brien was formerly Ovum's sales and marketing director for the region.

Keycorp names Australian CEO.(Telecom Career)(Bruce Thompson)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Secure electronic transaction solution provider, Keycorp has appointed Bruce Thompson as chief executive officer and managing director. Thompson was appointed a non-executive director in March and interim CEO in August. He spent 32...

Volera's new executives.(Telecom Career)(Bhupi Singh, Gloria Gavin)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Bhupi Singh and Gloria Gavin have joined content networking solutions provider Volera as chief financial officer and vice president of marketing, respectively. Singh was formerly vice president of finance and chief financial officer at...

Netstar EVP.(Telecom Career)(NetStar Group, Ming Li)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... NetStar Group, an Internet-protocol/Internet-network infrastructure builder in Asia, has appointed Ming Li as executive vice president to oversee its business in the region. Li joins NetStar from Nortel Networks, where he was most recently...

MSN regional sales director.(Telecom Career)(Robin Fern)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Robin Fern has been appointed Asian Regional Sales Director for MSN, to be based in Hong Kong. Fern, who is currently regional sales director for Lycos Asia, will work with MSN's local sales teams in Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia,...

Knowledge Networks exec is new RHK CEO.(Telecom Career)(Marc Litvinoff)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Research company RHK has appointed former Knowledge Networks executive Marc Litvinoff as chief executive officer. Litvinoff was president and chief operating officer at Knowledge Networks, a market intelligence company. Prior to that he was...

In a league of their own on world stage.(Unwired)
December 1, 2001... After the excesses of 2000 (remember WAP?), 2001 has been a quiet year in the mobile space. But 2002 will be different--very different. Next year the football World Cup will be held in Asia for the first time, with China making its debut...

Shades of Malthus and Erhlich with so-called spectrum shortage.(Lynch)
December 1, 2001... Thomas Malthus is a name that may be familiar to student of demography. He was a 19th century British political economist who, surrounded by the horrors of the Industrial Revolution, concluded that humanity was doomed by the specter of...

Touched by an Angel.(Short Message)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The wireless sector might be looking for a doctor to cure its woes right now, but how about a nurse instead? Angel, a fictional 20-year-old nurse, has captured the hearts of several thousand mobile phone users on Hong Kong CSL's IDateU...

So much data, so few users.(Short Message)(Korea's cellular base was 28,83 million at the end of October)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Recent statistics from South Korea indicate that having "mobile data capability and actually using it are two different things. Last month, the latest stats from the Ministry of Information and Communication put Korea's cellular base at 28,83...

You have SMS.(Short Message)(Transmission of first SMS messages between Hong Kong's six cellular operators)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... One of the cellular world's longest-running standoffs officially ended on 3 December with the transmission of the first SMS messages between Hong Kong's six operators. The issue has been a running sore in the territory, which prides itself on...

Pound-for-pound mobility.(Short Message)(Pricing is discussed)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... In the world of competition, price only goes so far as a differentiator. Sooner or later, you*re either going to offer the same price as your competitor or you're going to be undercut. Unless you get creative in your pricing scheme. In...

China syndrome.(Short Message)(Vodafone, has posted a 300 [pounds sterling] million ($423m) writedown on investment in China Mobile)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... It seemed like a good idea at the time. The world's largest multinational operator. Vodafone, has posted a 300 [pounds sterling] million ($423m) writedown on its $2.5 bi]lion investment in China Mobile, a result of the slump in value in the...