FEDERAL Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has described an attack on federal government websites as "juvenile''.

(Telecompaper) AT&T plans to roll out HSPA 7.2 technology in the US. This HSPA 7.2 initiative is supported by AT&T's ongoing deployment of additional backhaul capacity to mobile sites. The company plans to begin deployment of HSPA 7.2 in six major cities, including Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami, with initial service availability expected in these markets by the end of the year. The company plans to deploy HSPA 7.2 in 25 markets by the end of 2010, and to reach about 90 percent of its existing 3G network footprint with HSPA 7.2 by the end of 2011. The upgraded network platform allows for theoretical peak speeds of 7.2 Mbps. The AT&T rollout of HSPA 7.2 will be matched with the availability of multiple compatible wireless handsets and devices. The company expects to have six HSPA 7.2-compatible smartphones in its device portfolio by the end of the year, as well as two new LaptopConnect cards. The LTE devices are still in development. As HSPA 7.2 is rolled out

TELSTRA has won a reprieve against the Australian Competition Tribunal to wind back regulation on wholesale voice services.

(Telecompaper) Avaya and Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN) have won approval to participate in the bidding for Nortel's enterprise equipment unit. The auction for the activities, with annual revenues of USD 2.4 billion, is scheduled for 11 September. Avaya earlier announced a USD 475 million 'stalking horse' bid. People close to the situation suggested to the Financial Times that SEN might have an edge in the sale since there are unlikely to be anti-trust issues. If Avaya won the auction, a competition probe could delay a closing of the deal by up to one year. SEN would also pledge to keep the headquarters of the combined group in Canada to soothe political objections. The auction is expected to attract bids of as much as USD 600 million.

Support for extensions to customise Chrome, the number one requested feature for Google's browser, has started to arrive for developers. Previously, extensions worked only for those who enabled the feature with a command line switch. Now the feature is enabled by default in the developer preview version of Chrome on Windows, Aaron Boodman, the Google engineer who oversees the extensions work, said in a blog post on Wednesday.

(Telecompaper) The Dutch mobile industry generated EUR 1.66 billion in revenue in the second quarter, showing an increase of 0.5 percent compared to the same quarter last year, and a seasonal increase of 2.8 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2009. According to Telecompaper's quarterly mobile market monitor, messaging and data services continued to grow (although at a somewhat slower rate) and compensate for the annual decline in voice revenue. The number of mobile subscribers (including MVNOs) increased by 321,000 in the second quarter to around 21.4 million at the end of June, and was up by 1 million over the last 12 months. Market penetration increased to 129.3 percent at the end of Q2 2009, from 123.4 percent in Q2 2008. KPN increased its market leader position to almost 50 percent of all subscribers, while Vodafone saw its market share increase to 22 percent and T-Mobile dropped to around 28 percent. Based on first-half 2009 results, Telecompaper slightly increased its

(Telecompaper) Greek operator Wind Hellas is preparing a call for bids to invest in or acquire the company. Its holding company Hellas II announced that its financial advisor has started contacting a number of strategic and financial investors regarding their potential interest in the acquisition. In addition, discussions with the main shareholder in Wind Hellas, Weather Investments have continued regarding its potential support for or participation in new financing for the debt-laden company. The company is also in talks with its creditors and some of the largest lenders on its senior credit facility. Hellas II expects to seek expressions of interest from potential bidders during the week of 21 September. Following the receipt of any expressions of interest, the company will immediately consider the range of strategic alternatives available and the next steps regarding the appropriate course of action. The group underlined that it is conducting an "expedited" process given its limited

(Telecompaper) BTC and Vivatel presented their new corporate identity 'Vivacom' during an event on 10 September at the Telephone Palace in Bulgaria's capital Sofia. Vivacom, whose slogan is 'United Communications', was formed through the merger of fixed-line incumbent BTC and its mobile subsidiary Vivatel. The new company has an integrated vision, one team and a full portfolio of telecommunication services under a single brand name. As part of the event, dancers from the 'Compagnie Les Passagers', French dance company held a free open-air performance outside the Telephone Palace in central Sofia.

VODAFONE Hutchison Australia has ended its hunt for a new corporate headquarters after signing a 10-year lease on a 11,000sqm office space.