Telstra hit with A$100K fine for ‘misleading’ iPhone 6 ad
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACC) has fined Telstra AUD102,000 ($84,000) for a misleading iPhone ad it ran in September. The ad promoted an AUD70 per month bundled plan with the iPhone 6, but consumers were actually required to pay an additional AUD11 per month for the device, the ACC said.

The ad did mention the AUD11 fee in the fine print, but the regulator said that the way it was displayed “misrepresented the price”.

Telstra has defended the ad, noting it was “in line with the way many others advertise mobile plans and handsets”, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

NBTC turns down CAT’s compensation request
Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has rejected CAT’s claim for THB14 billion ($425 million) in compensation for lost revenue after the regulator ordered True Move to keep its existing 2G customers for a year after its concession expired, the Bangkok Post reported.

Last year the NBTC passed a regulation allowing two 2G concessionaires — True and an AIS subsidiary (DPC) which rented networks from CAT — to use the networks until their remaining 2G customers migrated to new services. True’s concession expired last September.

The 1.8GHz spectrum used by True and DPC was scheduled to be auctioned in September, but the new military government postponed the auction and the concessionaires were give an extra year to wind up their 2G services on that band.

China Telecom plans more ‘secure’ handsets
China Telecom is working with several domestic mobile phone makers to develop a range of more than 10 secure devices supporting level-4 protection.

The handsets will be priced at CNY1,000-5,000 ($163-816) and will be able to operate on all three of the country’s main mobile operators’ networks, C114net reported. The vendors are said to include Coolpad, Huawei, Hisense and ZTE.

China Telecom and Coolpad claimed to launch the country’s first secure phones in November. The Bodun reportedly supports two operating systems – the Android OS and a security mode OS developed by the two Chinese firms. Security features include call encryption and secure APP software.

Smartphone prices to drop 10% in Taiwan
The average selling price of smartphones in Taiwan is expected to drop 10 per cent year-on-year to $303. IDC forecast that the average price globally will fall just 4 per cent to $285 in 2015.

Smartphone sales in Taiwan are predicted to grow 18 per cent to 8.9 million units and slow to 4 per cent next year.