Telecom works on WAP glitch

By PETER GRIFFIN

Telecom's mobile email service remains shut down as technicians try to fix a security flaw that allows some customers to see private messages sent over its wireless network by other users.

Information technology commentator Bruce Simpson on Friday posted an article on Australian website www.zdnet.com.au reporting the glitch.

It affects users connected to Telecom's CDMA network who are sending emails via WAP-enabled mobile phones.

A Telecom support desk staffer told Simpson the information sent during a WAP (wireless application protocol) session stayed for 60 seconds after a user logged off.

Another customer connecting to the network using the same "port" within the short time frame was then able to view the previous user's message.

Telecom spokesman Andrew Bristol said "three or four" complaints had been received about the problem.

Telecom had been unable to replicate the glitch in tests, but the service - which had 10,000 subscribers - would stay shut down for "a matter of days".

Last week Bristol appeared to be laying the blame at the feet of Telenor Norway-owned djuice, a mobile portal providing WAP and SMS technology to telecoms worldwide.

"It's particularly complicated how we hook up to djuice, which of course is a third-party product," he said.

A spokesman for djuice was unavailable for comment.

The security breach is an embarrassment for Telecom because perceived security issues with wireless networks are emerging as a major factor threatening to hold the technology's development back.

Telecom's sole rival in the local mobile space, Vodafone, yesterday revealed it had picked up an additional 51,000 customers in the three months to March 31.

Vodafone now has just under 1.1 million customers, 78 per cent of whom are prepaid mobile users. Pre-paid customers are worth on average $287 a year to Vodafone, while higher-value contract customers are worth $1,812 on average.

Vodafone spokesman Raphael Hilbron said its early move into pre-pay and the advantage it gave users in budgeting were behind its popularity.

"We launched the product so early in the piece no one else had it in the market," he said.

"There seems to be a huge appetite for it among New Zealand consumers."

Globally, Vodafone's results for the quarter disappointed with overall growth in customer numbers of 1.3 million coming in below analysts' forecasts of up to 1.9 million.

Growth in mobile data services exceeded 11 per cent in the year to March.

Hilbron said a similar growth figure was achieved in the New Zealand market.