Four Manila-based call centre staff have been suspended over abusive text messages sent to Telecom customers.

Telecom admits a "serious hardware failure" was responsible for a widespread outage in its much-vaunted XT mobile network.

Telecommunications reporter Helen Twose talks to 80s hair bands, gets tweeted at by a shrub, sees Audi's Wi-Fi-toting A8 and meets a guy paid to roll his eyes at the Mobile World Congress.

Telecom is investigating claims a customer received an abusive text from its call centre after complaining of delays in her cellphone service.

Telecommunications reporter Helen Twose looks at the latest and greatest from the show floor at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

A kiwi salesman was stunned to receive a $1100 bill from Telecom for just 10 minutes of internet access from his laptop.

Newcomer mobile company 2degrees says it has signed up 206,000 active customers in its first six months.

Telecom has announced a profit of $80 million in the December quarter, down 23.8 percent on the same period last year in what it called a 'solid result'.