The first-half financial results from Telstra have shown that the company added almost 1 million new customers in the second half of 2011, taking the total number of customers on its Next G network to 13.2 million. Mobile broadband lead the way with 436,000 new customers, with post-paid mobile customers coming in at 338,000. Telstra said that they had sold 100,000 long-term evolution (LTE) dongles.

The company’s net profit after tax increased by 22.5 per cent to $1.4 billion.

Over in the world of handset production, Nokia has stated that it is in discussions to bring its Belle Symbian update to Australian smartphones, but has nothing to share at this time. Nokia has form in leaving Australia hanging, with the Anna update to the platform being delayed for four months.

Meanwhile, Android users are still waiting for the local carriers and Google to get around to pushing out Ice Cream Sandwich to capable Android devices.

And from the land of predictability, Malcolm Turnbull has lashed out at NBN Co’s plans to buy two new satellites to provide broadband to remote areas for a cost of $620 million, labelling them as “Rolls-Royce” satellites. The satellites are expected to serve 200,000 premises.

Turnbull may have a point on this one. For instance, at $620 million, I’d expect a better Photoshop job than the one that the Prime Minister showed on Twitter yesterday.