We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

SIM card manufacturer Gemalto has published the results of an investigation into an alleged hacking operation by the UK’s GCHQ and the USA’s National Security Agency.

A report earlier this month - based on information from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden - claimed that both security agencies had jointly hacked into Gemalto’s network to steal SIM encryption keys. This would have enabled them to decrypt mobile phone calls without needing the cooperation of mobile networks.

Mark Windle of OpenCloud writes:

In 2014, operators focussed on rolling out LTE, but some have lost sight of the bigger picture. 2015 will see traditional telecoms services delivered over multiple access technologies, of which LTE is just a part. As next year fast approaches, our predictions take a step back and look at how the industry will adapt to the changing landscape.

The GSMA says several major mobile network operators and SIM manufacturers have launched solutions that comply with its Embedded SIM specification for remote ‘over the air’ provisioning of machine-to-machine (M2M) devices.

Unlike conventional SIM cards, these embedded cards can be reprogrammed remotely to work with different network operators.

Vodafone Germany and mobile security specialist Giesecke & Devrient have revealed an end-to-end encryption service based on a customer’s SIM card.

The service, which is called Secure SIM Data, can be used to encrypt and sign emails, documents, data carriers and VPN connections.