Mobile Broadband Network Limited, the joint venture owned by Three UK and EE, has given Ericsson a five-year contract to manage its radio access network in the UK.

MBNL was originally formed in 2007 to provide Three and T-Mobile with better service by combining their 3G masts and associated infrastructure.

Tony Blinard of Keys2iPhone.com writes:

Not too long ago, iPhone enthusiasts rallied the White House with an online petition to legalize out-of-contract iPhone unlocking. The Obama administration cast its support that generated only a lukewarm response from the industry. Not surprising: the top three U.S. wireless carriers - Verizon, AT&T and Sprint - have relied on contracts to sell cell phones for over a decade. With Apple's introduction of iPhone - the most expensive smartphone in history - the carriers could then generate lucrative profit margins on each and every phone sold under contract. And to make sure the customers wouldn't 'jump ship', the carriers locked in all subsidized iPhones.

Quarterly results from EE show that 318,000 customers (2.3% of EE’s post-paid customer base) have signed up for the network’s 4G service in the first five months.

It says this means it’s on track to have more than one million 4G customers by the end of 2013.

Mark Bridge writes:

The past few days have seen the arrival of two familiar seasons. Not only has the sun peeked its head from behind the clouds in an approximation of Spring but the mobile industry has been releasing its quarterly results.

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint about the T-Mobile ‘Full Monty’ mobile phone tariff.

The www.t-mobile.co.uk website claimed the ‘Full Monty’ tariff offered “unlimited internet” for £36 per month. However, a complaint to the ASA questioned the description of ‘unlimited’ because T-Mobile operated a traffic management policy.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

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.

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.