The mobile virtual network operator will be an important factor in the growth of 4G connections, according to ABI Research.

It's predicted there'll be 103 million 4G subscribers connected via MVNOs by 2016, up from just 3.8 million worldwide last year. Around a third of these 103 million subscribers will be from China and Japan.

The Communications Consumer Panel, an independent group of experts established to provide advice to Ofcom, have asked the regulator to use the forthcoming UK 4G spectrum auction as an opportunity to increase mobile coverage.

It's proposing that coverage obligations are set at national or regional levels across the UK. Alternatively, it would like to see money from the spectrum auction used to pay operators who'd then provide cross-network roaming for these areas.

The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Europe's largest engineering and technology organisation, is calling on the UK government to take radical steps and change its plans for 4G mobile phone spectrum allocation. Without these changes, the IET says regulation will continue to be a serious barrier to growth.

It wants the government to define a 'national ambition' for mobile infrastructure to support UK competitiveness, investment and innovation.

In this week's podcast we discuss Apple's legal settlement with Nokia, 4G plans for the UK, Everything Everywhere's new shops, HP's new tablet and the rest of the UK's industry news headlines.

O2 has publicised its response to Ofcom's proposals for auctioning the UK radio spectrum that'll be used for 4G LTE mobile services. Ofcom is proposing 'caps' to prevent any single bidder gaining a large amount of spectrum, along with 'floors' of minimum ownership.

In a statement, O2 said "we believe that the proposed spectrum floors are a state aid and are therefore illegal under EU law."

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.