The European Parliament has moved closer to mandating the installation of an emergency call system in all new cars and smaller commercial vehicles.

Earlier this week MEPs voted to require all new car models to have its eCall system installed from 31st March 2018. They’d originally hoped to mandate eCall from 2015.

Mark Bridge writes:

The telecommunications industry was making plenty of headlines last week – but much of it wasn’t particularly upbeat.

The debate about privacy and security continued in the wake of allegations about US agents intercepting internet traffic. Meanwhile, Nokia prepared to make its last Symbian smartphones and Tradedoubler warned that mobile devices were having a negative effect on high-street consumer loyalty.

The European Commission has adopted two proposals that would ensure cars could automatically call the emergency services after a serious accident.

Its ‘eCall’ system automatically calls the 112 emergency number via a mobile connection and passes the vehicle’s location to the emergency services, potentially saving up to 2,500 lives a year and cutting response times by up to 50%.

We listen to the European Commission's eCall announcement by Neelie Kroes. It marks the start of the EC's planned introduction of in-car emergency call technology by 2015.

The European Commission has adopted a recommendation urging its member states to ensure their mobile networks are ready for eCall devices.

It wants all new cars produced from 2015 to contain an eCall device that’ll automatically call the 112 pan-European emergency number if there’s a serious accident. The in-car eCall device would pass the vehicle's location to the emergency services but wouldn’t track the user’s location until activated.

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?

A review of the Nokia 7373 and Sony Ericsson K810i, all the news plus "Are we all swapping Pink for Prada?". There's also a look at Lyric EMI and Ascendo Photos for Blackberry.

The team discuss the changes taking place on the UK high street with 02 pulling out of Phones 4U. Has the Market matured? We also review the Samsung F700 and the HP iPAQ 514, plus Ghost Rider + VolumeCare Pro software for your mobile.

The team look at the cash back crisis impacting the mobile industry, plus review the BlackBerry 8800 and Nokia E90 Communicator. 2 new pieces of software with Andy McNab's Enigma Force and Quickoffice Premier v4.

This week the team look at all the latest news from GSM world, review 2 new phones from Nokia and Sony Ericsson the 8800 and W880i. We also look at smart2go and The Bird - Evil has Wings.

The week the team take a look at the D840 from Samsung and the V3xx from Motorola. They also debate the evolution of VoIP for mobile over the past 6 months, as well as review the latest news from the past 7 days. This weeks software review includes Sonic the Hedgehog and amaZe advertising support GPS navigation software.