New research from Ericsson reveals that mobile data traffic has increased almost 300 times since 2011. The figures were revealed in the latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, which was first published ten years ago.

The UK government has published more details of its plans to force the removal of Huawei equipment from any 5G networks operating in the country. This decision was originally announced in January.

Ericsson has published the latest version of its Mobility Report, which shows that the total number of mobile subscriptions is expected to exceed the world’s population next year.

The first quarter of 2014 saw mobile subscriptions grow by 7% year-on-year, with 120 million net additions.

Mark Bridge writes:

Patents were a very popular topic of conversation last week. Google sold its Motorola Mobility smartphone business to Lenovo but hung on to most of the patents. Does this mean the patents were the most valuable part of the business? Well, when you look at the difference between the original purchase price and the sale price, it seems a reasonable conclusion.

Ericsson and Samsung have reached a multi-year agreement on global patent licenses that cover GSM, UMTS and LTE standards.

It ends complaints made by both companies to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and lawsuits in the USA.

By incorporating advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities, AI can help to optimize a smartphone's performance, providing users with a faster, more efficient and user-friendly experience.

Mark Bridge writes:

I've been taking a look back at the devices I've written about during the past few years. Some are still faithful companions, others... well, let's just say my faith was misplaced.

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?

The Fonecast this week covers text message donations, free calls to government helplines, distracted driving, legal action, consolidation... and all the other major mobile industry headlines as well.

This week the team takes a look at product announcements from the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas before diving into the rest of the week's mobile industry news. And Faisal Sheikh from Fone Doctors offers his perspective on the Google Nexus One.

Happy New Year! We're back from our Christmas break with a quick look at the new Google Nexus One, a browse through all the other top mobile industry headlines and a review of 2009.

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge take their usual look at the biggest mobile industry news stories - and this week they also predict what's likely to be hitting the headlines in 2010. In addition, they review their 2009 predictions... and discover they did pretty well.

This week's news headlines include the Google Nexus One smartphone, 4G technology, hands-free driving and (once again) the iPhone. There's also an interview with Mark Finlayson from business-to-business dealer Next Communications.