Mark Bridge writes:

A horse box and eight SIM cards. That’s the basic technology keeping the BBC’s Olympic Torch Relay broadcasts on the air and on the road.

The converted DAF horse box is being driven in front of the runners as they carry an Olympic torch along the relay route. It’s equipped with four cameras and a mixing desk, enabling a choice of views to be recorded and broadcast for 12 hours per day throughout the 70-day relay.

A BBC survey into 3G coverage across the UK has shown that people who were able to receive a data connection only managed to use a 3G signal for 75% of the time.

For almost a quarter of the time they were connecting to 2G GPRS technology.

The BBC is conducting a month-long survey that's designed to measure the availability of 2G and 3G mobile phone services in the UK. It's using an Android application that'll collect information and will anonymise it.

The UK 3G Survey app has been developed for the BBC by Epitiro.

Some of the UK's largest technology and media companies are working together to see if unused TV spectrum could be used as an alternative to WiFi and mobile data.

The BBC, BSkyB, BT, Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung are among the companies that have formed the Cambridge TV White Spaces Consortium.

James Rosewell writes:

For those that don't regularly watch the BBC News Channel at 5pm here's a rather hasty recording of an interview with our very own Mark Bridge concerning "Quick Tap"; a rather underwhelming new mobile payment product from Orange and Barclaycard.

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?

In this special extended interview, 'Yes Telecom' founder Keith Curran talks about his new mobile ventures: the user-friendly MAVcast advertising system, SMS-powered shopping tool Contact Secure and number allocation service Name Your Number.

Keith Curran, mobile entrepreneur and founder of Yes Telecom, talks about his new businesses in this week's podcast. Plus, as usual, the team takes an off-beat look at mobile news headlines from the last seven days.

This week's industry headlines include the launch of the world's first commercial NFC mobile payment system. Iain, Mark and James take a closer look at mobile payments and also talk about other news from the last 7 days.

Iain Graham, Mark Bridge and James Rosewell take their usual look at the latest industry news headlines, from termination charges to mobile web sites – and Simon Millions, Marketing Director from mobile phone hire company Cellhire, explains how his company does business.

This week Iain Graham, Mark Bridge and James Rosewell take their usual look at the week's mobile industry headlines. Plus there's exclusive news of a new advertising-funded pan-European mobile network arriving in the UK. (Okay, we own up - the feature's an April Fool joke!)