There’ll be 676 million 4G LTE handsets shipped worldwide in 2015, according to new figures from ABI Research.

That’s an increase of 204 million units from this year.

Vodafone has started rolling out Carrier Aggregation technology in the UK, which offers 4G users the ability to enjoy data speeds that are up to three times faster than conventional 4G connections.

Carrier Aggregation, also known as LTE Advanced (LTE-A) or 4.5G, allows network operators to combine parts of their radio spectrum for faster connections.

A new research report from Berg Insight says the market for mobile machine-to-machine (M2M) communications has begun to move from the 2G to 3G and 4G technologies.

Although cellular M2M devices on HSPA and LTE networks are expected to account for under 20% of the global market by the end of 2014, they’re forecast to dominate with more than 50% by 2018. Meanwhile, shipments of 3G/4G M2M devices are expected to overtake 2G M2M in 2017.

EE says it’s planning to allow UK customers to make voice calls over WiFi connections “with a higher quality and greater degree of reliability than unmanaged VoIP services”.

Calls will be available via the standard dialler on the customer’s smartphone, with SMS messaging also available.

Huawei says it’s successfully run the world’s first GSM-LTE Dynamic Spectrum Sharing trial with Vodafone Spain.

It’s a technology that allows real-time changes to be made to the allocation of frequencies for 3G GSM and 4G LTE traffic.

Mark Bridge writes:

Four months ago, Google unveiled a new way for consumers to buy an Android mobile phone. In fact, that’s pretty much what the first line of the press release said. The phone was the Nexus One and it was being sold online by Google.

You could buy it SIM-free or you could buy it with a contract – but you’d be buying it from Google’s online shop. You couldn’t buy it on a real high street.

John Forde writes:

As I sit tapping away on a keyboard, here at 30,000 feet above the Atlantic, I can't help but think...

Thank God Arthur Summerfield got it all wrong.

See, Arthur was the U.S. Postmaster General for President 'Ike' Eisenhower. And in 1959, he boldly predicted...

"Before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail."

Imagine. I'd hate to think what spam would look like, under those circumstances.

James Rosewell writes:

Back in January 2010 I wrote a brief review of the Google Nexus One that included my thoughts on the not-so-accurate voice dictation feature. From the marketing hype, I had expected to simply speak into the phone and a few seconds later my words would appear as a perfectly formed text message. The reality was somewhat disappointing. For all but the simplest short phrases it struggled to produce the intended words, making it inferior to even the touch-screen keyboard.

Mark Bridge writes:

Being an optimistic cynic isn’t easy. But, hey, I do my best.

Which is why I smiled benignly when I heard this week that WiFi provider The Cloud was offering a free app to O2 iPhone users. It's a simple tool called FastConnect and it'll make it easy for those O2 customers to find free WiFi access via hotspots powered by (you guessed it!) The Cloud.

Mark Bridge writes:

Cash is still king… but its days are numbered. That’s the message from a new report published this week by the Payments Council.

The Payments Council, which is a group of financial institutions that sets strategy for UK payments, has released ‘The Way We Pay 2010’. It shows how the last decade has seen a fall in the percentage of transactions using cash, from 73% in 1999 to 59% in 2009. In just five years time, cash transactions are expected to represent less than 50% – and a further fall to 45% is expected by 2019. Meanwhile, debit card spending in the UK rose from £65 billion in 1999 to £264bn in 2009.

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.