UK communications regulator Ofcom has decided that the annual mobile fees for mobile operators will treble, following a government direction that the fees should reflect ‘full market value’.

Ofcom has concluded that mobile operators should pay a combined annual total of £199.6m per year for the 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum bands.

Ofcom has changed the licences of the UK’s ‘big four’ mobile network operators to improve mobile coverage.

EE, O2, Three and Vodafone have all agreed to accept this change.

A new report by the GSMA forecasts that half of the world’s population will be using mobile devices to access the internet by 2020.

Almost all of the additional mobile internet users expected during the next six years will come from developing markets, according to the report.

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.

Ofcom has scaled back its plans to increase the licence fees paid by UK mobile networks for the 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum bands initially used for 2G and 3G services.

It previously proposed increasing overall charges paid by the ‘big four’ mobile network operators from £39.7 million for the 1800MHz spectrum up to £170.4 million.

Mark Bridge writes:

We’re moving into that time of year where product announcements are replaced by promotional campaigns and sales figures. Apple revealed it had sold three million assorted iPad tablets in just three days, while Samsung said its Galaxy SIII smartphone had sold more than 30 million units since its launch in May.

Mark Bridge writes:

Last week I referred to the previous week as having been ‘big news but no big surprises’ - and in many ways the past seven days have seen much of the same.

VOA News writes:

Some map applications are stirring up trouble, virtually erasing South Korea's claims to an island chain also claimed by Japan.

​​Both Apple and Google have removed the Korean name for the islands from their English and Japanese map services.

Mark Bridge writes:

Look, I’m a fan of William Shatner. I enjoyed his autobiography on oh-so-many levels. And now the man known to many as Captain Kirk or T J Hooker has launched an iPhone app. It’s one of the few occasions I wish I had an iPhone.

Mark Bridge writes:

In many ways it’s been a week of big news without big surprises. Apple announced the much-rumoured iPad mini, which is just like an iPad but smaller. It also introduced a fourth-generation update to its larger iPad, promising more speed and more 4G connectivity.

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.