The European Commission has opened three investigations to examine whether tax authorities have made appropriate decisions about corporate tax paid by Apple in Ireland, Starbucks in the Netherlands and Fiat Finance and Trade in Luxembourg.

It’s launched the investigation following media reports that suggest that some companies have received significant tax reductions through ‘tax rulings’ issued by national tax authorities.

Cheshire-based telecom business Chess has acquired the UK airtime division of Avenir Telecom Group.

The 55 former Avenir Telecom employees will continue to work from their office in Hertfordshire, while Avenir UK Managing Director Andy Tow will become MD of the new Chess Partner Services division.

This week's podcast begins with Ofcom's plans to cut the wholesale cost of inter-network mobile phone calls. But what benefit will consumers see?

Iain, James and Mark then move on to discuss luxury smartphones, a new handset on the high street, mobile broadband for aircraft passengers, government monitoring, the growth of smartphones - and 4G-equipped donkeys.

Telefónica - the parent company of O2 in the UK - and Dolby Laboratories have signed a global agreement that’ll see the two companies working together to drive the adoption of premium sound in smartphones.

As part of the deal, Telefonica will offer its customers “the best devices from leading handset manufacturers” with Dolby Audio technology.

Mark Bridge writes:

Every week we produce a half-hour podcast that covers all the biggest news headlines for the UK mobile phone industry.

Thanks to a special offer from Scribie.com, we can also offer a transcription of last week’s programme.