Figures from Ofcom’s latest European Broadband Scorecard show that the UK leads the EU’s five biggest economies when it comes to mobile broadband coverage, mobile broadband take-up, mobile broadband choice and general internet usage.

The comparison rated the UK against the other countries in the ‘EU5’: France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

A new research study conducted by Kantar Media on behalf of UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has shown that mobile application users believe apps are safer than accessing the internet via a browser.

These consumers also trusted well-known app brands and official app stores to provide a safe, secure and reliable user experience.

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.

UK communication regulator Ofcom has announced that all the UK’s major mobile phone networks are now covering 90% of UK homes with 3G service.

All were required to cover 90% of the UK population with 3G service by 30th June 2013. However, calculations published by Ofcom in November showed that Vodafone had only reached 88.66% coverage.

We start this week's podcast by looking at the new Ofcom rules that should end unexpected mid-contract price rises for UK mobile phone customers.

There's also talk about misleading mobile network advertising, patent agreements, takeover bids, satellite broadband and 4G data usage... plus a curious patent application from Google.