Members of the European Parliament have voted on new laws that could see a common type of charger being developed for all mobile phones sold in the EU. The vote also set out new rules for the use of radio spectrum and avoiding potential interference.

This move would cut costs and reduce waste, although it still needs to be formally approved and would then be followed by a three-year period before manufacturers were legally obliged to comply.

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.

EE customers who’ve signed up for 4G service are now able to enjoy the same fast mobile data connections in France and Spain.

This 4G connectivity is expected to be rolled out to Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA by the Summer.

Mobile coverage mapping company RootMetrics has published its latest ‘RootScore’ report for the UK. Its data, which covers the second half of 2013, shows EE as the overall winner for reliability, speed, data, calls and text messages.

Three UK was in second place, followed by O2 and then Vodafone.

This year's Mobile World Congress was notable for the number of product launches by handset manufacturers. To get a better understanding of smartphone manufacturing, we spoke to Johan Lodenius of semiconductor company MediaTek.

He gave us a simple overview of how 'fabless' manufacturing works, discussed developments in smartphones and wearable devices, contemplated the end of the PC era and talked about the importance of driving costs down.