Chinese telecoms company Huawei says it’ll open a European design centre for its mobile phone business in London early next year.

Staffing and location details haven’t yet been revealed.

Everything Everywhere and BT Wholesale have started their live trial of next generation 4G LTE broadband in the UK.

The two companies are working with Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei to provide wireless broadband to around 200 customers in the St Newlyn East and south Newquay area of Cornwall.

Discovery Communications has signed a global partnership with handset manufacturer Huawei Device, creating the Huawei-Discovery Expedition phone.

The new rugged device is water-resistant, dustproof and shock-proof. It’s also equipped with Facebook and Twitter social networking capabilities.

Analyst firm Berg Insight says HSPA and LTE mobile technology accounted for 20.6% of the total number of broadband connections on PCs and tablets in Europe at the end of 2010.

The number of mobile broadband subscribers grew by 33% year-on-year in 2010 to 33.9 million and is expected to keep growing to 96 million by 2016. In North America the figures were lower, with mobile broadband accounting for just 13.2% of the total number of connections.

In The Fonecast today we’re talking about HP; its decision to stop producing webOS tablets and phones, its purchase of Autonomy and the future for its computer business. In addition, we discuss Skype’s new mobile messaging purchase, Vodafone’s payment integration with the Android Market, Huawei’s move into the UK, Tru’s new CEO, three new BlackBerry devices and an Orange app that might put you off your breakfast.

As usual you’ll find the programme via our web-based audio player, on iTunes or by subscribing to our RSS feed.