Mark Bridge writes:

As summer approaches, so the media’s interest in mobile phone roaming increases. Once again, the maximum price of calls and texts when abroad in Europe is falling – but this year there’s something different on the horizon. The European parliament has just approved the EU’s plans to introduce a price cap for mobile data... and in a couple of years’ time we’ll be able to choose a completely separate network to help cut roaming costs.

Telecoms giant Telefónica has published results for the first quarter of 2012, including details of the O2 network run by Telefónica UK.

O2 UK ended the quarter with 22.3 million mobile customers, having seen ‘pay monthly’ contract customers increase by 5% to account for 50% of the total mobile customer base. However quarterly revenue fell by 6% year-on-year to 1,719 million Euro, blamed on a difficult trading environment and mobile termination rate cuts.

Telefónica’s Digital business unit has launched a new all-in-one communication application called TU Me.

The free app is available worldwide and is the first service from Telefónica Digital that’s been launched directly to consumers.

BlueVia, Telefonica’s developer program, has announced that Telefónica will be closing its App Stores in Germany, Spain and Argentina at the end of the month.

This affects the O2 App Store in Germany and Movistar App Stores in Spain and Argentina.

Telefónica Digital has announced a new partnership with EA Mobile that’ll enable the network operator to create game-themed promotions.

O2 UK is launching the first deal, offering customers three months of free access to all EA Mobile games following their first download.