Chinese telecoms manufacturer Huawei Technologies has been awarded a four-year contract to upgrade the Orange and T-Mobile networks operated by Everything Everywhere.

The work will improve reception, expand HD voice calling and will also prepare for a move to 4G LTE technology.

Everything Everywhere, which runs the Orange and T-Mobile UK networks, has released outline results for the first quarter of 2011. It says mobile service revenue was up 1.6% year-on-year, although overall turnover was down 1.7%. (Both figures exclude the effects of regulation).

Orange and T-Mobile now have 27.7 million customers between them.

This week's edition of The Fonecast takes its usual look at the latest mobile industry news headlines, covering charity SMS messages, a new purchasing partnership, m-commerce, NFC and international calls.

Plus, with our 250th podcast just a few weeks away, we turn the clock back to 2006... when we discussed the topic of 'voicemail hacking'.

This week's edition of The Fonecast covers text message donations, network partnerships, mobile payments and the latest innovations. There's also a look back at a feature from 2006 in which we discussed the still-current topic of voicemail hacking.

Channel 4 News reports that Everything Everywhere has suspended its 10% handling charge for text message donations to charities. The company, which is responsible for the Orange and T-Mobile UK networks, says it's unlikely to reinstate the charge.

UK networks started cutting the costs of SMS donations in 2009, with O2 and Vodafone removing all admin charges last summer. This move was followed recently by Virgin Mobile and Three.