The European Aviation Safety Agency is planning to publish guidance that’ll allow airlines to permit the use of personal electronic devices in ‘Flight Mode’ during taxiing, take-off and landing as well as throughout commercial flights.

This will cover tablets, smartphones, eBook readers and mp3 players as well as laptops, although heavier devices will need to be stowed safely during take-off and landing.

Ericsson has published the latest edition of its Mobility Report, which shows that the total number of mobile subscriptions worldwide is forecast to reach 9.3 billion by 2019.

More than 60% of these connections - 5.6 billion of them - are expected to be smartphones.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom says it’ll allow all UK mobile network operators to use 4G technology on their 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz frequency bands previously set aside for 2G and 3G service.

It’s also permitting an increase in the maximum 900MHz base station transmit power for 3G and 4G technology.

Ofcom has published a proposal to liberalise all UK mobile licences in the 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands. This would let network operators deploy 4G technology on frequencies that had originally just been licensed for 2G or 3G services.

In addition, it’s proposing that base stations would be allowed to transmit at increased power on 900MHz frequencies.

The GSMA and professional services firm Deloitte LLP have released a report that looks at the economic benefits of mobile telephone services.

It notes that an increase in mobile data use has led to an increase in the GDP per capita growth rate, as has a move from 2G to 3G service.