In July we reported that a new Finnish company called Jolla had been formed from a team of specialists that had worked on the MeeGo-powered Nokia N9. It planned to release a smartphone with a new user interface based on MeeGo.

A few days ago Jolla Ltd announced a new ecosystem alliance to support a MeeGo-based mobile OS codenamed ‘Sailfish’ and today it’s confirmed a date for the public unveiling of its user interface.

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a number of complaints against an online advertisement for UK virtual network Bemilo by The Carphone Warehouse.

Several statistical claims were made in the advertisement, which described Bemilo as “the UK’s safest mobile network designed to be used by children and managed by parents”.

There’s major consolidation in the US mobile industry today with news that Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA - the nation’s fourth-largest mobile operator - is planning to merge with MetroPCS. A proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile last year was unsuccessful.

The combined company, which will retain the T-Mobile name, is expected to have approximately 42.5 million subscribers. However, it will still have fewer customers than any of the top three: Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel.

Following an agreement that the UK’s new 4G mobile spectrum would be available for use by next summer, Everything Everywhere has confirmed a launch date for its own 4G service and its EE brand.

EE will launch 4G in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield on the 30th October 2012. A third of the UK population is expected to be covered by the end of the year.

Commercial WiFi specialist Wicoms and VoIP service Skype have launched a new WiFi proposition called Free Skype WiFi. It enables businesses in the UK and Ireland to offer free Skype-branded public WiFi to their customers.

Businesses can choose a number of deals with pricing from £9.99+VAT per month plus a one-off £49+VAT for the router, although there’s a free one-month trial during October.