Nokia has issued a statement about its mobile phone deal with Microsoft, which was first revealed seven months ago in September 2013.

It says the €5.44 billion sale is expected to be completed on 25th April 2014.

This week's podcast starts with news from Microsoft about an update to its Windows Phone platform and a cost-free OS offer to hardware manufacturers.

There's also a new flagship smartphone from Nokia, a roaming announcement from the European Parliament, a UK virtual mobile network from The Co-operative Group, a change at the top for Mozilla, retail expansion for Vodafone and an awkward end to BlackBerry's relationship with T-Mobile in the USA.

Nokia has announced its first three smartphones based on the new Windows Phone 8.1 mobile operating system.

It’s also said a Windows Phone 8.1 update is due to be offered this summer to all Nokia Lumia devices running Windows Phone 8.

Microsoft has revealed details of its forthcoming Windows Phone 8.1 mobile operating system, which will be installed on new phones from this month and will also be available as an update to current Windows Phone 8 users in the near future.

This new version of the Windows Phone OS will offer a virtual assistant called Cortana, named after a character in the Halo video game series.

Even though the first mainstream 64-bit mobile processor was only launched towards the end of 2013, new figures from ABI Research show this type of chip will dominate the mobile market within the next five years.

Apple’s 64-bit A7 processor had been shipped in more than 36 million iPhones and iPads within the first three months of launch. It was followed by Intel, Marvell, MediaTek, Qualcomm and Nvidia all announcing their first 64-bit mobile processors at Mobile World Congress 2014.