Everything Everywhere, which runs Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, says it’s accelerating the integration of its two mobile networks and will upgrade its network technology.

These plans, which will see over £1.5 billion spent during the next three years, also involve preparations for the rollout of 4G mobile technology.

Mark Bridge writes:

Today’s mobile phone customers want more and more mobile data, which is stretching network capacity. In addition, many of those consumers would rather not be committed to a limit; they’d rather have a mobile internet tariff that is (or appears to be) unlimited. This puts even more pressure on mobile networks.

The latest report from Pyramid Research says smartphones are expected to account for 90.8% of all handsets sold in the UK by 2016, driving the demand for mobile data.

Data card adoption and an uptake in machine-to-machine services are predicted to see mobile penetration in the UK reach 152.8% (98 million subscriptions) by the end of the next five years.

Mark Bridge writes:

Having read some of last week’s headlines, you might think the UK’s Communication Ombudsman has told mobile phone networks not to describe their data tariffs as ‘unlimited’ unless they really are. However, what’s actually happened is that one of the UK’s communication ombudsmen (ombudspeople?) has asked mobile operators to be clear about any limits, to stop unexpectedly high bills from building up and to tell customers before they exceed any limit. Better than nothing but hardly earth-shattering.

In this week’s edition of The Fonecast we’re talking about Adobe’s plans to stop developing Flash for mobile browsers, O2’s plans to trial 4G in London, eBay’s plea to the UK government, iZettle’s mobile payment app, some dubious advertising and a security flaw in Apple’s App Store review process.

As usual, you can listen to the programme on our website audio player, via iTunes, by subscribing to our RSS feed or by downloading the MP3.