The European Commission has implemented new rules for high-speed mobile internet services. EU members that release 800MHz frequencies as part of the 'digital dividend' resulting from the switchover from analogue to digital television broadcasting are now required to make the frequencies available for wireless broadband applications such as LTE or WiMAX.

Orange has revamped its mobile broadband service, changing its price plans and introducing the 'animal' branding used on its mobile phone services.

Dolphin costs from £15 a month and includes a 'happy hour' of unlimited surfing every day. Customers can pick 8am-9am, 12-1pm, 4pm-5pm or 10pm-11pm. The tariff includes 3GB of data per month on an 18-month minimum term contract or 2GB of data per month on a 1-month contract.

Panther Mobile Broadband starts at £25 a month for 10GB of data but offers 'unlimited' data for £35 a month on an 18-month contract. And Racoon starts at £5 a month for 500MB of data on an 18-month contract.

In the latest edition of The Fonecast we spoke to Richard Kinder, Vice President of Technology and New Business at Red Bend Software. The company specialises in Mobile Software Management, which is probably best known as a service that enables over-the-air (OTA) updates for mobile phones. Here’s an edited transcript of the interview, which started when we asked Richard for a simple explanation of what MSM and OTA meant.

"Red Bend software has been around for a number of years, and our solutions in the Mobile Software Management space allow the software in a mobile phone to be updated in the consumer’s hands."

O2 UK has announced its first devices with embedded SIM cards. Although the concept isn't new – Vodafone UK has offered netbooks with SIM cards for over a year, while Datawind's UbiSurfer and PocketSurfer devices also have built-in SIMs – these are the first O2 laptops with their own SIM cards.