Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, has asked twenty one EU countries to urgently introduce all the necessary legal measures to allow the pan-EU deployment of mobile satellite services. Potential uses for these services include high-speed internet, mobile television and emergency communications.

The European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers agreed around three years ago that Mobile Satellite Services should be deployed in all EU Member States by May 2011.

The GSMA has reported some of the findings from its Spam Reporting Service, which ran from March through December last year with support from AT&T, Bell Mobility, KT, Korean Internet & Security Agency, SFR, Sprint and Vodafone.

The service, run by Cloudmark, collected and analysed text messaging threats and misuse that were reported by mobile subscribers.

Samsung Electronics and IBM have announced an agreement that’ll see the companies licensing their patent portfolios to each other.

Specific terms and conditions were not disclosed.

Seven men have been sentenced to over 40 years in jail for their part in stealing £38 million from HM Revenue & Customs in a ‘missing trader’ tax fraud. A further two men will be sentenced in the next few weeks.

The fraud centred on the import and sale of mobile phones and computer parts through a chain of companies, including Sky Computers UK Ltd of Middlesex and Maxro Technology Ltd of Surrey.

Vodafone Egypt has made its position very clear during the current troubles in the country.

Last weekend it advised that “all mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas”, later restoring service and explaining “there were no legal or practical options open… but to comply with the demands of the authorities”.