A group of mobile network operators have committed to launching commercial Near Field Communications services in select markets by next year.

Although the technology is best known for enabling mobile payments, NFC can also be used for other services such as mobile ticketing, mobile couponing, information exchange and access to buildings or vehicles.

In today’s special podcast we’re talking to a couple of companies that are both concerned about sound quality on mobile phones.

Our first contributor is Robin Dyer, who’s Dolby’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Later, Philip Vanhoutte, Managing Director of the EMEA region for Plantronics, talks about the company’s development and its newest products.

At last week’s GSMA Mobile World Congress we talked to a couple of companies involved with improving sound quality on mobile phones. This special programme includes contributions from Robin Dyer of Dolby and Philip Vanhoutte of Plantronics.

Chinese telecoms company Huawei is offering to provide equipment that would allow mobile phones to work on the London Underground, according to a report in the Sunday Times. Vodafone and O2 are said to have agreed to arrange installation.

In September 2010 The Telegraph reported that all five major UK networks would share installation and maintenance costs.

Samsung Electronics has announced the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 Smart Player, which offers most of the features of the Galaxy S smartphone without the mobile phone connection. It includes a 4-inch LCD display, a 1GHz processor, the Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ operating system and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, giving access to Google Mobile Services and the Android Market.

Although GSM and 3G calls aren’t possible, voice and video calling is available over WiFi.