UK chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to invest up to £150 million on sites for mobile phone masts and base stations in a bid to improve productivity and connectivity.

He’s aiming to provide mobile phone coverage to 99% of the country, giving 6 million people a better signal.

A report from ABI Research says base station shipments will be up 14% year-on-year in 2011, with next year’s forecast already looking good.

Much of this expansion is due to activity in two countries: China and the USA. Chinese network operators are expected to more than double the number of 3G subscribers by the end of 2011, while US operators are investing in 4G.

IP communications specialist BroadSoft has acquired iLinc Communications, an Arizona-based business that provides web collaboration services.

It’ll integrate iLinc’s tools into its own Unified Communications products, calling the new service BroadCloud Web Collaboration. This will enable BroadSoft’s customers to offer their own-branded web collaboration service.

Vodafone UK is introducing a new data deal for customers buying a smartphone.

Its ‘Data Test Drive’ lets customers use the internet as much as they like with no additional charges for the first three months of their contract. They’re then sent a text message summarising their use.

Anjana Pasricha from voanews.com writes:

India’s millions of mobile phone subscribers have won relief from a growing nuisance on the subcontinent - unsolicited text messages. The crackdown by regulators targets the world’s fastest-growing mobile phone market.

From remote villages to crowded metros, the number of mobile phones in India has grown exponentially to more than 850 million in just over a decade.