Vodafone Avoids Fines After Bringing 3G Coverage Up To Regulatory Standards:

Vodafone UK has belatedly meet its regulatory requirements for 3G network coverage. Last November, the telecoms regulator, Ofcom said that most of the UK networks had met the an obligation to cover 90% of UK homes by June 2013 -- but that Vodafone had achieved just 88.66% coverage.

Vodafone subsequently agreed plans with Ofcom to bring itself into compliance with the 3G coverage obligation by the end of 2013. Following a further coverage assessment, Ofcom has now found that Vodafone met its obligation ahead of this deadline.

Ofcom said that it takes the requirements of its licensees very seriously, and breaches of these obligations can incur a penalty. In this case, once informed by Ofcom, Vodafone provided a plan to address the shortfall. This involved work to upgrade 129 mobile transmitter sites, which was completed on time.

Ericsson and Qualcomm Test 300Mbps Downloads Over 4G Network:

Ericsson and Qualcomm say that they have completed the world's first inter-vendor interoperability testing of LTE Category 6, based on commercial LTE chipsets and infrastructure supporting carrier aggregation bands at Australia's Telstra.

Final stages of testing were completed in collaboration with Telstra, whose LTE-A network is being readied for Category 6 commercial launch. LTE Category 6 offers much higher potential data speeds than Category 4, which peaks at 150Mbps.

Håkan Eriksson, CEO, Australia and New Zealand at Ericsson, says: "We are pleased to see 300Mbps achieved and we're excited about the superior broadband experience this will enable. With the introduction of Category 6, adoption of LTE Advanced is expected to accelerate, with a key factor being the availability of commercial infrastructure and global chipsets for smartphones."

The equipment used for the tests was based on ready-to-release versions of Ericsson's L14A software release and Qualcomm's 3G/LTE multimode modem, the Gobi 9x35 chipset.

Swaziland's SPTC Shuts Down Remaining Wireless Network:

After years of legal disputes, the Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) has finally shut-down its wireless network. 

The company was ordered to close its mobile service after it lost the last leg in a legal battle with MTN which holds a monopoly over the provision of mobile services in the country.

SPTC had previously been ordered to terminate a mobile network it had set up, and the latest shut-down affected its fixed wireless services.

SPTC is owned by the government, and is also a shareholder in MTN's local subsidiary.

Last November, SPTC was stripped of its powers as the national regulator as the government seeks to tidy up the structures of the telecoms market.

Sapphire and Steel Have Been Assigned to Apple:

A hint that Apple could be working on an exceptionally durable screen for its next range of devices has been uncovered in a patent application.

Most high-end smartphone manufacturers rely on glass supplied by Corning for their displays as it is noted for its high resistance to scratches and damage. But even the Gorilla glass cannot withstand the occasional clumsy act by their users.

Now Apple appears to be looking to Sapphire as a possible replacement.

A patent details a method of growing sapphire sheets and then using lasers to cut them into the correct size for display covers. Apparently they need to use lasers as conventional cutting materials would blunt too quickly on the hard sapphire to make their use uneconomic.

However, lasers also tend to cut faster, and are often used in manufacturing processes, so that hardness claim may be a bluff by the company.

Altice Raises $1.8 Billion in Stock Market Listing:

The telecoms holding company, Altice has raised EUR1.3 billion (US$1.8 billion) in a stock market listing on the Amsterdam stock exchange that significantly exceeded earlier plans to raise around US$1 billion.

The company, controlled by entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, has a market capitalisation of around EUR5.9 billion after its shares rose in post-listing trading.

Altice is a Luxembourg based company, founded by telecom entrepreneur Patrick Drahi. Altice and its affiliates currently regroup and operate cable, mobile, DSL and datacentre companies in France, Israel, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Portugal and Switzerland.

It recent bought Orange Group's Dominican Republic subsidiary as part of a consortium for US$1.4 billion.

"There are opportunities in each one of our markets," Chief Executive Officer Dexter Goei told reporters in Amsterdam. "We're effectively in nine different regions or countries, so we're looking at more than nine opportunities."

First Foxconn Supplied BlackBerry Device Emerges:

What could be the first fruits of BlackBerry's recently announced handset partnership with Foxconn could have emerged on a specifications website.

The BlueTooth SIG, which keeps a log of approved BlueTooth devices has listed a new device running on the BlackBerry OS, but not manufactured by BlackBerry.

Instead, the record shows that the handset, codenamed STJ100-1 is being manufactured by FIH CO LTD, which is the shorthand for Foxconn International Holdings.

Nothing is known about the device, other than it will be running on the BlackBerry OS 10.2, and naturally, will come with support for the BlueTooth protocol.

French Network Operators Agree to Share Infrastructure:

Two French mobile network operators, Bouygues Telecom and SFR have signed an agreement to share a part of their mobile access networks, following a period of negotiations that started in July 2013.

The two networks will now roll out a new, shared network in an area covering 57% of the French population (France excluding its 32 biggest urban areas of more than 200,000 inhabitants and blind spots).

The agreement will enable the two operators to improve their mobile coverage and generate significant savings.

The companies will create a dedicated joint venture to manage the shared base station assets and will then enter into a RAN-sharing agreement covering 2G, 3G and 4G services in the shared areas mentioned above.

The shared network is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.

Nigerian Government Making Another Attempt to Shut-Down Nitel:

The Nigerian government is to make another attempt at shutting down its loss making landline operator, Nitel and its mobile subsidiary, Mtel after a court blocked its previous liquidation attempt a couple of weeks ago.

The government has been trying to liquidate the firm since early 2012.

Various attempts to privatise the company or turn around its fortunes have stalled, but despite that there is still political support for yet another attempt to rescue the ailing telecoms operator.

Local company, Transcorp bought a 75% stake in 2006 in Nitel for $750 million during an earlier privatization sale, but the government reclaimed the stake in 2009 following several years of neglect.

Since then there have been three aborted attempts to sell the company, with the last failing in June 2011 when the Omen International Consortium failed to pay a required US$105 million deposit on the sale.

Two Bidders Competing to Buy Canada's Mobilicity:

The Canadian mobile network operator, Mobilicity is said to be mulling takeover bids from two potential suitors.

The company is currently in court-supervised bankruptcy protection and is seeking a buyer to pay off some of its debts.

One of the country's big-three networks, Telus is reportedly offering C$350 million for the company, which would pay off most of the company debt. Telus had previous agreed to a purchase, for a higher $380 million, but that was blocked by the government.

That deal would have seen Mobilicity's radio spectrum transferred to Telus, which was not permitted under Mobilicity's operating license. However the transfer ban expires in a few weeks, so if the government tries to block the deal again, as it has hinted it would, it could face legal action.

The other bidder, as previously rumoured is Qubec based Quebecor which appears to be eying up the potential to become a national mobile network. It is however offering just C$200 million, according to a report in the Globe and Mailnewspaper, which would barely cover even the senior debt held by the company.

Moody's: Bharti's Strong Financial Results Support its Rating:

Bharti Airtel's strong financial results for the third quarter of the 2014 financial year ending March 2014 (Q3 FY2014) continue to support its debt ratings, says Moody's. The ratings outlook remains stable.

"Underpinned by solid growth in its operations in India, Bharti reported strong nine-month results with year-on-year growth of 11% and 19% in reported revenue and EBITDA respectively," says Laura Acres, a Moody's Senior Vice President.

"Apart from its telemedia business, Bharti's main businesses in India all reported healthy year-on-year improvements and contributed to a 20% year-on-year increase in India's reported EBITDA," adds Acres, who is also the Lead Analyst for Bharti.

Building on the positive momentum in H1 2014, Bharti's mobile business in India added a further 5 million subscribers in Q3 2014, with the customer base now exceeding 198.5 million. While the subscriber base remains predominantly prepaid, the company also made good progress in increasing its data subscriber base, which increased 31% year-on-year. This growth contributed to a year-on-year increase of 5% in its mobile segment's overall average revenue per user (ARPU).

AT&T Still Considering a Takeover Bid for Vodafone:

Although it has publicly ruled out a bid in the short-term, USA based AT&T is reportedly still mulling a potential bid for Vodafone Group.

AT&T issued a statement earlier this week that it was not planning a takeover bid for the company. It was required to issue the statement by the London Stock Exchange, whose rules also conditionally forbid launching a takeover within six months of issuing a denial.

However, citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News said that AT&T is still weighing up such a takeover bid.

Although it is officially locked out of launching a hostile bid within six months, AT&T can still talk to Vodafone, and they could launch a friendly takeover or merger -- or AT&T could participate as a junior partner in a hostile bid lead by another company.

Bids of this nature tend to take months to arrange anyway, so even if AT&T is barred from bidding, it could still comfortably spend the next six months preparing the finances and legal options ready for when the deadline expires.

US Regulator Pushes for Most Support for Emergency Text Messaging Services:

The USA's telecoms regulator, the FCC has issued a ruling that more mobile networks should support the facility for contacting emergency services via text message.

Approximately 15 percent of the United States population, or 34.5 million people, are deaf or hard of hearing, and approximately 7.5 million people have speech disabilities.

The FCC also sought further comment on regulatory proposals to help ensure that Americans will be able to send these texts by the end of the year, regardless of which text provider they use, in areas where 911 call centers can receive texts.

While voice calling to 911 remains the preferred method, consumers also expect to be able to send a text to 911 and have it reach authorities. Yet text-to-911 is not currently available in most areas or on most texting platforms.

In adopting a policy statement that outlines objectives for text-to-911, the Commission noted that the nation's four largest mobile networks have committed to make text-to-911 available by May 15, 2014 -- but that is only possible in areas where the 911 call center is itself prepared to receive texts.

Sri Lanka Telecom Confirms Talks to Buy Hutch's Local Subsidiary:

Sri Lanka Telecom has confirmed that it is in talks to buy the local arm of Hutchison Telecom's mobile network, although it had earlier denied such talks were taking place.

In a stock market announcement last Friday, the company said that it had not negotiated to buy the company, but on Monday later issued a new statement confirming that it was indeed in talks with the firm.

In the statement, SLT said that the talks were still at a preliminary stage, without elaborating further.

The country currently has five mobile networks.

India's Bharti Airtel is said to be closer to a long expected sale of its Sri Lankan subsidiary to Etisalat, and the latest development could see the market consolidated to a more sustainable three mobile networks.

British Weather App Gets 5 Million Downloads:

The stereotype of the British obsession with the weather has been supported by figures from the BBC, which says that its smartphone weather app has now been downloaded over 5 million times.

The BBC Weather app, available on Android, iOS and Amazon devices, reached five million downloads within eight months of launch. This comes just after BBC Weather celebrated the 60th anniversary of its first ever TV forecast on 11 January 2014.

Available on mobile and tablet, the BBC Weather app downloads so far are roughly equally split between iOS and Android devices and on average on a weekly basis, 60 percent of usage of the app is on mobiles versus 40 percent via tablets.

Liz Howell, Head of BBC Weather, said: "Interestingly, we've seen that mobile users are most likely to check the weather at 7am on Friday mornings, whilst the most popular time for our tablet users is about 10pm on Thursday nights."

Telecel Launches Mobile Money Service in Zimbabwe:

Zimbabwe's Telecel has launched its own mobile money transfer service, branded as Telecash, which it said would allow subscribers to use mobile phones to send money to anyone on any network, pay bills and pay for groceries and other goods and services.

Telecel's chief commercial officer Ashraf El Guindy said the company was coming to the market with a strong product.

"We have associated ourselves with the best in the industry," he said, adding that Telecel's technical partner for Telecash was Obopay and that its banking partners included Afrasia, CBZ and ZimSwitch, which provides links with most of the country's banking institutions.

Deutsche Telekom Says NSA Revelations are an Opportunity:

Germany's Deutsche Telekom has said that the NSA spying affair could be looked at as an opportunity.

The NSA affair was a turning point: Never before were data privacy and data security as much in the public spotlight as now. Now, a report from Deutsche Telekom has looked at the consequences and shows how things will go forward in data privacy and cybersecurity.

"The revelations from Edward Snowden were certainly a wake-up call. Going forward, we need to keep our eyes wide open. Politics, business and science now need to work out solutions," says Thomas Kremer, Board member for Data Privacy, Legal Affairs and Compliance at Deutsche Telekom.

The new report, however, is not only concerned with the NSA affair. Other topics include the measures DT is implementing internationally for more data privacy, the risks and opportunities of big data applications, cloud computing and how hackers work at Deutsche Telekom.

4G Network Key to China Mobile-Apple Partnership:

China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile carrier recently announced it started offering Apple 5S and 5C as of 17th January. ­It is likely that China Mobile and Apple have high expectations to improve respective sales from this deal, however given the current characters of the market, and the Smartphone purchasing trend in China, the two companies involved will need to do a lot more to yield any significant return.

The latest data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the global market leader in consumer panels, reports by the end of Q3 of 2013, approximately 63% of all Apple handsets in China are already on China Mobile's network, which means even before the recent sales agreement, over half Apple devices is already on China Mobile's network.

The report also shows, for every 100 smartphones on China Mobile, approximate 18 handsets are iPhones, a similar ratio for China Unicom and China Mobile who have had been selling iPhone under their official sales agreement for a while.

Obviously, customers on China Mobile who wanted an iPhone, obviously had found a way to source one via other channels, and since Apple has already made some progress within China Mobile, its room for growth is somewhat limited, and unlikely to see a huge sales boost for both organizations.

Myanmar Networks Launch Mobile Money Service:

Myanmar's two state owned mobile networks have launched a mobile money service, based on a platform supplied by Oberthur Technologies.

This first national mobile money service, offered in both English and Myanmar, is based on OT's MoreMagic m:Wallet. It includes person-to-person transfer, agent-assisted cash-in/-out, air time top-up, salary disbursements, and merchant payments.

Started in major cities at the end of 2013, the service will progressively extend to all localities in Myanmar. By end of 2014, there are expected to be over 6,000 agents, with expected double-digit growth over the next 5 years. The services will eventually serve more than 80% of the population, giving them access to basic financial services.

The Myanmar economy has experienced strong 6% or higher annual growth over the last few years, but less than 20% of the population is able to access banking services in an economy that is largely cash-based.

LTE Deployments Drive the Handheld and Portable Test Equipment Market:

The global handheld and portable test equipment market is expected to witness technological changes and rapid growth, as the focus of end-user industries shifts to battery-operated, integrated test equipment. Improvements made in battery technology also make handheld and portable instruments more attractive. Furthermore, ­LTE deployments across the world will bolster the market growth as RF handheld instruments are increasingly used in installation & maintenance applications in the fields of air interfaces, access networks and network performance.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that the market earned revenue of $2.11 billion in 2012 and estimates this to reach $2.95 billion in 2019.

"The explosive growth of wireless data and the expansion of next-generation LTE, 3G and 4G wireless networks in several countries boost the use of handheld and portable instruments in field applications," said Frost & Sullivan Measurement and Instrumentation Industry Manager Sujan Sami. "Radio frequency handheld instruments, in particular, are increasingly used in the installation and maintenance applications of air interfaces, access networks, and network performance."

Samsung Announces New Galaxy Tab Designed for Education:

Samsung has announced plans to launch a new Galaxy Tab exclusively developed for education, which will be available for schools in the USA for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Launching as part of the Google Play for Education program, the classroom-ready, 10.1-inch tablet will offer simple set up and device management, access to curated educational content, and other features to support dynamic, digital teaching and learning.

"The new Galaxy Tab with Google Play for Education integration was created to specifically address the needs of today's schools and support our vision for powering education by empowering educators." said Tod Pike, senior vice president at Samsung's Enterprise Business Division.

Samsung's education-specific Galaxy Tab is designed for integration with Google Play for Education, Google's content store for K-12 schools, which gives teachers access to a wide selection of approved apps, books, and videos.

Mobile Backhaul Equipment Market to Reach $8 Billion by 2018:

The Mobile Backhaul equipment market, consisting of Transport and Routers & Switches, is forecast by Dell'Oro Group to reach $8 billion by 2018.

"Mobile backhaul is a critical contributor to carrier microwave, routing and switching growth over the next five years," said Jimmy Yu, Vice President of Mobile Backhaul Market Research at Dell'Oro Group. "We anticipate the pace of cell site deployments will gradually increase over this period as operators expand their LTE footprint and begin to roll out small cells. We also expect outdoor small cell backhaul to drive at least 10 percent of mobile backhaul revenue by 2018," added Mr. Yu.

The report predicts that Routers & Switches for mobile backhaul are projected to grow at a five percent compounded annual growth rate and to comprise nearly 35 percent of total mobile backhaul market revenue by 2018. The primary growth driver will be the shift to a packet-based backhaul network as operators roll out LTE and LTE-advanced.

Over 100 Million Monthly Users for Opera's App Store:

Opera, the mobile browser developer says that its own mobile app store has now surpassed 100 million monthly users.

The company says that its app store saw exponential growth in its user base over the 12 last months, increasing by 172% since the close of 2012. The Opera Mobile Store currently offers more than 200,000 mobile apps and games across most mobile platforms, including Android, Java, BlackBerry, Symbian and iOS.

Opera says that its Android users showed strong growth during 2013, nearly reaching the level of Java-based downloads. Android app downloads are currently 42.7% of total downloads - up 16.8% in one year.

The top-three countries based on the number of Opera Mobile Store users were India, the United States (jumping five positions up to no. 2) and Indonesia.

China's 4G Smartphone Market Set for Explosive Growth This Year:

China's domestic market for 4G smartphones is poised for a massive liftoff this year as shipments grow sixteenfold from 2013 levels, according to a new report from IHS Technology.

Shipments in 2014 of 4G smartphones within China are forecast to reach 72.4 million units, up nearly 1,500 percent from just 4.6 million last year, with the market expected to take off after the second half. It will be the first big year for 4G smartphones in only its second year in the country, up from a practically nonexistent base two years ago.

For the next few years the 4G smartphone market in China will see unstoppable growth, doubling in shipments next year to 144.1 million units, rising another 53 percent to 219.8 million, and then ending 2017 at 298.5 million units.

"With support from the government and increasing clamor from the public, 4G smartphones will be the new hot market in China," said Kevin Wang, director for China research at IHS. "Already Beijing has granted licenses for TD-LTE, China's homegrown version of the 4G Long Term Evolution standard, to the state's three carriers. This way, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom can all launch commercial 4G services whenever they wish."

Vodafone Shareholders Approve $130 Billion Sale of Verizon Wireless Stake:

Vodafone Group's shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the company's plans to sell its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless.

Of the shareholders who voted on the plan, 99.08% were in favour of the US$130 billion sale.

Vodafone is getting US$58.9 billion in cash and US$60.2 billion in Verizon shares from the sale. At completion,Vodafone shareholders are expected to receive all the Verizon shares and US$23.9 billion of cash totalling US$84 billion, representing 71% of the met proceeds.

As part of the deal, Vodafone will acquire Verizon's 23% minority interest in Vodafone Italy for US$3.5 billion, thereby securing full ownership of the Italian subsidiary.

The shareholders also had to vote on a number of other issues related to the sale, and agreed to buying back Verizon Wireless' stake in Vodafone Italy and the plan to return much of the proceeds from the Verizon Wireless sale to the shareholders in the form of a special dividend.

The deal now just needs the approval of Verizon shareholders to go ahead, which is also expected to be a formality for the company.

Microwires As Mobile Phone Sensors:

Microwires were created in the former Soviet Union for military purposes. They formed the basis of the camouflage of a model of spy plane used by the Soviet army, but for a long time the scientific community has been studying them for other purposes. A study by the UPV/EHU's Magnetism Group is making progress in furthering understanding of the surface magnetic behaviour of glass-coated microwires and has concluded that they are the major candidates for use as high sensitivity sensors, in high sensitivity sensor, for example.

Microwires have a metal core and a crystal skin, in other words, they have a glass coating. The core of the microwire consists of a ferromagnetic alloy, which varies according to the metals used in the alloy and the final geometry of the wire. "But there is a quality that they all share: they have magnetic properties. It is precisely their magnetic properties and small size that account for the fact that they are so prized," pointed out Alexander Chizhik, a member of the Magnetism group.

First Android Bootkit Virus Has Infected 350,000 Devices:

An anti-virus company is warning about what it says could be one of the first mass-distributed bootkit viruses seen on Android smartphones.

Russia based Doctor Web says that the Trojan resides in the memory of infected devices and launches itself early on in the OS loading stage, acting as a bootkit. This allows the Trojan to minimize the possibility that it will be deleted, without tampering with the device's file system.

It's currently estimated that the virus has infected more than 350,000 mobile devices belonging to users in various countries. Although the bulk of the devices are in China, they have also been detected in Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Brazil, the USA and some Southeast Asian countries.

To spread the Trojan, which entered the Dr.Web virus database as Android.Oldboot.1.origin, attackers have used a very unusual technique, namely, placing one of the Trojan components into the boot partition of the file system and modifying the init script which is responsible for the initialisation of OS components.

Mobile Data Traffic Grew by 80% in 2013 As Download Speeds Improve:

Average connection speeds on mobile network operators during the third quarter of 2013 ranged from a high of 9.5 Mbps to a low of 0.6 Mbps, according to a survey by Akamai.

The average peak connection speeds ranged from 49.8 Mbps to 2.4 Mbps.

Eighteen operators showed average connection speeds in the broadband (>4 Mbps) range. According to data collected by Ericsson, the volume of mobile traffic increased by approximately10 percent during the third quarter and grew by 80 percent year over year.

Analysis of Akamai IO data collected during the third quarter shows that Android Webkit-based browsers accounted for nearly 38 percent of all requests and Apple Mobile Safari slightly less than 24 percent. When accounting for mobile device usage across all networks (not just cellular), Apple Mobile Safari comprised just over 47 percent of requests and Android Webkit made up 33 percent of requests.

Android Ends the Year on Top but Apple Scores in Key European Markets:

The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, for the three months to December 2013, shows that Android ended 2013 as the top OS across Europe with 68.6% share, while Apple held second place with 18.5%. Windows Phone continues to show high year-on-year growth, but its share of the European market has essentially remained flat at 10.3% for the past three months.

Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: "Android finished 2013 strongly, showing year-on-year share growth across 12 major global markets including Europe, USA, Latin America, China and Japan. Apple has lost share in most countries compared with this time last year, but importantly it has held strong shares in key markets including 43.9% in USA, 29.9% in Great Britain and 19.0% in China.

Telecoms Companies Set to Create More Jobs in the UK Than in Any Other Sector:

Over three-quarters (77%) of UK telecoms companies surveyed will be creating new roles (2013: 69%), the greatest number of all the sectors surveyed. It is also the sector most likely to increase wages in the year ahead, with 77% reporting that it would do so.

According to the Barclays Employers Survey 2014, the sector's intention to create new jobs is now considerably further ahead of the national cross-sector average, which revealed 49% of all companies plan to create new jobs this year.

Of those telecoms firms which are hiring, there are opportunities for new staff at every level, with more senior management positions likely to be created (47%) than any other sector (2013: 39%). 96% of the sector will be creating jobs in middle management or skilled positions (2013: 79%), and 60% are likely to create jobs at entry level, which is a significant rise from last year (2013: 27%).

Portugal Telecom to Rebrand its Mobile Services As Meo:

Portugal Telecom has announced that its mobile network subsidiary, TMN is bring rebranded as Meo.

The Meo brand has been marketed to consumers as a triple-play service and already has 1.5 million customers, and Portugal Telecom said that the growth of convergence services meant it was time to drop the mobile-only branded service.

The company said that the Meo brand has a stronger consumer recognition that its mobile brand, hence the decision.

Portugal Telecom will continue to have available the largest store network in the country and the same customer care number (1696), as well as an updated website.

China Mobile Said to Be Considering Buying a Large Stake in Vodafone:

China Mobile may be considering buying a large minority stake in Vodafone as the two companies look to work together in developing countries.

Citing financial sources, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that China Mobile could be looking at taking a stake of between 5 to 20 percent in Vodafone.

They added that the Chinese firm also wanted to set up a joint venture with Vodafone to target the African market as the UK company has a strong presence in a number of countries there.

The two companies worked together on a recent bid for a mobile license in Myanmar, but dropped out of bidding after concluding that the deal did not meet their "strict internal investment criteria".

China Mobile has made no secret of its desire to expand overseas, and has a sizeable investment in Pakistan. However a deal by a company that is majority owned by the Chinese government to buy a large stake in Vodafone would almost certainly sound regulatory alarm-bells in Europe.

App May Signal Cellphone Dependency:

A new, free app will allow smartphone users to measure their cellphone use. Computer scientists and psychologists from the University of Bonn have developed an application for this purpose. Whoever installs it can see, e.g., how much time s/he spends on the phone or which apps s/he uses most frequently. The relevant key data is sent to a server anonymously for the scientists to analyze. They are already using a similar technology for the early detection of depression.

This app dubbed Menthal will run on Android 4.0 (or newer). It is available as a free download from Google's Play. "If you would like to go on a digital diet, we will provide you with the scales," joked Alexander Markowetz, junior professor for computer science at the University of Bonn.

The app is part of a larger research project regarding the use of cellphones. Most studies have so far relied on user self-assessments for this purpose. But that information is unreliable. "Menthal will provide reliable data for the first time," Markowetz stressed. "This app can show us in detail what someone's average cellphone consumption per day looks like."

Tablet Processor Chip Market to Surge by 23%, Attracting Intel and Chinese Rivals:

Strong growth in the processor market for tablet devices this year and beyond will draw increasing competition from suppliers eager to throw their hat into the ring, including the likes of giant chipmaker Intel, according to a new report from IHS Technology.

Global shipments in 2014 of tablet processors will reach an estimated 299.7 million units, up 23 percent from 243.1 million last year. Another robust increase is expected in 2015 when volumes spike 18 percent, with tablet processors then exceeding 400.0 million units by 2016.

"With the iPad from Apple, Samsung's Galaxy and other offerings from various tablet makers still selling well among consumers, a number of vendors are starting to join the race to supply tablet processors for the market," said Gerry Xu, senior analyst for processor research at IHS. The players range from kingpin Intel, to a smattering of Chinese suppliers involved in the so-called white-box market for lower-end tablets, Xu noted.

LG Starts Confirming Some Smartphone Releases for Next Month:

LG has confirmed that it will be showing off a new smartphone at the Mobile World Congress next month, to be known as the G Pro 2 -- almost certainly a successor to LG Optimus G Pro which was released nearly a year ago.

In a short post on its social blog, LG said that the G Pro 2 will in its family of top smartphones, and it is looking at sales in excess of a million units.

The company noted that its predecessor, the G Pro passed the million units sales mark within four months of launch.

Other than confirming the existence of the smartphone, the company did not elaborate on the device.

O2 Changes Tariff Terms to Evade Regulatory Rules:

UK based O2 has modified its tariff terms and conditions in a way that enables it to avoid letting customers end their contracts if it puts prices up in the middle of a contract.

Last week, the regulator, Ofcom introduced a new rule that any price rise had to come with an option for the customer to terminate their contract without penalty.

Before that change, O2 had a clause in its contract saying that it might rise a monthly tariff in line with inflation once a year.

The new change is subtle, in that they now say that they will raise tariffs in line with inflation. What was once a may-be, is now a certanty.

Writing that into the contract and making it a guaranteed event also gets around the telecoms regulator's new rule, although that rule would still apply if O2 were to raise prices by more than the Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation.

"An increase of this kind does not entitle you to end your agreement mid-contract," the company confirmed. "As set out above, our terms for customers signing up both pre- and post- 23rd January allow us to apply a price increase to reflect RPI."

Sprint Offers ZTE Tablet for Just $30:

USA based Sprint has released a ZTE tablet that it is able to offer for US$30, subject to the customer taking out a two-year contract with the mobile network.

The ZTE Optik 2 is a revamped version of its similarly named predecessor, although the specifications do not appear to have substantively changed over the past couple of years since the original device was released.

The main difference between the older and newer model is that the $100 price has fallen to $30 instead.

Unusually for a new product offered by Sprint, it wont work on the operator's LTE network.

The tablet comes with a 7-inch screen offering 1024x600 resolution and a 1.2Gh Quad-core Qualcomm chipset.

ZTE to Release a Rugged Android Smartphone:

China's ZTE may be able to launch a rugged smartphone for the local market, according to photo leaks from a Chinese website.

The company is reported to have secured approval to sell the G601U, an Android smartphone that is clad in an impact absorbing rubber skin and sealed joints.

The specifications are modest for a new Android phone, coming with a 1.3Gh processor, a 4-inch screen and a display of just 800x480 pixels.

However, it also comes with a sizable battery that should provide a solid day of full use without recharging, which is often a more important utility on building sites where such devices might be signed out on a daily basis.

Apple Working on Larger Screen Sizes for Next iPhone:

Further rumours are adding strength to the expectations that Apple will finally break out of its 4-inch prison and deliver an iPhone handset with a screensize closer to those offered by its increasingly popular rivals.

Apple started with a 3.5-inch screen, and seemingly reluctantly upgraded to a 4-inch model a couple of years ago. However, at the time, rivals were already routinely offering handsets with screen sizes in excess of 5-inches, and even larger phablets.

Apple has started to look increasingly left-behind in the screen size stakes.

Apart from the sheer expanse offered by larger screens, the manufacturer is also able to spread out the electronics, resulting in a flattening of the smartphone to make them ever thinner.

Citing the usual "people familiar with the matter", the Wall Street Journal has added to the rumours by saying that Apple is indeed working on at least two new iPhones that will come with larger screens.

Leaked Photos of Sony Mobile's Next Flagship Smartphone:

What are claimed to be photos of Sony Mobile's next smartphone, the Xperia Z2 have been leaked online.

Unsurprisingly from the model number, it is thought to be a successor to the Xperia Z1 smartphone, and is expected to come with a 5.2-inch display screen sporting a full 1080 dpi resolution.

The slightly larger screen is thanks to thining the edges of the phone, so the overall handset dimensions should be largely unchanged from its predecessor.

The 2.1 megapixel front facing camera is however dwarfed by the substantial 20.7 megapixel camera on the back. A 2.3Ghz quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM and Android KitKat head up the specifications.

A release date for the new phone is however still unclear.

Samsung Unlikely to Add an Iris Scanner to its Smartphones -- Yet:

As smartphones become increasingly generic -- a rectangle with an OS -- manufacturers are looking for more exotic ways of making their products stand out.

Whether it be high camera resolutions, different screen sizes, or recently, the fashion for fingerprint scanners.

A rumour that Samsung might go one stage further and replace the fingerprint scanner with an iris scanner however appears to remain buried in the rumours department.

A company source told the Korea Herald that the iris scanner technology is not only too immature for deployment, it is inherently unsuited for use in a mobile phone.

"Who would want to put their handset up close to their eyes for authentication in places like movie theaters and bed, or even while they are driving?," the industry source said.

Another reason for avoiding the iris scanner is that the existing front facing camera cannot handle the necessary processes, so a third camera module would be needed in the handset, pushing up the price and adding to the handset size.

Nokia Uses Heat Sensitive Adverts to Promote Phones:

Nokia has been running adverts on heat-sensitive billboards to promote the fact that its touchscreen phones work while people are wearing gloves.

The thermo reactive billboard displayed messages which changed depending on the surrounding air temperature, from 'MAKE LOVE' and 'SEND LOVE', to 'MAKECALLS WITH GLOVES ON' and 'SEND TEXTS WITH GLOVES ON' when the temperature dropped.

Cambodia's First 4G Network Launches in Phnom Penh:

Cambodia's Smart Axiata has announced the launch of the country's first LTE network, with support for theoretical peak download speeds of 55Mbps.

Coverage is currently limited to a select number of indoor venues, but will become available across Phnom Penh city before the middle of the year.

Smart Axiata is a company formed from the merger of Hello Axiata and Smart Mobile last February, and at the time had around 5 million customers.

Mr. Thomas HUNDT, Smart Axiata's Chief Executive Officer, spoke at the launch event, "We are starting the 4G LTE journey with the 4G LTE Experience Zones, covering areas where especially urban youth and young professionals, typically power users and early adopters, gather to spend their time apart from their home, work or study places. The coverage will then be enlarged in the next weeks and months to cover whole Phnom Penh and beyond."

He also noted that 90% of the country's total internet traffic comes from mobile devices at the moment, indicating a strong market for the LTE upgrade.

Australia's Telstra Tests 700Mhz Services Ahead of Spectrum Release:

Australia's Telstra has carried out tests of APT700 (Asia-Pacific Telecommunity 700MHz) spectrum using Ericsson's new APT700 radio equipment.

The first call on 700MHz was made on Telstra's live network across two test sites in a regional location in Australia using a pre-release smartphone.

Håkan Eriksson, CEO Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, said: "The APT700 band has the ability to provide excellent in-building coverage as well as delivering wide area coverage in regional and rural areas, providing operators with increased capacity and performance, and users with a superior experience,"

Telstra has been influential in driving adoption of this band with the support of Australian regulators, the Australian Communications Media Alliance (ACMA).

The APT700 spectrum is due to be released to mobile networks in January 2015.

Nokia Phone Sales in Kenya Fall Falling Imposition of Sales Tax:

Nokia says that its sales in East Africa fell by 20 percent after the Kenyan government imposed sales tax on mobile phones. The tax was introduced last September, which added 20 percent to the cost of mobile phones.

The ICT industry had been zero-rated for VAT since 2009, but now pays a 16% VAT on all imports.

Nokia's East Africa general manager, Bruce Howes confirmed that the new tax had caused a decline in sales for the manufacturer. He added that, as was widely expected, there had been a rise in smuggling of "grey phones" into the country as a result.

"We are working with the respective bodies to try to revert the decision on mobile device taxing because over 50 per cent of market is now on grey market."

Last year, when the tax was proposed, Nokia's EMEA Vice President, Jussi Hinkkanen warned that it would disproportionately hurt the poor who still lacked a mobile phone and would pay a tax that previous middle-class buyers had not been subjected to.

Stressed Mobile Networks Increasingly Dropping Connections:

Demand for data services is leading to increased failings on mobile networks, according to recent research conducted by Actix. The number of dropped data sessions and voice calls has increased by 121 percent as data demand grows.

On average around 1 percent of voice and data calls fail on mobile networks however some locations deliver call failure rates of over 17 percent during periods of high network load.

Stressed mobile networks are exposing the variation in the quality of the network connections across handset brands, with the worst devices dropping, on average, more than 2.5 percent of all calls and data sessions. iPhones generally performed better than average on data and Blackberry devices were least likely to drop a voice call.

iPhone 3GS recorded the lowest percentage of dropped data sessions, followed by the iPhone 5 and 4s. The best voice performer was the Blackberry 9320, with the Galaxy range of devices (S2, S3, S3 mini and S4) dropping significantly more calls than competitors - in some cases up to 2.5 percent of all calls and data sessions.

Mobile PCs and Smartphones to Be Top Revenue Opportunities for IC Suppliers:

Mobile PCs and smartphones will represent the top revenue opportunities for high-speed wireless integrated circuit (IC) suppliers by 2018, as these devices are projected to be the highest-volume applications in this market over the next five years, according to a new report from IHS Technology.

Between 2013 and 2018, more than 400 million high-speed wireless ICs are projected to ship cumulatively into the mobile PC market, generating global revenue of $2.5 billion, according to the IHS report.

During the same period, more than 80 million high-speed wireless ICs are projected to ship cumulatively into the smartphone market, with worldwide revenue forecast to exceed $260 million in 2018.

IHS defines a high-speed wireless-enabled device as one that includes at least one of the following technologies: WirelessHD, WHDI, 802.11ad (WiGig) or multi-stream Wi-Fi (802.11n 3x3 higher or 802.11ac 2x2 and higher).

Swiss Government Reduces Stake in Swisscom:

The Swiss government has reduced its stake in the former state-monopoly operator, Swisscom, bringing it within a shave of losing majority ownership of the company.

In a note, Reuters reported that the government had reduced its stake in Swisscom by 5.55 percentage points to 51.22 percent during 2013. The government is however required to maintain a majority stake in the firm, unless it were to seek a change in the current law.

The sale of the shares earned it a reported CHF 1.247 billion (US$1.38 billion).

The sale is not reflected in the company's own website though, which is still showing a government stake at 56.77%.

Telkom South Africa Denies Talks Over $3 Billion Bid from Mystery Investor:

South Africa's dominant landline network, Telkom SA has refuted media reports that it has been approached over a potential $3 billion investment in its mobile subsidiary.

Earlier in the week, BusinessTech reported that an unnamed company based in Asia had approached Telkom over an option to either buy the tower assets, or take a stake in the company.

The unrealistic number of $3 billion was being talked about, for what is the country's smallest mobile network. The sum would in fact be double the entire company's market capitalisation.

The report claimed that the unnamed company aimed to buy up to 1,600 Telkom towers and then build an additional 8,400 towers.

In a statement, the company said that it has "not received any proposal from a South East Asian company for the sale of its mobile towers business or an investment of $3 billion."

It did confirm that a previously announced review of the mobile network is ongoing, and that it is talks with "various parties to consider best options for the business".

Vodafone Ghana Working on $33 Million Network Upgrade:

Vodafone's Ghana subsidiary says that it is working on a major network upgrade that will see over 400 new base stations deployed across the country by the end of March 2014.

The network upgrade started last November, and is said to be costing some GH$55 million (US$33 million).

In addition to new base stations, the investment will also see upgrades to the core network.

The Chief Technology Officer of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai said "We've made a conscious decision to invest not just in our brand and market, but to build a network that is reliable, sound and stable. We are going to make sure that we are consistently reliable, and provide the best service."

Vodafone Group owns 70% of the company, with the rest owned by the government.

Zamtel Launches Zambia's Second LTE Network:

Zambia's Zamtel has launched its LTE service in Kitwe, and also opened a walk-in 4G Live Experiential Centre at its Kitwe offices.

The network infrastructure was supplied by Huawei.

"We are extremely excited about the launch of this service which uses the very latest 4G mobile communications technology operating on our robust mobile network infrastructure." said Zamtel's Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Mupanga Mwanakatwe.

"The decision to launch this 4G service provides an added impetus to our vision and quest to make a positive and meaningful impact in the lives of Zambians from all walks of life and in all parts of the nation," he added.

The launch comes shortly after rival network, MTN was the first to offer LTE services in the country. MTN's network currently covers Lusaka, Kitwe, Ndola and Livingstone.

Bharti Airtel Looking at Tower Sales in Nigeria and Bangladesh:

India's Bharti Airtel could be looking at selling its towers in both Nigeria and Bangladesh according to various news reports.

Bharti Airtel owns around 5,000 towers in Nigeria, which have been valued at around US$500 to US$550 million. 

Sources say that tower companies including Helios Tower & IHS are already preparing bids for the tower assets.

A sale is expected as soon as this coming March and could be the start of a continent wide plan to tower asset sales to raise as much as US$2 billion for the company.

In related news, the company is also said to be in talks to sell its towers operations in Bangladesh in a move that could raise around US$200 million for the company. The company is understood to have around 4,000 towers in the country.

Facebook Testing Selling Adverts into Mobile Apps:

Facebook is expanding its mobile advertising reach, and has started running trials of showing adverts in third-party mobile app as well as within its mobile website.

The company said in a brief note that its aim is to demonstrate even greater reach with the same power of Facebook targeting for advertisers both on and off Facebook.

In the test, Facebook's existing targeting will be extended to improve the relevancy of the ads people see, provide even greater reach for Facebook advertisers, and help developers better monetize their apps.

Facebook added that while it has run similar tests in the past, this current test is more like a mobile ad network in that they are working directly with a small number of advertisers and publishers rather than an outside ad-serving platform.

The move would prelude the long expected move where Facebook increasingly acts as an ad network in its own right rather than outsourcing some aspects to agencies. It would place the company more directly in competition with Google, but could also be good news for the owners of mobile ad agencies looking for a deep pocketed buyer needing to buy up market share quickly.

South Korea to Invest $1.5 Billion into 5G Research:

South Korea's government is looking to pump as much as US$1.5 billion into developing 5G based mobile networks.

The country's Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said that it was looking to develop and start trials of 5G services by 2017, with the expectation that commercial services could start in 2020.

The Ministry is now seeking input, and funding from the country's three mobile networks, as well as the network infrastructure vendors to develop the standards for the mobile service.

To a degree, the Ministry is simply pushing ahead a programme that already exists at a number of companies that have already started thinking about what lies beyond 4G services.

In recent weeks, the European Commission agreed to pump EUR700 million worth of investment into 5G research, while ETSI has been discussing it at its latest meeting.

Near Error-free Wireless Detection Made Possible:

The accuracy and range of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, which are used in everything from passports to luggage tracking, could be vastly improved thanks to a new system developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge.

The vastly increased range and accuracy of the system opens up a wide range of potential monitoring applications, including support for the sick and elderly, real-time environmental monitoring in areas prone to natural disasters, or paying for goods without the need for conventional checkouts.

The new system improves the accuracy of passive (battery-less) RFID tag detection from roughly 50 per cent to near 100 per cent, and increases the reliable detection range from two to three metres to approximately 20 metres. The results are outlined in the journal IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

RFID is a widely-used wireless sensing technology which uses radio waves to identify an object in the form of a serial number. The technology is used for applications such as baggage handling in airports, access badges, inventory control and document tracking.

RFS Supplies In-Tunnel Wireless Network for China's Dongguan Rail Line:

Radio Frequency Systems (RFS) says that it has been selected to provide in-tunnel wireless broadband coverage for the Dongguan Rail Transit R2 Line currently under construction in China.

Once installed, the new wireless network will wireless communications along the tunnels between New Dongguan Railway Station and Humen Railway Station. As the main traffic channel for the economic corridor of west of Dongguan, the R2 Line is an important part of the Dongguan rail transportation system. Construction on the first section of the R2 Line between New Dongguan Railway Station and Humen Railway Station was started in March 2010 and is scheduled to be completed by 2015.

"RFS RADIAFLEX cables will be installed to provide wireless broadband coverage along the 33.7 km of underground tunnel, which accounts for 89 percent of the total length of this section of the R2 Line," said Golden Nie, Wireless Indoor Product Group Director of RFS Asia. "The tunnel is longer and the distance between stations is farther on Dongguan R2 line than most of other metro lines. This means the wireless network in the tunnel must meet higher performance requirements to provide the coverage needed to enable TETRA and public wireless communication along the rail line."

Hardware Security for the Mobile Market to Hit Billion Dollar Revenue in 2014:

Hardware security for mobile devices is fast becoming a priority market as maturing applications for mobile finance or government-level use increasingly demand security at the core. Trust hardware and secure boot for trusted executions environments are necessary elements for such industries. Without this security assurance, applications for mobile commerce, mobile money or wallet will have some difficulty getting off the ground and finding adoption by the big card payment providers.

There are a number of obstacles barring the way to the full dynamic emergence of a hardware security market. Not least of which is the fragmented mobile device landscape, with as many players on the silicon IP side as in OEM manufacturing, led by ARM, Trustonic, and Samsung. This particular mobile movement is also colliding head-on with long-standing efforts on the PC side that is looking to adapt tried and tested methods to the mobile landscape, with Intel and Microsoft pushing the boat. Specifications on both sides of the spectrum are increasingly looking to answer the same problem, while not specifically competing head-on. TEE, TPM, and UEFI are a few of those specs looking to address the issue of intrinsic security within the device.

Telecom New Zealand Wins Bidding for Last Block of Radio Spectrum:

Telecom New Zealand has won the bidding to secure the last remaining block of 2x5 MHz lot of 700 MHz radio spectrum that was left unsold from last year's auction.

Telecom bid NZ$83 million for this final lot, in addition to the total of NZ$66 million for three lots in the initial auction round. The purchase of a fourth 2x5 MHz lot is conditional upon approval from the Commerce Commission.

In the first round of the auction last October , Telecom and Vodafone each successfully bid for 2x15 MHz (three lots), while 2Degrees successfully bid for 2x10 MHz (two lots) leaving a single 2x5 MHz lot unsold from the available nine lots.

The auction for this lot has proceeded over recent weeks at $1 million increments for each bidding interval, starting from the $22 million reserve price.

Telecom said that the significant price premium over the reserve price reflects what it said would be the customer benefits that this additional fourth lot will provide to Telecom's mobile network in future years.

France's Bouygues Telecom Scraps European Roaming Charges:

The French mobile price war continues as Bouygues Telecom has just announced that it will be scrapping roaming charges throughout Europe, and the French overseas territories.

Subscribers to Sensation mobile plans will be able to make unlimited calls and texts to France and French overseas departments (incoming and outgoing calls and texts) and use 3GB of mobile Internet data per month (which includes picture/video messaging) in addition to the data package included in their plans (3GB, 8GB or 16GB).

All current Sensation plan subscribers will be able to opt for these new plans as soon as they are launched.

Smartphone Users Turning Down the Brightness on Their Phone Screens:

Two thirds of British smartphone users who can, have adjusted the screen brightness on their handset, with half of them doing so to preserve battery life.

The youth segment aged 15-24 is most likely to change the settings and 66% of this group gave any of the aforementioned reasons to adjust the display settings.

An Apical Smartphone survey independently implemented by Ipsos MORI has highlighted the impact of screen displays on smartphone power. Half of all 15-34 year old males adjusts brightness solely to save power on his smartphone and this is a one of the dominant user groups (82% of the Male 15-34 age group owns smartphone).

The survey showed that half of all users (47%) are accessing social media as a top 3 activity. Significantly, eight of out ten (77%) are accessing some form of video based internet /app content with approximately 1 in 4 saying maps/navigation, viewing photos or viewing video sites such as YouTube are in the top 3 activities beyond calls and texts.

Android Edges out IOS with the Most Mobile Phone Ad Impressions in Q4 2013:

In the three days around Christmas (December 24, 25 and 26), the number of smartphones and tablets, increased by 13% in the USA and 22% in Europe, reflecting strong sales of these devices during the holiday season, according to analyis by the mobile ad agency, Opera Mediaworks.

Overall, Opera Mediaworks says that it has seen a significant increase in global ad traffic year over year, and now reaches over 425 million consumers, while serving over 60 billion impressions a month.

The ad agency also noted that while revenue from iOS remains higher, Android now drives majority of mobile ad traffic to phones.

In Q4, iOS devices captured 56% of revenue, up from 50% in Q3. However, when comparing iPhone to Android phone traffic, Android tops out with a nearly 36% share (vs. iPhone's 28.7%).

Social networking sites and apps are the most popular. Traffic volume for social networking services was the highest, at 34.25% of all global traffic. The Music, Video & Media category followed, with 17.7% of traffic; this category took the top spot for revenue generation (20.6%) as consumers continue to use their mobile devices more for streaming music and watching videos. Arts & Entertainment sites and apps captured 18.2% of revenue.

Korea Mobile Internet Bids to Become Country's 4th Mobile Network:

South Korea based Korea Mobile Internet (KMI) has again said that it will attempt to secure a mobile network license in the country's forthcoming radio spectrum auction.

This would mark the company's fifth attempt to secure a license, after its previous four attempts were blocked by the regulator as the company lacked the necessary financial backing.

KMI now plans to secure starting capital of W853bn and raise another W2tn by attracting foreign investors and executing an IPO.

The regulator then plans to auction off 2.5Ghz spectrum for use as either LTE or Wibro technologies, with a considerably lower reserve price if used with Wibro services.

KMI has always to date been a Wibro loyalist although it's future plans are still unclear. However, if it were able to secure the funding to bid for the spectrum as an LTE operator, it might also be able to secure national roaming with one of the three incumbent networks.

GSMA Joins Alliance Aiming to Lower the Cost of Mobile Broadband In Developing Countries:

The telecoms trade group, the GSMA is joining the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), a diverse coalition of over 50 members aiming to driving down the cost of Internet access in developing countries via regulatory and policy reform.

Launched in October 2013, A4AI's primary focus is to support the achievement of the UN Broadband Commission's Broadband Target of entry-level broadband services priced at less than 5 percent of average monthly income.

The Alliance believes that, while technological solutions are advancing rapidly, policy and regulations remain a significant barrier to affordable Internet. A4AI thus seeks to create the conditions for open, competitive and innovative broadband markets via policy and regulatory reform through a combination of advocacy, research and knowledge-sharing at global, regional and national levels.

Huawei Telecoms Equipment Targeted by NSA Spies:

Analysis of NSA documents released by the whistleblower Edward Snowden has shown that the US spy agency directly targeted equipment manufactured by China's Huawei.

The documents show that at least two, possibly three projects that were given individual codenames targeted Huawei routers, firewalls and network equipment known to have been sold to at least three major mobile network operators.

As a telecoms equipment vendor, Huawei would have been just one of many telecoms manufacturers targeted by the US spies.

Although Huawei has always denied it, there are these persistent allegations that the company was some sort of backdoor for Chinese spies, and yet it finds itself in the curious position of having been targeted to act as a backdoor for US spies instead.

The documents raise some uncomfortable questions, particularly for politicians who have accused the company of being a front for the Chinese military.

In October 2012, the USA's House Intelligence Committee carried out an investigation and concluded by recommending that US firms avoid doing business with the Chinese supplier, although much of the report's allegations appeared to be based on dissatisfaction with the company shareholding structure and openness than any proven security threat.

Google Blocking Malicious Add-Ons for Chrome Web Browser:

Google has had to take action to block add-ons for its Chrome web browser delivering malware or injecting their own adverts into webpages.

The add-ons, which add extra functionality to the web browser are accused of having been taken over by adware sellers.

The add-ons are not hacked, but actually sold by their developers to the adware injection vendors. When the browser detects that an updated version is available, it offers to download it, and causes the adware to be inserted into the users computer.

The revelations of a market in legitimate add-ons that can be reprogrammed to deliver malicious code came after a popular add-on developer wrote that he had been offered a significant amount of money to hand over control of his RSS reader application.

Shortly after he sold the add-on, the buyers used it to insert adverts into websites without either the website owners permission, or the permission of the end user.

Apart from being a nuisance for the end-user, such activity reduces advertising income for website owners.