4G has been up and running for over eight years now, and it's since become the industry standard as consumers and businesses users alike need a high-speed connection to power their streaming, social media and remote working. While next-generation 5G connectivity is also now available, coverage remains limited and prices remain high.

All of the UK's mobile networks offer competitive 4G services and many have invested a lot of money to boost coverage to beat their rivals, how can you choose which is the best 4G mobile network for you?

There are lots of things to consider, beyond cost. Although all of the UK's major networks offer 4G services, some are more reliable and offer faster speeds than others. The other consideration is which device you want to go for as different networks also offer different phone models.

We've rounded up the best deals and benefits for each of the four major networks in the UK to see which suits your lifestyle and usage best.

(NB: these are the costs for an individual, SIM-only, 12-month contract. Business contracts and contracts with a phone can and likely will vary. Average speed results taken from www.opensignal.com. All data correct as of September 2020).

See also: What is 4G?

EE: 4G cost and reliability

EE was the first mobile operator to launch 4G services in the UK, and has long been hailed as the best network when it comes to speed, coverage and reliability. According to OpenSignal's latest Mobile Networks report, released in April 2020, this remains unchanged: EE comes out on top when it comes to download speeds, latency and 4G coverage.

According to the report, EE's 4G customers currently enjoy average download speeds of 35.9Mbps, more than 10Mbps faster than its nearest rival Vodafone. Average upload speeds come in at 9.7Mbps.

In terms of coverage, OpenSignal shows that EE's 4G serves 94.8% of the country's population, just shy of the operator's target to reach 95% coverage by the end of 2020.

EE's cheapest 4G plan starts at £20 per month, which comes with 100GB of data, unlimited minutes and texts, and guaranteed speeds of 60Mbps. The operator also offers a £23 plan that comes with 200GB of monthly data.

O2: 4G cost and reliability

O2's 4G offering has vastly improved in recent years, though it still falls behind its rivals when it comes to speeds and coverage.

According to OpenSignal data, the network currently has an average 4G download speed of 18Mbps, an improvement of less than 3Mbps since 2017, and almost half the average speeds offered by EE. It's upload speeds are also lacking, coming in at an average of 6.4Mbps. In terms of coverage, O2 currently reaches 89.2% of the UK population.

However, O2's 4G plans are cheaper than some. It's cheapest 4G SIM-only plan comes in at £10 per month, although this comes with only 5GB data. For £20 a month, this can be increased to 100GB.

Three: 4G cost and reliability

Three has long been seen as the smallest of the UK's 4G networks, and although it's services are improvement, it still falls short of rival networks.

OpenSignal's report shows that the network's average 4G speeds come in at 22.4Mbps, while customers see average upload speeds of 8.2Mbps on the company's 4G network. In terms of its availability, the network currently reaches 80% of the UK's population.

While it's struggling to compete on speeds and coverage, Three is known for offering a huge range of different packages. The company's cheapest plan costs £5 per month and comes with 1GB data, while paying £5, £10, or £18 per month increases this to 4GB, 8GB and 100GB of data, respectively. Three is also one of the only networks to offer unlimited data plans.

Vodafone: 4G cost and reliability

Vodafone's 4G network began life as a London-only service when it launched in 2013, but efforts to upgrade the network has helped position the provider as one of the UK's leading providers.

The networks offers the UK's second-fastest 4G speeds, according to OpenSignal, with average download speeds of 25.4Mbps. It also offers the second-fastest upload speeds, which come in at 9.1Mbps.

In terms of coverage, Vodafone's 4G network reaches 88% of the UK population, just 1.2% lower than rival O2.

At the time of writing, Vodafone is offering a 50% discount on its 4G SIM-only plans. That means you can pick up unlimited data for just £11 per month - although speeds will top out at 2Mbps. The network's bumper £37 plan also offers unlimited data but promises the "fastest speeds available".

Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs)

Although the companies above control their own network infrastructures, they are by no means the only choice when it comes to 4G. There are a number of companies that make use of these infrastructures to provide their own services, although 4G coverage is still tied to the controlling company.

GiffGaff

Infrastructure: O2

GiffGaff has been voted best MVNO for multiple years thanks to its flexible contracts and reward schemes for community members. Unlike traditional operators, it does not have a high-street presence and relies on its community for customer support. As it uses O2's network, users can expect average speeds of 18Mbps.

Virgin Mobile

Infrastructure: EE

Virgin Mobile is known for its incredibly low starting prices, with rollover data that allows you to carry over any unused allowance from month to month. WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are also free to use on this service, so they don't eat into your monthly data. The best part is that Virgin Mobile uses EE's infrastructure, which means customers get access to the fastest 4G speeds and the best coverage.

Sky Mobile

Infrastructure: O2

Sky Mobile is the newest MVNO on the list. Its biggest selling point is the idea of 'rollover' data, where customers are able to make use of unused data from one month and add it to the next. Sky Mobile will also let you switch between tariffs each month, even if you are locked into a contract. Sky Mobile also uses O2 infrastructure, so expect average 4G speeds of 18Mbps.

Tesco Mobile

Infrastructure: O2

One of the first supermarkets to dive into the mobile provider market, Tesco Mobile offers capped services, so you don't go over your allowance, and free roaming in 31 countries. You can even earn points as you use the service, which can be linked to your Tesco Clubcard. Tesco Mobile also uses O2 infrastructure, so expect 4G speeds to reach an average of 18Mbps.

Image: Shutterstock

The UK's four main mobile networks are battling over control of the country's major regions, according to new research, with no one provider achieving total dominance.

Rootmetrics has revealed the four main UK networks all have hold over a country in the UK, with EE claiming top performance in England, Vodafone occupying the top spot in Northern Ireland and Three winning in Scotalnd and Wales.

EE is still the overall leader in market penetration, with its customers able to access 4G services across 90% of the UK. Vodafone's 4G network seems to be improving, with it having coverage across 82% of the UK, closely followed by Three with 81%. Trailing behind was O2 with only 67% of the UK covered by its 4G network.

"These latest results have really shaken things up and show the increasing competitiveness in the UK, particularly over the last six months," said Scott Stonham, general manager of Europe for RootMetrics.

"EE continues to lead the way, but Three and Vodafone are close behind. What is clear is that each operator showed strong performance in at least one particular country, while nobody was able to sweep the board at the four-nations level. UK consumers have strong mobile options depending on how and where they use their devices most."

However, performance of the four networks varies across the UK. Vodafone was the strongest competitor in Northern Ireland, winning the call performance award for most reliable service in the country, while O2 also showed promise, although it was only the best-in-class for text messaging in the region. As well as being the top overall provider in Scotland and wales, Three also won the award for most reliable network in England.

However, Rootmetrics' research also shows that some improvements are needed before everyone in the UK can take advantage of high-performing networks.

"To succeed, mobile operators must secure sufficient radio spectrum and invest in the necessary equipment, sites and operational teams to ensure consumers enjoy fast reliable mobile broadband," added Ian Fogg, senior research director for mobile and telecom at IHS Markit.

"With new UK spectrum allocations soon to be auctioned in the run up to 5G, these performance results provide a snapshot on the competitive balance between the UK mobile operators now, and highlight which operators most need to acquire new spectrum capacity if they are to be a future mobile performance winner."

Mobile operator Three experienced issues over the weekend leaving customers without service.

Customers had problems with receiving texts and making calls from midday Saturday until Saturday evening, with services running again by Sunday morning. Three advised customers to restart their phones if they are still experiencing issues.

The firm said: "We have been working through the night to fix a network issue which was affecting customers sending and receiving text and making calls. All services are now restored but some customers may need to restart their phones if they are still experiencing any issues."

"Some customers and non-customers may have received a message from an unknown sender," Three added. "Our advice is still to ignore all text messages that you deem incorrect. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to you."

IT Pro has asked what caused the issue and how many people were affected.

Customers expressed their annoyance on social media.

It comes after Three suffered a data breach in March, where some customers were presented with the telephone histories and personal details of other users. When some users logged into their account portal they found they were presented with the details of another customer. This included names, addresses and phone numbers for random strangers, as well as complete, time-stamped records of which numbers these people called and texted.

Three experienced another data breach last November, in which nearly 134,000 customers had their data accessed by criminals. The information accessed included customer's' phone numbers, how long they have been a Three customer, their handset type and whether they are a SIM-only or monthly contract customer, as well as whether their bill is paid by cash or by card. However, for 26,725 customers the breach potentially affected additional data such as their name, address, date of birth, email address, previous addresses, marital status and employment status.

UK mobile operator Three may have landed itself in hot water again, after a data breach resulted in some customers being presented with the telephone histories and personal details of other users.

When some Three users logged into the My3 account management portal, they found themselves presented with the names, addresses and phone numbers for random strangers, as well as complete, time-stamped records of which numbers these people called and texted.

The company's My3 portal was taken offline for maintenance, which drew ire from customers who were left unable to top up or check their balances.

"We are aware of a small number of customers who may have been able to view the mobile account details of other Three users using My3," the company said in a statement. "No financial details were viewable during this time and we are investigating the matter."

This incident follows on from an attack earlier this year in which data thieves made off with the personal information of 133,000 users. Security experts have chastised the company for not doing more to secure its systems in the wake of the previous breach.

""In another blow to a seemingly endless battle for companies vs. customers' data, Three has suffered another breach of information," said Smoothwall corporate security specialist David Navin. "Reminiscent of multiple attacks against TalkTalk in a short space of time, Three will have some tough questions to answer, such as why their customer data wasn't consequently watertight and 100% secure."

John Madelin, CEO of security specialist Reliance ASCN also pointed out that while no financial data was exposed, the information that was visible is just as dangerous.

"It's extremely concerning that strangers have been able to see each other's account detail," he said. "Even information such as names, addresses, phone numbers and call histories can be used for criminal activities if in the wrong hands."

"While at the moment this doesn't look like a true security breach, it's clear that Three is struggling to manage basic customer privacy."

Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch toldIT Prothe latest breach casts doubt over telecom companies' ability to store 12 months of users' web browsing histories, as they will soon be required to under the Investigatory Powers Act.

Research director Daniel Nesbitt said: "Any breach of this kind of personal information has the potential to be very serious.

"In the wrong hands information such as the names, addresses and call histories of customers can be used to paint an intimate picture of a person's life.

"With the Investigatory Powers Act mandating that companies hold onto records of all of their customers internet activity for up to 12 months this threat merely increases. This data has to be kept secure and there must be proper transparency about how the system is working, if it isn't yielding results then it should be scrapped."

Image credit: Three UK

Three customers using Android and iOS devices can now make and take phone calls and send and receive texts using Wi-Fi when they don't have a network connection - without the use of an app.

The company has introduced embedded Wi-Fi in the latest iOS and Android updates, meaning devices will automatically switch to using a Wi-Fi connection if they don't have signal.

Although the mobile network previously encouraged users to download and install its Three InTouch app, it was unreliable and meant customers needed to check both the app and their device's call log or messaging app for new communications, which didn't make for a slick user experience.

The company will now be issuing an alert to those who have a compatible device but are using Three InTouch, telling them they can delete the application and use embedded Wi-Fi instead.

To make use of embedded Wi-Fi, iPhone users simply need to install iOS 10.2 and the feature will start working straight away, while Android users will be able to use it when they update their Three-branded device to

Devices compatible with embedded Wi-Fi include the LG G5, Samsung S6, Samsung S6 edge, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus. The Samsung S7 and S7 edge will include the feature from mid-February.

However, those who don't use any of these devices can continue using the Three InTouch app until they upgrade their device to one of those supported by Three.

A week after Ofcom announced its decision to ban BT from bidding on half the frequencies available at the next spectrum auction in 2017, Three is once again campaigning to reduce BT's over dominance in the UK mobile market.

Three has been asking its customers to send letters to Ofcom to push for limits on BT and Vodafone's overall spectrum ownership.

The campaign, called "Make The Air Fair", is backed by Three, TalkTalk, CityFibre, Gamma, Relish and the Federation of Communication Services.

As part of this campaign, new advertisements with a cartoon superhero image of Ofcom CEO Sharon White started appearing on buildings around London.

Three and other mobile operators have been campaigning for a 30% cap on spectrum for months. In October, they sent an open letter to Sharon White asking for this cap to be established.

At the present moment, BT owns around 45% of the UK's usable spectrum, followed by Vodafone (28%), Three (15%) and O2 (14%).

BT's acquisition of EE at the beginning of the year made the situation worse, increasing its dominance over the UK's mobile market even further.

Last week, Ofcom said it has decided to reduce the amount of spectrum BT can acquire in the next spectrum auction, allowing the mobile operator access to the 3.4GHz spectrum, but not to the 2.3GHz.

The 3.4GHz is not immediately usable, but should be once 5G-supporting technology becomes widespread.

This decision did not satify Three and other mobile operators who own smaller amounts of spectrum. In a statement, Three's CEO Dave Dyson said: "The mobile industry is failing customers and Ofcom has showed it has no interest in addressing that. A 30% cap on total spectrum ownership and a spectrum reservation for smaller operators are the only measures that will preserve competition for the benefit of UK mobile consumers."

Nearly 134,000 customers of the Three mobile network have had their data accessed by criminals, the sompany has admitted.

CEO David Dyson issued a statement on Friday evening, aproximately 18 hours after reports of a data breach first came to light, seeking to reassure customers, but also revealing new details as to the scope of the attack.

"I can now confirm that the people carrying out this activity were also able to obtain some customer information. In total, information from 133,827 customer accounts was obtained but no bank details, passwords, pin numbers, payment information or credit/debit card information are stored on the upgrade system in question," said Dyson.

In a little over 107,000the accounts affected, criminals could have seen information such as the customer's phone number, how long they have been a Three customer, their handset type and whether they are a SIM-only or monthly contract customer, as well as whether their bill is paid by cash or by card.

For 26,725 customers, however, breach potentially affects additional data, including their name, address, date of birth, email address, previous addresses, marital status and employment status.

The company has said it will be contacting customers on an individual basis if they are one of the 133,827 affected and informing them which category they fall into.

Dyson sought to soothe fears of a wide-scale data leak, however, saying:"We believe the primary purpose of this was not to steal customer information but was criminal activity to acquire new handsets fraudulently."

Earlier in the day it was revealed that eight 'high end' mobile devices had been fraudulently issued using Three's upgrade systems, with the perpetrators apparently intending to intercept and resell the devices. So far, it's unclear as to whether they managed to achieve these aims.

This is a developing story, which will be updated as more information becomes available.

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18/11/2016 (11.39am):Three acknowledges data breach

Three UK has finally issued an official statement acknowledging the upgrade scam first reported last night, in which "authorised logins" for the company's upgrade system were used to issue new handsets to customers, which were then intercepted.

"Over the last four weeks Three has seen an increasing level of attempted handset fraud. This has been visible through higher levels of burglaries of retail stores and attempts to unlawfully intercept upgrade devices," the company said. "We've been working closely with the Police and relevant authorities. To date, we have confirmed approximately 400 high value handsets have been stolen through burglaries and 8 devices have been illegally obtained through the upgrade activity.

"The investigation is ongoing and we have taken a number of steps to further strengthen our controls."

The company has sought to reassure customers that the upgrade system used to issue the eight devices that were illegally intercepted contains no customer payment, card or bank account information.

Earlier today, the ICO toldIT Proit was aware of the situation and was investigating. The National Crime Agency, meanwhile, made two arrests on Wednesday under the Computer Misuse Act and one on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice that are allegedly in relation to the fraudulent upgrade scheme, although the NCA has not yet confirmed this.

18/11/2016 (08.30am):ICO investigating Three 'data breach'

Three men have reportedly been arrested in relation to a data breach at mobile phone network Three. Two of the men, aged 39 and 35, were arrested by the National Crime Agency in the Greater Manchester area on Wednesday, while the third, aged 48, was arrested in Orpington Kent, according toSky News.

It's understood that the three are suspected of being involved in a scam which saw thieves allegedly take information from Three's upgrade database and use it to issue eight new phones. It is alleged that these phones were then intercepted on their way to the Three customer whose account was used to generate the request.

Although there have been reports that the three were being investigated on suspicion of fraud, Sky News reported that thetwo older men were in fact arrested on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act, while the younger man was arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice. All three are understood to have been released on bail.

The NCA confirmed the details of the arrests toIT Pro but did not confirm if they were related to the reported Three incident.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), meanwhile, toldIT Pro that it is "aware of the incident and [is] making enquiries".

"The law requires that organisations take appropriate measures to keep people's personal data secure. As the regulator, it's our job to act on behalf of consumers to see whether that's happened," it added.

It so far remains unclear at this point how the data came to be compromised, other than an employee login was used, nor how many Three customers have been affected - although it has been reported elsewhere that around six million accounts have been accessed,IT Pro understands the number to be significantly lower.

IT Procontacted Three for clarification of these points but had not received a response at the time of publication.

17/11/2016:Three mobile network hit by 'data breach'

UK mobile network Three has been hit by what is being reported as a major security breach, with customer information including names and phone numbers allegedly accessed illegally.

Three confirmed late on Thursday night that the breach had taken place, with the data, which was stored in a customer upgrade database, accessed via an employee login.

Although the Telegraph, which was first to break the story, has reported that "the private information of two-thirds of the company's nine million customers could be at risk", IT Pro understands the number affected is in fact much lower and potentially in the dozens, rather than millions.

IT Pro contacted Three for a statement on the reports and confirmation of how many people have potentially been affected but had not received a response at the time of publication.

It is also unclear at this point whether or not the company was hit by external hackers and if any data was actually exfiltrated.

The news comes almost a year to the day after another UK mobile network, TalkTalk, was hit by a massive cyber breach, which affected over 150,000 customers. Earlier this week, a 17-year-old boy admitted to carrying out the attack.

Three will push ahead with plans to introduce ad-blocking on its network, despite EU opposition.

The mobile operator plans to roll out ad-blocking in 2017, claiming mobile ads are intrusive and appear in front of users without their agreement.

However, the EU's Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (Berec) has now released guidance saying that network providers cannot meddle with any internet services or apps their customers use.

The guidance reads: "Providers of internet access services shall not block, slow down, alter, restrict, interfere with, degrade or discriminate between specific content, applications or services."

The guidance is for national regulators though, rather than being directly applicable to network providers, and it's telecoms regulator Ofcom's job to interpret Berec's guidance and choose how it enforces the guidance in the UK.

An Ofcom spokesman told IT Pro: "Ofcom will monitor compliance with the new rules, and look into any complaints received. We will consider any potential breaches as they arise in accordance with our interpretation of the Regulation, and drawing upon the Berec Guidelines to inform our approach."

As its statement suggests, Ofcom will wait and see whether network providers' plans represent a breach of the Berec guidance.

As a result, IT Pro understands that Three will press on with ad-blocking plans it first trialled in June, when it stated its intention to "revolutionise the mobile advertising experience" of its users.

If its plans remain unchanged, they would involve making the advertiser pay for data charges related to ads, not the user, ensuring customers' security and privacy, and ensuring that the advertising received by customers is relevant and interesting to them.

When Three announced its plans, CMO for the UK, Tom Malleschitz, said: "This is the next step in our journey to make mobile ads better for our customers.

"The current ad model is broken. It frustrates customers, eats up their data allowance and can jeopardise their privacy. Something needs to change."

Three declined to comment on the story, and it is not known when in 2017 it will enable network-level ad-blocking, although IT Pro understands the service would be opt-in for all users.

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) said in February that ad-blockers could force users to pay for content they currently receive for free.

Ad-blocking services are predicted to cost publishers 19 billion by 2020, according to a study by Juniper Research in May, with the number of ad-block users rising 41 per cent year-on-year in 2015.

Three has asked Ofcom to stop Vodafone and BT buying too much spectrum when the auction happens later this year.

The company's smallest mobile provider thinks it would be unfair if the two companies bought more than their fair share. After all, BT and EE together (now just one massive BT network) own almost half of the available spectrum, Vodafone owns around a third more, while Three and O2 own comparably less. Three feels it would put the company in a bad position if Ofcom allows both operators to buy up more.

"The combination of BT and EE is incredibly strong financially. It has got the financial ability to outcompete everyone in the market in how much they are willing to pay," Three chief David Dyson told the Financial Times.

"Potentially, given how much spectrum they are already sitting on, BT is incentivised to strategically bid in the next auction to restrict the other operators in the market from increasing their spectrum portfolio...That could make life difficult."

The European Commission didn't allow Three and O2 to complete its merger earlier in the year, so it could be that Three has a bee in its bonnet about that and the impact it will have on its market share.

"Three and O2 are important and effective competitors in the UK, helping to deliver innovation, investment and competitive prices over many years," the European Commission wrote in its decision.

"Competition must be sustainable, and regulation should support it. We will aim to do so through tools such as market reviews or auctions of mobile airwaves."

Three is set to trial ad-blocking at a network level next month in a move it says will "revolutionise the mobile advertising experience" of its users.

The mobile network said it had made this decision as its customers are "increasingly frustrated by irrelevant and intrusive adverts which use up their data allowance and can invade their privacy by tracking their behaviour without their knowledge or consent".

It follows an agreement it signed with a company named Shine Technologies, which claims it can handle both display and in-app ads, back in February.

Three said it wants to improve customer experience in three key areas through ad-blocking: making the advertiser pay for data charges related to ads, not the user; ensuring customers' security and privacy, and ensuring that the advertising received by customers is "relevant and interesting to them".

Tom Malleschitz, CMO of Three UK, said: "This is the next step in our journey to make mobile ads better for our customers.

"The current ad model is broken. It frustrates customers, eats up their data allowance and can jeopardise their privacy. Something needs to change.

"We can only achieve change by working with all stakeholders in the advertising industry -- customers, advertising networks and publishers -- to create a new form of advertising that is better for all parties."

Customers will be contacted in the near future, asking them if they want to sign up to the 24-hour trial, which will take place on 12 June.

Commenting on Three's decision, Aidan Joyce, CEO of content delivery protection technology company, Oriel, said that while this is "a real wake-up call to publishers and brands to tidy-up their advertising experience", small and medium online businesses could pay a heavy price while platforms like Twitter and Facebook will continue to thrive.

"Three must ensure that it is fully transparent on its ad-blocking policy," said Joyce. "We believe ad-blocking technology is a consumer right and evolutionary defence against an abundance of poor quality advertising. Unfortunately, ad-blocking technology is a blunt instrument which by default makes no differentiation between poor and quality advertising."

"Publishers whose content we access, have the right to protect the integrity and delivery of their web content from any form of manipulation, change or censorship," Joyce continued.

"It's one thing to have a user install an ad-blocker of their own choice as for them to determine exactly what they filter out from a web page but for an operator and Shine technology to determine this for users has to be a contravention of net neutrality laws which exist for Europe," he concluded

Three has said it will be the first major European mobile operator to block adverts on its network.

The firm will use technology from Israeli company Shine to block ads for users in the UK and Italy, saying it will then roll out the blockers to other countries "rapidly".

Three stressed that the goal of using the technology was not to "eliminate mobile advertising", but to "give customers more control, choice and greater transparency over what they receive".

As the move is on Three's network, ads would only be blocked when users are on 3G and 4G networks. Ads would continue to be served when users are on a Wi-Fi network.

The company said it has three goals in deploying the ad blocking technology. First, that customers should not pay data charges to receive adverts and these "should be costs borne by the advertiser".

Second, it added that customers' privacy and security must be fully protected. "Some advertisers use mobile ads to extract and exploit data about customers without their knowledge or consent," it said.

Third, it added that customers "should be entitled to receive advertising that is relevant and interesting to them, and not to have their data experience in mobile degraded by excessive, intrusive, unwanted or irrelevant adverts."

The mobile operator said that it will reveal full details of how it plans to meet these objectives in the coming months.

Tom Malleschitz, chief marketing officer at Three UK, said that irrelevant and excessive mobile ads "annoy" customers and affect their overall network experience.

"We don't believe customers should have to pay for data usage driven by mobile ads. The industry has to work together to give customers mobile ads they want and benefit from," he added.

Telecom regulator Ofcom has called for Three's acquisition of O2 to be blocked, warning that it could lead to higher mobile bills for UK consumers and businesses.

The watchdog's chief executive, Sharon White, wrote in a column for the Financial Times that she was concerned the UK's smallest mobile network will become the biggest by acquiring its rival.

Three's proposed 10.5 billion acquisition of O2 would reduce the UK's mobile carrier market to three companies the others being EE, which was recently bought by BT, and Vodafone.

The new Three-O2 group would command more than four in 10 mobile connections, White claimed.

She added that Three owned by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa group has often acted as a "disruptive" operator, challenging its competitors through innovation and low prices, an advantage she argued would be lost through consolidation.

"We are analysing mobile prices over recent years in 25 countries," she wrote. "Our findings show that average prices are around 10-20 per cent lower in markets with four operators and a disruptive player than in those with only three established networks."

The merger bid is due to be assessed by the European Commission, and White said Ofcom has put this argument, along with others about the disruption of network infrastructure and retail competition, to the body.

Ofcom's letter comes after Three ended its 17 per month unlimited mobile data and mobile calls plan last week, forcing existing customers onto a 30 tariff if they do not opt out within 30 days.

The European Commission is expected to issue Three with a list of objections to the merger tomorrow, according to the Telegraph, which also quoted Sky's chief strategy officer, Mai Fyfield, as in support of the deal.

She said: "under Three's ownership we would me more confident that the direction of O2 would be clear. If it's blocked there is going to be a question over what happened to Telefonica. They don't look like they are interested in being a long term owner."

However, BT's recent merger with EE led TalkTalk to warn the move could lead to price rises of 25 per cent, particularly if the Three-O2 deal goes ahead.

Mobile users may end up paying more for calls to certain premium rate numbers after mobile phone operators increased access charges to these numbers.

The call increases have come after Ofcom moved to make call prices more transparent by separating service and access charges in July this year. While the move was supposed to make things clearer for mobile users, it has had the consequence of mobile operators raising charges.

These service numbers are used by organisations for business purposes, especially for popular TV shows, such as Strictly and X Factor.

While businesses set the service charge, mobile operators set the access charge. This November sees mobile operator Three increase access charges by as much as 80 per cent with an access charge of 45p per minute for each call to a service number. This figure was previously 25p per minute.

Calls to Strictly Come Dancing currently cost 40p but will rise to 80p in November.

In August, O2 and Vodafone increased their access charges following Ofcom's new policy. At the time, the regulator said the separation of charges would benefit consumers.

An Ofcom spokeswoman said that as some prices have changed, people should "shop around for a tariff that's right for them."

"Phone providers are now offering a range of pricing options for these numbers, including per-minute access charges as low as 1p per minute," she said.

"Ofcom actively encourages organisations to use 03 numbers, which we set up to cost no more than a normal 01 or 02 number. They must also be included in a customer's inclusive minutes and discount schemes in the same way."

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, said that since the new system was introduced by Ofcom in July, some charges have increased by 96 per cent.

"Ofcom's new system relies on people keeping an eagle eye on what they will be charged before they pick up the phone.

"The charges are meant to be more transparent than before, but with significant price hikes since the new system was introduced, consumers need to be savvy to make sure they are not left out of pocket."

Three and Vodafone have purchased some of Qualcomm's L-Band spectrum to boost coverage of their respective 4G networks around the UK.

Qualcomm said the L-Band spectrum has been approved for 4G use by the EU and can be used "for Supplemental Downlink, helping mobile network operators meet the global demand for increased mobile data traffic."

Reports suggest that the two companies paid 200 million for the extra 4G bandwidth, although neither company has confirmed how much they spent on the infrastructure improvements.

Ofcom will now need to conduct a review into the proposed purchase before Vodafone takes over Qualcomm's share of the 20MHz spectrum and Three takes the remaining 20MHz. It is unlikely that either company will be able to use the spectrum until late in 2016, because their equipment and devices will need to be upgraded in order to work.

A Three spokesperson confirmed the company had bid for spectrum held by Qualcomm, but wouldn't reveal any further details until Ofcom's review has been completed and the sale granted.

Vodafone commented: "L-Band will complement Vodafone's existing low frequency 800MHz spectrum which travels further and penetrates better through walls than other higher frequency 4G signals.

"Over time, Vodafone intends to combine the spectrum with 800MHz using a new technology called 4G+, also referred to as Carrier Aggregation, to deliver theoretical peak download speeds up to three times faster than standard 4G."

Qualcom decided to sell its L-Band spectrum back in June, but it's not known if other telecoms companies bid for the spectrum.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will assess the impact of O2 and Three's merger when deciding whether to allow that of BT and EE, it has announced.

The CMA has released a document that looks further into the issues that could arise as a result of BT's 12.5 billion acquisition of EE and a major part of this will look into how the 9.5 billion purchase of Telefnica (O2) by Hutchison Whampoa (Three) has changed the market.

There are fears that allowing both mergers to go ahead could have a big impact on competition in the UK's mobile telecoms landscape, so an assessment is necessary, the CMA said.

"O2 and H3G are major players in the UK telecoms market, [so] we will consider the potential implications of the proposed merger and the European Commission's investigation for the competitive conditions in the UK," the CMA stated in its document.

"The inquiry group of CMA panel members must decide whether if the acquisition is completed a relevant merger situation will be created and, if so, whether the creation of that situation may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition in any market or markets in the UK for goods or services."

The CMA will also look into how mobile services are sold to consumers, how wholesale mobile services are sold to mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) such as Virgin and Tesco Mobile and how both deals will change mobile backhaul services that BT currently provides to all UK mobile networks.

Fixed broadband services will additionally come under scrutiny because BT currently offers services to EE and other telecoms companies via its copper and fibre offshoot Openreach.

Huawei is one of the biggest manufacturers of smartphones and networking equipment in the world, but few people have heard of it. If you have, then chances are you don't know how to pronounce Huawei' and have the (unfair) impression that their phones are poor quality. Huawei is attempting to solve both problems by launching new phones under the new Honor brand.

Honor 6 Plus: casing

The 6 Plus is a phablet with a 5.5in 1080p screen and is currently available exclusively on Three. It looks like a giant iPhone 4s at first glance, but it's made out of dark blue plastic rather than glass and metal. Look closely and the seemingly plain plastic casing actually has a subtle and classy cross-hatch pattern that shimmers in the light attractively. It feels tough and well-made too.

Honor 6 Plus: performance and screen

Despite its low price (for a phablet), the 6 Plus has an eight core processor - the 1.8GHz HiSilicon Kirin 925 (HiSilicon is a subsidiary of Huawei). Although not quite as fast as rival Samsung or Qualcomm eight core processors, especially when running apps with detailed 3D graphics, it's still very quick and more than fast enough to run demanding apps.

The touchscreen wasn't perfectly responsive, occasionally struggling to keep up with our swipes and prods (especially on complex webpages), but it was otherwise very smooth for the most part. Colours can look a little washed out unless brightness is turned up to maximum, but text, videos and photos still look great thanks to the screen's sharpness, good contrast and wide viewing angles.

Honor 6 Plus: slots and battery life

The 6 Plus has two SIM card slots which is an unusual feature. If you're travelling to a country not covered by Three's generous Feel at Home programme for using your data allowance abroad at no extra cost, then you can slide a micro SIM into the provided tray and slide that into second SIM card slot. Cleverly, this second slot also doubles as a micro SD slot. You fit the storage card on the flip side of the micro SIM tray which is a little fiddly to do unless you have a very steady hand.

The huge battery lasted an impressive 44 hours when connected to Three's 4G network in London's West End and used for calls, photography, web browsing and GPS. The downside is that the huge battery takes twice as long to charge as many other phone batteries. The GPS and compass were sometimes slightly off, but this only happened occasionally. Disappointingly, callers often sounded so muffled and distant that we had trouble understanding them. At least the noise cancellation feature effectively blocked out the ruckus of a nearby building site.

Honor 6 Plus: camera and operating system

Honor claims the pair of eight megapixel cameras on the back produce better quality HDR photos, but these shots, and photo quality in general, were far behind those of admittedly more expensive phones. Shots taken in dim lighting were too dark and full of noise to be usable. Even moderately dim conditions were enough to ruin fine textures and skin tones.

Android 4.4 KitKat is pre-installed, rather than the latest 5.0 Lollipop, with no word on when an upgrade might arrive. More irritating is Honor's interface on top of Android which insists on removing the app drawer, so all your apps end up on your homescreen, and which has its own ugly icon style. There are some useful features though, such as the option to turn off notifications for an app straight from the notifications drawer the first time it appears there.

Honor 6 Plus: conclusions

The Honor 6 Plus isn't perfect, but you'll struggle to find a phablet at this price with such good build quality, battery life, screen and performance. Plus its second SIM slot is an unexpected bonus. It's very good value.

Verdict

Not perfect, but lengthy battery life and other neat features make this a great value phablet

Processor: 1.8GHz HiSilicon Kirin 925

GPU: Mali-T624

Memory: 3GB RAM

Storage: 32GB on-board, micro SD slot

Connectivity: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, 4G

Ports: MicroUSB 2.0, headphone jack, 2x micro SIM

Dimensions: 150x76x8mm (HxWxD)

Weight: 165g

Over the last few years, as mobile users and businesses have slowly started to demand more and more from their devices at work and for their own personal use, there's been a shift from the previously ubiquitous 3G connectivity to the faster, more reliable, 4G.

Thus far, the UK has been slow off the mark in terms of rolling out the service to everyone, with those Kevin Bacon-fronted adverts our only clue that things were changing for a long while. Now EE has had its sole licence for 4G prised from its hands and all the major networks get to have a go.

This comes after a period of time in which, after having to bid in the government's 4G wireless spectrum auctions for a licence, only EE was given permission to provide 4G services using spare 3G spectrum. Competitors were left lagging behind for almost a year while EE carved out its place in the market with the aforementioned Kevin Bacon ads.

Now, licensees include EE, Hutchinson 3G (Three), Telefonica (O2) and Vodafone. EE, however, still has the largest 4G network due to its head start, but other operators are catching up.

Towards the end of 2014, it was reported that 4G speeds in the UK have halved as more people have signed up for the service. This puts the benefits of 4G into question should the previously significant gap between it and 3G speeds start to close.

Additional studies have, however, also claimed that average speeds for 4G are still around double those provided by 3G. In November, it was revealed that Ofcom was planning to sell-off spectrum used by the Ministry of Defence to boost available bandwidth for 4G networks.

In May 2015, Ofcom released details on plans to auction more spectrum for 4G services. However, availablility would be limited in order to future-proof networks against impending mergers. The regulator has asked potential bidders how they think it should release the 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz spectrum bands.

4G is primed and ready to take over, changing the way we use our devices at work, on the go and at home, so here is our guide to everything you need to know.

How does 4G differ from 3G?

3G, launched back in 2003, has served us well and brought widespread connectivity to everyone and made it possible to be truly mobile as long as you had a phone or tablet at your disposal.

No technology is fault-free, however. The problem with 3G lay in the range of service one could expect from the third generation mobile technology. This could range from around 400Kbps to somewhere near to 4,000Kbps. 3G also has a reputation for being unreliable, with sudden drops in speed and complete outages all too common an occurrence.

There was less consistency than might have been expected and slow data speeds just aren't something most people can accept these days. The tide is changing, with 4G promising to overcome all of the issues we've had with mobile data speeds and coverage.

4G promises internet speeds that are five times faster than was possible with 3G, as well as a significantly reduced likelihood of losing your connection. To put it all into perspective, downloads take just seconds, web pages load instantly and streaming either live TV or services such as Netflix can be done without endless buffering time.

But then there is also more than one kind of 4G available to customers, with standard 4G promising speeds two and a half times faster than Ultrafast 3G and double-speed 4G speeds up to five times faster. Like with 3G before it, there's no particular standard, with what you get seemingly differing from network to network.

Throughout 2014, talk surrounding national roaming plans sparked fears that a 4G rollout would be delayed by up to two years as a result.

Why should businesses be interested?

3G has been increasingly showing its age since businesses began to rely more heavily on phones and tablets for work, whether remotely, in the office or out-of-hours. Employees no longer need to leave their work behind when they exit the door everything is at their fingertips at all times and this increased usage demands high-speed, reliable coverage wherever they go.

4G promises to be the solution, good enough to offer either primary or secondary internet connections for employees not always able to be plugged in at their desks. It would be nice if fast, reliable Wi-Fi was available to us everywhere we go, but that's just not the world we live in. Not right now, anyway.

The rise of BYOD and tablets powerful enough to potentially replace laptops has meant that we're less chained to our desks than ever. 4G wireless broadband keeps businesses connected, with more flexibility and the chance to take advantage of remote working or collaboration between teams spread across different parts of the country or even the world.

The truth is that mobile data usage has been rapidly rising for over a decade, and 4G can be seen as a necessary evolution that finally catches up to the demands of an ever-changing world. Companies in the UK are experimenting not just with the adoption of smartphones and tablets for work use, but also with cloud storage and flexible working, and this requires a boost in connectivity.

Adopting 4G is basically a way to both catch up with current technological advances and future-proof your business at the same time. As 4G becomes more widespread across the UK, firms can switch to more remote working for employees, cloud storage for backing-up documents and files and, as a result, increased productivity.

Are there any downsides to 4G?

While other networks are admittedly catching up quickly, there's still a clear leader in the 4G game EE. With a 10-month lead on the technology, the company has been able to build up its offering to include a range of advantages not even on the others' radar, but it also means that connectivity is still limited. Devices ready for 4G aren't much use if your area does not yet have coverage.

There's also a big issue with security, which is reportedly the main concern amongst consumers still considering whether or not to switch. In February 2014, the MailOnline reported from the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona that, while the majority of phones at the event were being sold with 4G in mind, the improved data speeds come at the price of greater vulnerability.

Leonid Burakovsky, senior director of strategic solutions at F5, says: "What the industry has done with 4G/LTE is taken a self-contained telephone network, secured primarily by virtue of being separate from the internet, and then bolted-on internet capabilities which were never designed to prevent eavesdropping."

The less secure protocol used for 4G means that all manner of sensitive information is essentially left more vulnerable, from passwords to bank details, and this poses a huge problem for businesses interested in utilising the technology.

"The main security problem with 4G networks is that user information can become easily available to hackers via, for instance, man-in-the-middle' attacks, and hackers can compromise new services like mobile health or mobile commerce," Burakovsky continues.

With the technology still relatively young, especially in the UK, networks are under pressure to reassure consumers of 4Gs' safety, especially in a business environment in which the sharing of potentially sensitive information is a part of day-to-day life.

EE

When Orange and T-Mobile merged to create EE (or Everything Everywhere) in October 2010, this heralded the start of the company's plans to make 4G accessible for all, and its rollout of the technology began in earnest in September 2012.

The head start has meant that EE's 4G connectivity is currently available in more than 100 towns and cities across the UK, making it the most widespread and thus the most attractive to early adopters. It also has the most 4G spectrum, with access to 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2.6GHz. This makes it seem like not just the best option for now, but also for the future as the technology evolves.

4G with EE gives users consistently great speeds and good indoor and long-range coverage. It is also the only company offering double-speed 4G LTE, with LTE-A 20 times faster than standard 3G being trialed in London's Tech City.

EE has also promised that 300Mbps 4G could be available in early 2015, with the service first being tested in Tech City and Wembley Stadium.

As of the beginning of January 2015, EE's 4G customer base had reached 7.7 million subscribers in the UK, adding 5.7 million in 2014.

The company has also continued to offer 4G to more areas of the country, investing in rural coverage and dedicating 1.5 billion in the expansion between now and 2017, for which EE has set itself the target of bringing connectivity to more than 99 per cent of the population across 90 per cent of the UK.

In February, BT made a bid to acquire EE for 12.5 billion. The combined group plans to sell a full range of services to its customer base. This could mean better 4G deals for BT Broadband customers.

The acquisition has seen calls by rival operators on BT/EE to give up some of its spectrum as part of the deal. The deal is currently being looked at by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Vodafone

Vodafone and O2 are both hot on the heels of market leaders EE, launching their 4G networks on the same day differing significantly from each other in terms of spectrum and coverage.

Vodafone has the edge, with 2.6GHz offered as well as 800MHz as well as coverage that's almost in line with EE's. Vodafone has also been careful to keep its pricing competitive, with lots of extras such as entry-level tariffs and additional data allowance included in various deals.

The company has also launched Sure Signal Premium for business use, which gives users access to its 4G network to ensure high-speed, reliable connections at all times. This is designed to boost internet in places where Wi-Fi isn't up to scratch, helping businesses to maintain productivity.

As of May 2015, Vodafone had three million 4G users in the UK and covered 71 per cent of the population.

O2

O2's 4G offering is currently quite limited. It has coverage in the majority of big UK cities, but that leaves the rest of the country with huge blind spots, but the relatively low price range keeps it in the game against its competitors.

In order to entice customers away from the presently-superior alternatives, O2 offered seductive deals such as a 27 per month O2 Refresh airtime contract with 5GB of data instead of 3GB if they signed up before the end of February 2014.

There was also the issue of the iPhone 5 having not been compatible with O2's 4G network a significant spanner in the works only overcome by the offer of an early upgrade deal for customers who purchased theirs within a certain time frame.

Last November, it was announced that TalkTalk had signed a deal with O2 to use its network over Vodafone's, expanding its 4G offering to customers.

Currently, more than five million customers of O2 have signed up to a 4G tariff. Around 68 per cent of the country has outdoor 4G coverage from O2, with the network reaching almost 500 UK towns and cities.

Three

Three was the second network to be licensed for 4G after purchasing leftover 3G bandwidth from EE, but the catch was that part of the deal meant they were actually the last of the four to actually launch a 4G service.

Launching with coverage for only four cities, it added 42 more in 2014 and has confirmed another 16 for 2015, carving out a place for its 4G network despite its absence at the start of the race. The biggest draw for consumers, however, is the offer of free 4G for customers - the only network to do so.

In December 2014, the mobile provider announced that a third of its UK customers (3.1 million) were using its 4G service, despite the late start and relatively limited availability (48 per cent of UK).

"The addition of low frequency spectrum is just one part of our plans to expand Three's coverage and bring our network to more people in more places in 2015," said Three's CEO Dave Dyson.

Where is 4G headed next?

Now that all four networks are offering 4G services to their customers, the burning question is where do we go from here?

The first things to happen, as history tells us, is that consumer confidence will rise, prices will drop and the technology will grow over the next couple of years. Previous predictions suggested 4G coverage in the UK would reach 98 per cent by the end of 2014 but, with data usage rising all of the time, will what the networks are offering be enough?

Whether it's streaming a movie from home or taking advantage of 4G at work, the demand is already threatening to overtake the reality. As such, it's easy to imagine a time when users are demanding even faster, more reliable and ever-present internet speeds.

So how long until 5G is introduced? It's taken the better part of a decade for 3G to get an upgrade, but will it take as long for the life-span of 4G to run its course?

When discussing the development of mobile data offerings for the future, Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said: "The demands for mobile data will only increase as millions more wireless devices connect to the internet and each other.

"We're looking at ways to use spectrum more efficiently and consider future releases of prime spectrum. By doing so, we can help to meet the significant demands placed on our wireless infrastructure and develop one of the world's leading digital economies."

The regulator also claimed the new spectrum could raise mobile data capacity by 25 times before 2030. This will likely help to support M2M communications and the development of the Internet of Things.

Several monumental things are happening at once right now, with the shift towards ubiquitous data coverage, the Internet of Things and wearable technology all paving the way for a future that has us more connected to each other and our surroundings than ever before.

Right now, 4G appears to be the answer, giving us much faster data speeds and a widespread internet connection that far outstrips the capabilities of 3G.

EE's head start also gives us a reliable picture of where the other three major mobile companies are headed, while also alerting us to some concerns and limitations that may become much bigger issues down the road.

Security is a big one, with the increased vulnerability a sizeable stumbling block for an otherwise attractive option for businesses looking to improve efficiency and productivity. The rising use of phones and tablets for work, cloud storage and remote working have brought about many privacy concerns, and 4G's capacity to add more could provide a significant barrier to its success for enterprise customers.

Pricing is another factor that is consistently evolving to fit with what is out there, what competitors are offering and what customers are willing to pay. Though EE was in the unique position of being able to charge a premium, the increasingly competitive offerings of Vodafone, O2 and Three make this no longer the case.

Speaking about 4G data plans, research analyst at Parks Associates, Jennifer Kent, said: "Deciphering optimal mobile data pricing schemes is an important piece of operators' monetisation efforts, and many are experimenting with their mobile data pricing plans."

The potential for 4G business use is significant, however, and fits in with many other changes in the enterprise and beyond. 4G might have struggled to gain a foothold in the UK as of yet, but it has the next few years to really prove its worth.

This article was originally published in August 2014, and has been updated numerous times and most recently on 9 June 2015.

Mobile operator O2 was left red-faced after thousands of customers lost signal across the UK on bank holiday Monday.

The company was told to "sort it out" by Business Secretary Sajid Javid, who took to Twitter along with hundreds of others to criticise the service.

After several hours of downtime, the network for affected customers in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Northern Ireland was back online at 11.35pm yesterday.

O2 blamed phone mast issues around the UK for the problem, adding: "We apologise for any inconvenience caused to those customers affected and we will now begin a full investigation to identify the root cause."

While Cabinet minister Javid had tweeted "No signal @O2. Please sort it out", telecoms expert Dan Howdle said it was unlikely that angry customers venting on Twitter would actually switch providers.

The editor-in-chief of Cable.co.uk said: "As infuriating as it may be during the disruption, I would be very surprised if many jump ship from O2 as a result."

He pointed to his own research of 2,500 UK mobile users, which found 50 per cent are still with the same provider they signed up with years ago.

Howdle added that instead of just venting frustrations on social media, customers should be prepared to move for better service.

"If reliability is our number one consideration, as many O2 users affected by the outage now claim, we must be prepared to vote with our feet," he said.

O2 is in the process of being bought by Three owner Hutchinson for 10.25 billion.

Three itself suffered an outage in Ireland last month.

More than a million Three customers suffered a network outage in Ireland yesterday after the mobile operator's data centre overheated.

The crash affected as many as 1.5 million Irish mobile users. Many of the affected customers who took to Twitter to vent their fury were previous O2 customers transferred over to Three's network following a 10.25 billion buy-out of O2 by Three owner Hutchinson, confirmed last month.

Users were left unable to use their data, send texts or make calls, but Three told IT Pro the issue was a technical fault in a datacentre, rather than a problem arising from the acquisition of O2.

"We'd like to confirm that service issues which affected some customers were the result of an electrical failure at one of our data centres and were not connected to O2 and Three coming together," a spokesperson said.

Work to resolve the problem continued overnight and Three's Irish Twitter profile claimed the network was again up and running at around 7am this morning.

Stephen White tweeted: "Years with O2 with no issue. Moved to Three not by choice and whole network goes down?"

Philip World's tweet read: "Just got transferred across the Three mobile network from O2. Patchy service all afternoon. What a lovely welcome."

EE has topped mobile network data speeds at both Gatwick and Heathrow airports, also appearing in the number one spot for reliability, according to tests by RootMetrics.

At Gatwick, the network obtained an all-round score of 97.2 with an upload speed of 17.85Mbps and downloads at 20.40Mbps.

Vodafone came second with an overall score of 86.5, although its speeds were considerably slower - 0.94Mbps for upload and 5.68Mbps for download. Both Three and O2 achieved 1.57Mbps upload speeds, while downloads were measured as 3.2Mbps and 2.4Mbps respectively. However, Three's overall score was higher - 80.5 versus O2's 74.

At Heathrow, scores were more similar. EE's score was pretty consistent and far ahead of rivals, at 96.7 thanks to its 18.06Mbps upload and 31.22Mbps download speeds, but Vodafone's dropped to 84.6 with uploads at 2.05Mbps and download speeds of 3.30Mbps, while Three and O2's both increased to a just over 84 because they achieved faster upload and download speeds compared to the Gatwick Airport location.

The report said: "The core components are reliability and speed. These two factors have the greatest impact on your mobile experience. At each airport, we measure how reliably and quickly each network is able to download and upload data, perform email tasks, and handle files that represent elements of a webpage or app, among others."

RootMetrics' mobile performance tests have been carried out in 56 metropolitan areas in the US, seven metros in the UK, and 20 airports in the US this year already. By the second half of this year, it plans to have tested mobile networks at 125 US metros and 16 UK stations, 50 US airports and three UK airports, 50 US states and the whole of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Three network owner Hutchinson Whampoa has today agreed "definitive terms" to purchase the O2 mobile network. The completed deal will, subject to approval, see Spanish owners Telefonica recieve around 10.25bn for the sale of their UK mobile arm.

The deal comes hot on the heels of a similar 12.5bn merger between BT and EE. This agreement is also undergoing review, as market watchdogs fear that giving BT such a large amount of resources would result in a lack of competition.

However, the announcement of Hutchinson Whampoa's purchase of O2 is likely to tip the scales in BT's favour, by ensuring that there will still be other providers on BT's scale if the purchase goes through. The result of both mergers being successful would be a total of three UK networks, with Vodafone being the only non-consolidated provider.

The deal follows the purchase of O2 assets by Three's parent company in Ireland, which now seems like a test-bed for further takeover. The companies' combined base of existing customers would total over 30m customers if approved, which dwarfs BT's projected 24.5m.

With two major telecom power blocs about to be formed, attention has now shifted to the Competition and Markets Authority. Responsible for preventing industry-wide monopolies, the CMA is now tasked with deciding whether these deals will still allow for fair and open trading.

Mark Collins, CityFibre's director of strategy and public affairs, thinks that Three's deal is a boon for the marketplace, saying that "consolidation is the only way to combat BT's ever-growing monopoly over both the retail and wholesale telecoms sectors".

According to Ovum analyst Matthew Howett, while it's currently unknown what Hutchinson and BT might sacrifice "in an attempt to get things through", there are some likely concessions. Currently tipped to be the focus of any trade-offs are "mobile backhaul, spectrum holdings, and the current network sharing agreements".

EE, Three, O2, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone have all entered into a voluntary agreement that will see bills capped for mobile phones that the owner has reported stolen.

Bills incurred while a phone is lost will be capped at 100 following the agreement, and will apply to around 27 million monthly subscribers who have reported their device missing within 24 hours.

Ed Vaizey, digital economy minister, said in a statement: "By working with the mobile operators, we have secured an agreement that will provide consumers with real benefits as well as offer peace of mind."

Around 300,000 mobile phones are reported stolen in the UK every year, according to the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit.

"This agreement demonstrates our continued commitment to deliver usage safeguards and advice to our customers... This new cap builds on the safety and security advice we already give to customers and should provide additional peace of mind if their phone goes missing," an O2 spokesperson added.

Details for individual carriers were revealed with a statement issued by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). While Three has already introduced the scheme, EE will follow in "the coming weeks", Virgin Mobile in July and O2 in September. Vodafone will be the last to introduce the cap, with plans to start offering it to customers sometime this summer.

Annie Brooks, director of Virgin Mobile, said: "This cross-industry agreement simplifies things for consumers by making the treatment of fraudulent use of lost or stolen phones consistent. It remains vital that people report their phone is lost or stolen as soon as possible.

The move is part of the new Code of Practice being introduced in an effort to protect consumers from huge bills incurred for reasons such as out of bundles charges, roaming, premium rate services and in-app purchases. Providers must therefore offer more clear and transparent information.

"This announcement is a major new protection for customer and is in line with the industry's longstanding commitment to help our customers protect their mobile and its contents," said Hamish MacLeod, chair of the Mobile Broadband Group.

Sky has confirmed plans to work with Telefnica UK to provide customers with access to 2G, 3G and 4G services from 2016.

Through the partnership, Sky will benefit from wholesale access to Telefnica UK's mobile, voice and data offerings via the company's network.

News of the deal follows on from reports earlier this month, which suggested Sky might be in the running to snap up Telefnica-owned mobile network O2, which is now in exclusive talks with Three.

However, other reports suggested that Sky and O2 might have been interested in a commercial partnership, similar in nature to the one announced today with Telefnica UK, whereby Sky would white-label the firm's mobile services and offer them to customers.

The move positions Sky as a "quad-play" provider, offering customers access to mobile, TV, landline and broadband services.

This is quickly becoming a popular position for comms providers to put themselves in, as consumer preference for acquiring all their digital services from one provider grows.

Jeremy Darroch, group CEO at Sky, said the partnership with Telefnica UK should pave the way for the firm to build on its grounding in the broadcast and broadband markets.

"We know our 11.5 million customers trust Sky to offer them the best quality and choice and have an appetite to take more from us," he said.

"Through our partnership with Telefnica UK, we can build on our expertise in content, innovation and service to launch a range of exciting new services and exploit the opportunities for growth in the fast-changing mobile sector."

Ronan Dunne, CEO of Telefnica UK, added: "This will widen consumer choice still further and demonstrates the lively competitiveness of the UK market. We're looking forward to working with Sky."

Ewan Taylor-Gibson, telecoms expert at utilities comparison site uSwitch.com, said the deal is proof of how competitive the quad-play space is becoming.

"With Sky piggybacking off O2's network, which also provides services to Tesco Mobile, the tie-up could be bad news for Vodafone, which had been seen as a leading contender for a wholesale partnership with Sky," Taylor-Gibson said.

"Quad-play is proving all the rage amongst telecoms providers, but mobile often seems like the afterthought of these four-way bundles. Many customers are already tied into long contracts so aren't in the market for a new mobile deal."

"Sky hasn't specified if its mobile offering will be for existing customers or whether it will also offer standalone mobile contracts too, however it's likely that exclusive content via its Sky Go app could be offered as a draw," he added.

Three's owner looks set to buy O2 for 10.25bn,now BT has dropped plans to buy the firm in favour of rival network EE for the eye-watering sum of 12.5 billion

As IT Pro readers will undoubtedly know, BT spent a portion of December umming and ahhing about whether to buy EE or O2, as part of its quest to establish itself as a major force in the "quad-play" market. This would position the firm so that it could offer, mobile, TV, landline and broadband services to customers.

Despite emerging as the odds-on favourite to be snapped up by BT, the telco opted to buy EE instead, leaving O2 high and dry.

But not for long, as O2 has been linked to several other players in the mobile market since being jilted by BT last December, with numerous reports suggesting its owner - Telefonica - is keen to dispose of the business soon.

This is because, according to a report in The Financial Times, Telefonica fears being saddled with a pure-play mobile operator while its competitors build out their quad-play propositions.

Below, we run through the roll call of potential suitors for O2, as the race to acquire the UK's second biggest mobile operator really starts to heat up.

Three "in exclusive talks" to buy O2

The owner of Hutchinson Whampoa, the company responsible for running Three in the UK, has emerged as the most likely candidate to acquire O2, after confirming exclusive talks between the pair.

In a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, the company confirmed that it has entered into "exclusive negotiations" with Telefonica that are expected to last around three weeks.

Reports about Hutchinson's interest in O2 began to circulate earlier this week, following a weekend report in The Sunday Times. This claimed Hong Kong-based typcoonLi Ka-Shing was considering shelling out9bn for O2, in an attempt to strengthen his hold on the UK mobile telco market.

"The transaction remains subject to, inter alia, satisfactory due diligence over O2 UK,agreement on terms and signing of definitive agreements, and the obtaining of all requiredcorporate and regulatory approvals," the statement read.

It also said the fact the talks were taking place does not mean a deal is guaranteed to take place.

"Shareholders and potential investors of the Company should note that such negotiationsmay or may not result in any transaction, and accordingly are advised to exercisecaution when dealing in the shares of the Company," the statement added.

Canning Fok, the managing director of Hutchison Whampoa, was reported to have said the previous week: "In Europe, we are doing telecommunications consolidation. This is a top priority for us."

He explained Three presently is a very small force in the scheme of things and through buying a growing network like O2, the company could have a much stronger hold on the market.

If Ka-Shing does purchase O2, the company will join his wide-ranging portfolio that currently includes the likes of Superdrug, the London electricity network and Northumbrian Water, trading as Essex & Suffolk Water.

Market impact

As the second biggest mobile network in the UK, O2 could certainly boost Three's UK presence, although there are concerns merging the two could raise some questions from the Competition Commission.

Kester Mann, principal analyst of operators at market watcher CCS Insight, said the deal is likely to come under closer scrutiny from regulators than EE and BT's potential tie-up because of the impact it will have on the mobile sector.

"Unlike the proposed acquisition of EE by BT, this deal would reduce the number of mobile operators from four to three. Ofcom has worked hard to maintain the UK as a four-player market and would have significant reservations," he explained.

"However, the European Commission would make the final judgement given the international footprints of both Hutchinson and Telefonica.

"Having agreed a similar deal in Germany last year, it may set a precedent that could see the deal receive the green light, albeit with significant concessions."

Additionally, there would be mast-sharing and spectrum issues to deal with if Three wants to grow its 3G and 4G network coverage, but it could also have some huge ramifications for Vodafone too.

"If approved, the deal would transform the UK mobile market. It would create a new leader with over 30 million customers and a market share of 41 per cent. It would also relegate Vodafone to last place in its home market," Mann explained.

"The agreement is a win-win for both companies which were looking increasingly vulnerable as pure-play mobile operators in a market rapidly transitioning towards multi-play."

Sky to buy O2?

Sky is said to have held talks with Telefonica about the possibility of snapping up O2, a move that could also see it enter the quad-play market, according to reports in the Spanish press.

The talks between Sky and Telefonica may also have centred on the opportunities for commercial partnerships between the broadcaster and O2, theFinancial Timesclaims.

It's thought this would involve Sky offering O2's network services to its customers under its own brand, while the network operator's customers would benefit from access to Sky's television offerings.

The same story also suggests Sky is unlikely to push ahead with purchasing O2 outright because of the outstanding debts it's accrued through its ambitious European expansion strategy.

TalkTalk mulls O2 buy

Spanish media reports have also linked TalkTalk to a possible buyout of O2, which would markedly firm-up its mobile proposition for customers.

The firm already uses Vodafone's network to deliver mobile services to customers, through a long-standing MVNO agreement, so buying O2 would make sense.

News of the merger talks caused the firm's share price to increase 3.1 per cent yesterday, reports The Financial Times.

This story was originally published on 19 January, before being updated (on 23/01/2015) to reflect Sky and TalkTalk's rumoured interest in acquiring O2.

Three has announced its Feel at Home traveller service is arriving in Spain and New Zealand, meaning you'll be able to use your bundled data, minutes and texts in those countries with no extra charge from April.

The new locations will come into effect as UK holidaymakers flock to the favoured European destination for their summer holidays, at least going some way towards lightening the burden of holiday costs.13 million holidaymakers are expected to travel to Spain this year, although only a fraction of these will probably be making use of the service.

The service is already available in France, Switzerland, Israel, Finland, Norway, the USA, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Macau, Australia, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland.

Dave Dyson, Three's CEO said: "Feel at Home is unique to Three and offers freedom from unfair roaming charges. It is already hugely popular with more than a million of our customers enjoying its benefits since launch."

"However, my ambition continues to be to eliminate excessive roaming charges globally and we're working hard to open up even more opportunities for our customers to stay connected and enjoy their phones whilst they're abroad."

Tethering your phone to your computer or any other Wi-Fi enabled device is not included in the plan, although other data included in your plan is.

As part of the launch, Three has hooked up with travel site Expedia to offer 12 per cent off a pre-paid hotel booking made via the Expedia app until April 6.

The news comes eight months before the EU's new regulations on roaming charges come into effect by 2016.

The UK's mobile operators have agreed not to go forward with national roaming plans, investing 5 billion to improve coverage in rural areas across the country currently marred by weak signal.

The introduction of national roaming laws in the UK had been proposed by the government to help eradicate the mobile notspots' that reportedly affect a fifth of the country's population.

EE, O2, Vodafone and Three have all agreed to the plans, which will see them offer better coverage to 90 per cent of the country by 2017. This will effectively halve the number of UK residents who currently experience bad signal in their area.

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid had proposed four solutions to the issue. These included national roaming, in which phones would connect to any available network when out of range of their own, as well as infrastructure sharing, reforming virtual networks and coverage obligation.

Javid said in a statement: "Too many parts of the UK regularly suffer from poor mobile coverage leaving them unable to make calls or send texts.

"Government and businesses have been clear about the importance of mobile connectivity, and improved coverage, so this legally binding agreement will give the UK the world-class mobile phone coverage it needs and deserves."

Ofcom will reportedly monitor progress of the agreement and the communications regulator may take the extra money being invested into account when deciding future licence fees.

The government previously opened the matter up to response from the industry, businesses and the public until 26 November, when a final decision had to be made.

But the UK's biggest providers didn't greet the proposals enthusiastically, citing various issues the move could bring to both their businesses and their customers.

A spokesperson from O2, who claimed that the company is spending 1.5 million per day on improving 2G, 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi connectivity, told IT Pro: "We have made our concerns over the national roaming proposals very clear and have advised the government on a range of alternative solutions to achieve the same ambition, some of which we have already embarked upon."

"National roaming is a regulatory solution that will worsen the experience people have when using their phones and undermine future investment in mobile infrastructure in the UK," they added.

A report from OpenSignal into 3G and 4G connectivity around the UK found that, though London was best for both, 4G speeds had almost halved since more users signed up for the high-speed service from their network. Three was found to have the slowest 4G coverage, while EE had the best.

Dubbing national roaming a "flawed concept" that will "deteriorate network reliability for tens of millions across the UK," a spokesperson for EE told IT Pro: "We're keenly aware there are some parts of the UK where customers still can't get adequate signal levels and, while we're already working on some significant nationwide coverage improvement plans, we also need government to work more closely with the industry to remove the barriers to efficiently building more signal in more places."

Mobile operators and the government first entered talks on how to resolve the problem of notspots in the country's rural areas in June, though no formal agreement has been reached.

Vodafone is reported to have been opposed to the national roaming plans for some time.

"As Vodafone and the other UK mobile operators have told the government directly on a number of occasions, national roaming will not provide the people of the UK with better quality voice and mobile internet coverage," the company said in a statement.

"In fact, it would make coverage and quality significantly worse from the customers' perspective, with a much higher risk of dropped calls, lower battery life and negative impact on services such as voicemail."

There is concern among operators that a move towards national roaming could discourage general infrastructure improvements and drive up costs for users.

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch, said of the proposal: "It's encouraging that mobile blackspots are firmly on the political agenda. In this day and age, mobile signal or the lack of it really shouldn't be an issue, whether you live in the middle of the city or the middle of nowhere.

"Allowing networks to ride on the coat tails of others would remove any incentive for underperforming networks to invest in improving their existing infrastructure... Bills could rise yet again if some mobile networks try to recoup the losses through their customers."

Meanwhile, when asked for a statement regarding the national roaming plans, a spokesperson for Three simply said, "We're reviewing the consultation document."

Three has announced 3.1 million of its customers are using 4G, despite the service only launching ten months ago, making it the last UK network to roll out the super-fast service.

Three's 4G service is now available in almost half of the UK (48 per cent), but still lags behind EE's 70 per cent and O2 and Vodafone with 51 per cent coverage.

Three's CEO Dave Dyson said: "The rollout of new capacity is progressing well and, most importantly for me, customer satisfaction is higher than ever. With an advanced 3G network already in place all our customers are able to benefit from a reliable and high performing network.

"The addition of low frequency spectrum is just one part of our plans to expand Three's coverage and bring our network to more people in more places in 2015."

Three aims to cover 98 per cent of the UK with 4G by the end of 2015 by which time its 800MHz spectrum will be up and running around new cell sites to cover more of Britain.

Other strategies include buying a provider that has a stronger 4G network than itself and top of that list is O2. However, O2's chief executive, Ronan Dunne, said earlier in the week it's unlikely Three will acquire the network, with BT looking to be the forerunner.

Dunne said: "At the back end of last year some analysts told me that their main prediction for this year was that Three will buy O2. All I would say is I slept very soundly that night."

Three's parent company Hutchison Whampoa is more likely to buy market leader EE as the two companies already have a tie up, sharing 4G services.

The chief executive of O2, Ronan Dunne said it's unlikely that Hutchison Whampoa, parent company of Three, will buy the network.

O2 and EE have been the subject of acquisition talk with Hutchison and BT are emerging as the front runners.

However, Dunne put stops to rumours it would be bought by Hutchison, saying at a media dinner: "Of all the scenarios in the market I think it's the least likely.

"At the back end of last year some analysts told me that their main prediction for this year was that Three will buy O2. All I would say is I slept very soundly that night."

Dunne went on to say that only having three or four mobile networks operating in the UK is unlikely and it's preferred by mobile networks to have four so competition isn't as tight.

In other countries, such as Germany and Ireland, there are fewer mobile networks and special conditions apply to ensure no single network is dominating unfairly.

O2's parent company, Telefonica has been on the lookout to sell a number of its assets, including its UK operation, in a bid to cut its debt and improve its credit rating.

Last week, BT confirmed it was in talks with O2 to take the network over, saying in a statement: "We have received expressions of interest from shareholders in two UK mobile network operators, of which one is O2, about a possible transaction in which BT would acquire their UK mobile business," the statement added.

The other party is thought to be EE, although as Hutchison Whampoa already uses the leading 4G network for its 3G services, it's more likely the company will become part of Three in the UK.

4G speeds beat 3G speeds in the UK by more than double, an Ofcom report has found, despite previous reports indicating that performance of the high-speed data service had fallen.

The study, which looked at results from over 200,000 smartphone tests in five UK cities conducted between March and June, revealed an average 4G speed of 15.1Mbps compared to the average 3G speed of 6.1Mbps.

They said: "Our results show that, on average, UK 4G networks perform much better than 3G networks. These differences are consistent across all mobile operators, and we would expect consumers to notice material differences in the performance of mobile broadband when using any 4G network compared to a 3G network."

A recent report from OpenSignal and Which? claimed that 4G speeds in the UK had actually almost halved in the last year, owing to the increasing demand on networks from new users. The study recorded average download speeds of 19Mbps in August 2014, compared to 10.16 Mbps recorded in September 2013.

Both studies found disparity between the services offered by the various UK networks, with EE offering the best 4G speeds at 18.4Mbps, according to Ofcom. O2 followed with 15.6Mbps, and Vodafone averaged at 14.3Mbps. Three came last with average speeds of just 10.7Mbps.

"Our intention in this research was to help consumers understand the differences in performance between 4G and 3G mobile services," Ofcom said. "This kind of research is designed to support consumers in choosing a mobile service that best suits their needs."

Average 4G speedshave almost halved over the last year, as more and more people sign up for the high-speed data service.

End users have rushed to sign up to 4G deals with their operators after being promised up to 10 times faster speeds, but the number of people now using the service has meant that speeds have significantly decreased.

According to a study by OpenSignal in association with Which?, whereby 39,294 phone users on EE, O2, Three and Vodafone were surveyed, the average download speed for 4G in August 2014 was 10.16 Mbps, which compares to 19 Mbps recorded in September of the previous year.

This suggests the gap between 4G and 3G speeds have started to close, despite customers paying premium prices for faster connections and widespread coverage.

Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, said: "We've looked at consumers' real-life experiences and found big differences in service between mobile phone providers, depending on where you live or work. We're calling providers to publish the reliability and speeds their networks actually achieve so people can make an informed choice before signing on the dotted line.

"We also support the Government's action on mobile roaming to rid the country of unnecessary notspots', so that a lost mobile phone signal becomes a thing of the past," he added.

Improvements to and theexpansion of 4G across the country hasn't been able to keep up with increasing demand, which has meant 4G hasn't maintained the high speeds original promised to customers.

There is also a disparity between 4G in different parts of the country, with London the strongest and Wales the weakest in terms of both 3G and 4G coverage. Vodafone customers have the best 4G speeds, while those on Three have the worst. Three also came last for coverage, with EE offering the most 4G across the UK.

Samuel Johnston, head of marketing at OpenSignal, said: "We hope this report can draw better attention to the current state of mobile network coverage in the UK, and help consumers better understand how the networks differ in terms of speed and real-world coverage."

Inside the enterprise: Businesses have long been frustrated by the sometimes patchy coverage of mobile phone networks.

For companies providing national services, being able to communicate wherever they are is vital. Over the last few years, workers operating away from the office have come to rely heavily on cellular technologies.

But gaps in mobile coverage or "notspots" persist, and not just in rural areas. One solution being put forward by the government is to allow domestic roaming between networks. If a phone can't find a signal on its own network, it will roam on to another. A further suggested solution is to encourage more sharing of transmitter sites, by the mobile companies.

National roaming is a facility that is already open to tourists and visitors to the UK, as Culture Secretary Sajid Javid told BBC Radio 5 Live this week. And it does seem strange that visitors, potentially, have access to a better signal than UK-based businesses or consumers.

It is also used in other markets, notably the US, where cellphone users can roam on to the country's smaller domestic networks. But the coverage map, and charging model, for the US cellphone networks is different to that of the European ones.

Here, though, the mobile networks are less than keen on national roaming, suggesting it will not solve the issue of coverage blackspots. It could, the operators say, even worsen the user experience, giving less reliable signals and reduce phones' battery life. The networks would prefer other solutions, such as making it easier to put up new masts.

Businesses are likely to grasp at any changes that will improve coverage. "On the face of it, it seems like a good idea, after all, why should an SMB care who connects its devices to the network?", says Rob Bamforth, an analyst at market watcher Quocirca.

In practice national roaming has some real limitations. As proposed, roaming will not cover data, just 2G voice calls. Whilst improving voice coverage will be welcomed, businesses increasingly depend on data services.

National roaming, according to Matthew Howett, practice leader for regulation at IT analyst house Ovum, could even make data services less reliable, or lock users out of them altogether. "What needs to happen is for the mobile operators to work with government to come up with an agreeable fix that addresses not only poor voice coverage, but also data too," he says.

Forcing networks to allow 2G voice roaming is at best a temporary solution, experts suggest. Instead, it might make more sense for the networks to focus on boosting their infrastructure, or adding more coverage in the 800MHz spectrum, which works well in more rural areas.

Or, as Quocirca's Bamforth suggests, operators, and business users, should be thinking more of "wireless extending the fixed network, rather than replacing it". Small cells and femto cells, some operated by networks, some by businesses and communities, could be part of the answer.

"A lot of the focus of mobile operators has been fixed mobile substitution to get you off a landline onto an independent mobile via its own network," he says.

Integrating fixed and mobile networks could well be the answer to coverage issues, and it could improve the business case of rural broadband connections too.

Stephen Pritchard is a contributing editor at IT Pro.

Mobile networks in the UK will be faced with new national roaming laws this week, as plans to allow end users to switch between networks in rural areas or notspots' will be announced.

The new legislation will be outlined by Culture Secretary Sajid Javid, reports The Sunday Times, with EE, O2, Three and Vodafone to be affected by the move. After the law is pushed through, the operators will have to share network resources in rural areas where coverage is notoriously hit and miss.

Customers will then automatically be able to connect to whichever network signal is the strongest where they are, effectively making notspots a thing of the past.

Networks, however, have opposed plans, citing that such a move would negatively impact their ability to improve infrastructure in rural areas as well as force them to increase prices when profits start to suffer.

Operators were given a chance to find an alternative solution to the UK's coverage problem, but their failure to do so has meant that Javid's plans may indeed come into effect.

The paper quotes an unknown source as saying: "We're keen on a national roaming plan. We've talked to the mobile phone networks and told them to come up with a plan. The secretary of state is pretty frustrated that they have failed to do so.

"We've given them numerous opportunities to find a solution. The lack of movement from the mobile phone operators means we now need a legislative option to deal with the issue of partial notspots."

IT Pro first reported on the story in June, when UK mobile operators and the government first entered talks on how to improve coverage across the nation. The initiative was outright rejected in September due to logistical reasons.

At the time a spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "The government has made clear it wants to ensure the UK has world-class mobile phone coverage as part of our investment in infrastructure for the long-term economic plan... of course we want to look at what more can be done in areas with poor coverage."

Mobile operator Three has been fined 250,000 by regulator Ofcom for breaching its rules on responding to customer complaints in a "fair and timely" manner.

According to Ofcom, the company's complaints handling procedures fell short in several areas, with Three reportedly closing down disputes without verifying they had been fully resolved first.

The network provider has also been criticised by Ofcom for not registering calls properly in some instances, meaning they were not treated as stated in Three's formal complaint process.

Therefore, customers were never made aware of their rights to escalate complaints to senior management or to an alternative dispute resolution service provider, trade body or ombudsmen.

In a statement, Ofcom said Three had cooperated with it throughout its investigation and taken steps to ensure its complaint handling processes are now up to scratch.

Even so, it has decided to impose a penalty of 250,000 on the company, which it is required to pay within 30 days of being notified about it.

Claudio Pollack, Ofcom's consumer and content group director, said enforcement action is necessary to ensure customers feel confident their complaints will be treated seriously in future.

"We treat any failure to follow these rules very seriously. The fine imposed on Three takes account of the shortcomings in its complaints handling, but reflects that the harm to consumers in this case was limited," said Pollack.

"The company fully co-operated with our investigation and has now taken steps to ensure it's compliant with the rules on complaints handling."

In a statement to IT Pro, Three said it has made great progress when it comes to improving how it handles customer disuptes.

"Customer service and complaint resolution is really important to us. Ofcom's own figures, collected over the past three years, reflect a huge shift: we have become the least complained about mobile operator in the UK in 2014," the statement reads.

"Ofcom identified issues with our complaints handling process back in Spring 2013. Since then we have worked closely and openly with Ofcom to address these as part of the broader effort to improve complaint resolution, contacting all the customers that might have been impacted. Delivering a great customer experience remains an absolute focus across the business."

Phones 4u is facing an uncertain future now Vodafone has announced plans to withdraw its products from sale through its stores from February 2015.

The mobile operator has decided not to renew its contract with Phones 4u following a review of its UK distribution strategy, meaning the store will no longer be able to offer new Vodafone devices or tariffs.

O2 and Three have also withdrawn their products from sale via Phones 4u's outlets, meaning the firm now only stocks offerings from EE, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and its own-brand LIFE Mobile.

In a statement, Phones 4u said it is in discussions with its existing partners, other networks and various third-party MVNOs in preparation for Vodafone's withdrawal.

David Kassler, CEO of Phones 4u, said he was disappointed by Vodafone's decision, but the firm remains upbeat about its future without it.

"We have high levels of market share, especially in the youth segment, and our own network LIFE Mobile [launched in 2013] is now fully road-tested and enjoying a great first year with customer growth ahead of our expectations," he said.

"We are continuing to set new benchmarks as the leading independent retailer of 4G, with over 70 per cent of connections on this superfast standard.

"Both transactions and search traffic through our new mobile commerce site are growing rapidly as customers increasingly look to begin their purchase journey online, and they are continuing to choose to shop with Phones 4u because of the great service and value they get across all channels," he added.

According to Phones 4u's financial reports, Vodafone accounted for more than a quarter (27 per cent) of the firm's contract sales and 16 per cent of its pay-as-you-go sales during the 12 months to 31 July.

In a further statement, Vodafone said: "Earlier this year Vodafone UK said it was reviewing its distribution strategies in the UK and that it would be opening a further 150 stores and creating 1,400 new jobs.

"As part of that review, Vodafone today confirms that it will be enhancing its distribution partnership with Dixons Carphone from early next year and will not be extending its existing contract with Phones4u, which expires in February 2015," the statement added.

EE has come out on top of the 2014 Rootmetrics performance that measures mobile internet, call, and text performance across the main networks.

The mobile analytics company drove more than 25,000 miles across the UK testing the metrics of 920,000 test samples - accounting for one sample for every 100 mobile phone contracts in the country. It also tested more than 1,200 indoor locations, which is 20 per cent more than it has trialled in previous studies.

Scores in England for all tests across all networks were higher than those in Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, showing there's some work to be done by all operators in rural areas.

Three matched EE's performance in both Northern Ireland and Scotland, while it also ranked first in network reliability in both Northern Ireland and Scotland. In Wales, EE and Three shared the top rank for network reliability, meaning you're less likely to lose signal if you're on one of those two networks in the countries.

Vodafone came last in all but one of Rootmetrics' tests, except call quality where Three took bottom place.

Rootmetrics also tested the networks in the biggest 16 metro areas in the UK, where Three and EE were top performers. However, both O2 and Vodafone also showed strong results in the cities, further demonstrating rural mobile networks is where the most mobile infrastructure improvements are needed.

RootMetrics CEO and President Bill Moore said: "Our mobile phones have become an essential part of our everyday lives, but determining which network performs best seems to have become more difficult.

"We conducted such a large-scale study on mobile network performance to provide depth and transparency around how the networks truly perform. We firmly believe consumers deserve clear, unbiased, and accurate information in order to make the most informed decisions to improve their everyday mobile experience."

National Parks England and the Mobile Operators Association have inked a deal that means people living in or visiting a National Park will get better mobile signal.

The Mobile Operators Association, which represents EE, O2, Three and Vodafone has pledged to improve the signal for communities in 10 National Parks of England without adversely affecting the environment.

To help meet these requirements, operators will be encouraged to share masts, preventing the need to erect new unsightly structures and ensuring the countryside remains as untouched as possible.

Where it is necessary to build new masts, the Mobile Operators Association will work with National Parks England to come up with less intrusive designs for the structures, helping them blend in with the landscape.

The initiative, announced by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Department for Communities and Local Government will cover Broads Authority, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Lake District, New Forest, North York Moors, Northumberland, Peak District, South Downs and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authorities.

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said: "Our National Parks are areas of incredible beauty but they are also places where people live and work.

"They need access to the modern communications that many of us have taken for granted for years. The new agreement could make a real difference to those who live, work or visit our glorious National Parks," he continued.

Environment Minister Lord de Mauley concluded that the need for better mobile signal in these areas is essential for business, claiming it was worth more than 4 billion to the UK economy.

"This spirit of cooperation is exactly what is needed to bring modern technology to remote areas so we can close the digital divide and help grow our rural economy," he said.

UK mobile operators are in talks with the government to share networks in the hope the whole country will be covered by mobile phone signal.

At the moment, some parts of rural England only have access to one or two mobile phone networks, but the new deal means devices would automatically roam, or switch networks, to give consumers the strongest coverage possible.

The plans have been proposed by Culture Secretary Sajid Javid who said he'd like to see a system similar to international roaming introduced, where your device switches between networks according to which has the most reliable signal.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) told the BBC the government was investing 150m to bring better coverage to the whole of the UK.

A DCMS spokesman said: "The government has made clear it wants to ensure the UK has world-class mobile phone coverage as part of our investment in infrastructure for the long-term economic plan...of course we want to look at what more can be done in areas with poor coverage."

However, UK networks are opposed to the plans, saying it would stop them from improving infrastructure, such as erecting new masts in rural areas. Operators also claim it could have knock-on effects for consumers, forcing them to increase prices as profitability is reduced.

Three said although it plans to bring mobile phone coverage to 98 per cent of the UK population in the near future, it supports the government's plans to address the issue of poor coverage.

"We support the principle of expanding coverage to address areas less well served and are in discussions with government about the most effective means to deliver that," the network said in a statement.

Four of the major UK mobile networks have signed up to cut spam text messages with the help of the GSMA.

EE, O2, Three, Vodafone will work alongside data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to encourage customers to report any spam messages they receive.

The solution, powered by Cloudmark, allows consumers to report unsolicited text messages by forwarding them to 7726, or 'SPAM'.

The initiative is part of the GSMA's Spam Reporting Service, which aims to cut down spam messaging around the world.

John Hoffman, CEO of the GSMA, said: "The GSMA Spam Reporting Service provides operators with a tool to measure the extent of fraud and phishing and provides the insight needed to address sophisticated messaging threats that could harm users.

"By working closely with the ICO, the UK's operators are making it more difficult for spammers and fraudsters to target mobile phone users in this country."

Steve Eckersley, Head of Enforcement at the ICO, explained the scheme will provide his organisation with real-time information about spam attacks, allowing the organisation to track down and deal with repeat offenders more effectively.

If a company is found to be breaching the Privacy of Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR), they can be fined by the ICO.

Last year, a number of companies breaching PECR were fined for bombarding mobile phone users with text messages.

One Payday loan lender was served a 175,000 penalty for sending texts encouraging unsuspecting victims to sign up to high-interest loans. In this instance, the ICO received more than 4,000 complaints from people who were sent the messages.

Increasingly, companies are targeting consumers with low credit scores in the hope they will sign up to a payday loan or a better deal on a phone contract.

Neil Cook, chief technology officer at CloudMark, said these vulnerable people were increasingly targeted because they have inadvertently signed up to other services.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has concluded the amount raised by last year's 4G spectrum auction was acceptable, but stopped short of declaring the process economically efficient.

The Government spending watchdog launched a probe into the Ofcom auction in April 2013, which saw O2, Vodafone, EE, Three and BT stump up hundreds of millions of pounds to secure 4G spectrum in either the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands.

The auction raised 2.34 billion. This was lower than the 3.5 billion the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted it would raise.

As a result, industry watchers were quick to condemn Ofcom's handling of the auction, despite the mobile regulator declaring at the time that the primary aim of the initiative was not to raise money.

The NAO published its report into the process yesterday, and said the amount raised was acceptable and in keeping with what other European countries achieved at auction.

It also reiterated Ofcom's earlier point that the auction's proceeds were not expected to hit a particular level.

"We compared the proceeds achieved with those obtained in other European auctions. After adjusting for population sizes, proceeds were within the range achieved in other European auctions," the report states.

However, the report does acknowledge that 159 million more could have been raised if the spectrum purchased by Three had been sold for more than its reserve price.

The report's aim was to clarify whether the outcome of the 4G spectrum auction will encourage competition between mobile providers, and investigate if the overall process had been economically efficient.

The latter point is something the NAO admits it is unable to clarify at present, because it's too early to assess whether the providers who were allocated spectrum via the auction have made good use of it.

"Whether or not the auction succeeded in allocating spectrum to those who can make best use of its will only start to become apparent as the spectrum is brought into use by the winning bidders," the report reads.

"As one of the conditions of the licenses awarded in the auction, Ofcom can monitor operators' use of the spectrum and operators themselves can now buy and sell spectrum to match their business requirements."

Three has enlisted Virgin Media Business to upgrade its backhaul network in preparation for the uptick in demand for the mobile operator's 4G services.

The five-year deal will see Three's backhaul network linked up to Virgin Media's fibre optic network to improve connections between its 15 aggregation sites and its three UK datacentres.

The fibre optic injection will reportedly boost Three's network capacity by 300GB, and help the operator cope with the demand for 4G speeds and data services from customers.

George Wareing, sales director at Virgin Media Business, said meeting the growing data demands of customers is a challenge all operators face.

"Three recognises this challenge and is doing all they can to safeguard its future services. Through our network, they can meet customer expectations and deliver a fast and consistent connection," said Wareing.

Bryn Jones, CTO of Three, said Virgin Media's intervention will make it easier for customers to stream videos without buffering and browse the internet without connections dropping out.

"With the new high-capacity backhaul network from Virgin Media Business we are ready to welcome even more people to the Three family. Regardless of where they are, now all of our customers will receive the best possible experiences when using 4G,"Jones added.

News of Three's technology tie-up with Virgin Media Business comes hot on the heels of the announcement earlier this week about it partnering with rival EE to rollout 4G across the UK.

The two operators announced plans to invest 1 billion to accelerate both firms' 4G deployment plans.

Three has been banned from describing its DC-HSDPA network as "3.9G" by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), after rival operator EE complained.

EE said the adverts, which were featured in the press, online and across the Tube network, implied Three's service was very close to 4G. It also protested that its "ultrafast network is built for more" tagline could not be substantiated.

In response, Three said 3.9G was not a technical term but used to describe its own DC-HSDPA network and claimed this was "one step below 4G technology".

The mobile firm defended its use of the term "Ultrafast" and argued it was "intended to communicate that the network speed and the type of technology used were only one side of the story and that other network factors could also influence levels of speed and quality for customers."

The ASA ruled the claim "3.9G" was misleading. It said while the ads didn't state 3.9G was an industry term, the claim did imply that Three's 3G DC-HSDPA network technology and speeds were very close to that of 4G, and superior to those offered by 3G technology in general.

"Three had provided information on the differences between DC-HSDPA and 4G LTE technology. However, the document was largely theoretical, and did not contain evidence of the actual measurable speeds offered by Three's network and how this compared to typical 3G and 4G speeds," the ASA said in a statement.

The organisation said it had not seen evidence to support such claims. It also ruled against Three's assertion its network was "built for more" and agreed with EE that this could not be substantiated.

"The ad qualified the claim with the statement 'our Ultrafast network is built to give you all-you-can-eat-data' but we had not seen any evidence that the offering of all-you-can-eat data plans by Three was the result of technological capabilities of their network beyond those of Everything Everywhere," the ASA ruled.

The ASA told Three the ads must never appear again in their current form and that it must ensure future claims do not mislead.

An EE spokesman said: "We're pleased the ASA agrees that this ad was misleading."

Mobile operator EE has opened up its 4G network allowing AT&T customers to roam the network while in the UK with their 4G-enabled devices.

EE said it was the first UK operator to offer this service for visitors to the UK. The firm is said to be negotiations with other mobile carriers over wholesale agreements.

The firm said it was an ideal partner for foreign operators looking to partner with them as it offered the largest network and fastest speeds. The operator is aiming to cover 160 towns and cities in the UK with its 4G network.

"With the biggest and fastest 4G network in the UK, we can provide our partners' customers with the best mobile experience to stay connected when they visit the UK," said EE chief executive Olaf Swantee.

"Technology is not just shaping how people book and research holidays, but what they look for when they are choosing a country to visit. From finding their way to local landmarks, to avoiding the Oxford street crowds by shopping on their tablet, tourists are increasingly looking for fast and reliable mobile experiences when they travel abroad."

Earlier this month, IT Pro reported that rival operator Three scrapped roaming charges for customers visiting the US. The expansion of its "Feel At Home" added the US to its list of countries where customers can make calls and use mobile data at no extra cost.

Three has abolished roaming charges for customers that visit the US, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Macau, as part of the expansion of its Feel At Home scheme.

The company became the first mobile operator to abolish international roaming charges for UK customers travelling to seven countries with the launch of Feel at Home in September.

The scheme allows customers to draw on their data, text and call allowances while using their phones in certain countries, avoiding costly roaming costs in the process.

Dave Dyson, chief executive of Three, said the scheme means customers no longer have to curtail their use of mobile devices while overseas.

"We want customers to get the most out of their devices at home or abroad. High roaming charges stop people enjoying their phones while they're away and Feel At Home is the antidote to that," said Dyson.

"Adding the USA to the mix is great news for our customers and shows our commitment to giving them the best experience in what is a popular destination. We plan to add more countries to the mix soon."

The company has credited initiatives like Feel At Home for enabling it to achieve a 9.7 per cent year-on-year rise in the number of active customers signed up to its network since Q3 2012.

Three says it has 7.8 million active customers, 300,000 of which joined the firm in Q3.

Richard Woodward, chief financial officer, said the growth of its subscriber base has resulted in another quarter of improved profitability for the firm.

"With a strong network foundation in place and a growing brand reputation, we've seen another quarter of improving profitability. We have also continued our customer growth in both the contract and prepaid markets through simple and enjoyable propositions like Feel At Home," said Woodward.

"With nearly eight million customers now on the Three network, this is an excellent platform to continue to grow our financial performance."

The operator will be hoping the start of its 4G rollout plans, which began in earnest this week, will have a positive impact on its future financial performance.

The firm started upgrading customers with 4G-ready devices to its superfast network earlier this week, and said it hopes to have completed this stage of the deployment by the end of Q1 2014.

To achieve this, it has already vowed to cover 50 cities with 4G by the end of 2014, and 98 per cent of the population by the end of next year.

"We are building a brand and network that encourages and enables customers to enjoy the mobile internet," Dyson said.

"Customers are using more data than ever on Three, far more than on any other network. As we add 4G capacity to the network, this experience will only get better."

Vodafone has expressed disappointment at Ofcom's plans to increase the annual fees mobile operators must pay to run services using the 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum bands.

These frequencies are used by the operators to deliver voice calls, 3G and some 4G services.

The mobile regulator wants to increase the amount Vodafone, O2, EE and Three pay a year to use these spectrum bands from 64.5 million to 308.9 million, an increase of 379 per cent.

The sum each mobile operator will have to pay depends on how much they coughed up during the 4G Ofcom spectrum auction, as well as the technical and commercial characteristics of each band.

Further to this, the amount each paid out in similar, overseas spectrum auctions will also be taken into account, Ofcom confirmed.

Vodafone and O2 pay 15.6 million a year in spectrum licence fees now, and this could increase by more than 430 per cent to 83.1 million if Ofcom's proposals are approved.

EE's annual spectrum licence fees total 24.9 million, and could potentially rise to 107.1 million. Meanwhile, Three, who currently shells out 8.3 million a year in fees, could have to stump up 35.7 million in the future.

In a statement, Ofcom said the increase reflects the fact spectrum is a finite resource, and charging more for mobile operators to use it should ensure it is being used efficiently.

The mobile operators have until 19 December 2013 to respond to the proposals, with the new updated licence fees expected to come into effect next year.

While there is a risk the price hikes could result in end users' mobile bills going up, industry watchers predict the operators are unlikely to pass the costs down for fear of losing their competitive edge.

Unsurprisingly, the news has not gone down well with members of the mobile operator community, with Vodafone being among the first to hit out at Ofcom's proposals.

In a statement to IT Pro, a Vodafone spokesperson expressed the firm's dismay at Ofcom's proposed price hike.

"We are disappointed that Ofcom is proposing a 430 per cent increase in the fees we pay for our existing spectrum at a time when we are investing more than ever in vital national digital infrastructure," the statement reads.

"Vodafone UK is spending more than 900m this year alone on its network and has pledged to bring indoor 4G coverage to 98% of the UK population by 2015.

"The regulator should be encouraging such private sector investment in infrastructure and new services like 4G, which will benefit consumers, businesses and the wider British economy for many years to come," the statement concludes.

An O2 spokesperson told IT Pro the proposals were "in line with Ofcom's earlier guidance".

"We'll now be looking through [the guidance] in detail and will respond to Ofcom in due course," the spokesperson added.

IT Pro contacted Three and EE for comment on this story, but was still awaiting a response at the time of writing.

The Government is to call on mobile providers to help achieve its goal of offering 98 per cent of the UK's population superfast broadband services by 2018.

According to a report by the Financial Times, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will gather mobile operators around the table alongside other fixed line broadband providers to ramp up competition for the next phase of its rural broadband rollout.

The Government plans to allocate an extra 250 million to deliver superfast broadband to parts of the country not currently covered by the existing 530 million Broadband Deliver UK (BDUK) project, which aims to cover 90 per cent of the country by 2015.

The BDUK programme has come in for a fair amount of criticism since its creation, with spending watchdog the National Audit Office calling it a flawed, expensive process that has resulted in only BT winning all the contracts so far.

The DCMS hopes this next phase, looked upon as a separate process, will be more competitive and see rural communities being much more involved in the project.

Executives from EE, Three and Vodafone are thought to be attending the meeting, according to the Financial Times report, with 4G networks expected to fill in the connectivity gaps in coverage.

O2 already has a requirement as part of its licence to cover 98 per cent of the UK with 4G networks, although there is no guarantee that coverage will provide speeds fast enough to be considered superfast.

To qualify for funding, 4G operators will need to demonstrate they can attain the minimum threshold for superfast broadband of 30Mbps.

Mobile operator Three has set out plans to rollout its 4G network to 50 UK towns and cities by the end of 2014.

The smallest of the UK's operators will be the last to launch a 4G network in the country, with the rollout set to begin in London, Manchester, Reading and Birmingham. These four cities should have Three's 4G network up and running by the end of this year.

The Birmingham launch will include Dudley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton, while Manchester's network extends to Oldham.

Another 42 are then planned to go live by the end of 2014, which the network predicts should ensure it has coverage of 98 per cent of the UK by the end of 2015.

The 42 towns and cities are: Aberdeen, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Dundee, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Gloucester, Huddersfield, Ipswich, Kingston Upon Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Milton Keynes, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Sheffield, Slough, Southampton, Southend On Sea, Stoke On Trent, Stockport, Swindon, Watford and York.

The mobile operator is lagging slightly behind its rivals in the 4G network stakes.

EE launched its 4G network last year, which now reportedly covers 55 per cent of the population. Both O2 and Vodafone launched their 4G networks in August this year.

While Three might be late to the party, it has stolen a march on its rivals in terms of pricing. The operator promised subscribers that it will offer 4G as standard on all its price plans, meaning they will have the next generation technology at no extra cost.

It said the upgrade will take place when customers install a software update on their smartphones. As long as the device supports 4G, it will have access to the mobile operator's superfast network.

No-one could ever accuse the IT Pro community of being backward in coming forward, especially when it comes to airing their views on the week's biggest stories.

This week, the vast majority of the online chatter has focused on SMS spam artists, wasted Government IT investments, and Three's plans to abolish roaming charges in certain countries.

Universally speaking

Plans to replace six means-tested benefits with the all-encompassing Universal Credit payment was always going to be a complex, costly and ambitious affair.

The National Audit Office's bean counters released a report into the progress the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has made on the project earlier this week, and the results weren't pretty.

The spending watchdog said the programme's implementation has been let down by "weak management, ineffective control and poor governance," before warning it might miss its 2017 deployment deadline.

And that's not even the worst of it. The report revealed that 70 per cent of the 425 million that has been spent on the project to date has been invested in the development of new IT systems to support it.

This equates to more than 300 million of IT spend, and 34 million of this has been written off for undisclosed reasons.

Unsurprisingly, the IT Pro community hasn't taken too kindly to this revelation, with one reader picking up on Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith's declaration that civil servants were to blame for the waste.

Smith said he'd "lost faith in the ability of civil servants to manage this programme," to which IT Pro reader Haywarda1 retorted: "[That's] exactly how we feel about the Government. Shame we can't bring in outside help."

Meanwhile, BrianM101 said he'd like to see someone held to account over this. "How about the people responsible paying the money back," he asked. Yeah, you tell em, Brian.

Three is the magic number

Debate has raged in recent weeks about whether or not the European Commission will abolish international roaming charges for mobile phone users that visit EU member states. While we await the outcome of that, mobile operator Three announced that it's already doing this for its customers.

The company announced plans to axe international roaming costs in seven countries. A decision that was cautiously welcomed by IT Pro readers, with one claiming the firm offered something similar several years ago and then swiftly withdrew it.

However, well travelled Ian Sankey welcomed the move. "I often wonder, when I go to Ireland (or anywhere else), why my Vodafone connects to the same Vodafone network yet I get charged [up to] 20 times the price.

"It's just pure greed. Well done Three," he added.

Can the spam

Messaging security vendor CloudMark recently talked to IT Pro about the issue of SMS spammers targeting mobile phone users with bad credit; a trend the company described as "disturbing."

"They often do target the vulnerable people in society, because they're not [aiming] this at people who are on a 50 a month contract with Vodafone," Neil Cook, chief technology officer at CloudMark, told IT Pro.

"They're targeting people [with phrases like] 'if you've been refused a mobile phone contract before we'll try to get one for you'. It's definitely a concern."

When asked how spammers know who to target, Cook said it's usually because victims have responded to similar messages in the past or have been "inadvertently" signed up to receive them when their details have been sold on to a third party.

The latter comment was seized on by regular IT Pro commenter Stoatwblr who said the Advertising Standards Authority code of practice prohibits the sending of such missives without the recipient's express permission.

In response, Fredfnord said, even though the practice is banned, Stoatwblr is wrong to assume that all companies abide by the rules.

"Self-evidently, you're wrong. Unless you somehow believe that everyone in Europe (let alone the rest of the world) is following EU data protection laws," Fredfnord sniffed.

To which Stoatwblr replied: "If they're not following EU data protection laws, it's illegal and not inadvertent."

Three has become the first mobile operator to abolish international roaming charges for UK customers travelling to seven countries.

The Feel At Home scheme, as Three has dubbed it, means customers that travel to Australia, Italy, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Hong Kong and the Republic of Ireland will not have to pay extra charges for using their phones while abroad.

It is expected the scheme will be widened to include more countries as time goes on.

The company announced the move in a blog post, and explained that any calls or text messages customers make will be covered by their usual allowance.

"Just carry on as you were. It's that easy. If you have 5,000 texts in your package you can text 5,000 times from Australia, if you really want to," the blog post explained.

If customers do exceed the limits of their plans while abroad, they will be charged "special roaming rates", which Three claims will be lower than its standard roaming rate.

Feel at Home will be open to pay-as-you-go, contract, mobile broadband and business customers, confirmed Three, and will not require any action from users to take hold.

"You'll just arrive in a Feel At Home country, wait for your phone to pick up any local network and away you go," the blog post continued.

"You'll be able to use your phone just as you did before and with no extra charges and no nasty surprises on your bill when you get home."

Three's announcement follows on from the European Commission's declaration of intent last week about cutting roaming costs across Europe.

A European roaming cap came into force on the 1 July 2013. This reduced the cap on voice calls to 24 cents per minute and reduced the cost per MB to 45 cents.

Neelie Kroes, vice president of the European Commission, is said to have wanted to reduce the cost of voice calls to 3 cents (2.56p) per minute between July 2014 and June 2022.

Reports suggested Kroes' plans to reduce the cost of roaming further had been shelved last week, although this was denied by a European Commission spokesperson last week.

Three has tried to steal Vodafone and O2's 4G launch day thunder by setting out plans to offer the superfast network to some existing customers for no extra cost from December.

The company plans to start rolling out 4G services in London, Birmingham and Manchester from December, according to a Three blog post.

"Even better than that, we'll be busy rolling out in a further 50 cities by the end of 2014. And, by the end of 2015? Well, we aim to have covered a massive 98 per cent of the population," the post read.

The UK arm of Hutchison Whampoa looks set to be the last of the four big networks to launch its 4G services, but to date is the only one offering it to customers at no extra charge.

The post detailed that every Three customer with a 4G enabled device will be upgraded to the superfast network at no extra cost.

"It'll be easy to switch over too. All that's required is a simple software update," the post continued.

"They'll be no new contract to sign, no new SIM and no tariff change [because] we really want this transition to be as easy as possible for our customers."

The operator also added that its All You Can Eat mobile data plans will still be offered to those who sign up for its 4G services.

"So, get ready for 4G at no extra cost, it'll be here before you know it," the post concluded.

The company acquired 2 x 5 MHz of 800 MHz spectrum during the Ofcom 4G spectrum auction in February, and also purchased some from EE towards the end of 2012.

The timing of Three's announcement coincides with the launch day for both O2 and Vodafone's 4G networks, and comes a day after EE the first to market with the superfast network in the UK announced that its coverage now stretches to more than 100 towns and cities.

Network provider EE has a mammoth head-start on its rivals when it comes to high-speed 4G in the UK, with the service now active in 95 towns and cities across the UK.

But how are the other major players getting on with the deployment of 4G and when can customers expect to start using it?

O2, Three and Vodafone had to battle in out in an Ofcom auction to buy spectrum which will allow them to provide 4G services. The results were made public on 20 February and we take a look at where they are at a month on.

O2 The network has announced its 4G network will be switched on starting on the 29 August in London, Leeds and Bradford. The network claims 5 million people will have access to the high-speed internet on launch.

O2 plans to have 4G activated in 13 cities by the end of 2013. These include - London, Leeds, Bradford, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, Sheffield, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Price plans for 4G services will start at 26 per month. O2 told IT Pro that it will be releasing more details on tariffs later this month. The operator said it's "committed to making 4G accessible to as many people as possible".

O2 is also offering a 30-day "Happiness Guarantee" so users can switch back to 3G is they are unhappy with the service they are being provided.

There is one catch current iPhone 5 devices only work with EE's 4G network because they only frequency support in the UK is the 1800MHz spectrum.

Customers who bought an iPhone 5 from O2 between September and 31 March 2013 will have to upgrade their contract. O2 will offer a discount of 25 per cent on the remaining balance. Users who want to use 4G will have a choice between HTC One, BlackBerry Q10, Samsung Galaxy S4, Nokia Lumia 925 and Sony Xperia Z.

The network spent 550 million in the auction, securing 2 x 10MHz of the 800MHz spectrum. O2 claims this frequency is the farthest reaching out of all those used in the UK and will provide the best indoor coverage. Ofcom has set the operator a target of covering 98 per cent of the UK indoors by 2017 as part of the terms of its license.

Three The UK arm of Hutchison Whampoa purchased some spectrum from EE at the back-end of 2012, but will not be able to use it until September 2013. The network also took part in the 4G auction winning bids for 2 x 5 MHz of 800MHz spectrum.

Shortly afterwards, Three claimed on its website that it would launch 4G in Spring 2013. The operator also made the announcement that it would not charge users extra for the high-speed internet service, the only provider to take this route.

However, Dave Dyson, CEO of Three, claimed earlier this week that 4G services would be launched at the end of 2013 at the earliest. This is likely to make it the last of the big four networks to launch.

Dyson claimed the firm's latest 3G services are comparable to early versions of LTE and that users are more concerned with having all-you-can-eat allowances, which the firm specialises in, rather than all-out speed.

Vodafone Splashing out a total of 790 million in Ofcom's auction, Vodafone secured a third of the low frequency 800MHz spectrum along with some higher-frequency spectrum to boost its existing network infrastructure.

The company looks set to go toe-to-toe with rival operator O2, after announcing on 7 August that it will be switching on its 4G network on 29 August, too.

The superfast network will go live on 29 August in London, before being switched on in 12 more cities before the end of 2013.

The cities will include Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

Vodafone has confirmed the pricing of its 12-month, SIM-only 4G plans will start from 26 a month, which will also provide users with 2GB of data. 4GB and 8GB data plans will also be available for 31 and 36 a month, respectively.

For the first six months, 4G Vodafone customers will be offered unlimited data through the firm's Data Test Drive initiative.

Customers that upgrade to one of its 4G plans will also have access to either Spotify Premium or Sky Sports Mobile TV, as an extra incentive to get them to upgrade.

Phones4U In a surprise move, retailier Phones 4U launched a virtual 4G network using EE's infrastructure. Life Mobile debuted in March, and currently offers users 2G/3G. However, there are plans to upgrade it to 4G later in the year.

EE The amalgamation between T-Mobile and Orange has had a head-start over its rivals, and is now available in 95 towns/cities in the UK. Initially, there were concerns about the low-allowances and high-prices and EE was forced to cut prices in an attempt to attract users.

The latest areas which have had 4G greenlit include Bradford, Bingley, Doncaster, Dudley, Harpenden, Leicester, Lichfield, Loughborough, Luton, Reading, Shipley, St Albans and West Brom.

EE plans to rollout 4G to 70 per cent of the UK population by the end of 2013, and 98 per cent of the population by the end of 2014.

The network also claims that its 4G is up to five times faster than 3G. IT Pro carried out a field test pitting the 4G network against 3G in central London and the results were surprising.

Have you switched network to get 4G early, or are you willing to wait for your operator to launch the service in your area? Let us know below.