O2 to offer mobile coverage on Glasgow subway

O2 customers will be able to make and receive calls on Glasgow's underground railway system later this year. Coverage will be available in five Glasgow Subway stations - Buchanan Street, St Enoch, Kelvinbridge, Hillhead and Partick - from December. Customers will also have access to other mobile services, including text messages, 3G video calls and internet access. In addition, WiFi coverage could be offered in the future. It's a story we first mentioned earlier this year. [Press release]

O2 hits Ofcom's 3G coverage target

Ofcom says O2 has now met its obligation to provide 3G coverage to at least 80% of the UK population. The regulator had told O2 in February that it would impose a penalty if the network didn't comply with its obligation to offer 80% coverage by the end of June. O2 should have hit its target by the 31st December 2007 but was only offering 75.69% coverage. [Press release]

Do you want to know a secret?

We're not very bright when talking business on our mobile phones. That seems to be the message from Vodafone, which says indiscreet mobile conversations are a threat to company security. More than 70% of all employees talk about business on their mobile phones in public, with 15% discussing confidential new products or services. Worse still, 26% confessed to following up on a lead they'd overheard in someone else's phone conversation. Vodafone suggests using more discrete methods of communication, such as text or mobile email, when on the move. It's promoting a collaboration with Virgin Trains that provides improved 2G and 3G mobile phone coverage within Virgin's high-speed Pendolino trains between London and Glasgow. [Press release]

UK gripped by nomophobia

Not an April Fool's Day joke, although it might as well be. Yesterday the Post Office said that one in five people found being out of mobile phone contact as stressful as moving house or breaking up with a partner. Its research, which had been carried out by YouGov, said 53% of UK mobile phone users were anxious about running out of battery, running out of credit, losing their handset or not having network coverage. They christened this fear of having no mobile phone contact "nomo-phobia". [Source: Independent.co.uk]

Ofcom says O2 failed to hit 3G coverage target

Ofcom has told O2 that it's failed to meet its requirements for providing 3G coverage in the UK. All five networks running 3G services were required to offer 3G coverage to at least 80% of the UK population at the end of last year. Ofcom says 3, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone complied but O2 only covered 75.69% of the population, resulting in a shortfall equivalent to approximately 2.5 million people. Ofcom has told O2 that it must reach its obligation by the end of June 2008 or have its 3G licence term shortened by four months (ending in August 2021, not December 2021).