The Independent reports that O2's CEO Peter Erskine has said the company is "excited" about the Apple iPhone and "we certainly hope to be marketing it later in the year when it launches." However, there's still no confirmation from any network or from Apple about UK sales plans.

America's Federal Communications Commission has announced that customers will be able to use whatever phone and software they want on a large chunk of the 700MHz band when it's auctioned next year. Any company that buys the radio spectrum - which will be auctioned by the end of January next year - will need to let customers use almost any device on the network and let them access almost any application. Internet giant Google and existing mobile networks are expected to be interested in the auction, although the frequencies will not be available for use until 2009. [Sources: Yahoo!, Telecoms.com and WashingtonPost.com]

The EU has published details of which mobile phone companies have officially announced their 'capped' roaming charges - and which networks haven't. In the UK, 3 and Vodafone are both cutting costs to below the EU's 0.49 Euro (+VAT) cap, while Orange is meeting the price cap. However, at the time of publishing, neither Virgin Mobile nor T-Mobile had advised the EU of their new call costs.

Strategy Analytics has calculated that 258 million mobiles were distributed worldwide in the second quarter (April-June) of this year - up 4% from the first quarter. That means half a billion handsets have already been shipped this year. Nokia is still the world's leading handset producer, accounting for 39% (101 million phones) of the Q2 share, while Samsung (14.5%) beat Motorola (13.8%) into second place for the first time ever. Strategy Analytics predicts 283 million units globally for this current quarter.