Orange says it passed the 14m subscriber mark in December, the first UK operator to reach that figure for active users – counting only those who have used their SIMs within the last three months.

 

Vodafone might debate that; it has reported 14.6m subscribers, and says it too uses the three-month test. But Orange has certainly been pushing hard; Mainline for instance recently said that Q4 had been its best ever quarter.