This year, Cairn should complete analysis of data from other exploration blocks off the west coast of Greenland, and will then seek exploration investment partners.

BBC: Cairn Energy announces its 2013 strategy

Essentially, the only major change added in by Sprint and Kyocera is Eco Mode, a power management system on the Torque that blocks background data connections for nonessential apps.

ENGADGET

IBM's "brick" initiative which creates data storage farms out of cheap blocks of hard discs and the broader push for "blade" servers that make adding computer power easy to add were evidence of this move to commoditisation, said Mr Findlay.

BBC: Why the future will be easier to use

"Big data is one of the key building blocks of the digital economy, " said Stephen Shurrock, chief commercial officer at Telefonica Digital.

BBC: Telefonica hopes 'big data' arm will revive fortunes

They have divided the 1, 200km-long corridor into different blocks and have accumulated vast amounts of data.

BBC: RELATED BBC SITES

Aircell's Gogo in-flight internet system, in use on several US carriers, offers only data connections now, but there have been reports of passengers bypassing blocks and using Gogo to conduct VOIP calls while in flight.

BBC: More flights allow mobile calls

The trick only works with older 2G data services like Edge and GPRS. But by sending out a jamming signal that blocks 3G connections, the system can trick most phones into automatically downgrading to one of the two more vulnerable 2G protocols.

FORBES: Smartphone Data Vulnerable To Base Station Spoof Trick

Researchers have steadily overcome such challenges to build a series of building blocks from silicon, including components that modulate pulses of light from lasers to encode data and detect such signals.

WSJ: IBM Claims Breakthrough in Laser-Based Chips