ExclusiveConnecting London Car Telephones to TheFonecast.com Opinion The Fonecast - June 4, 2026 It was 1996 when I started working at the Cricklewood head office of Peoples Phone [writes Mark Bridge], initially in a sales support role before becoming part of the Marketing team. The company was an independent mobile phone retailer with a growing network of high-street shops and connected customers. In November 1996 the company and its customer base were acquired by Vodafone, which had already taken over the Talkland retail business and was soon to add Astec to its portfolio.
ExclusiveOfcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges News Mark - November 3, 2024 New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
ExclusiveGlobal smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast News Mark - November 23, 2023 A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
ExclusiveVodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses Networks and operators Mark - June 20, 2023 Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
ExclusiveUK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023 News Mark - December 18, 2022 UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
ExclusiveLast week at The Fonecast: 18th February 2013 Opinion Mark - February 18, 2013 Mark Bridge writes: As the final days before this year’s Mobile World Congress approach, we discover there are two types of scheduled news announcements from the wireless telecoms industry. There are the announcements delayed until MWC begins because the company wants to be part of the buzz at Barcelona. And there are the announcements made in the fortnight beforehand because they don’t want their story to get lost.
ExclusiveLast week at The Fonecast: 11th February 2013 Opinion Mark - February 11, 2013 Mark Bridge writes: Mobile networks aren’t what they used to be. As last week’s interview with Vince Russell of The Cloud demonstrated, more and more customers are relying on WiFi to augment their mobile data service. Truphone is now planning to do exactly the same with voice calls and text messages by linking its mobile network with WiFi for even wider coverage.
ExclusiveLast week at The Fonecast: 4th February 2013 Opinion Mark - February 4, 2013 Mark Bridge writes: Apple launches a new product and BlackBerry pushes it out of the headlines. Who’d have thought it, eh? Yes, Apple’s new $799 128GB iPad didn’t get much of a mention in the mobile press last week - thanks to the new BlackBerry 10 platform and two new smartphones. Memories of Stephen Bates’s awkward BBC interviews were soon forgotten as the touchscreen Z10 appeared and quickly hit the shelves of UK retailers.
ExclusiveHTC smartphones are too good Opinion thefonecast.com team - February 2, 2013 James Rosewell writes: During December 2012 in the United States the HTC Evo 4G contributed 20% of web traffic from HTC devices. What is remarkable about this figure is that the HTC Evo 4G was first released in June 2010 and is almost three years old. The HTC One series of devices were released during 2012 and contributed less than 10% of HTC’s web traffic in the same month. Are HTC devices released pre-2012 too good at browsing the web?
ExclusiveFuture smart devices will extend our senses Opinion Mark - February 1, 2013 Faiza Elmasry of voanews.com writes: Imagine shopping for clothes online and being able to run your hand across the screen on your computer or smartphone to feel the fabrics. That kind of simulation technology could be available within the next five years.