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This week at The Fonecast: 20th March 2011

Mark

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Mark Bridge writes:

The last seven days have seen the UK mobile industry coming to terms with Ofcom’s plans to cut mobile termination rates from next month. Some think the reductions should have been larger and faster-acting, others say they’ll mean higher call charges for prepay customers. The reality will become more obvious from 1st April.

Also industry-wide – but voluntary – is the traffic management code for UK fixed-line and mobile broadband services. Although Everything Everywhere is a notable exception, most of the big network operators have committed to providing better information to consumers about internet traffic management. Expect explanations on web sites from this summer.

Talking of the mobile internet, Three UK has taken a bold step by making its adult filtering opt-in rather than opt-out for ‘pay monthly’ customers. It’s bound to prove popular with many consumers who – as part of signing a contract – have already proved they’re over 18.

O2’s implementation of its mobile web filtering caused well-publicised concerns a few weeks ago… but this week it’s been hitting the headlines with some good news. Following Ofcom’s new spectrum rules, it’s claiming to be the first UK network to boost capacity by reusing its 900MHz frequencies in London for 3G services.

In the world of mobile retailing, a majority share in Phones 4U has been sold to private equity firm BC Partners by owners Providence Equity Partners. The reality is likely to be ‘business as usual’ for the company’s 500 shops, although founder John Caudwell is thought to have made a little more cash from the deal.

Nothing as dramatic at The Carphone Warehouse, although it has confirmed it’ll have an exclusive launch deal on the LG Optimus 3D and is also now selling Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader.

Finally, this week saw the annual Mobile News Awards taking place in London. The event, hosted by TV presenter and comic Jason Manford, had 19 different categories - with Vodafone, 20:20 Mobile and Lebara each picking up two awards. We’ll have more details in our podcast on Wednesday.


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Recent Podcasts

ExclusivePodcast - 10th March 2010

Jack Wraith, chief executive for the Telecommunications UK Fraud Forum and chairman of the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum, talks to Iain Graham about mobile phone crime and security. In addition, James and Mark join Iain for their regular look at the week's mobile industry headlines.

ExclusivePodcast - 3rd March 2010

The Fonecast takes an in-depth look at the week's headlines. T-Mobile and Orange are given the go-ahead to merge their UK businesses, consumers get more protection when using mobile data in Europe, O2 announces its UK results and Skype drops support for Windows Mobile phones.

ExclusivePodcast - 24th February 2010

Iain, James and Mark are all back in the UK for a Mobile World Congress retrospective, a look at the week's mobile industry headlines and an interview with Rolf Schmitz from Dolby Mobile.

ExclusivePodcast - 19th February 2010

Two interviews from this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona: Jeff Taylor, co-founder of mobile phone producer INQ Mobile, and Simon Bransfield-Garth from voice security company Cellcrypt.

ExclusivePodcast - 18th February 2010

James Rosewell and Mark Bridge have another report from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. They interview Mary Carol Harris fom Visa Europe about mobile money and they discuss the event's other big news, from applications and product launches to NTT DoCoMo's eye-controlled headphones.

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