UK telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to ban inflation-related rises in phone and broadband contracts. Instead, it says any potential mid-contract price rises should be set out in pounds and pence.

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.

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.

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.

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.

By incorporating advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities, AI can help to optimize a smartphone's performance, providing users with a faster, more efficient and user-friendly experience.

Mark Bridge writes:

I've been taking a look back at the devices I've written about during the past few years. Some are still faithful companions, others... well, let's just say my faith was misplaced.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

Former Vodafone marketing man Lance Batchelor, who’s been CEO of Tesco Telecoms for the last two-and-a-half years, is to be the new Deputy Chief Executive of Domino’s Pizza UK & Ireland. He’s leaving Tesco next month.

Mr Batchelor is already a non-executive director at Domino’s Pizza and will take up his executive responsibilities from 27th June 2011.

In The Fonecast this week we’re talking about T-Mobile's data u-turn and some new services from O2, Orange and first direct.

There's also an interview with Dave Golding about the new Cellebrite Touch device, which is designed to help dealers, retailers and network operators when customers upgrade.

Market research company ForeSee Results has published a report that shows consumers in the United Kingdom are using mobile phones more than ever for retail purposes.

32% of respondents had used their mobile phone to access a retailer's website, with an additional 32% indicating they planned to access retailer websites or apps by mobile phone in the future.

The Carphone Warehouse Group plc has published figures for the third quarter of its financial year. Together with US-based Best Buy, it manages the Carphone Warehouse and Phone House brands in Europe along with Best Buy UK.

Like-for-like sales growth across the Carphone Warehouse Europe business was up 0.7%.

Orange UK has launched a new 'pay as you go' option called Tiny Top Ups. It allows customers to top-up their phones with as little as 10p.

Customers can take advantage of Tiny Top Ups by visiting an Orange store and adding cash to their mobile phone account.