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.

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:

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?

Noam Green of Flash Networks writes:

The introduction and deployment of LTE networks offers real promise for both subscribers and operators worldwide. It brings the potential for revolutionary improvements in quality of experience for mobile broadband, and even faster downloads and video streaming.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile phones have been hitting the mainstream news over the past few days. There was Channel 4’s report about data on second-hand phones not being properly deleted before the handsets were re-sold, there was the latest round of the Smart UK Project and there was Tim Muffett’s story about the mobile-enabled high street on BBC Breakfast this morning.

Robin Kent writes:

After initially suffering from slow pick up by consumers, 4G has begun to accelerate, and is now well on the way to the forecasted one billion subscribers by 2017. In fact EE, owner of T-Mobile and Orange, recently announced the addition of 493,000 new 4G customers to its existing base of 1.2 million.

The team takes a look at social networking using your mobile and reviews the LG KE850 (Prada) phone and the Samsung W559. They also find time to take a look at a new mobile game from Desperate Housewives, and Soonr; a utility to connect your mobile to Outlook, Skype and PC. Plus there's a review of global mobile news from the past week.

This week the team look at the new N76 from Nokia, an interesting WiFi & SIM Free phone from Tovo, discuss the future of Push-to-Talk in the UK as well as the TV show Countdown on your mobile and Mobi-Medic to help with on the spot 1st aid.

The team discuss the iPhone and the mobile news coming from CES. They take a look behind the headlines at other activity in the mobile industry and review Eragon the mobile game to accompany the film.

We have a review of a Mobile based fitness application by Ascendo, take a look at new mobile brand and phone called the NEO 808i and Sagem latest budget 3G offering in the form of the my600v. We also discuss Virtual Networks and ASDA's proposed entry along with the latest news and views.

This week the team review 2006, take a look at two new phones from Samsung, review the last 2 weeks news and take a look at Six-o-Phone a service that allows you to make money from downloads.