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.

Jürgen Hase of Deutsche Telekom writes:

The Smart City is on its way. All over the world more and more cities are connecting all areas of their infrastructure. Pisa in Tuscany, for example, aims to improve its traffic management with a machine-to-machine (M2M) solution and a Big Data service provided by Deutsche Telekom.

Mark Bridge writes:

As one show closes, so another show opens.

It’s now more than a week since we bid a sad farewell to Mobile World Congress 2014 – I imagine hotel rooms for 2nd to 5th March 2015 are already being booked – but there’s now CeBIT in Germany to look forward to. Prime Minister David Cameron kicked things off last night with a speech that talked about UK-German partnerships, more funding for research around the ‘Internet of Things’ and the development of 5G technology.

Macario Namie writes:

As the connected car phenomenon gains pace, 2014 will see global automotive firms embracing LTE. Machina Research predicts 90% of cars sold in 2020 will have some form of embedded connectivity – that connectivity roll-out continues strong in 2014 and LTE is pivotal to its long-term success.

Jürgen Hase writes:

Machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the Internet of Things (IoT) run through all areas of life and work. Cars, cargo containers, parking spaces or even wristwatches and coffee cups – everything around us is on the verge of being connected.

Mark Bridge writes:

I’ve recently been talking to Theo Neumann from Wolverhampton City Radio about the top ten gadgets that are likely to hit the headlines in 2013. The most desirable, most likely to be talked about, most exciting… that kind of thing. Although my top 10 list isn’t entirely mobile-related, I thought it was worth sharing here.

This week in a double length episode the team provide top tips for 2007, review the W950i and Motorokr 6 plus take a look at the latest news as well as reviewing mobile software Zuma and Flurry.

This week the guys review a smart new phone from Emblaze, take a look at Nokias new offerings, provide advice on Christmas mobile related presents and review GP Bikes 3D and Mobiola WebCam software.

This week the team ask "What's happening at 3?", review the Samsung Z560 and the T-Mobile Sidekick 3. Plus take a look at Opera Mini v2, Sherlock Holmes game and comment on the latest news stories.

This week along side the usual news on the mobile industry the team look at the X-Series from 3, the new chocolate phone from LG, debate the future of mobile advertising and look at an address book backup service from ZYB.com and have a bit of fun with Diner Dash.

This week the team debate the launch date and iPod functionality of Apples forthcoming iPhone, review the Sony Ericsson Z558i with touch screen, take a look at the credit card sized P310 from Samsung and some new software that transfers DVDs to your mobile in 2 clicks, plus South Park has come to the mobile in the form of an interactive game.