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.

MEF, the global trade association for companies engaged in mobile content and commerce, has revealed its mobile industry predictions for the next 12 months.

Its forecast combines insights from the group’s Global Board of Directors with research from the recent Global Mobile Consumer Survey.

Mark Bridge writes:

Developing a successful mobile product or service isn’t just a question of having a great idea. There are all sorts of challenges, from the technical aspects of application development to the wider issues of branding and funding.

That’s where The Mobile Academy steps in. It’s a London-based mobile masterclass designed to give you a helping hand with innovation, whether you’re an entrepreneur, a business owner, a developer or a designer.

Mark Bridge writes:

I wasn’t supposed to be at this year’s AMEE 2012 conference in Lyon. AMEE is the Association for Medical Education in Europe, which - as you can probably guess - has very little direct connection with the mobile phone industry. However, my wife was going because she works in medical education. Me?  I fancied a trip to France.

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s a smartphone autumn, as prophesied a few weeks ago by the Carphone Warehouse and many others. The frenzy of big-name announcements led by Samsung at Berlin’s IFA has given way to stand-alone media presentations from Nokia, Motorola and Amazon.

Mark Bridge writes:

“T’ain’t what you do (it’s the way that you do it)”

So sang Ella Fitzgerald, Bananarama and the Fun Boy Three - although sadly not on the same recording. But that message is no longer being followed by many companies. Instead, the new mantra seems to be the other way round. And I think that’s a good thing.

This podcast takes a look at the issue of finance for start-ups - and, in particular, at Accelerators for tech-based companies.

It's a discussion that was recorded at Mobile Monday London earlier this week with a panel including Jon Bradford of Techstars, Simon Devonshire from Telefonica's Wayra, Diane Perlman from Microsoft Ventures and Simon Cook of DFJ Esprit.

We start this week's report with two new smartphones: a flagship Android device from LG and a dual-boot handset from Geeksphone.

We also talk about the health effects of mobile phones, a new mobile loyalty app, wireless charging, machine-to-machine connections, the purchase of Viber and a recent acquisition by Google.

In the past few months, the topics of security and privacy have gripped the mobile industry. The humble SMS text message has been subjected to particular attention, both on its own and in association with smartphone apps.

John Murtagh, CTO at text message specialist Anam Technologies, explains more about the risks involved with SMS, the challenges for mobile network operators and the solutions that can protect consumers.

After catching up with last week's Microsoft announcement about new CEO Satya Nadella, we go on to talk about big changes for Brightstar and Sony as well.

There's also mobile payment news from MasterCard and Weve, some patent agreements, a warning about second-hand smartphone sales, a forecast of mobile data growth and a report about app developers.

The Smart UK project is an annual government-supported competition looking for the UK's Most Innovative Mobile Company.

A few days ago, all 20 companies on the competition shortlist gave a short presentation to the Smart UK panel of judges. Afterwards, Mark Bridge spoke to some of the entrants to discover exactly what they had to offer - and how they planned to disrupt the mobile industry.