Mobile payment business Boku has acquired carrier billing specialist mopay.

The deal makes Boku the largest standalone provider of carrier billing-based mobile payment services in the world, with a combined customer base that includes Electronic Arts, Facebook, Gameloft, Sony, Spotify and Valve.

Online payment provider mopay has announced a carrier billing partnership with Telefónica, giving it direct access to the BlueVia billing platform.

It’ll improve the customer experience when consumers use mopay to buy digital goods and services that are charged to their phone bill.

Online payment specialist mopay has introduced a new service that lets customers charge web site purchases to their mobile phone account with a single click.

The new process is currently being offered via Telefonica and Vodafone in Germany.

Customers who’ve bought goods and services by adding the charge to their mobile phone bill tend to make further mobile purchases, according to a new study by payment provider mopay.

The company analysed information from 300 of its clients, accounting for more than four million mobile transactions in over 80 countries during the past three years.

Mobile payment solution provider mopay has announced a global partnership with Fon, which describes itself as the world's largest WiFi network.

Fon is enabling mopay mobile payments, making it easier for smartphone and tablet users to pay for access to a Fon hotspot. Customers will be able to get WiFi access simply by providing their mobile phone number and adding the Fon cost to their mobile account.

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?

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return with their first mobile industry podcast of 2014.

This week they're looking at new Samsung, Sony and ZTE products from CES, they're talking about Android embedded in cars, they're catching up with the latest news from BlackBerry, they're discussing cheque payments by smartphone, they're revealing complaint data from Ofcom and they're investigating quite a few other stories as well.

It's our last podcast of the year, which is the traditional time for us to predict what'll be happening in the mobile phone industry during the next 12 months... from forthcoming consumer technology to deals between network operators.

As well as making our 2014 predictions, we'll also be reviewing those we made last year and discovering how accurate our forecasts for 2013 really were.

This week we're talking about a UK government deal to prevent bill shock, good news for some UK consumers visiting the USA, a court threat to HTC sales, new high-speed satellite broadband, mobile search, mobile shopping and much more.

Join Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge for an informed and entertaining look at all the major mobile industry news stories from the past seven days.

It's been a week of diverse mobile headlines in which Jolla started selling its Sailfish smartphone, mobile shopping broke records and BlackBerry's CEO looked to the future.

We're also talking about smartphones for seniors, battery life, a looming spectrum shortage, phone theft and Sony's Smart Wig. Something for everyone, surely!

In today's programme we're talking to James Atkins, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of smartphone manufacturer Kazam.

The company launched earlier this year and has just announced its first seven Android-based handsets. James explains the story behind Kazam's creation, the company ethos, its product range and its plans for the future.