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Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

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.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

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.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

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.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

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.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

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.
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Opinion Articles

Friday, July 5, 2013

The hidden benefits of 4G

Dan Grose of Phones 4u writes:

It’s been nearly 10 months since EE launched the UK’s first 4G network and an estimated 55% of the country is now enjoying its benefits. The fourth generation of mobile networks has brought speeds of between 10-12 megabytes per second to thousands of areas across Britain, creating somewhat of a revolution in super-fast mobile browsing.

The advantages of 4G have been well documented, but some may be less obvious. As well as drastically increasing mobile internet speeds EE’s network has also had a hand in bringing the latest smartphones to the UK, with most top handsets now offering the latest innovations on the fastest network.

The likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One have taken the UK market by storm, and their availability with 4G at places like Phones 4u has proved an additional attraction for some users. Retailers now stock a large variety of LTE enabled handsets, and manufacturers are continuing to bring more to our shores.

Increase communication

British businesses have also felt the positive effects, benefitting from the drastically increased productivity afforded by the network. A recent study found that, of those businesses that had workers frequently out of the office, a 4G connection enabled them to increase communication and productivity when away from a computer or in the field. Of course, these are similar to the advantages experienced by the average user, but for businesses the results are evidently more profitable. And, with EE having launched its Double Speed service recently, this will be a trend that will only increase.

Yet perhaps the biggest, but most overlooked, benefit is the vastly increased coverage EE’s network has offered people. Whilst this may seem an obvious point – 55% of the country isn’t exactly a small amount to be servicing – the key lies in the area to which the company has taken 4G first.

It’s fair to say that eyebrows have been raised over the past few months as EE has continued its roll out, with every major city that receives coverage punctuated by several smaller territories. Without causing offence, some may question as to why Berkhamsted has access before the likes of Stoke-on-Trent when, with a larger population and more potential uses for it, the former seems to be the obvious candidate.

Rural isolation

But this is the exact point, as 4G’s arrival signifies increased coverage for the local area that’s not just limited to the superfast benefits. By taking its network to towns and villages where current 3G signal is poor, EE has offered the chance to end the struggle of putting up with next to no signal and non-existent mobile internet connections. Whilst the users will still have to pay out for a 4G contract, something that not everyone will be able to stretch to, giving people the option is the obvious method.

The good news is that this particular advantage will drastically increase once the likes of Vodafone and O2 join the 4G party later this year. With the latter aiming to have reached 98% of the population by 2017 with its network, it looks like poor reception and slow internet will soon be a thing of the past, no matter where you live.

Dan Grose works for UK high-street mobile phone retailer Phones 4u.
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Recent Podcasts

Operating Systems: a new set of Davids emerge to challenge the incumbent Goliaths

Podcast - 22nd July 2013

This panel discussion about new mobile operating systems was recorded at Mobile Monday London on 15th July 2013.

It's chaired by Geoff Blaber of CCS Insight with contributions from the GSMA's Alex Sinclair, David Wood of Delta Wisdom (and formerly of Symbian), Andreas Constantinou from Vision Mobile, Victor Palau of Canonical and Christian Heilmann from Mozilla Corporation.

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Nokia, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Telefonica and much more... all in this week's podcast

Podcast - 17th July 2013

There's big news from big names this week as Nokia announces a new smartphone, Microsoft announces a new structure and Research In Motion announces a new name.

We also talk about O2 UK's backhaul deal, Apple's eBook court case, a complaint about advertising and plenty more as well.

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A security scare, a new mobile payment service, some quarterly results and loads of money

Podcast - 10th July 2013

We start this week's podcast by talking about an Android security risk - before moving on to new 4G services from EE, a drop in Nook tablet prices and a couple of quarterly results that disappointed the stock market.

In addition we discuss insurance complaints, Bluetooth Smart technology, a new multi-million investment in Shazam and some research about the future of apps.

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Will mobile data kill SMS, does all-IP mean less security - and what's the future for mobile networks?

Podcast - 5th July 2013

Robin Kent, operations director at Adax Europe, talks to Mark Bridge about some of the challenges facing mobile network operators as data usage increases.

They discuss how networks can differentiate their services, how can they monetise the app phenomenon, whether mobile data will kill voice and SMS... and the privacy concerns that arise around all-IP communication.

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New mobile products from Sony, Firefox and Sainsbury's

Podcast - 3rd July 2013

In our podcast this week we're discussing the new SmartWatch from Sony, talking about Firefox OS smartphones and contemplating Vodafone's partnership with Sainsbury's.

We're also looking at complaint figures, roaming charges, pay as you go pricing, joint ventures, BlackBerry's recent results and the future of Windows Phone.

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