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 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?

Here’s an edited transcript of our new monthly podcast, broadcast on 30th January 2015.

[Iain Graham]: Hello, it's Friday 30th January 2015. Welcome to this month's edition of The Fonecast. That’s right, you heard correctly: we’ve temporarily moved to a monthly format. If you’d like to join 51Degrees in sponsoring the podcast and returning us to weekly programmes, please get in touch via our website. Now, on with the show.

Mark Bridge writes:

A suggestion that UK mobile phone networks might be forced to improve black-spot coverage by allowing interconnection with their rivals is back in the news. It made the headlines in June and has returned again this week, which is why I could be heard offering my opinion on BBC local radio yesterday morning.

Mark Bridge writes:

Contactless payments. They're catching on, aren't they?

But mobile contactless payments haven't proved so popular.

Mark Bridge writes:

I open the iPhone 6 box and discover a phone that feels substantial. Well engineered. Practical. Despite being just 6.9mm deep, it doesn't seem unreasonably delicate.

In today's podcast we're talking about Samsung's new Galaxy S4 smartphone, BlackBerry's record-breaking purchase order and Intuit's mobile payment service.

There's also a discussion about the changes at ST-Ericsson, a new CEO coming to ARM, Vodafone's sponsorship plans, management moves at Android and the 2013 Mobile News Awards.

Today's podcast talks about job cuts at Motorola, a tariff promise from Tesco Mobile and a departing CEO at ST-Ericsson.

There's also news about acquisitions, application stores, European network standards and a chilly way of breaking into an encrypted smartphone.

We're back from Mobile World Congress 2013 with the latest news for the UK mobile phone industry.

Today's conversation covers new handsets, forthcoming operating systems, apps, mobile payments, VoIP, 4G and Facebook's two-tier internet.

Today's podcast was recorded at Mobile World Congress 2013, where Mark Bridge has been reporting on the latest news from handset manufacturers.

He also drops into the Global Mobile Awards - and finds out who won the inaugural Dead Technology Award at the unofficial festival fringe.

In today's special programme we're preparing for Mobile World Congress 2013. To find out what to expect, Mark Bridge talks to Dr Windsor Holden of Juniper Research.

Their conversation covers everything from Apple's absence to connected cows - and from new operating systems to paying for applications.