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Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
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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

Monday, November 11, 2013

Last week at The Fonecast: 11th November 2013

A $1 billion rescue and an £8 million tariff

Mark Bridge writes:

We started last week with a change of plan from BlackBerry. No, it’s not selling itself to Fairfax Financial. Instead it’s aiming to raise $1 billion from investors. Cynics might suggest there wasn’t enough interest for a takeover.

Another big name hitting the mainstream headlines was Twitter, which launched on the stock market. Not only was the initial share price higher than expected, the company’s value was up by over 70% by the end of the first day. That’s impressive, although it’s the longer-term picture that really counts.

Here in the UK, there was news about a new range of Android smartphones. Step forward Kazam, founded six months ago by a couple of chaps who’d previously worked at HTC. With the promise of a replacement screen if you damage your phone in the first year, it’s clear the company has a clear focus on customer service.

Also keen to help customers was EE, which revealed plans to bring LTE-Advanced to London and also started talking about a one million gigabyte 4G data bundle. According to EE, it would take one person 13 years of non-stop HD video streaming to burn their way through it. Yours for just £8 million.

However, not all the week’s news was good. Ofcom pointed its regulatory finger at Vodafone UK, noting that the network had fallen short of its 3G coverage target. Vodafone has promised to achieve 90% population coverage by the end of 2013, bring it into line with EE, O2 and Three.

And we saw two CEOs prepare for departure. As well as Thorsten Heins leaving BlackBerry when the new funding arrives, Acer CEO JT Wang is stepping down after poor financial results. There are some weighty names getting involved when they leave: former Sybase chief exec John Chen is taking over at BlackBerry, while Acer co-founders Stan Shih and George Huang are overseeing restructuring at Acer. Good luck to all.

On Monday mornings we summarise the past week’s mobile industry headlines in a newsletter that’s very much like this article. To receive it, simply register your email address at TheFonecast.com by clicking the link at the top right-hand corner of our home page.
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Recent Podcasts

Results from EE, new phones from LG and HTC... and free WiFi from Barclays

Podcast - 20th February 2013

We start this week's podcast with financial results from EE - along with new phones from LG and HTC.

There's also a merger between mobile browser companies, mobile security from Vodafone, free WiFi from Barclays bank, a preview of Ubuntu for smartphones... and much more.

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James Tagg explains Truphone+, the mobile service where GSM meets VoIP via WiFi

Podcast - 15th February 2013

Truphone is a pioneer of internet calling via WiFi - and it's recently announced a new service that aims to integrate GSM calls with its VoIP app.

In this special programme we interview Truphone co-founder and CTO James Tagg about the company's plans.

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Mobile calls go over WiFi, Skype credit is bought via mobile and an Android phone goes into space

Podcast - 13th February 2013

There are many mobile boundaries being blurred in this week's podcast.

Topics include Truphone's combined WiFi and mobile service, Skype's move to direct mobile billing, the rise of 4G and an Android-controlled satellite.

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We talk to Vince Russell of The Cloud about public WiFi hotspots

Podcast - 8th February 2013

One of the biggest companies meeting the UK's demand for public WiFi is The Cloud, which has spent the last few years putting its network into thousands of venues.

In this programme we interview Vince Russell, managing director of The Cloud, to discover what the company's doing... and to see whether mobile operators should be worried.

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Mobile by numbers: BlackBerry 10, 4G, Three UK and Microsoft 4Afrika

Podcast - 6th February 2013

We start this week's podcast by talking about the launch of BlackBerry 10 before moving on to discuss a 4G promise from Three UK.

The numerical theme continues with the Microsoft 4Afrika project, a handful of quarterly results and some investment news. Plus there’s worrying new malware and a curious Apple trademark application.

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