UK-based communications provider Daisy Group plc has agreed a £494 million takeover bid by a consortium that consists of Toscafund Asset Management, Penta Capital and CEO Matthew Riley. Toscafund and Mr Riley already had substantial shareholdings in the company.

Daisy Group has acquired more than 20 companies since being listed on the stock exchange in 2009.

Mark Bridge writes:

At the beginning of last week, Facebook and Instagram were the talk of the mobile industry. Was this billion-dollar deal the sign of another tech bubble?  Facebook’s fast track into mobile?  Facebook moving to cement its dominance of online photography?  You, the jury, decide.

Business communications provider Daisy Group plc has agreed to acquire audio-conferencing specialist Worldwide Group Holdings Limited for £28 million.

Peterborough-based Worldwide is described as a market-leader in audio-conferencing and call-handling technology. Its existing senior management team will remain in place.

Unified communications provider Daisy Group has acquired NEG MBO Two Ltd for £23.5 million. NEG provides communications services to GPs and other healthcare professionals.

Unified communications provider Daisy Group plc has agreed to acquire rival telecoms supplier SpiriTel in a deal that values SpiriTel at £27.3m. SpiriTel itself is no stranger to consolidation, having acquired 12 businesses in the last four years.

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?

Ofcom, the UK government and the major networks have all agreed a timetable for 4G to be launched across the UK.

We're talking about those plans in this week's podcast - and taking a look at all the other top mobile industry stories as well, from US mergers and leaky tablets to free WiFi and forthcoming quarterly results.

In this week's podcast we're talking about Apple's apology for its Maps app, we're looking at RIM's BlackBerry 10 news and we're discussing the new UK company formed by Vodafone and O2.

As well as this there's tablet news from Barnes and Noble, there are record-breaking SIM-only contract sales and there's a new mobile-friendly OS on the loose.

We start this week's programme by talking about the iPhone 5 and iOS6 before moving on to HTC's forthcoming Windows Phone 8 devices.

There's also some mobile payment news, online shopping research, a health study, data about tablet manufacturing and machine-to-machine connection figures.

In this special podcast feature we’re looking inside the world of mobile gaming - from the commercial concerns of game development to the current trends affecting mobile game design.

Our guide is Sandy Duncan, CEO of YoYo Games.

Although last week's Apple iPhone 5 announcement dominated the headlines, there's still plenty more to talk about.

We have a prediction about the billionth Android handset, we look at Acer's cancelled smartphone launch and we discuss the growth of mobile messaging.