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:

Internet veteran Yahoo! provided last week’s biggest news, at least in terms of press coverage. It appointed Marissa Mayer as its President and Chief Executive Officer, having enticed her away from Google after 13 years.

James Rosewell writes:

Just in time to make it into 2010, the Wholesale Application Community has gained some important but relatively unreported publicity courtesy of Opera. It’s a slightly early Christmas present for Peters Suh, WAC CEO and a man keen to ensure the industry is presented with a story showing WAC meeting its targets.

This week’s edition of The Fonecast includes a report from Apps World, which took place in London on 30th November and 1st December. As the name suggests, the event was all about mobile applications, their development, the technology that’s used and the ways that apps are marketed.

James Rosewell writes:

Mobile network operators have responded en-masse to the success of Apple’s App Store. Apple should be very concerned. The Wholesale Application Community (WAC) has been formed as a corporate entity today with representation from AT&T, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, GSMA, KT Corporation, NTT DOCOMO, SK Telecom, Smart Communications, SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp., Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor, Verizon and Vodafone. Not many major Mobile Network Operators (MNO) are missing from the list.

Mark Bridge visits the AMEE 2012 conference to discover how mobile devices and mobile applications are being used in medical education.

This report covers everything from social networking to specialist teaching apps for medical students.

Nokia reveals its first two Windows Phone 8 smartphones in this week's podcast, while Amazon announces a handful of new tablets.

And if that wasn't enough, there's an update from Everything Everywhere about its plans for 4G in the UK.

Last week's IFA electronics show in Germany has prompted most of the major mobile manufacturers to make a new product announcement. Samsung, Sony, Nokia, ZTE…

We're covering all the big news from Berlin in this week's podcast - and also finding time to talk about the Apple vs Samsung legal action.

Instead of producing a regular mobile industry news podcast this week, we're asking for a favour.

You see, we don't really know much about our listeners - and that doesn't make it easy for us to attract the sponsorship that keeps our programmes free for you to download.

We start this week's edition of The Fonecast with confirmation that 4G coverage will be launched in the UK this year, thanks to Everything Everywhere.

However, all's not well in the world of mobile retail - as mystery shopping by a consumer organisation reports widespread misinformation from sales staff.