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.

By incorporating advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities, AI can help to optimize a smartphone's performance, providing users with a faster, more efficient and user-friendly experience.

Mark Bridge writes:

I've been taking a look back at the devices I've written about during the past few years. Some are still faithful companions, others... well, let's just say my faith was misplaced.

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?

Industry veteran Ian Driver, who joined Virgin Media in March 2008 and was appointed as director of indirect distribution in 2009, is leaving the company. He's said to be looking for challenges outside the company, according to a report in Mobile News.

Motorola, which launched its first Android-powered smartphone last year, has just announced a replacement for the flagship device.

The 2009 launch of the Motorola DROID was seen by many as a turning point for the company. This phone was renamed the Motorola Milestone when it arrived in Europe.

US network operator Verizon and internet giant Google have published a proposal to deal with issues of "network neutrality" and an "open" internet.

They want to see internet service providers prohibited from any prioritisation or blocking of information or services on the internet (as long as that information/service is legally available).

Canadian-based research company IE Market Research Corp. has predicted the shape of the UK mobile industry in 2014. Its latest forecast anticipates a UK total of 84 million mobile subscriptions by the end of 2014. The merged Orange and T-Mobile customer base is expected to maintain its market share – calculated by IEMR to be 41% – while O2's subscriber market share will increase to 28% and Vodafone's share will drop fractionally to 23.3% in 2014.

Orange UK has launched what it's calling a 'mobile volunteering project'. Its aim is to use mobile technology to transform volunteering, helping people to do work for good whenever they have some spare time.