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.

Mobile phone customers from the UK have been warned about the increasing cost of making calls in Europe.

The UK's post-Brexit trade deal with the EU opened the door for mobile operators to reintroduce 'roaming' charges when customers travel abroad.

Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, has published its annual customer satisfaction ratings for mobile networks.

Two of the world's communications giants have agreed to merge their UK operations. Liberty Global will combine its Virgin Media UK broadband network with Telefonica's O2 UK mobile business.

The European Commission has blocked the proposed merger of Telefonica UK’s O2 network with Hutchison’s Three.

It said it was concerned that the deal would have harmed innovation, reduced consumer choice and caused prices to rise.

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?

We talk to two very different companies at Mobile World Congress about their businesses and their relationships with mobile networks. Rebtel is a mobile voice-over-IP provider, while Mosaik Solutions produces mobile network coverage information.

In this week's news report we're discussing PayPal's latest mobile money initiative, we're looking at London Underground's new WiFi service and we're transfixed by Vodafone's m-health move. Listen to all this - and much more - online at TheFonecast.com.

This roundtable discussion on Privacy in Mobile Applications was held during Mobile World Congress 2012. It was hosted by MEF, the global community for mobile content & commerce, and was supported by SNR Denton.

Heroes of Emerging Markets: recorded during Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona. This panel discussion, sponsored by Pearson and arranged by mobileheroes.net, looks at the opportunities of doing mobile business in emerging markets.

Although the new Apple iPad has been grabbing the mainstream news headlines, there's much more going on in the mobile industry. We look at all the top mobile stories, from 4G in the UK to mobile money investments by Visa Europe.