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?

This week's podcast includes big news from Nokia along with the rest of the week's industry headlines. There's also an interview with Jamie Driver from MedHand about putting medical information on mobile phones.

In this week's podcast we talk to Clive Bayley, managing director of Fonehouse, about the current state of the UK market for mobile phone dealers. There's also a look at the week's major mobile headlines, from O2's location-based marketing to Apple's quarterly results.

This week's podcast sees the long-awaited launch of Windows Phone 7, the creation of the GSMA's mWomen project and a wide variety of other mobile industry news, from legal action to SMS marketing.

Iain, James and Mark take their usual entertaining look at the UK's mobile phone industry, from irresponsible texting to patent wars. There's also an interview with Steve Jarrett of MePlease who explains how his company could transform the way people think about mobile marketing.

This week's edition of The Fonecast covers the new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, Windows Phone 7, the EC, mobile advertising and accessory sales. There's also an interview with Dave Tharp from Roulette Cricket about his company's success in the Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 competition.