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:

As 2011 draws to a close, many of us start looking towards 2012 and wondering what’ll be happening in the mobile phone industry. Here at The Fonecast we’ve invited a handful of industry experts and business leaders to offer us their thoughts about the coming year.

Today’s podcast contains analysis and insight from Hans Eriksson, Steve Litchfield, Dr Windsor Holden, Dr Mark Smith and Jack Wraith MBE.

Mark Bridge writes:

At 12 noon today, Hans Eriksson of Bambuser will end his 24-hour non-stop mobile broadcasting challenge.

He’s been in London with an iPhone and a seemingly endless supply of batteries, enjoying off-beat destinations at the direction of his online audience.

Mark Bridge writes:

A couple of weeks ago I was wandering through London, wondering whether mobile streaming could erode personal privacy… and whether anyone cared.

But there’s a positive site to the immediacy of streaming, as Bambuser reminded me today.

Mark Bridge writes:

Head to any major city, look around and you’ll see tourists recording their visit. Some have digital cameras, some have phones and some are shooting video.

It’s the same kind of scene when you go to a concert. The performer on stage will be looking at a sea of blue faces, all illuminated by their smartphones. This, I reckon, could be the beginning of the end of privacy.

Iain, James and Mark begin this week's podcast with Apple's recent iOS 8 revelation and its plan to acquire Beats Electronics.

They then move on to discuss Samsung's Tizen-powered smartphone, a new flagship device from LG and the latest Microsoft Surface tablet - as well as a network takeover in Ireland, BlackBerry’s M2M moves and UK price changes for Vodafone.

This week's podcast begins with news about the creation of Dixons Carphone plc. We then move on to talk about patent-related legal action, customised Braille phones and the health concerns of children using smartphones.

There's also time to discuss tablet shipments, potential protests and foreign network sales.

This podcast contains the audience question-and-answer session from 'Cloud Computing and Mobile'; a Mobile Monday London event held on 12th May 2014.

The discussion was chaired by Camille Mendler, Principal Analyst at Informa, with a panel that comprised Rob Easton of Google, Dr Janko Mrsic-Flogel from Private Planet, Caroline Van Den Bergh of Golden Gekko and Jonathan Raper from TransportAPI.com.

Cloud Computing and Mobile was the title of the Mobile Monday London event on 12th May 2014.

The session was chaired by Camille Mendler, Principal Analyst at Informa, who was joined by a panel that comprised Rob Easton of Google, Dr Janko Mrsic-Flogel from Private Planet, Caroline Van Den Bergh of Golden Gekko and Jonathan Raper from TransportAPI.com.

This week's podcast begins with a new keenly-priced flagship smartphone from Huawei. We then move on to talk about a UK price promise from Vodafone, mobile payments, feature phone upgrades, WiFi hotspots and the benefits of a Carphone/Dixons merger.

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge condense all the biggest mobile industry news headlines from the past 7 days into a free 30-minute podcast.