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:

Last week a major retailer with a significant online presence announced plans to release its own-brand smartphone by the end of the year. No, not Amazon. This news came from Tesco.

Mark Bridge writes:

As Mobile World Congress 2013 disappears behind us, so the frenzy of news releases about new products and services returns to relatively normal levels.

Mark Bridge writes:

Oh, how cheerful we were last Monday. Apple previewed iOS6, which will bring mobile tickets (and 200 other new features) to the iPhone and iPad this autumn. Vodafone cut the cost of using your phone in Europe with its flat-rate £3-per-day EuroTraveller deal and a few days later Three came up with its own ‘unlimited’ European data roaming.

Yet by the end of the week there were fewer smiles in the mobile industry.

Mark Bridge writes:

The adage that “the customer is always right” has apparently been disproved by a recent survey of mobile phone users.

Mobile News reports that virtual networks Virgin Mobile and Tesco Mobile outperformed their network partners in a recent customer satisfaction survey carried out by research firm YouGov for price comparison website uSwitch.

Mark Bridge writes:

Supermarkets. You either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Actually, that’s not true. Most of us seem to be happy enough with a half-price bottle of wine but less convinced about globalisation and supplier relationships.

But none of that’s bothering me today. Instead, I’m troubled – as I have been for several months – by the TV commercial for Tesco’s prepay mobile phone tariff.

T-Mobile and Orange reveal the new branding for their merged parent company, the Apple iPad's UK pricing and tariffs are announced, Nokia sues Apple again and mobile app stores lose their appeal. All this - and more - is discussed by Iain, James and Mark in The Fonecast.

This week's edition of The Fonecast is full of big names. HP acquires Palm, HTC and Microsoft do a deal over Android, Apple sells a million iPads - and handset sales show some dramatic increases.

A special edition of The Fonecast containing our recent interview with Richard Kinder, Vice President of Technology and New Business at Red Bend Software.

In this week's podcast we're joined by Richard Kinder from Red Bend Software for a chat about over-the-air mobile updates. Plus there's the usual offbeat look at the latest mobile industry headlines, covering everything from Symbian delays to health research.

This week's mobile industry news headlines include a new ethical MVNO, genuinely unlimited tariffs, departures, acquisitions, mobile giving and mobile gaming. All this - and more - is discussed by Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge.