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:

“Hey, everybody, we’re releasing a new flagship smartphone that carries all the hopes of the company with it. If this sells well, we could be saved. If not, it could be disaster.”

“Great. What shall we call our new phone?”

“Oh, we’ll give it the same name as the previous model. That’ll be fine.”

Mark Bridge writes:

So, that’s another Mobile World Congress in the bag. Yes, it was bigger than ever. Just like last year. Just like the year before, too.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile phones have been hitting the mainstream news over the past few days. There was Channel 4’s report about data on second-hand phones not being properly deleted before the handsets were re-sold, there was the latest round of the Smart UK Project and there was Tim Muffett’s story about the mobile-enabled high street on BBC Breakfast this morning.

Mark Bridge writes:

No prizes for guessing which two mobile tech stories grabbed most of the headlines last week. Tuesday morning saw Nokia’s much-rumoured tablet and phablet launches, with a Windows RT device and two 6-inch smartphones joining the company’s product portfolio.

James Rosewell and Mark Bridge report from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with Iain Graham joining them from the UK. They discuss the week's mobile industry headlines, talk about Google's plans for the future and interview John Herrema from Good Technology.

James Rosewell and Mark Bridge report from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where they talk about the launch of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, discuss the movement behind mobile payments and interview Amir Kupervas, CEO of Else Mobile.

Iain, James and Mark take their regular look at the latest mobile industry headlines. This week there's talk about Symbian, a possible delay to the Orange/T-Mobile merger, mobile phone components that rely on quantum physics... and plenty more.

This week's news headlines include Apple's 3G iPad, a handful of quarterly results, loads of free calls, thousands of new jobs and millions of text messages. Plus there's a look at how to boost your mobile signal at home with Vodafone's Sure Signal femtocell.

This week we talk to a couple of telecoms recruiters about the current state of the jobs market. And there's also our regular look at mobile industry news from the last seven days... from Nokia's free maps and Truphone's MVNO to Versace's new handset.