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:

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?

Here’s an edited transcript of our new monthly podcast, broadcast on 30th January 2015.

[Iain Graham]: Hello, it's Friday 30th January 2015. Welcome to this month's edition of The Fonecast. That’s right, you heard correctly: we’ve temporarily moved to a monthly format. If you’d like to join 51Degrees in sponsoring the podcast and returning us to weekly programmes, please get in touch via our website. Now, on with the show.

Mark Bridge writes:

A suggestion that UK mobile phone networks might be forced to improve black-spot coverage by allowing interconnection with their rivals is back in the news. It made the headlines in June and has returned again this week, which is why I could be heard offering my opinion on BBC local radio yesterday morning.

Mark Bridge writes:

Contactless payments. They're catching on, aren't they?

But mobile contactless payments haven't proved so popular.

Mark Bridge writes:

I open the iPhone 6 box and discover a phone that feels substantial. Well engineered. Practical. Despite being just 6.9mm deep, it doesn't seem unreasonably delicate.

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.