Online parenting site BabyCentre has published a survey that shows over half of all mums considered their smartphone to be an ‘essential tool’ to help with parenting.

Almost three in five said it helped to reduce the isolation of new motherhood, while 40% described their mobile device as a ‘backup brain’.

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?

Former javelin world record holder Steve Backley talks about selling mobile phones, while Iain, James and Mark look at the rest of the week’s industry headlines – from SpinVox problems to Blyk’s closure.

This week Iain Graham talks to Andy Tow, MD of distributor Avenir Telecom. And, as usual, Iain joins James Rosewell and Mark Bridge for an in-depth look at the week's mobile industry headlines.

We report from the launch of Datawind's new UbiSurfer netbook and PocketSurfer3 device, which both include a year's mobile internet access with the purchase price. Plus, as usual, there's an in-depth look at all the week's mobile industry headlines.

This week's podcast sees Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse reunited, T-Mobile UK with an uncertain future and mobile music downloads hitting new highs. There's also news about a youth-focussed MVNO - and it's not Blyk.

It's a particularly upbeat edition of The Fonecast this week, with European roaming charges falling, a universal phone charger on the horizon and mobile video uploads on the increase. Coming back down to earth, we also take a look at some of the problems facing mobile payments in the UK.