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.

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:

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.

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:

A new report has highlighted the issue of poor mobile phone coverage in rural Sussex villages. BBC Sussex invited me onto their ‘Sussex Breakfast’ radio show to explain what could be done - and, as usual, I made enough notes for a lecture rather than a three-minute interview.

Here’s what I would have liked to have said if I’d been given a disproportionate amount of time to talk.

In this special extended interview, 'Yes Telecom' founder Keith Curran talks about his new mobile ventures: the user-friendly MAVcast advertising system, SMS-powered shopping tool Contact Secure and number allocation service Name Your Number.

Keith Curran, mobile entrepreneur and founder of Yes Telecom, talks about his new businesses in this week's podcast. Plus, as usual, the team takes an off-beat look at mobile news headlines from the last seven days.

This week's industry headlines include the launch of the world's first commercial NFC mobile payment system. Iain, Mark and James take a closer look at mobile payments and also talk about other news from the last 7 days.

Iain Graham, Mark Bridge and James Rosewell take their usual look at the latest industry news headlines, from termination charges to mobile web sites – and Simon Millions, Marketing Director from mobile phone hire company Cellhire, explains how his company does business.

This week Iain Graham, Mark Bridge and James Rosewell take their usual look at the week's mobile industry headlines. Plus there's exclusive news of a new advertising-funded pan-European mobile network arriving in the UK. (Okay, we own up - the feature's an April Fool joke!)