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Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

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.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

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.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

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.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

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.
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Opinion Articles

Friday, March 11, 2011

This week at The Fonecast: 12th March 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

Sadly we’re ending the week with yet another natural disaster. Barely two weeks after New Zealand’s earthquake comes news of Japan’s biggest quake in living memory.

Still, I’m here to talk about mobile phones, so – after a quick mention of the great work being done by the Red Cross – I’ll get on with it.

What’s new this week? we7 is new. The company – set up with help from Peter Gabriel – has launched an Android app that doesn’t just stream music for free, it also works without an internet connection (thanks to some neat caching technology).

There’s something new from Opera Software as well. It’s opened an application store. There’s a direct link from the company’s Opera Mini mobile browser, so it could do a roaring trade. However, rival app store GetJar – which has previously supplied 30 million copies of Opera’s browser – wasn’t happy with the new app store integration and kicked Opera Mini out.

Three UK has a new tariff – an unlimited data deal for prepay customers – and O2 UK has signed its first smart metering agreement, which will give it around 200,000 new connections.

Time for some research. Smartphone shipments were up 74% last year, according to Berg Insight. Next year, over half of all in-car navigation device sales will be mobile phones, according to IHS iSuppli. And within five years, one in eight mobile customers will use mobile tickets, according to Juniper Research.

Moving on to financial news, and Rovia – best known for the Angry Birds game – has just announced $42 million in funding. It’ll also get investor and Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström as a new board member. Meanwhile Finland’s Digia is acquiring the Qt commercial software licensing business from Nokia.

All relatively upbeat… although it’s not been a good week for Vodafone or Microsoft. The former saw protests from the UK Uncut action group appearing on its World of Difference blog, while the latter has delayed the cut-and-paste update for Windows Phone 7.

Finally, if you’ve not yet listened to this week’s podcast, I have three words for you. Iain Graham rapping. Next week, I’m thinking about producing the entire programme as a musical. Perhaps.


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