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:

Farewell for another year, dear old International CES. The Las Vegas-based consumer electronics show is but a fading memory as the mobile industry starts preparing for next month’s GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

However, what happened in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas.

Mark Bridge writes:

Another week, another couple of product announcements from Samsung. There appears to be no stopping them, despite a recent drop in the company’s share price.

This time it’s a couple of tablets – one of which runs both Android and Windows 8 – and a 20 megapixel camera that’s got a 4G-enabled Android device built in.

Mark Bridge writes:

Today’s consumers receive a seemingly never-ending stream of online information from their social networks, from websites, in their email and on their mobile devices. But is there a way to let individuals stay in control whilst also helping companies advertise their products?  According to nFluence Media, there definitely is.

To find out more, I spoke to Henry Lawson, co-founder and CEO of nFluence, and started by asking him to explain exactly what nFluence did.

This week's edition of The Fonecast previews the MOTO W233 Renew, which is made from recycled plastic bottles. Plus, as usual, we'll be taking our regular look at the latest news headlines from the mobile industry.

In this week's edition of The Fonecast we welcome 2009 with a review of the top stories from 2008. And, as usual, we'll also be taking a look at the current mobile news headlines from the industry.

We bid farewell to 2008 in this week's edition of The Fonecast. As well as our usual look at the latest mobile news we also predict what'll be hitting the headlines in 2009... and we revisit our predictions from 12 months ago.

In The Fonecast this week we talk to Chris Caudle from the IMPDA about his criticisms of O2 and his hopes for the industry's future in 2009. There's also a preview of the Android-powered Kogan Agora Pro and our usual off-beat look at the latest mobile headlines.

In The Fonecast this week we're talking to Kari Rantanen, who is director of sales and marketing for Nokia's new Smart Home Program. There's a look at mobile industry headlines from the last seven days and a quick preview of the young-at-heart Samsung Tobi handset.