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:

So, that’s another Mobile World Congress in the bag. Yes, it was bigger than ever. Just like last year. Just like the year before, too.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile World Congress is just a week away, with lovers of mobile technology preparing to be wooed by manufacturers, networks and developers. But if MWC is like St Valentine’s Day, then LG has been behaving rather like the world’s worst boyfriend.

Mark Bridge writes:

We’re back from Mobile World Congress – and what a show it was. Located at a new site that saw more visitors than ever before, the show had everything… except any particularly obvious theme from hardware manufacturers. Last year was the year of the quad-core smartphone, this year there was plenty of incremental innovation but nothing truly startling.

Mark Bridge writes:

I didn’t study economics at college, which is probably one of the reasons I have a very simple perspective on quarterly results. As far as I’m concerned, they fall into one of three categories: much as expected, better than expected or worse than expected. Anyway, it’s the time of year when some of the biggest names in the mobile telecoms industry publish their financial results – so here we go.

Mark Bridge writes:

It was a good week for technology stories hitting the mainstream news, thanks to the apparent appearance of a Higgs boson, Sir Alan Sugar’s YouView online TV service and football goal-line technology.

Mobile-related news hasn’t been quite so big, although plenty of well-known names have turned up in the headlines. What’s also been turning up – rather more than usual – is the presence of WiFi.

Iain Graham, Mark Bridge and James Rosewell take their usual off-beat look at the latest industry headlines in this week's edition of The Fonecast. John Ryan offers retail merchandising advice - and there's a preview (or should that be a forecast?) of the BlackBerry Storm.

As well as its usual look at the latest industry news, this week's edition of The Fonecast includes an interview with Graeme Oxby, MD of Virgin Mobile. There's also time for a quick preview of the new Prada phone from LG.

In this week's edition of The Fonecast we're talking to Milind Kangle, CEO of Lycatel - the company behind new UK virtual network Lycamobile. There's also a quick preview of the forthcoming Android-powered T-Mobile G1 and our usual look at the latest mobile news headlines.

As well as its usual look at the latest mobile industy headlines, this week The Fonecast talks to an O2 dealer and the IMPDA's Chris Caudle about the changes to O2's dealer commission structure.

This week The Fonecast welcomes Nokia's Rupert Englander, who explains more about his company's new Comes With Music service. There's also a preview of the HTC Touch HD and the usual irreverent look at the week's industry headlines and rumours.