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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

Monday, July 11, 2011

Dead phone boxes are now ready for saving lives

Mark Bridge writes:

BT telephone boxThe public telephone box is disappearing as mobile phone coverage improves. In 2002, there were 92,000 BT phone boxes in the UK. Today, there are a total of 51,500 payphones… including 11,000 traditional red boxes. In order to preserve the appearance of rural life - if not the landline connection - BT has been asking parish councils across the UK if they’d like to adopt their local kiosk. Just £1 lets a community keep its red BT phone box (with the fixed-line payphone taken out)… and 1,500 have been adopted so far.

One of the latest innovations for these disused kiosks involves fitting them with defibrillator equipment, thanks to BT’s partnership with the Community Heartbeat Trust. BT is paying for the machines to be fitted in five kiosks across the country. Defibrillation equipment is fitted inside the kiosk in a secure vandal-resistant steel cabinet; the combination lock for the cabinet is available from the emergency services by calling 999.

Using the defibrillator machine requires no training because it provides step-by-step spoken instructions. It even analyses the casualty to determine if they are suffering from cardiac arrest. When necessary, it can deliver a powerful electric shock to restore a normal heartbeat to the sufferer.

Martin Fagan, national secretary of the Community Heartbeat Trust, said “We are immensely grateful to BT for their help in this novel use of a familiar icon, phone boxes are ideal locations for emergency medical equipment because they’re often in the centre of a village. With something as serious as a cardiac arrest, time is of the essence, and unfortunately the emergency services can’t always reach country villages in the recommended five minutes. We hope that many more people will adopt their kiosk and enlist our help to save lives in rural communities.”

Currently 100,000 calls are made each day from public payphones, although the number of calls made from payphones is falling by 25% annually. Almost two-thirds (64%) of UK phone boxes are unprofitable.

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Recent Podcasts

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