UK-based communications service specialist Azzurri Communications has appointed Chris Jagusz as its new Chief Executive Officer. He’ll join at the end of the summer.

Mr Jagusz was previously Managing Director at SSE Telecoms.

Managed communications service specialist Azzurri Communications says its CEO is stepping down at the end of the current financial year.

It follows a refinancing process that saw the company’s ‘senior debt’ reduced to £25 million from around £103 million.

New research commissioned by Azzurri Communications and carried out by Vanson Bourne has found that most medium and large-sized UK businesses are already using or planning to use Unified Communications.

In total, 76% of respondents said they were pursuing a UC strategy.

Azzurri Communications, which provides voice, data and mobile managed services in the UK, has announced the completion of its planned refinancing process. It says this puts the business in a strong and stable position, with new funding facilities to run until June 2014.

In addition, it’s made some new senior appointments.

The second quarter of this year was the best quarter ever for connections via the O2 UK 'partner channel', according to a statement from the company today. Blackberry connections through partners also reached a new quarterly high, as did connections via O2 Centre of Excellence partners and both of O2's strategic partners (Avenir and Azzurri).

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

This week Iain and Mark look at mobile industry headlines from the last 7 days and interview Paul Smith about the cashback problems that hit Mobile Media Systems - the owner of Phoneboxdirect. They also review the Sony Ericsson W960i: an 8GB music-playing touch-screen handset.

Download this week's free podcast from TheFonecast.com to discover the mobile industry news headlines from the last seven days, including an assortment of closures, takeovers, departures and developments. The Fonecast team also reviews the new 3G-equipped Nokia 8800 Arte.

This week The Fonecast interviews Russell Raynor from Mobile Business Solutions about the problems of being a dealer, we chat to Faisal Sheikh about unlocking the Apple iPhone, we look at the week's industry headlines and we review the BlackBerry Pearl 8120.

This week Iain talks to John George from JAG about his company's recent expansion. Iain, Mark and James also discuss the week's industry headlines - including the latest iPhone and gPhone stories - and look at the new 5-megapixel Samsung G800.

We review the 3 USB modem, talk to Crispin Thomas from TMTI and Stuart Turner from Fonesure - and discuss the week's mobile industry headlines.