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.

By incorporating advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities, AI can help to optimize a smartphone's performance, providing users with a faster, more efficient and user-friendly experience.

Mark Bridge writes:

I've been taking a look back at the devices I've written about during the past few years. Some are still faithful companions, others... well, let's just say my faith was misplaced.

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?

Mark Bridge writes:

We head into the weekend with the News of the World admitting voicemail hacking was more widespread than previously thought. Mobile networks had already made it much harder to access voicemail remotely… and now the NotW is saying sorry and preparing to pay compensation.

Talkmobile, the UK virtual mobile network from The Carphone Warehouse, has launched a series of 'pay monthly' tariffs that include what's being described as "unlimited mobile internet data".

Prices start from £12 per month for a two-year minimum term contract with a free phone plus 200 inclusive minutes and 200 inclusive texts per month.

New figures from GfK Retail and Technology UK show that the Android operating system is becoming increasingly popular.

Smartphones accounted for almost half of all mobile phone sales in February 2011 (48.7%). When it came to 'pay monthly' contracts, 83.1% were smartphones... which means only a sixth of all contract phones sold were non-smart.

In this week's edition of The Fonecast we catch up with Bob Sweetlove of HSC. He tells us the secret of winning a Mobile News Award - HSC picked up the 'best airtime distributor' prize earlier this month - and discusses some of the current trends in distribution.

Plus, as usual, we take a look at all the big news stories that affect the UK mobile industry… from developments with the BlackBerry PlayBook to a brand new mobile payment service.

The Mobile Money Network, which was founded by Charles Dunstone, Monitise plc and Best Buy Europe last year, says it'll reveal details of its first service tomorrow.

New non-executive Chairman Sir Stuart Rose is set to announce Simply Tap, a service that'll allow consumers using any mobile phone on any network to buy anything from retailers signed up to the platform.