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Thursday, December 5, 2013

Major UK mobile networks agree new moves to protect against 'bill shock'

The UK government says it’s worked with telecoms companies to reduce the risk of consumers receiving unexpectedly high bills if their phone is stolen.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller has announced a new agreement with EE, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone to cap bills on a mobile phone that has been reported lost or stolen. This will be implemented early next year. O2 isn’t mentioned in the announcement.

BT, Sky and Talk Talk have also agreed - along with the four mobile networks - that customers will be able to end a contract without penalty if they’re presented with potential price rises within the minimum term. It’s a move that echoes Ofcom’s recent guidance.

Jo Swinson MP, Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs, said “The last thing you need after the hassle of a stolen mobile is to find that someone has used it and landed you with a sky high bill too. Phone companies have listened to government and to their customers and I welcome their agreement to protect them from unexpected costs and mid-contract price rises.”

The government has also re-stated its aim to eliminate European roaming charges by 2016.

[Formal agreement (pdf)]

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Opinion Articles

The art of accessory sales is changing

Mark Bridge writes:

We're told it's not merely 'sales'. No, it's an art. "The art of selling". And with over 4 million hits on Google, you could easily argue that the art of selling is more popular than painting.

The same goes for the two sub-categories of cross-selling and up-selling. They're arts as well, you know. Mystic and creative disciplines...

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Secure mobile phone calls explained

The security of 3G and GSM mobile phone calls has been questioned recently. Mark Bridge spoke to Dr Simon Bransfield-Garth, Chief Executive of Cellcrypt, at Mobile World Congress to find out how real the problems are. The interview was included in our podcast on 19th February 2010; here's an edited transcript of the interview:

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‘The App is Dead. Long Live the App’ at Mobile World Congress

James Rosewell writes:

Apps (defined as games, information services, social networking video and web content among other things) dominated MWC10 with debate focused on the provision of radio network capacity to support them, the technologies used to create them and the methods for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to monetise them. Given the fragmentation in technology and the investment needed from MNOs to provide capacity coupled with a lack of reward for MNOs, we would be forgiven for thinking the App as we know it is not long for this world. However new technologies offering broader platform support, plus smart network investment coupled with new business models, mean the App will evolve and come of age ready for 2011.

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Windows Phone 7 Series at Mobile World Congress

Mark Bridge writes:

We queued in the rain outside the Catalonia Barcelona Plaza hotel. We sat on the floor in a basement room. And we watched on TV as Steve Ballmer announced Windows Phone 7 Series.

The life of a reporter is not a glamorous one.

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HTC Smart could start a smartphone price war

Mark Bridge writes:

I’ve previously talked about a report from 2009 which warned how touch-screen phones that weren’t true smartphones were pushing down ARPU. Consumers thought they were buying something that was relatively advanced but were being seduced by form over function.

This week HTC stepped in to the arena with the HTC Smart, described by HTC's Peter Chou as "a more-affordable smartphone". Although it may not fit everyone’s definition of a smartphone, it certainly ticks most of the boxes. It has an open operating system, Qualcomm’s Brew platform, which has over 18,000 available applications and has been installed on over 1200 handset models worldwide.

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