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.

MEF, the global trade association for companies engaged in mobile content and commerce, has revealed its mobile industry predictions for the next 12 months.

Its forecast combines insights from the group’s Global Board of Directors with research from the recent Global Mobile Consumer Survey.

Macario Namie writes:

As the connected car phenomenon gains pace, 2014 will see global automotive firms embracing LTE. Machina Research predicts 90% of cars sold in 2020 will have some form of embedded connectivity – that connectivity roll-out continues strong in 2014 and LTE is pivotal to its long-term success.

Mark Bridge writes:

HTC experienced a bit of Christmas cheer last week when the threat of a sales injunction against the HTC One mini smartphone and a number of other devices was lifted. Nokia had previously won a patent-related court case against HTC but it seems that a sales ban was deemed too harsh a penalty.

Jürgen Hase writes:

Machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the Internet of Things (IoT) run through all areas of life and work. Cars, cargo containers, parking spaces or even wristwatches and coffee cups – everything around us is on the verge of being connected.

Mark Bridge writes:

It was a relatively quiet time for tech news last week, with many companies taking a day off to celebrate Thanksgiving in the USA and then planning for a present-buying retail frenzy on ‘Black Friday’. Today the focus on Christmas shopping moves online; a day that’s called either ‘Cyber Monday’ or ‘Mega Monday’ if you work for a news organisation.

Yet it wasn’t an entirely newsless week.

We have a varied collection of mobile industry news stories in this week's podcast, including new rules affecting airline passengers with smartphones.

We also talk about BlackBerry giving up its European research centre, Vodafone installing fibre-optic broadband, Samsung's profits, spending on mobile advertising, M2M adoption and WiFi on trains.

We open this week's podcast with news about the European Commission and South Korea working together on 5G mobile technology.

There's a quick look at Samsung's new tablet, some acquisition deals to talk about, a tax investigation, research into wearable devices and plenty of other mobile industry news as well.

Iain, James and Mark begin this week's podcast with Apple's recent iOS 8 revelation and its plan to acquire Beats Electronics.

They then move on to discuss Samsung's Tizen-powered smartphone, a new flagship device from LG and the latest Microsoft Surface tablet - as well as a network takeover in Ireland, BlackBerry’s M2M moves and UK price changes for Vodafone.

In this special feature we're talking to Chris Millington, Doro's MD for UK and Ireland. Doro, which produces easy-to-use mobile phones for older people, is releasing its first touch-screen smartphone this month.

As well as explaining the phone's benefits, Chris also describes the advantages of Doro's tablet and PC software. In addition, we take a few minutes to look at Doro's plans for the future.

Ofcom, the UK government and the major networks have all agreed a timetable for 4G to be launched across the UK.

We're talking about those plans in this week's podcast - and taking a look at all the other top mobile industry stories as well, from US mergers and leaky tablets to free WiFi and forthcoming quarterly results.