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.

Mark Bridge writes

Ah, the joys of multiplying by zero. I was reminded of my school maths lessons when I saw a news release from Orange UK this week.

Steve Wallage, Head of Sport Partnerships and Services for Orange UK was quoted as saying “Based on the surge in demand for mobile TV during the Ashes last summer, we expect viewing figures could rocket by at least 74% during the World Cup”.

O2 UK is the latest mobile network operator to remove 'unlimited' mobile data for new customers. Although existing customers won't be affected, any new or upgrading customers will have a fixed data allowance on their tariff and will need to choose a 'Bolt On' allowance if they want to exceed this. The new tariffs will be introduced from 24th June – when the iPhone 4 launches – although unlimited data will be available as a promotion until 1st October 2010.

The company says current usage patterns show that 97% of O2 customers would not need to buy additional data allowances as the lowest bundle (500MB) provides at least 2.5 times the average O2 customer's use.

Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, has urged mobile phone operators to raise parents' awareness of the potential risks faced by children who use smartphones, such as access to 'adult' content.

While welcoming the progress made by operators on their work to keep children safe while using mobile phones, she warned that parents were often "not as tuned into the latest developments in mobile phones as the younger generation".

Nokia Siemens Networks says it's been working to remove bottlenecks from O2’s mobile broadband coverage in London, helping the network meet the demands of its smartphone users.

By analysing the activity of smart devices on the O2 network and combining this with traffic growth forecasts, NSN says it's upgraded the network elements and modules identified as current and potential future bottlenecks. Adding new base stations to existing sites has helped O2 increase coverage and capacity while also conserving smartphone battery life.

US mobile operator Sprint says the HTC EVO 4G broke sales records when it went on sale last Friday, although it's not quoted any specific figures. It says Friday sales of the HTC EVO 4G, which includes 3G and 4G technology along with a 4.3-inch screen and 8 megapixel camera, were the largest quantity of a single phone model sold in one day ever for Sprint.

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.