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.

Donald Stuart, CEO of Brainstorm, explains why mobile operators are well placed to take advantage of the revenue streams opened up by location technologies.

The area of Location based services (LBS) has been getting a lot of attention of late, and it’s no wonder, Juniper Research has highlighted that the Mobile Context and Location Services market is expected to generate revenue of $43.4 billion by 2019, up from $12.2 billion in 2014.

Mark Bridge writes:

We’re delighted to be a media partner to Apps World 2014. This year Apps World has outgrown its previous home and is moving to ExCeL London, alongside the River Thames. There’ll be over 350 exhibitors and even more workshops than before, with a number of free conference sessions alongside premium options.

Mark Bridge writes:

The two-year mobile phone contract has almost become a standard, despite EU efforts to make it a worst-case scenario. I went into the Brighton branch of Carphone Warehouse today and was told I couldn't upgrade to a 12-month contract. Last year I could; now they would only offer me a 24-month deal.

Mark Bridge writes:

There’s no doubting the CAT B100 is a tough looking phone. It’s the kind of phone that needs to be described by someone with a voice rather like James Earl Jones or Isaac Hayes. The promotional video shows a chap on a building site and another guy on a motorbike delivering emergency supplies to a hospital. Apparently that’s the target market.

Rachel Thomas of Apps World writes:

Babak Parviz, one of the minds behind Google Glass who has just left the company to be VP at Amazon, has been announced as a keynote speaker at this year’s Apps World Europe, from November 12-13 at the ExCeL, London.

Leaving your wallet at home and going shopping with nothing more than your mobile phone is still a science-fiction vision of the future.

But it's getting much closer to reality, thanks to a UK-based company called Corethree. They're currently working with a number of public transport operators and have brought mobile tickets to a wide range of smartphones.

In this week's podcast we talk about two of the big announcements from Google I/O: a new version of Android and the retail launch of smartwatches powered by 'Android Wear'.

We also talk about Android-based smartphones from Nokia and Blackphone, network complaints in the UK, a reduction in European roaming charges and mobile ticketing.

We have something for everyone in this week's podcast. There's bad news as Samba Mobile closes, bad news as Apple and Samsung suffer product faults... and bad news as wearable devices are criticised for the poor user experience they offer.

Yet there's plenty of good news as well, including the launch of a new UK mobile payment service.

Samsung has put a 10x optical zoom lens on a smartphone, Google is acquiring navigation app Waze and the European Commission is getting ready to equip cars with an emergency call system.

We're also talking about a strike threat at O2, the risk of 'showrooming' to high-street retailers, the end of Symbian smartphones and plenty more as well.

In this week's podcast news report we're talking about quarterly results from BlackBerry and Three UK, we're discussing the latest network complaints data from Ofcom and we're contemplating the arrival of a new Facebook phone.

There's also time to discuss EE's UK 4G rollout, a dramatic move from T-Mobile USA and a train ticket app from O2.