The Telephone Preference Service and Ofcom have introduced a new text message service that lets UK mobile users opt out of receiving unsolicited sales and marketing calls.

Mobile phone users can simply text ‘TPS’ and their email address to 78070.

Specifications and pricing for the BlackBerry Priv have now been revealed.

Consumers are being offered the handset directly from BlackBerry with a UK SIM-free price of £559 incl. VAT or on a contract from Carphone Warehouse. It’s due to be available later this month.

New research published by UK communications regulator Ofcom shows that signing up to the Telephone Preference Service reduces the number of unsolicited ‘live’ marketing or sales calls by around a third.

Organisations are legally required to ensure they don’t call numbers registered on the TPS unless they have the consumer’s consent to contact them.

Facebook has launched a mobile advertising network at its F8 developers conference, giving app developers a new option for monetising their applications.

The Facebook Audience Network offers the same level of targeting as Facebook’s browser-based ads.

We begin this week's podcast with a discussion about the Heartbleed bug, the effect it's having on the mobile industry and the wider issues for all internet users.

We're also talking about the future of BlackBerry, UK 4G coverage, new CEOs, Bluetooth connectivity, privacy concerns and the next generation of mobile processors.

Mark Bridge writes:

Oh, those nasty mobile networks. They're robbing us blind… at least, that's what you might think if you've been reading the headlines this week.

Mobile users 'overpaying by £200', said the BBC. £5bn 'wasted' on mobile phone bills, said the Financial Times. It's the wrong tariff, Gromit!, said Telecom TV after hitting the Wensleydale.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile phones are vicious creatures. First they delivered a mortal blow to landline phones.

Emboldened, they began roaming the world looking for victims. They found plenty.

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.

Mark Bridge writes:

We all have guilty pleasures. One of mine is the sci-fi film Demolition Man. Sylvester Stallone is 20th-century police sergeant John Spartan, who finds himself fighting crime in 2032 alongside the delightful Lieutenant Lenina Huxley, played by Sandra Bullock.

Mark Bridge writes:

Welcome to this week's news summary from TheFonecast.com.

In Wednesday's podcast Iain joked that we ought to have a regular Olympics news story because everyone else was talking about the event constantly. Well, following the headlines about introducing WiFi to tube stations in time for London 2012 comes another Olympic news story.

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.