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:

A report in The Independent says Apple won't be putting a Near Field Communication chip in the next version of the iPhone. Although Apple is thought to be working on its own NFC service connected to iTunes, it's said to be "concerned by the lack of a clear standard across the industry".

On the surface, that phrase doesn’t make sense.

Mark Bridge writes:

Sadly we’re ending the week with yet another natural disaster. Barely two weeks after New Zealand’s earthquake comes news of Japan’s biggest quake in living memory.

Still, I’m here to talk about mobile phones, so – after a quick mention of the great work being done by the Red Cross – I’ll get on with it.

Mark Bridge writes:

In recent weeks there’s been a lot of talk about the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft. But taking a look at today’s Form 20-F - the annual report that Nokia is filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission - provides a valuable reminder that nothing’s set in stone.

Mark Bridge writes:

The final news story in this week's podcast is best described as an update from last week's programme. The story itself remains the same but the presentation style has been changed dramatically.

Mark Bridge writes:

For the last couple of months we've been running a survey on TheFonecast.com with the title “What's the biggest challenge facing mobile phone manufacturers?”

The answer appears to be very clear. According to 60% of respondents, 'battery life' is the major issue for mobile manufacturers.

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.

This week's podcast starts with talk about money, as Google buys smart thermostat company Nest Labs while O2 UK closes its mobile Wallet product.

We're also looking at the decline of SMS text messaging in the UK, the end of the Cash4phones recycling business, an alleged security breach that wasn't what it seemed, mobile service on the Channel tunnel and the growth of 4G.

Today's podcast starts with a gentle warning to app developers from the Office of Fair Trading.

We then move on to Amazon's new tablets, HTC's sale of its Beats Electronics stake, Twitter's emergency alerts, UK government plans to improve mobile broadband on trains, customer complaints and the growth in adult content for mobile devices.