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.

Bluestreak Technology, a Canadian company that provides technology for delivering multimedia to various consumer devices, has listed the top 5 most important technology trends it expects to hear about at Mobile World Congress 2011.

2010 was a year of tremendous change in the technology industry...

Mobile phone recycling has become increasingly mainstream, with many millions of people in the UK handing in their old mobile phones and electrical gadgets for cash. It's a growth industry that's seen more and more companies and websites offering cash bonuses to customers selling mobile phones.

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Adam Taylor writes:

The mobile phone industry is an attractive proposition. Over 90% of the UK population has a mobile, and the seemingly non-stop developments in mobile technology are doing a great job in satisfying the UK’s thirst for anything that provides a quicker, more efficient (or in some cases, more fun) way of doing things. With such a demand, naturally supply tends to follow.

Mark Bridge writes:

Sorry, but I find it hard to get excited by financial results. Actually that's not strictly true. I find it hard to get excited by financial results that aren't unexpected.

Mark Bridge writes:

I just wanted to have a few words about the Sony PlayStation Phone. I know I’ve been wrong about things in the past – and I have little doubt I’ll be wrong again – but I’d like to suggest a lot of people have been looking in the wrong place.

This week's podcast begins with a report about a delay - or perhaps even cancellation - for the UK launch of HTC's Facebook phone, the HTC First.

We then move on to Vodafone's results, an Android app scare for Sky, Samsung's successes, contactless payments, potentially life-saving QR codes and an uncomfortable story about a smuggled mobile phone.

Mobile phone cases are often seen as unsophisticated and low-tech... but that's not always the case. In this podcast, Rhona Cashman from OtterBox explains why there can be much more to a mobile phone case than meets the eye.