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.

Simone Orendain of voanews.com writes:

A new program offers rice farmers in the Philippines advice on fertilizer use via their cell phones.

International Rice Research Institute scientists have spent 18 years refining a computerized system to give farmers advice on just how much fertilizer to use...

Mark Bridge writes:

This week’s big news isn’t entirely mobile-related – but it is entirely worth mentioning. First we had Amazon snapping up the part of LOVEFiLM they didn’t already own. (Allow me to start the speculation about a video-streaming Kindle). And then Google CEO Eric Schmidt said he was leaving.

Mark Bridge writes:

If you’ve read any of the tech press today you’ll have seen that Amazon.com is buying LOVEFiLM. Yes, that really is how the company writes its name. Amazon already had quite a collection of LOVEFiLM shares, so it’s really just buying the remainder.

Mark Bridge writes:

It's been a funny old week. With the International CES behind us and Mobile World Congress less than a month away, you’d be forgiven for thinking there wouldn’t be much big news until the world’s mobile mavens start arriving in Barcelona.

Mark Bridge writes:

The RIM BlackBerry PlayBook. Embarrassment-in-waiting or soon-to-be-success in the increasingly crowded tablet market?

Just before Christmas I stuck my neck out and predicted the latter. But that’s not a position I’ve always held.

In this week's podcast we're talking about the potential purchase of the O2 UK mobile network by BT.

We also discuss new tablets from Nokia and Jolla, the end of a patent battle, mobile payments via instant messaging, app development for the Apple Watch and plans to make even more spectrum available for mobile broadband in the UK .

Time for another podcast presented by Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge. They begin this week's programme by talking about the latest enterprise-friendly developments from BlackBerry.

Next comes a new survey from Ofcom about the UK's 4G data speeds, followed by news about TalkTalk's MVNO deal with Telefonica, the growth of WiFi in the home and a report from AVG about social media sapping smartphone performance.

This week's podcast begins with news about the new 'quad play' television service offered in the UK by EE.

We also talk about HTC's new camera, an ethical smartphone, a complaint from Ofcom, mobile payments, machine-to-machine connections and yet another online security breach.

We begin this week's podcast with stories that go beyond the mobile industry, as HP plans to split into two companies and eBay prepares to separate itself from PayPal.

We're also talking about the Microsoft/Samsung legal case, a new Tesco tablet, BT's updated text relay service, a new way to avoid buying a stolen iPhone... and #Hairgate.

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.