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:

I like hotels. Free biscuits in your room and all the portions of UHT milk you can drink. But the phone calls... that's a different story.

Dearie me, you're paying for that hospitality tray when you pick up the phone.

Mark Bridge writes:

A Charlie Chaplin DVD includes an image of a woman using a mobile phone in 1928.

That’s the suggestion surrounding a YouTube clip that’s currently received more than 2½ million hits since it was posted online last week.

James Rosewell writes:

Most Sat-Nav applications are now obtained via the Application Store used on the mobile phone. Navigon have gone so far as to remove access to their application via any other route. Application Stores are now the only choice. This move to a platform-specific sales model is a massive mistake.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mark Zuckerberg's girlfriend breaks up with him acrimoniously. So off he goes and creates Facebook. Yes, there's nothing like an insult to fire up the creativity. Well, that's certainly what the plot of The Social Network would like you to think.

And, you know, it's got a point. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that sticking two fingers up at the opposition seems to be the new way of doing business.

Mark Bridge writes:

Wouldn't it be great if mobile customers loved their networks so much that they'd fight for them?  Ofcom would be inundated with complaints from O2 users about its decision not to allow GSM frequencies to be used for 3G services. Vodafone customers would demand that Nokia pre-loaded the N8 with a Vodafone 360 application. Orange users would be sending petitions to radio stations, asking them to implement HD Voice on phone-ins. And giffgaff users would take to online forums to defend the service they receive.

Oh, hang on. That last one's already happening.

We begin this week's podcast with updates on two topics we discussed last week: the potential purchase of a UK mobile network by BT - and the crowd-funded Jolla Tablet.

After that we talk about the GSMA's reaction to national roaming, the potential death of the landline, a new threat to Google, management changes and advertising for 4G data.

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.

Dr Kevin Curran, Reader in Computer Science at the University of Ulster, joined us during Mobile World Congress to offer his well-informed opinion about trends in mobile technology.

We talked about a wide range of topics, including battery life, disposable tablets, wearables, m-health, 4G fragmentation, connected furniture, M2M security, the rise of video and the IEEE.

The Smart UK project is an annual government-supported competition looking for the UK's Most Innovative Mobile Company.

A few days ago, all 20 companies on the competition shortlist gave a short presentation to the Smart UK panel of judges. Afterwards, Mark Bridge spoke to some of the entrants to discover exactly what they had to offer - and how they planned to disrupt the mobile industry.

We start this week's podcast with Ofcom's announcement that it's clarifying the rules for fixed-term mobile phone contracts.

There's also a new curved smartphone from LG, accusations about a mobile security company, information about mobile phone thefts, a report into the UK's communications infrastructure and some quarterly results figures.