Ofcom’s proposal to increase annual licence fees for the 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum bands in the UK could adversely affect investment in the UK’s 4G services, according to the GSMA.

A consultation into the proposed increases ended on 16th January, with an Ofcom decision expected in the next few weeks.

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.

Mark Bridge writes:

Farewell for another year, dear old International CES. The Las Vegas-based consumer electronics show is but a fading memory as the mobile industry starts preparing for next month’s GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

However, what happened in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas.

O2 UK is closing its Wallet service on 31st March 2014, less than two years after first announcing it.

The O2 Wallet enables customers on any network to send money from an existing debit or credit card to individuals or to retailers, rather like the Barclays Pingit service.

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return with their first mobile industry podcast of 2014.

This week they're looking at new Samsung, Sony and ZTE products from CES, they're talking about Android embedded in cars, they're catching up with the latest news from BlackBerry, they're discussing cheque payments by smartphone, they're revealing complaint data from Ofcom and they're investigating quite a few other stories as well.