Colin Aitken from Burnside Telecom talks about the company's new mobile telecare products: the MoniCare GSM remote monitoring solution and a 'fixed cellular phone' designed as a landline alternative for elderly users.

Christmas is approaching but that’s not stopped the mobile phone industry from delivering a week of diverse headlines.

We start today’s podcast by talking about the much-reported complaints involving Orange UK’s tariffs and Carrier IQ’s monitoring before moving on to cheerier topics, including a new MVNO, another free WiFi service and two new mobile payment deals.

Mobile Virtual Network Aggregator Cognatel, which works with Vodafone in the UK, has created a new virtual mobile network for what’s described as the UK’s first customisable mini mobile phone.

CyCell will run the MVNO with a ‘white label’ credit card sized mobile handset that can be designed within days. Pre-programmed numbers can be linked to printed buttons on the phone, with all the call routing based within the network.

Retrieva, the UK-based company that produces dog tracking collars with built-in GPS tracking, has announced a deal with specialist virtual mobile network Podsystem.

It’ll allow Retrieva to use Podsystem’s MultiNet Europe SIM cards for a premium roaming service that’ll simplify costs and will allow European owners to track their dogs across national borders.

Vizz Mobile, part of the QiComm telecoms group, has announced a virtual mobile network called Vizz Africa.

Vizz Africa is a prepaid SIM-only service specifically designed to let UK customers communicate with friends and relatives in Africa. It follows the launch earlier this year of Dialog Vizz, a QiComm company that targets the UK’s Sri Lankan communities.