Welcome to The Fonecast. We reckon we're the UK mobile phone industry's best-kept secret.
If this is the first time you’ve heard of us, we're podcasters and news reporters. Every Wednesday we produce a podcast - an online radio show - that brings you up to speed with everything that's been happening in the mobile business. And every Friday we take a closer look at a specific news story, a company, a product or a mobile trend.
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Mark Bridge writes:
The public telephone box is disappearing as mobile phone coverage improves. In 2002, there were 92,000 BT phone boxes in the UK. Today, there are a total of 51,500 payphones… including 11,000 traditional red boxes. In order to preserve the appearance of rural life - if not the landline connection - BT has been asking parish councils across the UK if they'd like to adopt their local kiosk. Just £1 lets a community keep its red BT phone box (with the payphone taken out)… and 1,500 have been adopted so far.
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Mark Bridge writes:
There's been a bit of a location-based theme in the mobile industry this week.
Hardly surprising, with a new report from Pyramid Research saying location-based advertising is becoming increasingly popular – and NAVTEQ revealing that most consumers are happy receiving promotional offers in exchange for free location-related content.
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Mark Bridge writes:
In this week's podcast feature, Iain Graham has been taking a look at 'box breaking' in the UK. Box breaking can take a variety of forms but it generally involves buying a 'pay as you go' mobile phone at a price that's subsidised in part by a mobile network - and selling it at a higher price to someone who won't connect it to the original network. The package of phone and SIM card is effectively 'broken', with the SIM often sold separately.
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Mark Bridge writes:
The Information Commissioner's Office - the UK authority that upholds information rights - has published details of its recent case involving T-Mobile. Contact information and expiry dates for minimum-term contracts were being sold to third parties, enabling mobile phone dealers to target potential customers who were in a position to sign a new contract... which could earn the dealer hundreds of pounds for a new connection.
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