The establishment of new roaming alliances and the collective power of large operator groups is changing the face of roaming with a greater emphasis on home network control and preferential partner selection. "The forthcoming European summer period is likely to see increased communications from operators to its roamer base on how to select the appropriate partner with a focus on the accompanying roaming tariff applicable with the preferential partner selection" states Mich�le Scanlon, telecoms consultant and author of Global Mobile Roaming, a new strategic report published by Informa Telecoms & Media. Recent tariff developments such as the Vodafone Passport plan are aimed at transparency of pricing and lower costs when roaming within the operator group. Other groups and alliances are expected to announce new tariff initiatives, especially in Europe that continues to dominate the global roaming market, and is subject to an ongoing European Commission investigation into roaming charges.
The global smartphone market closed 2025 with a story less about recovery and more about transformation. Premium product, ecosystem lock-in, and manufacturing scale are now the forces shaping competition. For business and technology leaders, the latest IDC market study data confirms that smartphones remain a critical indicator of consumer demand, supply chain health, and AI commercialization at the edge. Smartphone Market Development Global smartphone shipments grew 2.3 percent year-over-year in Q4 2025, reaching 336.3 million units and bringing full-year volumes to 1.26 billion units — a modest 1.9 percent annual increase, according to IDC. This smartphone growth emerged despite a memory shortage crisis, tariff volatility, supply chain disruption, and macroeconomic headwinds. What stabilized demand? Two factors: sustained growth in premium devices and strong foldable momentum, combined with accelerated purchases as consumers bought ahead of anticipated price increases. Buyers weren...