OFCOM

Virgin Media customers with Sky Sports or Sky Movies subscriptions will see prices rise by up to £24/year from 1 June.

Firms plaguing people with nuisance calls and texts face a clampdown by the Government as new laws taking effect from 6 April mean they can be hit with fines of up to £500,000.

The Government has reached a deal with the four mobile networks to improve coverage across the UK, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced today.

Mobile phone users who send a smiley or sad face, or any type of picture icon, in a text could be stung with massive charges – with one user billed more than £200 as a result of using these emojis.

Ofcom has fined two companies a total of £40,000 for making more than 43,000 abandoned and silent calls.

Ofcom has fined mobile network Three £250,000 for poor handling of customer complaints.

The telecoms regulator has fined insurer Ageas £10,000 for making abandoned calls to UK consumers.

About 800,000 pay-monthly Virgin Mobile customers will have their prices hiked by 2.5% next month. But if you're one of them, there's little you can do to leave your contract penalty-free as the firm has sneaked around Ofcom rules.

Millions of Vodafone pay-monthly mobile customers will have their prices frozen, as the firm has promised not to hike line rental costs mid-contract.

Mobile phone firm Ovivo has gone into liquidation following its sudden closure in March, which left many users out of pocket. But customers may not get their money back.