New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.

Mark Bridge writes:

In the world of retail, you can’t move for Hallowe’en puns at the moment. You know the kind of thing. Spooky offers. Frighteningly low prices. Missing our deals will haunt you. There’s not the ghost of a chance we’ll shift these PlayBooks unless we cut the price.

Mark Bridge writes:

Two years ago we talked to Mark Smith about a new company he’d just launched. It was called ipadio and it offered a straightforward proposition: you made a phone call and ipadio would turn it into a live online broadcast with a permanent online recording - either as a free service for consumers or as a premium service for businesses.

This week I caught up with Mark again and started our conversation by asking him what had changed.

Mark Bridge writes:

If there’s one theme that dominates the last seven days – and, let’s face it, I like to find a theme wherever possible – it’s new mobile devices.

We started the week with Apple having sold over four million units of the new iPhone 4S in the first three days since its launch. This was followed by Motorola Mobility reinvigorating its RAZR brand by applying it to a high-spec Android smartphone – which in turn was followed by Google and Samsung revealing the Galaxy Nexus.

Cathy Majtenyi of voanews.com writes:

In the slums of Kenya's capital, residents and aid groups are using new technology to send and receive money.

Irene Okoth and her five children have been living on 50 cents a day in Nairobi's Korogocho settlement.  That is what she earns recycling garbage from the nearby dump.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile banking. eBanking. Mobile money. m-payments. They’re all terms that are often thrown around interchangeably (and incorrectly) when talking about mobile financial services.

To help understand more about the difference facets of mobile commerce - from security concerns through to current implementation and future innovations - I headed for Gemalto’s recent Innovation Day at the Museum of London. I started by talking to Howard Berg, senior vice president at Gemalto, and admitted to him that I still thought of Gemalto as being a SIM card and smartcard manufacturer rather than the digital security company it’s become.

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.