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.

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.

Mark Bridge writes:

As 2011 draws to a close, many of us start looking towards 2012 and wondering what’ll be happening in the mobile phone industry. Here at The Fonecast we’ve invited a handful of industry experts and business leaders to offer us their thoughts about the coming year.

Today’s podcast contains analysis and insight from Hans Eriksson, Steve Litchfield, Dr Windsor Holden, Dr Mark Smith and Jack Wraith MBE.

Mark Bridge writes:

Welcome to this week's news summary from The Fonecast. Sorry it's late but I have a reasonably good excuse. On Friday I was in central London to meet Hans Eriksson of Bambuser. He was about to stream his life online for 24 hours, relying on social networking to find him off-beat attractions. You'll find our conversation on TheFonecast.com – and the results are at bambuserchallenge.tumblr.com

Mark Bridge writes:

At 12 noon today, Hans Eriksson of Bambuser will end his 24-hour non-stop mobile broadcasting challenge.

He’s been in London with an iPhone and a seemingly endless supply of batteries, enjoying off-beat destinations at the direction of his online audience.

Mark Bridge writes:

Last month I was struck by the way video streaming service Bambuser was being used by citizen journalists.

Now comes news of a different kind of photo-journalism. Instead of shooting behind-the-scenes images of a general election, prisoner Michael Long has been using his mobile to record from behind bars.

Mark Bridge writes:

A couple of weeks ago I was wandering through London, wondering whether mobile streaming could erode personal privacy… and whether anyone cared.

But there’s a positive site to the immediacy of streaming, as Bambuser reminded me today.

This week's look at the latest mobile industry headlines includes an update on the reception problems for Apple's iPhone 4, Nokia's future with Symbian, the end of the road for Kin and the First Else... and loads of other news stories, too.

The launch of the iPhone 4 isn't quite as smooth as Apple might have hoped. Iain, James and Mark discuss the reported problems and the rest of the week's industry news, from mobile TV to roaming charges. In addition, there's a visit to Good Technology to learn more about its mobile email service.

Paul Berney from the Mobile Marketing Association talks about the group's latest mobile commerce research in this week's podcast. And, as usual, there's a look at all the major industry news headlines from the past seven days.

Bambuser CEO Hans Eriksson talks about his company's mobile video streaming. As well as discussing Bambuser's technology, which reduces latency while maintaining quality, Hans also explains how Bambuser has been used for everything from the Eurovision Song Contest to a marathon excavator trip!

In this week's podcast we're talking about mobile data, mobile money and mobile advertising. There's also time for a quick chat about mobile video streaming service Bambuser and an interview with Dror Haliva from mobile synchronisation specialists Cellebrite.