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:

Patents were a very popular topic of conversation last week. Google sold its Motorola Mobility smartphone business to Lenovo but hung on to most of the patents. Does this mean the patents were the most valuable part of the business? Well, when you look at the difference between the original purchase price and the sale price, it seems a reasonable conclusion.

Mark Bridge writes:

As the final days before this year’s Mobile World Congress approach, we discover there are two types of scheduled news announcements from the wireless telecoms industry.

There are the announcements delayed until MWC begins because the company wants to be part of the buzz at Barcelona. And there are the announcements made in the fortnight beforehand because they don’t want their story to get lost.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mention 'anonymity' to anyone these days and it's pretty likely they'll start talking about Facebook. Maybe Google Street View, maybe RF chips in passports... but probably Facebook.

This 'over sharing' of personal information is a far cry from the situation a few years ago. Once, no-one on the internet really admitted who they were. That New Yorker cartoon - "Nobody knows you're a dog" - wasn't far off the truth. You couldn't tell a dungeonmaster from a librarian when they were online.

This week's edition of The Fonecast talks to Mike Trotman from Aura about their mobile industry Customer Satisfaction survey. There's also a look at the latest mobile news headlines and a quick review of the new LG Secret.

The Fonecast team discusses the future of mobile retailing following Carphone's 10% share price drop, reviews the NFC-equipped Nokia 6212 classic and brings you the latest news and views.

Iain, James and Mark from TheFonecast.com talk about the week's mobile industry news and rumours. There's also a discussion about faulty smartphones with Mark Pollak of Turn On Your Mobile, plus a quick review of the Samsung J700.

This week the team review the LG KF510, discuss box breaking, bring you the latest news and views including the worlds LARGEST mobile phone, Videocon's interest in Motorola, and a possible joint venture between Skype, eBay and Google.

The Fonecast team reviews the Sony Ericsson W760 and discusses the future of mobile advertising. This week's news includes mobiles on the plane, 3G iPhone, Chatterbox and 3 making money.