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 Iain and Mark look at mobile industry headlines from the last 7 days and interview Paul Smith about the cashback problems that hit Mobile Media Systems - the owner of Phoneboxdirect. They also review the Sony Ericsson W960i: an 8GB music-playing touch-screen handset.

Download this week's free podcast from TheFonecast.com to discover the mobile industry news headlines from the last seven days, including an assortment of closures, takeovers, departures and developments. The Fonecast team also reviews the new 3G-equipped Nokia 8800 Arte.

This week The Fonecast interviews Russell Raynor from Mobile Business Solutions about the problems of being a dealer, we chat to Faisal Sheikh about unlocking the Apple iPhone, we look at the week's industry headlines and we review the BlackBerry Pearl 8120.

This week Iain talks to John George from JAG about his company's recent expansion. Iain, Mark and James also discuss the week's industry headlines - including the latest iPhone and gPhone stories - and look at the new 5-megapixel Samsung G800.

We review the 3 USB modem, talk to Crispin Thomas from TMTI and Stuart Turner from Fonesure - and discuss the week's mobile industry headlines.