Mark Bridge writes:

Today’s podcast feature is a personal look at the cost of mobile ‘roaming’ in France.

At the beginning of July 2011 the rate for European roaming charges fell to a maximum of 38p per minute (incl. VAT) for calls made while abroad in the EU – and 12p per minute for calls received. There’s also a maximum 12p charge for sending text messages.

Skype has agreed to buy GroupMe, a New York-based company that provides group messaging services on mobile phones.

GroupMe, which was only founded a year ago, lets a user set up text message groups and conference calls from their mobile phone. The news follows Skype's acquisition of mobile video provider Qik - and Microsoft's planned acquisition of Skype itself.

Mark Bridge writes:

Recording a phone call made by a mobile phone isn’t particularly difficult – it's something we do regularly for our podcasts – but recording every call made and received by a mobile phone isn't so easy. It's even more of a problem for companies with dozens or even hundreds of employees using mobile phones... and yet, for many organisations, this type of thing will soon be a legal requirement.

To learn more, I've been talking to Ian Hook, vice-president of marketing at Compliant Phones. I started by asking Ian why companies would want to record all their mobile phone calls.

New research from Ofcom shows that 27% of adults (and 47% of teenagers) now own a smartphone. Most of these people have acquired their device in the last 12 months.

Ofcom's Communications Market Report also reveals that smartphone users make more calls and send more texts than regular mobile users, with 81% of smartphone users making calls every day compared with 53% of 'regular phone' users.

Mark Bridge writes:

The public telephone box is disappearing as mobile phone coverage improves. In 2002, there were 92,000 BT phone boxes in the UK. Today, there are a total of 51,500 payphones… including 11,000 traditional red boxes. In order to preserve the appearance of rural life - if not the landline connection - BT has been asking parish councils across the UK if they'd like to adopt their local kiosk. Just £1 lets a community keep its red BT phone box (with the payphone taken out)… and 1,500 have been adopted so far.