Earlier this year we reported that Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom-Orange had agreed to work together on machine-to-machine communication in a number of countries. The agreement currently covers France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK.

TeliaSonera has now joined the M2M Service Cooperation Agreement between the two companies, adding Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania to the list of countries.

A new research report from Berg Insight forecasts that the number of tracking devices and wireless alarm systems monitored via mobile networks by alarm receiving centres will grow at the equivalent of 41% per year within Europe, from 7 million in 2010 to 39.2 million by the end of 2015.

The number of wireless machine-to-machine modules shipped for security applications will grow at an even higher rate, increasing from last year's figure of 2.4 million wireless M2M modules to 21.4 million in 2015.

In The Fonecast this week we discuss mobile termination rates, traffic management for mobile broadband, smart meters, protests, applications and crime-busting ringtones.

We also talk about the Japanese earthquake, which - although it's predominantly a human tragedy - also has economic consequences for the mobile industry.

Iain, James and Mark look at the week's mobile news headlines, from Ofcom cutting termination rates to Opera launching its own application store... and they also hear how an unusual ringtone resulted in a criminal gang being apprehended.

Telefónica O2 UK has signed its first 'smart metering' agreement, a multi-million pound three-year contract with G4S Utility Services.

O2 will provide around 200,000 SIM cards and other machine-to-machine technology to connect smart meters to the G4S data centre. Information will be sent via text message to and from G4S.