Hot on the heels of this month's changes to international 'roaming' charges - the cost of using a mobile phone when abroad - comes a new proposal from the European Commission. The new regulations, if voted into law, would allow customers to sign up for a separate roaming contract on their existing mobile phone number from July 2014.

In addition, there'd be a further reduction to maximum call costs and SMS costs in Europe, along with a new cap on the cost of using mobile data when abroad.

The latest quarterly figures from comScore show that Samsung is the top handset manufacturer in the USA with 24.8% market share while Android is the most-popular smartphone platform with 38.1% market share.

Almost a third of Americans now have smartphones, an 11% increase from the previous three-month period.

In January the Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints against a Three UK leaflet that claimed "No other network gives you more for £10."

Now another similar complaint has been upheld by the ASA against Three.

We start this week's edition of The Fonecast by talking about Nortel's patents before moving on to Google+, roaming charges, mobile payments and health concerns. We also find time to discuss app stores, some new research and the Pope's iPad.

As usual, you can download this week's show from iTunes - or you can listen to the podcast by using the audio player on our website.

Mark Bridge writes:

Recycling an unwanted mobile phone makes sense. It's good for the environment and it generates cash as well.

Newer phones recycled in Western Europe are likely to be reconditioned and resold locally, while older models may be reconditioned for use in developing countries. Damaged phones are either used for spares or are broken down for the metals and minerals in their components.

But what happens when people in those developing countries need to recycle their phones?