Sajid Javid MP, the UK Government Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has announced what’s described as a “landmark deal” with the ‘big four’ mobile networks to improve coverage.

It follows a three-week consultation period that involved the government proposing mandated ‘national roaming’ as one of the options to improve rural coverage in areas where some networks provided service but others didn’t.

The Fonecast predicts 2015: Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge gather round a sapphire crystal ball and make their forecasts for the next 12 months in the mobile industry.

Whose product line won't survive until December 2015? What will happen with the BT/EE merger? Which new features will be introduced by smartphone manufacturers?

BT Group plc says it’s entered into an exclusivity agreement with Deutsche Telekom and Orange, allowing it to negotiate a possible acquisition of EE’s UK mobile business.

It originally responded to press speculation with a statement last month.

EE’s ‘Orange Wednesdays’ two-for-one cinema ticket deal will end next year.

The offer, which was launched by Orange ten years ago before becoming known as ‘EE Wednesdays’ after Orange and T-Mobile merged, is due to close on 25th February 2015.

It's time for another news-packed mobile industry podcast from TheFonecast.com, starting with the European Parliament's latest ruling on in-car emergency communication.

After that we're talking about Microsoft's departure from the Nook eBook business, Three UK's 4G growth, Acer's tablet-sized phone, EE's rural coverage solution and some interesting new research about mobile-enabled customer service.