Korean manufacturer LG is also launching two open-market variants of existing models as it looks to expand its distribution deals this year and move away from network-specific deals.

The new B2100 is an entry-level candybar device that will be available across all networks at 70- 80 on pre-pay. It includes a camera and is available from this week.

The dual-band F2400 a 2.5G clamshell is already available on Orange in grey and blue but LG has introduced a black variant that will be available across all the networks free on contract and around 119 on pre-pay.

It has a VGA flash camera 65k screen internal aerial external viewing screen and Bluetooth.

It is necessary for any manufacturer with ambition to play in a broader arena than just the networks alone said LG sales director John Barton.

The other successful vendors all have a broader reach than LG. In order to compete we will have to extend our reach considerably.

It is clearly important that LG moves in this new broader direction when the product range is right to do so. I dont think were far off being at that stage.

On the F2400 Barton commented: Its the first time anyone has seen this handset in black. The grey variant has just launched on Orange but were talking to the market about the black one across the board. We want it to be an open-market variant.

See Barton interview page 26

We thought Phones 4U was going to cave in but it hasnt yet. The supporting evidence it submitted is practically non-existent. It has requested copies of all my job applications since I left [in November 2004] in an attempt to prove that I am just after the money he told Mobile News.

I have submitted 12 job applications none of which have been successful. It is the first time in my life I have failed with a job application. Phones 4U is not providing references or not providing the correct ones.

King who is currently employed at a call centre and earns 7.50 per hour worked at Phones 4U between April 2003 and November 2004.

He claims he was subjected to unfair treatment throughout his time at Phones 4U despite turning branch 114 in Milton Keynes into one of Phones 4Us top performers.

He also alleges that at that time Phones 4U area sales director Bob Cardell and area sales manager Wayne Massey were abusive and threatening towards him.

King implies that the performance of the Milton Keynes branch under his stewardship highlighted to the Phones 4U management the lack of success of the area managers.

It made them look bad. My colleagues said that I was doing a cracking job and that I had showed them up. Our success raised questions about their prior performances.

The hearing runs from July 8 to July 15. Phones 4U declined to comment.

After leaving Vodafone Beddoes took on senior positions with TIW and Dolphin Telecom. While at Vodafone he received an OBE for his services to the telecommunications industry and was also invited to join the Royal Academy of Engineers.

Interoperability with other networks means Virgin Mobile customers can interact with users on both Vodafone live! and Orange World chat rooms as well.

Another chat room themed around the latest news and gossip is available exclusively to customers of Virgin Mobile .

Virgin Mobile BITES product manager John Conlon said:

It is going to be very popular mostly for music sports and flirting. The difference between our service and the chat room services offered by other operators is that we will have different themed chat rooms and live event rooms.

So we will get celebrities like Green Day in there to chat to their fans for an hour-and-a-half.

It is a chance for customers to meet other people in differently themed rooms.

The BITES chat room service will be moderated by French mobile community company Freezer which will ensure that every message posted is monitored.

Said Conlon:

We want to make sure that nothing abusive or racist is posted and most especially we will ensure the service is not used by paedophiles for grooming purposes.

Paedophiles are known to use chat rooms to meet people. We are working in conjunction with the Government and the IWF so that it is safe and so users can chat comfortably Conlon explained.

Age verification processes are in place to stop under-18s accessing adult chat rooms.

You guessed it – theyre O2 promo girls working hard at the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park last week

The City & Guilds Vocational Rich List compiled by Sunday Times Rich List author Philip Beresford ranks the wealth of those who have built their fortunes on a vocational qualification or apprenticeship.

Said Caudwell:

If you want to be a doctor or a solicitor or a dentist then you need to go to university. If your ambition is to be successful in business you have to be prepared to work hard understand your markets and just get out and start selling your product or service.

My City and Guilds qualifications taught me to be very analytical and disciplined on how to make projects succeed.

This was very important when I started out in business and has helped me and my businesses to be the success they are today.

Caudwells first job was as an engineering apprentice at the Michelin Tyre Company in Stoke-on-Trent in 1970.

He followed that with jobs sweeping pottery floors working at a steel factory and as a nightclub bouncer before becoming a car dealer.

Said Beresford:

Sales at his Caudwell Group leapt 45 per cent to just over 2 billion and profits rose to 30.4 million in 2002. The remaining operations should easily be worth 800 million. With sale proceeds added plus another 75 million for assets such as his 10 million Staffordshire mansion Caudwell is now easily worth 1.28 billion.

The SME and corporate indirect and dealer sales channels are apparently left unscathed.

The purge was ordered by group financial director Craig Gibson who took a close look at the department and decided there was too much wrong to be put right.

Caudwell Group managing director Tim Whiting denied that as many as 200 jobs would be lost but said the field sales teams were being streamlined.

We dont yet know if jobs will go and I wont comment on numbers. The only jobs that are going at the moment fit with the natural turnover of a business. Certainly nobody is leaving who is performing well.

Whiting claimed that the group was in the middle of a process to optimise the efficiency and performance of the corporate sales teams across the group.

He added: We have a corporate sales force for mobile and a corporate sales force for fixed and they are selling to the same customers. It could be done more efficiently.

This follows a tie-up between ATM operator LINK and software company Morse which has produced a Java application called mobileATM.

The application took more than two years to develop and will be available to subscribers on all networks by the end of the year giving them instant access to all their banking requirements.

To access the service consumers will download the free application by sending a text message to a short code or by visiting a Carphone Warehouse store where it can be uploaded to their Java handset.

MobileATM claims to be more secure than online banking. Advanced encryption technology will generate a one-off authentication code. This is said to eliminate password theft from phishing (whereby a fake web site asks for security details) or trojan attacks (where a virus is lodged in a PC to harvest data) as codes are changed every time the handset is used.

We have assessed mobileATMs current service and we are impressed with its security specification said Professor Fred Piper director of the information security group at the Royal Holloway University of London.

We think mobileATMs dual-factor authentication system has excellent potential for promoting secure mobile Internet banking.

The service which uses T-Mobile offers customers flat rates and a choice of 12 handsets.

It will at first be marketed to Toucans 140000 fixed-line and broadband customers. They will get a single bill for their fixed-line phone line broadband service and mobile phone.

As a post-paid service it will appeal to only a section of the market admitted Toucan MD Joseph Blass. But it still has a wide appeal because it is a very good offer. Its not a niche offer like other MVNOs that have launched recently. There are of course niche elements to it such as the international calling service. But there is nothing niche about 5p flat-rate anytime calling.

Toucan Mobile offers four different 12-month contracts: 50 minutes ( 15 a month) 150 minutes ( 25 a month 300 minutes ( 35 a month) and 500 minutes ( 50 per month).

Calls cost 5p per minute anytime between Toucan fixed-line and mobile customers. Calls to other landlines cost 10p a minute and calls to other mobile networks cost 25p a minute. International calls are included as bundled minutes.

Its a one-stop-shop said Blass. Its about simplicity transparency and choice. A flat rate of 5p a minute effectively offers our customers off-peak rates all day long. The possibility of combining all communication costs on a single statement make it even more compelling.

Toucan plans to roll out its brand into the Netherlands in the next few months with the roll-out of fixed-line services.