Virgin Mobile has had a major falling out with The Times after the newspaper refused to let it run an advertisement criticising Orange reports Paul Tweeddale.

Virgin had planned to run the ad on Saturday August 2. This was the day after Orange had spent 250000 buying all the ad space in The Times to launch its Orange Fair advertising campaign.

On Friday evening Virgin Mobile was told by The Times that it was refusing to run the ad.

The Times told Virgin Mobile it could not insert the disputed ad because the paper was morally uncomfortable with its content.

Virgin Mobile denies the ad attacked Orange claiming it merely pointed out the negative terms of its offering such as the hidden costs of Oranges 1p SMS offering.

Virgin Mobile director of corporate affairs Steven Day commented:

We accept that any publisher has the right to decline advertisements but we are flabbergasted by The Timess position.

The ad that it refused to run had been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority and didnt contravene any of its guidelines. It appears The Timess position runs contrary to the culture of commercial impartiality that is supposed to exist in publishing.

Times Newspapers general manager Paul Hayes replied:

We received Virgins copy for its ad very late on Friday. Due to the contentious nature of the copy we had to ensure that our usual compliance protocol could be followed. This could not be completed in time for Saturdays paper.

We talked to Virgin about running the ad this week. We are very surprised Virgin has taken this stance in the media.

But Day claimed the ad was with The Times earlier in the day and had been sent across well ahead of deadline.

While The Times refused to carry Virgin Mobiles advertisement other telecoms ads criticising rival operators were allowed to run.

Our dispute isnt with Orange. The advertising we ran was something that occurs all the time. This is between ourselves and The Times said Day.

He said the spat would not escalate to include other News International publications nor other parts of the Virgin Group.

The Virgin Group spent 60 million on advertising last year making it one of the biggest advertisers in the UK. Around half of that figure is spent to promote Virgin Mobile. A major chunk of that goes to News International.

In a similar but separate development Virgin Mobile has been forced to re-edit one of its The Devil makes work for idle thumbs television commercials following viewer complaints that accused it of being offensive to people with mental problems.

The commercial promoted Virgin Mobiles 3p on-net text tariff and was aired on May 1. Following 47 viewer complaints Virgin was instructed by the Independent Television Commission to re-edit the advertisement.

Complaints centred around a scene in which people are seen sitting in the Sparta Hospital for the Bored. Viewers complained that the image was offensive to people with mental health problems.

The ITC asked us to make the changes said Day. We already had a version of the ad that didnt feature that scene so we merely pulled that advertisement and replaced it with the other version.

An alert Orange Shop assistant spotted Sokrayla Esvandis attempt to use a stolen driving licence and Visa credit card to buy two mobile phones from the shop on Sunday August 3.

The assistant called the police after realising the photograph on the driving licence offered as ID did not resemble the customer.

Esvandi ran off but was caught. After her arrest she told police a friend had given her the credit card and driving licence. She pleaded guilty to dishonestly handling a stolen driving licence and credit card and attempting to use them to obtain the two phones.

Esvandi tried to deny in court that a lengthy criminal record was actually hers. In fact she had 30 convictions involving deceptions of a similar nature to her attempt to deceive the Orange Shop.

You have a long history of offending and you made attempts to hide your identity and record magistrates chairman Andrew Haynes told the 48-year-old Esvandi before sending her down.

The magistrates had suggested a remand for pre-sentence reports but her lawyer said she wanted the offence dealt with there and then.

She has done wrong. She has admitted it and she wants everything over and done with today. She has put her hands up to this and she wishes to take her punishment straight away even if she goes to prison said her defending solicitor.

The case had been adjourned while Horseferry Road court magistrates requested the prosecutor to arrange with police to have her mugshot brought to court to prove she was the woman with 30 convictions.

Confronted with the evidence Esvandi withdrew her denial after speaking to her lawyer in the court cells and admitted the criminal record produced to the court was actually hers.

The deal applies to all contract customers signing up before September 30 and allows them free access to video action football news audio bulletins and score alerts from the Barclaycard Premiership.

While the move should help 3 continue its impressive connection rate and nudge it closer to its goal of one million connections before Christmas it means that 3 will only have six months to make any return on the reported 35 million it paid to the Premier League.

The network signed a three-year deal with the Premier League in July 2001 but its late launch meant it missed out on the first season and a half. The forthcoming season is the only full one that 3 will be offering.

3 is unable to say whether it has made a bid for the forthcoming rights deal because of a confidentiality agreement insisted on by the Premier League.

A 3 spokesman said: Football and sport have always been a part of what we are doing. This offering is about telling people we are the home of mobile football and video content. The offering gives something to new and existing customers and allows people to experience the video services. The recent tariffs concentrated very much on voice and this is a way to show people that sport video services are also available.

Philip Woolnough 21 also faces two allegations of assault at Waterloo station on a different date.

The court heard that on a train between Brockley and London Bridge on July 24 he used threatening abusive and obscene language towards passenger Mark Bettinson saying Im going to have that f****** phone off you or Ill punch your face in.

He is also charged with assaultiing and threatening to kill another passenger Paul Hayes on the same train and robbing him of cash two cigarette lighters and a travel pass. Woolnough appears in court on August 26.

The scheme will run throughout August and is aimed at raising Siemens profile with the youth market.

As well as free entry owners of an SL55 will receive preferential treatment within participating nightclubs.

The SL55 Club Pass initiative will be supported in each region by week-long promotions with local radio stations.

Siemens Style Selectors will also pick the best-dressed clubbers from nightclub queues for free entry. The most style-conscious clubber selected each Saturday night will also be asked to act as a Siemens stylista to spot early style trends in their region on behalf of Siemens Mobile.

Participating nightclubs include Vision at Ascension in Manchester The Zap in Brighton Majestyks in Leeds Libertys in Birmingham and Media in Nottingham

Siemens Mobile PR and advertising manager Simon Robinson said: The advertising campaign is about offering added value for the customers as well as developing Siemens as a young trendy brand.

From November 1 the network will condense its regional operations to two – a Northern Region managed from Warrington and a Southern Region managed from Hayes.

The workload of the current Midlands Region will be split between the North and South and the Midlands Region will close.

A company statement said:

Vodafone will do as much as possible for the individuals affected including offering re-deployment and relocation to other operational sites including Banbury and a redundancy package. We will be meeting with the relevant employees over the next week to discuss their options.

The deal adds more than 1000 acts to the Shazam service. Among the artists now available are Bon Jovi Ms Dynamite taTu and Daniel Bedingfield.

The Shazam service allows users to identify songs they hear by playing them into their mobiles.

They can then buy ring tones for the songs they identify and send music clips to friends.

The events will be hosted by Aleks Krotoski the female star of Channel 4s Bits and Thumb Bandits TV shows and will give consumers a chance to play some of the worlds best mobile games.

The tour started in Glasgow on July 24 and will take in Manchester Leeds Nottingham Birmingham Newcastle and Cardiff before ending in London in late October.

Radford and other key shareholders have 60.2 per cent of Projects equity valued by Vodafone at 155 million.

Radford will remain under contract to Vodafone to oversee the transition and integration of Project Telecom into Vodafone.

Mindful of Vodafone closing Cellular Operations its last acquisition Radford said he had been concerned about the future of Projects staff. But Vodafone said the network had not guaranteed jobs at its Newark base.

A Vodafone spokesperson said:

One wouldnt want to say there wont be any job losses. There may be some. We intend to grow Newark as a centre of excellence. It gives us direct access to our customers which is part of our strategy.

Radford told Mobile News the companys trading statement in April had been the trigger for the sale to Vodafone.

Delighted

A number of companies made offers. I didnt want to see the business die. I am delighted to have secured the future of the company.

He added: Service provision was becoming increasingly difficult. The City wants continued growth. Once you falter they treat you abominably. This affects the share price company morale and the way you are regarded by suppliers and customers.

Service provision has had its day. There were very difficult market conditions in first quarter of this year. It became obvious that the networks wanted direct routes to customers. We were becoming unable to compete for new business and we were finding it harder to retain customers.

You can either sit and die a slow death or take the business forward. I am thrilled we could do a deal with Vodafone. It has recognised our skills and intends to expand on them.

We have seen consolidation in service provision. Service providers are becoming increasingly marginalised making it difficult to compete unless they have enormous size and ability to negotiate.

Service provision will disappear. Vodafone will only support channels that add value to its proposition in mobile data and specific customer niches.

Keith Curran who heads independent service provider Yes Telecom commented:

I am shocked by the news. Project was the benchmark for service providers. I didnt think Project needed to sell up. If it had kept its fundamental strategy it could have turned things around. Maybe the recent profit warnings and subsequent sale indicated all was not well.

The fact that Vodafone is buying another service provider is an important message we all need to take on board. However I am confident our business model still works well.

Control

Avenir Telecom MD Ishai Novick said he was not surprised at the news however and agreed service providers days are numbered:

The networks want to control their customers. It is becoming more difficult for service providers to finance customer acquisition because they are losing support from the networks.

Service providers have provided an alternative route for connections but that route is fast diminishing. We used to connect through Cellular Operations but connections have slowed down. Service providers started out to perform a regulatory function. Since Oftel removed the obligation for networks to use service providers it doesnt make economic sense for networks to continue supporting them.