The Q2 figures were disappointing for Orange and Vodafone in comparison with Virgin and O2 which managed net gains of 231000 and 258000 customers in the quarter respectively (Mobile News July 28)

Despite this both Orange and Vodafone claimed that their networks had performed strongly with increases in both revenue and global customer bases.

Vodafones small Q2 increase in customers means the network drops to the number three slot in the UK with 12.1 million active customers. O2 has moved into second place with 12.3 million active customers while Orange holds the number one spot with 13.25 million customers in total.

Vodafones net gains may have been the smallest it has experienced in the UK to date but the network still has over 800000 valuable contract customers more than either Orange or O2.

However Orange claimed its contract customers were spending an average of 568 per year ( 47.33 per month) as opposed to Vodafones contract average of 533 ( 44.42 per month).

Vodafone now claims to have 420000 customers using its live! service in the UK. Data revenues in the UK increased from 14.4 to 14.7 per cent of all service revenue.

Results from T-Mobile and 3 are due later this month.

Activ will have six regional representatives across the north of England from Derbyshire to Newcastle and operations centres in Sheffield York and Newcastle.

Activ will be run by Sebastian Brown who has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 12 years. He founded service provider Arian Communications which was sold to Dolphin Telecom earlier this year.

Although Activ Telecom is a subsidiary of Fone Logistics it will have its own brand and its own identity said Brown. The geographical separation from Fone Logistics headquarters in Cramlington will help to broaden our presence and our regional spread will allow us to be accessible to customers across the country.

Fone Logistics was established in 1996 by Ian Gillespie as a mobile phone distributor repair centre and airtime supplier to business customers. It currently employs around 200 people and has an annual turnover of some 40 million.

However there was good news for Samsung which retained the number two position with an 11.5 per cent market share in June. Samsung achieved its new peak six months after Siemens achieved the number two slot with its record 12.7 per cent market share in December 2002.

Furthermore the rise of both manufacturers has failed to dent Nokias share because that of Siemens and of other manufacturers fell slightly in the last few months.

Siemens market share dropped to a disappointing 5.8 per cent in May. However Samsung had already overtaken the German manufacturer to reach number two in March.

A Siemens spokesperson told Mobile News the manufacturer was hopeful of increasing its market share with the introduction of new handsets:

Our overall sales for this year are up. The market has grown and we are selling more phones and making more profits than ever. We are seeing buoyant sales on the new SL55 which will be reflected in the figures for the following months.

Nokias rivals may be heartened by the news that its market share dropped from almost two-in-three handsets (62.8 per cent) in April to 56.7 per cent. The sales data for June shows Siemens and Sony Ericsson in third and fourth places with 6.7 per cent and 5.9 per cent market share respectively

Motorola is in sixth place with 4.3 per cent followed by Panasonic in seventh (3.7 per cent). Sagem and Sharp occupy joint eighth place (2.8 per cent).

T-Mobiles Q2 customer numbers were the last to be announced. T-Mobile put on 56446 net new customers between April and June this year and now has 9.6 million customers.

However it claims its total base is now 12.5 million users if Virgins 2.8 million are included making it the second biggest UK network.

T-Mobile still has the highest ratio of pre-pay customers but only 25 per cent of its own customers are on contract.

Average revenue per subscriber grew to 20.41 in the first half of the year. A further clean up of the pre-pay customer base will take place in the second half of the year which could cause a drop in its overall figure.

When T-Mobile did this in Q1 it dropped 441000 inactive users.

Without Virgin T-Mobile is in fourth position behind third-placed Vodafone UK (12.1 million). Orange leads (13.2 million) while O2 comes second with 12.3 million.

Forty-two per cent of 1013 respondents to a poll conducted in July by ICM Research said they would first ask a family member friend or colleague for advice or help with their mobile phone.

Mobile phone stores came second with 28 per cent. Eleven per cent said they would consider calling a telephone helpline. Fifteen per cent would search the Internet for help.

Of those that would go to a mobile phone store for advice 27 per cent would visit The Carphone Warehouse.

Orange wont be pleased to read that despite its Learn campaign respondents preferred to go to Vodafone and The Link. T-Mobile Phones 4U and independent retailers came last with only five per cent of respondents mentioning them as stores to go to for advice.

The survey also showed that 47 per cent of Orange and Vodafone customers were more likely to go to their own network stores for advice.

However 34 per cent of T-Mobile customers surveyed claimed they would rather go to the Carphone Warehouse for advice than a T-Mobile store (22 per cent).

O2 fared slightly better. Twenty eight per cent of its customers would go to an O2 store but 30 per cent of O2 customers named The Carphone Warehouse as their preferred store for advice.

Text messaging came top of the services and features that most people wanted to learn more about.

The survey showed that people wanted to learn more about subjects such as roaming (41 per cent) voicemail (36 per cent) and hands-free accessories (30 per cent).

Internet access was the least mentioned subject (14 per cent) followed closely by video calls (15 per cent) and picture messaging (22 per cent).

People aged 18-24 were more likely to be interested in picture messaging games ringtones and roaming.

Respondents aged 55 and over showed most interest in roaming text messages and in-car hands-free usage.

The figures are the first to be released by the network and came out in the interim results of 3 UKs Hong Kong parent company Hutchison Whampoa.

Although the networks summer offerings were described as very well received the figures will be disappointing for chief executive Bob Fuller considering the millions that have already been ploughed into a national advertising campaign the slashing of tariff costs and the scrapping of charges for handsets.

The one million customer target set by Fullers predecessor Colin Tucker was always thought of as being highly ambitious and since arriving in May Fuller has sought to distance himself from such a figure.

He can take some satisfaction from the knowledge that the majority of the networks customers have joined following his introduction of low-cost tariffs eight weeks ago. Prior to that sales of 3 were lethargic at best with the network only signing up around 25000 customers by the third week of May.

3s initial positioning as a high-end product failed to catch the publics imagination and it has only been since tariff prices were dropped and extremely generous tariff bundles were introduced that the demand has risen.

And in recent weeks the network has become a victim of its own success with its most popular handset the NEC 606 ending its production run while demand was at its peak.

But the handset shortages are set to be resolved the range of handsets is set to improve and grow and the network coverage is improving on a weekly basis – according to the results the UK network now covers 70 per cent of the country.

3 UK director of corporate communications Ray Bashford said: They are very positive figures given how the network was performing in May.

Since then the growth has been phenomenal and I would argue unparalleled in the UK telecoms industry.

The offices will officially close in November. Vodafone director of customer management Joe McLoone said he hoped all the staff would take up the offer to relocate in Vodafones other offices in Banbury and Birmingham.

Ideally I would want all of the staff to stay but at the moment I dont know how many want to come with us. The mood is very quiet at the moment which is what you would expect but if everyone wants to move to other offices we have space for that.

With Banbury not too far away it is possible that a large proportion of staff would want to move there. It is a very realistic alternative and it is unusual for a company to be able to accommodate staff in this manner.

McLoone blamed the need to move on the growth of the centre and the limitation of the existing offices. Vodafone acquired the offices in September 1999 following the purchase of Unique Air.

Originally designed for general office work the buildings have since changed function to include a large call centre with an corresponding increase in personnel.

McLoone said the decision to close the offices follows a period of review to consider how to best manage the activities in Abingdon and that decision was taken now to take advantage of a lease break in the building contract.

Fowler is gagged from discussing the case as a condition of the settlement

Fowler worked in Siemens sales department. She alleged a number of incidents and filed a complaint at the office of Ashford Employment Tribunals last Christmas Eve.

Bate said Fowler had now left the company but declined to give any details of the settlement.

He stated: Jennifer Fowler left the company on May 8. The company wishes her well for the future. No further comment concerning Jennifers departure from the company will be made by the company or by Jennifer.

The September relaunch issue of What Mobile is the first under its new logo w@mob.

Snodgrasss appointment is a key component of the plan for What Mobile to become the countrys leading mobile lifestyle guide relevant to all 50 million UK mobile phone users not just handset geeks.

Snodgrass will head an editorial team consisting of David Chow (associate editor) Jon Corke (deputy editor) and Dan Maudsley (staff writer).

(Special half-price w@mob offer for Mobile News readers see P16)

3s most popular handset the NEC 606 has come to the end of its production run and no new handsets will be out until next month.

Dealers report customers are more attracted to 3 by its low-cost packages rather than equipment. Users seemly broadly happy to switch to the larger NEC 808.

However several dealers have revealed that they havent been able to get hold of 808 handsets.

Kevin Billington of KEB in Sussex deals directly with 3 and has been unable to order any new 808 phones.

I know there are some about but I think we must have missed the order for them he said.

Ian Robinson of MoCo Cell Link only has NEC 808s left in stock.

We have seen sales slow down because of the absence of the 606 he said. The 808 is a good phone but it isnt an obvious consumer phone – and the new 3 tariffs are excellent consumer offerings. But we are seeing 3 selling in spite of the 808 and if we had any 606s in stock we would be seeing sales rise.

Ian Gillespie managing director of 3 distributor Fone Logistics said:

The 808 is less popular than the 606 but we are still seeing an increase in demand for 3. And with 3s current football promotion under way the 808s large screen is a good selling point.

Hugh Symons business manager Bob Sweetlove agreed that sales of the 808 have increased since the end of the 606 because it is the only viable alternative. Sales of the 808 are going pretty well because more people are seeing it as a replacement for the 606 he said.