The network took charge of the Swindon-based service provider three weeks ago.

Two weeks ago Vodafone director of customer management Joe McLoone assured dealers that there would be no immediate changes to the commission payments (Mobile News March 24).

McLoone even hinted that some of Cellular Operations most successful packages might last beyond the planned May review.

It was thought the comments were aimed at easing dealers fears that the popular and lucrative bespoke tariffs would be dismantled.

McLoone had said: We dont want to tamper with something that has been very successful. We arent going to make immediate changes before we have a look at the business in detail.

But Vodafone last week slashed the commission payments on the bespoke tariffs by 80 with a further 40 coming off the majority of the other tariffs.

A spokesperson said:

Vodafone felt it was important to immediately bring in the same subsidy reductions that have been introduced elsewhere in the marketplace as a result of the Competition Commission findings.

It is still close to the acquisition and we are still understanding the business and its dealer activity.

Cellular Operations sales director Chris Jones quit last week (see story P4).

Cellular Operations won Best Service Provider at the Mobile News Awards on March 27 for the second year running.

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The new stores mean MoCo will meet the target of 30 stores by June that it set at the start of the programme in November 2002.

Managing director Ian Robinson said: It is very pleasing to see that there are dealers out there who can see the benefits of the scheme. We have always had faith in the programme and think it is a sensible solution for what are very tough times for dealers.

MoCo Cell Link initially opened 14 stores in Northern Ireland as part of its expansion bid and followed this up with six other stores in the Kent Sussex and Cambridgeshire area. The new stores are all situated around the M25 area.

As part of the programme dealers run their stores under the MoCo brand and benefit from national advertising and specialist support including administration and IT and access to the latest promotions and products from the networks but retain their own staff and name.

At the moment we are currently looking at getting the signs made up and other little things sorted out but it is a very positive sign said Robinson.

The most important thing is that we have the backing of all of the networks.

MoCo is also a distributor for O2 and an Orange Business Specialist.

The rest of the subscribers come from the remaining seven countries that have the service.

The service was launched at the end of April and will soon be rolled out in Egypt Australia and New Zealand. It offers picture messaging downloadable polyphonic ring tones and colour games and branded infotainment through an easy-to-use icon-driven menu.

Vodafone Group chief executive Sir Christopher Gent said: To have launched live! as a global service and to have reached one million customers in just over five months is a tremendous achievement. Vodafone live! is the most successful mobile data service ever launched in Europe with activation rates gaining momentum since the new year.

Apologies to Elite Mobile for this oversight.

Jones departure comes three weeks after the Swindon-based service provider was bought by Vodafone and just two weeks after Vodafone director of customer management Joe McLoone told Mobile News that it was to be business as usual for the company with current staff staying at least until May.

Jones had been with the company for five years and many were surprised that he stayed after managing director Nigel Bunter and chairman Ric Lee left.

According to Jones his departure is perfectly happy and one of those things.

I genuinely dont know what I am going to do next he said. I will probably take a month or so off and go on holiday. I will then come back and look for work.

Jones has been in the industry for nearly 20 years. In that time he has been sales director for Nokia where he stayed for six years and managing director of Dextra Phones4U and Caudwell International during a three-year stint with the Caudwell Group.

I have spent many enjoyable years in the mobile industry and would love to come back provided I can find the right sort of position he said.

According to Vodafone the change was driven by the requirement to implement a more consistent approach to distribution policy across all Vodafone channels.

Chris joined Cellular Operations in January 1998 and personally made a considerable contribution to its development growth and success said Tim Bean general manager of Cellular Operations.

The stores will be located on Londons Oxford Street Manchesters Market Street and in a major shopping centre in the south-east of England thought to be Bluewater.

The stores in London and Manchester are set to open in the first week of June while the last details of the third store are still to be finalised.

The operator is also looking at how the Experience concept would work in smaller existing Vodafone stores.

On the expansion plan Vodafone head of retail Richard Daly said:

The store on Oxford Street will be spread over two floors and will have more than 3000 sq ft of floor space so it will be a lot like The Carphone Warehouse flagship store.

He added: But we are also looking to see how the experience concept can be incorporated into an existing store and we are looking at the store in the Lakeside shopping centre which has only around 1000 sq ft of space.

According to Daly following the opening of the three stores Vodafone will wait to see customer feedback before deciding whether to open a new round of stores.

The Vodafone Experience concept was first unveiled in Watford in May 2003. After its success a second store was opened in Cardiff in November. The Cardiff store is the networks largest store with an area of 1600 sq ft.

The strategy is still to have around 10 stores by the end of the year and then possibly 20-30 by the end of 2004 added Daly.

With Vodafone live! and the concept stores we have had the first chance to see how much greater a focus we can place on services when we have our own team working in our own stores.

This takes the daily average to 55 million compared with 44 million in February 2002 and 28.8 million in February 2001.

One.Tel head of Mobile Asif Aziz said potential retail partners are showing a keener interest in the MVNOs offering since the launch of the tariffs.

We are in discussion with potential partners. There is greater interest from people now we have introduced inclusive minutes and text messages. We paused discussions with retailers and distributors to launch the new tariffs he said.

Those discussions have started up again because we want to expand our retail presence as soon as possible. We are looking for the right partner to help us achieve that he added.

People have to be keen to work with us and be able to look at the wider opportunity of One.Tels fixed and broadband Internet offerings not just mobile. We hope to announce something soon.

The new talk plans are an extension of One.Tels existing 4.99 per month One.Plan Basic tariff. One.Plan Basic 60 offers 60 minutes of inclusive minutes to landlines and other One.Tel or Vodafone mobiles for 9.99 per month. For an extra 5 customers can use the 60 inclusive minutes across all networks on One. Plan 60+.

One.Plan 100 offers 100 cross-network calls and customers are offered a 10 discount on the price of a handset or SIM card. One.Plan 120 includes 120 cross-network calls and up to 50 text messages.

Under the agreement The Carphone Warehouse will look after all aspects of customer management including credit checking network connection logistics billing collection and customer care. The service will launch later this year.

We are delighted to be teaming up with one of the UKs biggest retailers to offer telecoms services said The Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone.

We have proven expertise in managing mobile customers and our recent entry into fixed-line provides exciting growth opportunities both for us and Sainsburys.

The agreement represents a further development of The Carphone Warehouses strategy of managing mobile customers on behalf of third parties and penetrating the residential fixed-line market.

Sara Weller Sainsburys deputy managing director said: We have chosen to do this deal with The Carphone Warehouse because it is a leading provider of telecoms services and has an excellent reputation for customer support. Our customers tell us that they are looking for simplicity and value for money.

Together we will offer those qualities and increased competition in the fixed-line market.

Meanwhile Carphone Warehouse says it has attracted more than 31000 of its customers to switch from BT to its new fixed-line talktalk service promising to save customers up to a third on their bills.

The service is the result of CPWs purchase of fixed operator Opal Telecom last year. It became available throughout CPW stores from last month.

The service is available to users of BT residential lines. As well as saving 30 per cent on the price of calling fixed lines customers are promised up to 25 per cent off the cost of calling mobiles.

Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone said:

For all the talk about competition BT has around 80 per cent of all residential landline customers and a 73 per cent share of the residential voice market.

We think people are paying too much for telephone calls and thats why were launching talktalk.