At 30000 feet above the Atlantic Sir Richard Branson confirmed that it was not beyond the realm of possibility that Virgin Mobile would seek another host network if its long-running legal dispute with T-Mobile was not eventually resolved.

And while Virgin Mobile chief executive Tom Alexander agreed it could be a logistical nightmare to migrate three million customer calls to another network to do so would not be impossible.

The sky-high revelation came as Branson and Alexander held an impromptu press conference around the Upper Class bar of a Virgin Atlantic 747 winging its way to New York.

It was Virgin Atlantics inaugural flight showing off its new flatbed berths and Branson had invited the press along for the ride (see White Lines P52).

Virgin Mobile also took the opportunity to announce its best-ever quarterly figures. After all any hack who wanted to walk out of this presentation would have had a long way to fall.

Branson alluded to the problems T-Mobiles past management had created which he ascribed to one difficult individual – taking great care not to name ex-T-Mobile MD Harris Jones.

The new team at T-Mobile had given him great hope that a resolution would not be far off. But there were issues still to address. Branson needs to put the T-Mobile difficulties behind him as it is no secret that he and the rest of Virgin Groups management have aspirations to float Virgin Mobile sooner rather than later.

The company was incredibly upbeat about its 269681 net connections in Q3 which rocketed it to a total customer base from zero to 3138347 in exactly four years making it the worlds leading virtual provider. ARPU (average revenue per user) of 135 a year was better than any other network Alexander said.

For the first six months we grew our base quicker than everyone else put together. Our base is up 56 per cent year-on-year with churn of just 16 per cent a year.

How come? How is it that Virgin Mobile seems to be accelerating past everyone else in the slow lane?

The 3p on-net texting campaign has been a big factor with many Virgin Mobile users buying another phone for friends or family to take advantage of the giveaway rate.

The 3p text tariff and other value-focused offerings are driving growth and customer loyalty Alexander reckoned.

The Flash It loyalty programme also drove extra connections through Virgin stores as existing owners showed their Virgin handset to Virgin counter staff every time they bought a CD DVD or computer game and qualified for an instant 1 call credit.

Alexander explained how the multi-million-pound rollout programme of 92 Virgin Mobile concessions within existing Virgin Megastores and Virgin Megastores Xpress had contributed to the new high numbers.

The plan is for Virgin Mobile is to create 160 virtual shops and employ 220 new retail staff by the end of 2004.

Virgin Mobile already had numerous stores-within-stores in Virgin Megastore. But the new concessions are Virgin Mobile-branded and segregated from the rest of the store and staffed by people trained in mobile technology and retail methods. The idea is to have knowledgeable staff able to show customers how to set their phones up use voicemail set up VirginXtras and copy their SIM directory to their new phones among other tasks.

I think one reason why Virgin Mobile has been successful us that were not a stuffy corporate. We have people who enjoy working for the company said Alexander. l

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Spokesman Simon Robinson said the SX1 would not do particularly well over the festive period anyway.

The Christmas market is about relatively cheap handsets that people buy as gifts. We are concentrating on the MC60 which has been selling exceptionally well already. Its one of the few sub- 100 camera phones.

With the SX1 we wanted to be sure that everything was working perfectly. We have seen other manufacturers rush to keep to deadlines and deliver products full of bugs. We didnt want that to happen with the SX1.

The v200 comes with an Arsenal welcome message10 Arsenal wallpapers and four Arsenal ringtones. Users also get MMS pictures from Arsenal home games.

The Samsung C100 comes with the Arsenal Pocket Soccer Java game. It also has eight polyphonic ringtones an animated Arsenal welcome and a choice of eight Arsenal wallpapers.

Both handsets are available from O2 outlets and the Arsenal club shop. The V200 costs 279.99 on pre-pay while the C100 is 99.99.

The figures related to complaints received by Oftel between April and September this year.

The regulator received 552 complaints about 3s service but was unable to compare the network with other operators because it was unable to obtain information about 3s customer base.

But considering 3 is believed to have around 200000 customers it would have received around 2.7 complaints per 1000 customers.

T-Mobile Orange and O2 each received 0.2 complaints per 1000 while Vodafone received 0.1 complaints per customer.

Vodafones achievement is even more impressive considering the former Cellular Operations division received 1.4 complaints per 1000 customers while another recent Vodafone acquisition former Caudwell reseller 4U also fared poorly.

A spokesperson for 3 said:

Oftels figures are misleading. 3 is the first 3G offering in the country working with cutting-edge technology and offering a unique service. It is misleading to directly compare us against companies that are working on technology that has been around for 10 years.

Mobile-related complaints to Oftel were up 10 per cent over the previous period with 19950 for the past six months as compared to 18000 for the previous six months.

The top three complaints received by Oftel included companies ignoring customers complaints issues regarding operators tariffs and options packages and problems with handsets.

Meanwhile 3s anticipated pre-pay package might not now launch until the second quarter of next year because of the shortage of 3 kit said the network.

3 was planning a pre-pay launch in time for Christmas 2003 as it sought to use the festive period to help it meet its target of a million customers in its first year.

While Motorola has produced two new products in as many months 3 is still waiting for NECs clamshell 616 handset.

This is the smaller lighter replacement for the 606 so far 3s best selling handset. The 616 will be the closest 3 has come to offering a phone similar in size to a 2.5G phone.

But the 616 is still undergoing interoperability testing and is unlikely to appear before Christmas.

Vodafones existing business and indirect sales teams are also being merged into Vodafone Business Services which will target small businesses.

Customer service operations in Newark and Banbury could absorb some of the redundant sales staff Vodafone director of corporate and business sales Ken McGeorge told Mobile News.

From the minute we acquired Project Telecom and Corporate 4U we warned that there would be a combining of the sales force and a reduction in staff numbers he said.

Having merged these sales teams together there are a significant number of people surplus to requirements in the new organisation. Eighty jobs are at risk.

McGeorge added:

We are selecting people to stay based on their performance. The market has evolved away from acquisition. We need a greater ratio of account managers to sales staff.

McGeorge said a new sales director will be appointed to look after Vodafone Business Services during November/December.

Project Telecom was acquired in August and Vodafone then made no bones about the fact that jobs would have to go.

Singlepoint was snapped up a few months later in a record-breaking 4065 million acquisition from Caudwell Group.

On the eve of the launch of the Sendo X smartphone (see features) Sendo boss Hugh Brogan announced that Sendo had doubled its sales to 800000 units for the year despite the end of its relationship with Microsoft and the cancellation of its Z100 smartphone.

Brogan admitted the decision to end the Microsoft relationship was a set-back. But he was bullish over Sendos prospects for the future and seemed pleased that the company has produced the new handset in a very short time.

The new handset the Sendo X will first appear in Italy on the Telecom Italia network and is expected to be available in the UK late this month or in early 2004.

Brogan claims Sendo aimed for the handset to be best in its class for video capture picture and sound quality.

Ditching Microsoft was a huge blow for us and a terrible situation to be in. It hurt the company and it took a few months to reorganise he says. But sales have increased 200 per cent over last year. Our strength is in providing customised products for operators. We were a little early in the market but now we are seeing the operators place a greater emphasis on customisation demonstrated by Vodafone live!. The market for customised products is moving in our direction.

Last year Sendo was selling products solely on Virgin Mobile in the UK. It now also provides kit to O2 and Vodafone and is in talks with other UK operators. Sendo product is sold throughout Dixons Group The Carphone Warehouse Woolworths Asda and Tesco Mobile. Brogan says Sendo is third in Portugal behind Nokia and Siemens.

The market for smartphones next year is estimated to be around 30 million units with 60 per cent of those sales in Europe. Nokia is expected to fulfil half of that market.

Sendo X: specifications

GraphiX co-processor

Smooth video playback and still capture

Up to 45 minutes of video using 64Mb flash memory (longer video possible with optional card).

Around 1000 images can be stored on the handset.

Built-in flash with red-eye reduction and a 4x digital zoom.

Picture size of 640×480 pixels.

Dual port speaker

64-voice polyphonic ringtones

Opera internet browser which reformats web pages for viewing on 176×200 pixel 65000-colour display

Bluetooth USB and infrared connectivity. Internet over GPRS and circuit-switched data.

MP3 and Real Audio player

Speaker-independent voice recognition without the need to pre-record a voice tag.

The mast was illegally pulled down on Bonfire Night after bolts were removed from its base. It was sold to a scrap yard by T-Mobile and then bought by residents who smashed it up and sold the pieces as souvenirs.

This is is a legal structure that was illegally pulled down said a T-Mobile spokesperson.

The mast received planning permission and meets all safety requirements.

It is an integral part of the network in that area and since its destruction capacity has been down in the area. We cannot allow a precedent to be set where the illegal destruction of a mast leads to the relocation of a mast.

Local residents say they have found a safer location. But T-Mobile says the location is not as simple as finding a field that we are able to erect a mast in.

We carried out a survey of the region. This was identified as the best spot. We continue to hold dialogue with local residents but the mast will be replaced.

There are currently around a million Bluetooth-capable mobile phones in circulation in the UK some 20 per cent of handsets. By 2008 this is expected to increase to 75 per cent. Handset geeks have discovered that Bluetooth can be used to send messages to unsuspecting owners at a range of up to 10m. Rainier calls the sending of marketing messages in this way Bluespam.

The marketing industry is never slow to jump on a new communication channel but failure to understand the subtleties of Bluejacking could blow up in the faces of marketing teams said Rainier MD Stephen Waddington.

The world does not need Bluespam. It could be the easiest way yet to alienate swathes of customers at the push of a button.

Rainier says there are three possible areas in which Bluejacking could be used in commercial marketing programmes namely viral marketing community activities and location-based services.

The company has identified companies that are already exploiting Bluejacking for viral marketing and community activities but says that it is location-based services that are the most controversial application of Bluejacking.

Opt-in schemes will be essential if Bluejacking is to avoid getting instantly tarnished with the free-for-all stigma of e-mail spam said Waddington.

Given the intimate relationship between a consumer and their mobile phone the potential for a company to alienate a consumer with a misdirected Bluetooth message is likely to be even greater.

(See Sharp End P48).