Smith declined to comment but a source close to the company told Mobile News: Paul has resigned because of irreconcilable differences with his boss (Ormerod). Its a real shame.

But Ormerod seemed not to realise Smith intended to leave.

Pauls staying with us. He is very valued in the business and has been with the group for a long time.

He will certainly be here through the end of the year and if he performs well and I am sure he will because he always has done then much longer.

As for differences of opinion that is a bit strong. Its news to me anyway.

We are evaluating the merger of the business and peoples performances and there are certain things that will change. But at this stage there are no issues with either of them. There are no plans for either of them to leave the business in the foreseeable future.

John Caudwell merged airtime distribution arm 4U Ltd with his accessories and handset division in January to form a single massive distribution company that provide a one-stop solution to non-specialist resellers and independent dealers.

Under the terms of the merger Smith reports to Ormerod.

There are certain well-formed allegiances which of course include 3. As long as you dont go against promises of exclusivity I think there is the possibility of broadening the profile and availability. It could be through a retailer or distributor or it could be through a virtual network operator.

LG had been courting ex-3 sales director Barton for more than a year before he signed a contract to take on UK sales for the Korean manufacturer three weeks ago.

Barton takes on the job of steering LG to the top market spot on April 7 reporting to UK president James Young.

LG made an approach to me over a year ago. But restrictive covenants with 3 meant I was proscribed from working in the industry for a while. Also for personal reasons the talks didnt go anywhere. Then circumstances changed for me and LG and the timing was then right.

He added: The LG road map is sensational. Its got some very clever products both across 2.5G and 3G. In fact everyone is saying its the best job in the industry and any fool could do it – although Id like them to come and try.

The LG brand has the capability of being brought to market in a big way.

The plan is to push the brand as far as it will go. LG went to number one in the in the US through good banding and marketing and great product.

Employees enjoying an incentive prize with T-Mobile in Malaysia were telephoned in their hotel bedroom and told to report to their managers room. There they were told that the consultation periods on their store closures had now begun.

Marco Lecca who was the union representative at T-Mobile at the time of the closures said:

Some of the staff at the Knightsbridge store were in Malaysia actually with T-Mobile when they were told. The T-Mobile management asked for the keys to their shops there and then.

Back in the UK staff arrived for work on March 15 to find their stores locked and their area managers brandishing consultation documents.

They were then sent home without prior warning that their jobs were under threat. It is said they were only given the opportunity to voice their objections after the closures had taken place.

Shilen Mehta who worked in senior sales at the Putney branch said:

I had been seconded to the Tooting branch which didnt get shut but because I was based at Putney it affected me too. I am relieved I dont have to work for T-Mobile anymore.

Nick Childs lead organiser for

T-Mobile at the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said:

Staff are unhappy with the new bonus targets and the way T-Mobile has gone about the closures. Big companies have to make big decisions but T-Mobile has behaved in an underhand way.

Childs added: The company intends to relocate employees to other stores wherever possible but this is not good enough. With record profits it is unnecessary to make any employees redundant.

Childs says 54 jobs will go from T-Mobiles direct retail chain. He also says T-Mobiles direct retail staff are outraged by the companys attempts to cut their bonuses.

Last month T-Mobile increased many store and individual targets from 750 to up to 1250 points undermining workers attempts to gain their well-deserved bonus said Childs. The first our members heard about the changes was an e-mail from head office. This is not how a modern company should be run.

A T-Mobile spokesperson said: We work closely and together with the elected employee representatives through employee councils. All employees have been fully and frequently consulted on changes and offered full support from the company.

Rees a director of AVR Mobiles said he ordered car kits from the old Unique Distribution. When the delivery came he claimed Unique had sent five faulty car kits and nine too many of one type.

A credit note was raised and Rees was about to return the stock when the firm went into administration.

My account manager said all credit notes would be cancelled. He told me not to worry because Unique would soon be trading again and theyd be re-applied. But when I contacted the new Unique on the first day of trading I was told that the car kits were from the old company and I cant be credited for them.

Uniques accounts department is now threatening Rees with legal action unless he pays the full balance.

They wont credit me for the faulty stock because it came from the old company but they are still demanding the money I owed to it he said.

I read in Mobile News that (former managing director) Angus Dawe says he wants to keep the old partnerships going but the way Unique is doing things I am reluctant to ever use it again.

Dawe said: I will investigate the matter. The new company has started with a clean balance sheet.

It can collect money owed to the old firm but cannot issue any credits relating to the old business.

I appreciate that it seems awkward. But there is nothing we can do. We might be able to get the faulty stock repaired under our warranty agreements with the manufacturer.

Although the dealer would still have to pay for the stock he wouldnt be out of pocket.

Founded in 1990 by Paul Townley Townley Communications became a leading service provider for both Vodafone and O2.

It has a subscriber base of around 23000 customers mainly connected to Vodafone and primarily business accounts.

Townley claims to have the highest customer retention rate in the industry.

Vodafone is believed to have made an attempt to buy Townley Communications before but the deal was never concluded.

Industry sources say this time the contract is practically ready for signing.

A Vodafone spokesperson said the network would never comment on any industry rumour or speculation.

Managing director Dominic Bryant put the company into voluntary liquidation last Friday after realising there was not enough cash to cover overheads.

We are owed around 40000. Around 22000 of that was lost when Unique Distribution went into administration he said.

When we realised we could not get what we were owed we werent able to carry on trading as normal. As soon as we knew we didnt have enough cash to cover our overheads we decided to go into voluntary liquidation to pay off as many people as possible.

Bryant is confident creditors will get any money owed to them.

All our creditors will be looked after. They should get most of their debt because we acted so quickly. We will also be honouring any outstanding orders that were put through to Phoenix.

This week the company started trading again under a new name Cellpak Solutions.

We have streamlined the business and changed our focus. Previously we were only semi-focused on the mobile market Now we have dropped the general packaging side to just concentrate on the mobile market said Bryant.

Unfortunately Ive had to lose four members of staff but going forward I had to cut our overheads. I feel very positive about Cellpak Solutions. We have got new funding and I have invested some of my own money into the new company.

Up until this point Phoenix had been going well. But you cannot predict or prepare for unreturned debts of that amount.

We have been open and honest with our existing customers and many have said that they will continue to work with us through the new company.

Shafique Islam (24) of Godwin Court Crowndale Road Camden Town was remanded on bail for pre-sentence reports until next Wednesday (May 12) at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court.

He pleaded guilty to stealing a SIM card at the shop on October 10 last year another SIM card on October 25 a third SIM card on November 16 and a fourth SIM card on November 26.

Islam told the court he is now unemployed.

Existing customers on all Perfect Fit Pay As You Talk and 3G price plans will be able to talk for an hour at evenings and weekends but only pay for the first three minutes.

The tariffs themselves have also been re-jigged. The Perfect Fit offering now comprises nine Anytime pay monthly price plans instead of the current five while on Pay As You Talk the existing four bundle packs will be replaced by six allocated on a 30-day rather than daily basis.

Vodafone claims Stop The Clock is the first offering of its kind in the UK. A customers first three minutes can come from their price plans bundle.

Stop the Clock liberates customers from the constraints of time when making calls and offers value for money said Vodafone marketing manager Tim Yates. (continued on page 2)

Dealers have reacted positively to a range of new tariffs in the Vodafone business portfolio.

Vodafone has extended its range of popular Sharetime price plans to include Sharetime 500 14000 and 24000 giving more choice on packages with inclusive calls between company mobiles.

Weve always had the luxury on Orange of having larger bundles without restricting the number of sharers but this has always been a problem with Vodafone. Now it seems to be following suit itll enable us to place more business with Vodafone said Phonebox Communications managing director Nigel Harrison.

Businesstime tariffs are aimed specifically at the self-employed. The price plans offer generous inclusive minutes and competitive flat-rate call charges at anytime to any UK fixed or mobile network.

Subscribers receive an Own Boss Mobility Tool Kit – a mobility package containing a Bluetooth headset and in-car cradle and charger.

Other benefits include text message bundles and a direct line to Vodafone UKs dedicated business support advisers.

Sprint Communications managing director Paul Leonard said:

Vodafone is building on the success it has had with its Sharetime tariffs by improving on the portfolio and plugging the gaps.

There are a lot of one-man bands out there who spend an awful lot on their mobiles bills and that kind of customer often gets forgotten he added.

These tariffs will be perfect for people working in trades such as electricians and plumbers.

In this way a contract customer could take advantage of a June promotion which offers double texts and double minutes for six months.

If the customer is willing to sign up to a new 18-month contract they will get both which is the same promotion offered to a new client.

The initiative builds on the current pre-pay promotion which gives customers who spend 10 in a week an extra 5 credit free.

An Orange spokesman said: We cant talk to you about it yet as we arent ready to announce it.

Meanwhile Orange has angered dealers by changing the commission structure halfway though the month. One disgruntled dealer said it was a very unusual move.

Changing tariffs halfway through the month smacks of concern he said. It must be a real problem for Orange to do this otherwise they would just put the changes in to start on June 1.

Orange has been a victim of its own success and its fine-tuning so it doesnt get the wrong sort of business on its high-value tariffs because that affects its revenue.

But it has brought down the commissions on low-end tariffs and not really explained itself. There are an awful lot of displeased dealers.

Commenting on the changes an Orange spokesman said: We are altering our commission and bonus structure to focus on achieving high value and small business connections and we shall continue to communicate new incentives to our partners as they are announced.

See Sharp End P16

.

Intek managing director Manny Hussain alleges Caudwells recruitment agency Cornerstone Resourcing is leveraging Inteks dealings with other Caudwell Group companies to attempt to recruit Intek staff.

The 20-chain dealership decided last Tuesday to sever ties with 4U Ltd Dextra 20:20 Logistics and MPRC. Hussain has also vowed to encourage other independent dealerships to do the same.

Intek connects Vodafone and

T-Mobile through 4U Ltd. This month 4U Ltd began training Intek staff. Hussain then found that three of his sales team had been approached by Cornerstone which offered them 60k salaries to leave Intek. Staff have so far declined the offer. (Cont P2)

If the Caudwell Group maintains that all the elements within it have the right to do business how they choose then it must accept our right to take the decision to protect our business. I would encourage any similar company to protect its position he said.

Its unfair to expect a small company such as Intek to help build up elements of the Caudwell Group and then be directly damaged by that Group because of its actions.

Hussain agreed that it was unrealistic not to expect his staff to be approached by recruitment agencies but said he asked 4U Ltd to confirm it was not involved in the recruitment of his staff pointing out that 4U finance director Craig

Gibson is also a director of Cornerstone.

This could be seen as a conflict of interest. Elements of the Caudwell Group have access to our staff for training and account management.

4U did not dispute the fact that

Cornerstone had approached my people. A director of 4U and Cornerstone said he could not stop Cornerstone or any other Caudwell companies from doing their jobs.

Hussain requested written assurances from 4U Ltd that it would not be party to Cornerstones recruitment strategy.

He said: Were not asking for rock-solid guarantees. We want confirmation of its ethical and moral stance on this kind of practice.

Craig Gibson told us that if we let Cornerstone carry on negotiations with my three members of staff they would try not to pursue other Intek staff in the future. But taking my three top people would cause damage.

Gibson said he would not put anything in writing nor give us a commitment that our staff would not be approached in the future.

Its no good saying that hes stopped chasing them without saying that he wont try to do so again in the future. We cant stomach that.

Our staff have been approached a number of times. After complaining to (4U managing director) Paul Smith I was told it would stop.

We have an issue of giving

Caudwell companies access to our company and staff because they refuse to state their moral and ethical stance on approaching our staff for recruitment purposes however they come to possess the data.

But Smith told Mobile News that even though 4U Ltd was independent of Cornerstone it could not put in writing the assurances that

Hussain was demanding.

Manny asked us to give him a written assurance that this would never happen again. Thats impossible to do said Smith.

Theres no way of guaranteeing that a member of Cornerstones staff wont pick an Intek name out of the phone book by chance.

He would not be flexible in what he was demanding. There is no way of predicting a member of Cornerstone wont approach one of his team. He asked us to stop Cornerstone poaching his staff.

We phoned Cornerstone and asked them to stop because it was jeopardising our relationship with a good business contact. They agreed.

Cornerstone poaching the staff of 4U Ltd customers is detrimental to 4U. There never will be a conflict of interests between Caudwell Group companies.

But Hussain said: When I suggested to Craig Gibson he should go to the board of the Caudwell Group to get a response he laughed and said Intek was just a 20-chain store and that his company was the Caudwell Group.

Smith responded: You cant legislate for personalities clashing. Perhaps thats what has happened here.