The channel will be split into three new tiers – Premier Certified and Registered – each determining the level of support given to members.

Mark Bond Vodafone enterprise marketing director said that existing BCC members would automatically rank highly in the grading structure.

We in no way want our existing BCCs to think this will take the gloss off being a BCC member he said. There will still be strict criteria that will determine which tier each applicant will go into.

Existing BCC members will automatically qualify for one of the top two tiers he said depending on their volume of business. New partners for example IT and voice sellers will go in the bottom tier he added.

Bond stressed that BCC members will still get all the perks theyve previously enjoyed. We will be visiting all of our BCC members personally to go through the changes he promised.

The new channel strategy launched yesterday.

However more than 400 people who attended a Vodafone channel event on Wednesday last week were invited to sign up early.

So far we have had about 250 people sign up so initial feedback is very promising. This service will run alongside the BCC club until March next year at which point the BCC will no longer exist so members have quite a while to switch over.

The channel restructure will see the introduction of a new online portal containing marketing collateral as well as product service and sales information. There will be dedicated sales and marketing support from Vodafone as well as structured training based on the individual needs of each channel partner.

Like-for-like sales were down 28 per cent compared with the same period last year. Total sales were down 21 per cent.

Like-for-like sales includes handset subsidies and the hardware costs on 3 handsets have gone down by a significant amount said Wood. But subsidies have changed year-on-year.

Meanwhile former Orange marketing director of pay monthly David Bugg has joined The Link as commercial director.

The network confirmed that its first franchise-owned store is due to open in Rotherham. However at the launch of the programme O2 UK sales director Mark Stansfeld forecast that the network would have around five franchises running by the end of the year.

O2 head of retail Dean Sykes admitted that this is now unlikely but said he was hopeful for more franchises early next year.

Weve set ambitious targets all along the way he said. We will always want more open than we have but its crucial to get everything right with the first ones.

The content partnership which will initially last for a year enables 3 users to watch live TV as well as download clips and highlights from ITVs hit shows.

Content includes the latest series of Im A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Emmerdale Coronation Street and other high-profile shows and specials.

The row broke out when Dave Ford managing director of Kent-based Kelly Freight Services which had been a customer of DM Telecom for two years contacted Orange directly in September for an upgrade.

Ford was contacted the following day and upgraded by a direct dealer of Orange which later turned out to be Celltalk.

I was under the impression that Orange had arranged this directly and that I would continue to be account-managed by DM Telecom said Ford. But when I got my bill from the new company and found there were more handsets on it than Id requested there was no number for me to call.

DM Telecom managing director Dino Maroudias turned to his Orange distributor Hugh Symons to see if it could help. Business manager Bob Sweetloves enquiries revealed that Fords connections had been put through by Celltalk.

We have been attempting to resolve the situation with Orange but the best advice to date has been for DM Telecom and the direct dealer to resolve the issue between them said Sweetlove. This has been attempted but the direct dealer seems reluctant to assist.

Clearly DM Telecom could have lost the business to Orange direct as a consequence of the direct contact. The fact that another dealer appears to have benefited is proving hard to swallow. Quite rightly it is looking to Orange to resolve the matter.

Celltalk managing director Richard Marsden insisted he was happy to co-operate however.

All our sales calls are recorded and we ensure our orders are processed correctly he said. I will be happy to talk to both Kelly Freight and DM Telecom to see if we can reach an amicable solution.

All the councils social workers currently use XDA handsets on O2. Barnet has agreed to pilot new technology from mobile location services company TrackaPhone which means the device can be used to pinpoint its employees locations.

The locator is currently being tested by 100 social workers. The full roll-out will be to more than 240 frontline workers.

If a social worker feels at risk they hit a discreet button on their XDA. TrackaPhone sends an alert to the duty desk which identifies the location of the distress call.

The people locator solution also enables Barnet Council to monitor the whereabouts of their off-site employees – though staff can turn the device off when they wish not to be tracked.

The Taiwanese firm is already working with Orange T-Mobile O2 Vodafone and Telefonica.

A spokeswoman said: We are in discussions with other channel partners about future business opportunities but cannot disclose any names at this stage.

HTC opened its new European head office in Slough Berkshire last Friday.

It claims high performance for e-mail voice text messaging Internet organiser and corporate data applications.

It will be available for Oranges enterprise customers in France on December 15 with retail availability planned for January. It is expected to be made available in a phased roll-out to the UK and other Orange markets across Europe during early 2006.

Vodafone Business Email is the networks own-brand mobile e-mail solution delivering mobile e-mail contacts and calendar. For smaller companies and individuals there is a personal solution that provides web-based e-mail to a wide range of mobile phones in real time.

For larger companies there is an enterprise server-hosted version giving them the freedom to have push e-mail and PIM functionality on a wide selection of Symbian and Windows Mobile-based devices.

To encourage adoption Vodafone is offering a free server until May 31.

Vodafone is also taking advantage of a deal brokered by Nokia and BlackBerry maker RIM to bring BlackBerry software to a range of Nokia smartphones.

This extends the benefits of BlackBerry for the end user on non-RIM devices so they can have the service on a device they are already familiar with said Vodafone UK head of enterprise data services John Lillistone.

We are starting with the Nokia 6810 6820 and 6822. Coming soon will be the Nokia 9300 9500 VPx and Vodafone v1620.

And from early 2006 Vodafone will be launching the Microsoft Windows Mobile service using scheduled ActiveSync which is designed for companies using Microsoft Exchange 2003.

To support all of the new e-mail solutions Vodafone is planning to offer all its smart device customers access to enhanced customer service support via Vodafone Device Management which will allow Vodafone to remotely configure and maintain smart devices connected to the network.

8el will supply e-reporting group with a private wide area network connecting its two UK sites as well as direct voice services as part of a complete communications solution.

8el sales and marketing director Chris Sayer said the deal would enable e-reporting group to benefit from network resilience increased network visibility and cost savings.

This is a bread-and-butter contract he said. Because e-reporting group has signed up for a three-year contract we will be able to pass the maximum advantages and savings back.

The coup comes just two months after the company was named one of Britains fastest growing technology companies by The Sunday Times after posting an average annual sales growth of 105 per cent over the past three years.

E-reporting is the product of the recent merger between medico legal firm ewitness and research firm Medical Report Services. The group needed to implement a private voice and data network between its existing Leeds office and the Medical Report Services site in Redditch.