TW Telecoms corporate clients include Airtours ERF Manchester Airport Manchester City Council the Metropolitan Borough Councils of Bolton Bury and Stockport and UCI Logistics. Turnover last year was 7.8 million.

Project Telecom chief executive Tim Radford said the acquisition was in line with Projects strategy of expanding its corporate customer base.

TW Telecoms office will become Project Telecoms sales and customer service base for the Greater Manchester area with the administration and billing functions being transferred to Project Telecoms head office in Newark.

The purchase of TW Telecom follows the integration of the Hutchison and Netnet subscriber bases acquired last year.

Project Telecom paid 3.2 million last July for Netnet.

At the same time Charles

Dunstone relinquishes his title of chairman and retains the role of chief executive officer.

Dunstone said:

Its a part-time role for Hans who will be coming in for a day or two a week.

Were moving much more into telecoms and we wanted someone with real experience in that area. The fact that he has agreed to the role is a great endorsement of us when you think he could pick any job in telecoms he wanted. He is someone I can work with and will be the first non-executive director we have with a telecoms-specific background.

Snook added:

There are very few if any other companies I would have joined. The potential for The Carphone Warehouse is tremendous.

Until the end of last year Snook was special advisor to Orange after its acquisition by France Telecom.

Observers say that Dunstone has been shrewd in making his own appointment of a name the City recognises. By appointing Snook he has avoided the possibility of having a City-worthy individual foisted upon him.

Also last week The Carphone Warehouse announced it was closing 33 UK stores in poorer areas dominated by pre-pay.

But Dunstone says there are plans to open 50 new outlets giving a net growth of 17 new Carphone Warehouse shops in the UK over the next year.

Most of these new stores will be in out-of-town retail parks and in major shopping centre locations.

Thirty of the worst-performing stores in Germany are also being shut with another seven going in Belgium.

Were also continuing to open much bigger stores. So the amount of square footage will be greater Dunstone told Mobile News.

At an analysts briefing last week Dunstone revealed that UK connections of 339000 so far this year were down on the 358000 for the same period last year.

Orange has already rebranded several of its European subsidiaries in the past year. They are: Mobilix in Denmark (May) Itineris in France (June) and Globtel in Slovakia (March 2002). 

The launch of the Orange brand in Romania is of particular strategic importance following as it does so soon after our launch in Slovakia last week and it consolidates our presence in Eastern Europe said Brigitte Bourgoin vice-president South and Central Europe and the Americas.

Bernard Moscheni chief executive of Orange Romania said:

The brand roll-out programme moves us ever closer to achieving our objective of a presence in markets covering 1.5 billion people by 2005.

Our rebranding to Orange endorses our success as one of the leaders in the Romanian market with 44.7 per cent market share.

Njimoghu (20) is accused of falsely pretending he was the genuine owner of a credit card used to buy the phone.

He was similarly charged with using the credit card to buy a Sharp television set.

It uses a range of different positioning methods such as assisted Global Positioning System and others. In May EMT in Estonia became the worlds first operator to offer commercial services based on the MPS and a number of other operators on four continents will introduce MPS into their systems during 2000.

Ericsson says its MPS for GSM operators requires no modifications to standard GSM phones.

Davis who was well known as Ericssons training guru plans to recruit new dealers and help the existing dealer base increase ARPU by giving them advice on data services.

We will bring on new business partners and independent dealers that have a focus on the corporate and SME market. We will support them with training to help them increase their customers call spend. Dealers have to offer more services. Those will give them more revenue as well. I will be visiting the independent dealers and meeting people Ive had relationships in the past to see what Yes can do for them said Davis.

The full judging panel comprises high-level industry association executives dealers ex-senior network managers and retail experts.

They are: Jacqui Brookes (Federation of Communications Services) Tom Wills-Sandford (Federation of Electronic Industries) Alan Hadden (Global Mobile Suppliers Association) Phil Rider (Digital Phone Company) Dave Briggs (In Touch Communications) Gary Radcliffe (ex-One 2 One and Onstar) Andy Press (ex-NEC Mobile) Ian Volans (ex-One 2 One and Vodafone) Andrew Fryatt (ex-Carphone Warehouse and PocketPhone Shop) and David Reavley (Trojan Consultants).

The deadline for entries is January 31. Entry forms and full details on awards categories and how to enter are available on www.mobilenewsawards.co.uk (see P20).

The 2003 Mobile News Awards will be presented at a sold-out black tie gala dinner dance at the Hilton on Park Lane on March 27.

Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone comes in at 99th richest with a 329 million valuation.

Then comes Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross at 146 ( 227 million) and Richard Emanuel at 152 ( 221 million).

Intercity Mobile head Alan Jackson is at number 321 with 107 million and recently-retired Carphone Warehouse co-founder Guy Johnson is at 329 with 103 million.

Phones International founder Peter Jones is the 333rd-richest Briton and judged to be worth 100 million (see White Lines P56).

Martin Dawes is 392nd with 90 million despite losing 30 million on the failed internet venture Breath.com. June Reynolds-Lacey chair of Mobilefone is placed 751st with 50 million while Mobile Phone Store founder Mike McComb is at 794 with 45 million.

Its not all good news for Caudwell and Dunstone though. The Sunday Times also lists them among the years biggest fallers.

Dunstones paper wealth has plunged by 341 million to 329 million following the fall in Carphone Warehouses share price.

Caudwell has dropped 200 million from last year following a revaluation of the business by the Rich List.

Mobile phone retailers will mark phones with a unique identity mark within the workings of the phone and will make owners aware of the use of security measures already in place within the mobile such as PIN numbers and more importantly IMEI numbers.

During January and February mobile phone theft in Perth and Kinross was up 100 per cent over the year and showing no signs of decreasing.

The scheme is only being launched in the police forces Western Division but may be rolled out to other divisions.

The initiative is being run by Constable Donald Campbell Western Division crime prevention officer and Constable Ron Anderson who works in the Crime Management Unit in Perth.

They are being supported by local mobile phone retailers including major companies such as Vodafone and DX Communications.

Mobile phone theft is rife and there is definitely an awareness issue. People need to be sensible and take better care of their property. Mobile phones are stolen from handbags left lying around on tables in night-clubs and pubs. On other occasions we see mobile phones being left in full view within vehicles said Campbell.

Ian Conway licensee of the Ring O Bells bar and chairman of the Safer Trading Environment in Perth said:

Mobile phone theft is a growing menace in this country. This is a first for Scotland and the local police force deserves enormous credit. Many people come to Perth because it is a safe and welcoming city. If this is successful I am sure the rest of the country will follow our example.