The launch of MusicStation comes two weeks before the Apple iPhone is due to hit the global market. Omnifone has also announced a target of 100 million MusicStation handsets to market within the next 12 months compared with Apples target of 10 million iPhones.

Omnifone CEO Rob Lewis said: MusicStation allows consumers to legally access download and enjoy an unlimited amount of music from an international and localised music catalogue supported by the whole music industry for a weekly fee of E2.99 (£2.03).

MusicStation users can download music wherever they are at any time and with no charge for data.

The first MusicStation handsets were launched in Sweden on June 13 with further European launches to follow in the coming weeks. Omnifone said it would announce the launch only on the day handsets arrive in retail stores. It remained tightlipped on when it would be available in the UK and through which operators.

MusicStation has international licensing arrangements with Universal Music Group Sony BMG EMI Music Warner Music International and many major independent labels.

EMI vice president of business development Matthew Crosswaite said: We are very pleased to be working with Omnifone to reach millions of subscribers around the world through their mobile phone.

Steele leaves next month while Gow will depart once a successor is in place.

Both men were both co-founders of Virgin Mobile in 1999 and have been responsible for steering the companys development before and during the launch of Virgin Media.

The changes reflect the integration between Virgin Medias cable operation and Virgin Mobile particularly in distribution and IT. However Virgin Mobile will continue to exist as a brand and business unit in its own right.

Gow 51 became MD last year following his years as chief financial offer of Virgin Mobile. He joined the fledgling virtual network in February 1999 from One2One (T-Mobile). He had joined One2One in 1995 as Head of Business Planning and was part of the team that put together the original Virgin T-Mobile joint venture.

Steel 40 joined Virgin Mobile in February 1999 as marketing director. He was appointed Commercial Director in 2003 and a year ago he took on the role of deputy MD.

Before joining Virgin Steel was head of business development and head of mass marketing for BT Cellnet. He developed strategic partnerships with Barclaycard and Midland Bank.

3 wants call termination charges eliminated entirely. It was forced to cut its rates to 5.9p while rival networks were required to charge 5.1p under the Ofcom ruling. 3 also wants the number porting process between networks to be shortened from five days to just two hours.

A 3 spokesman said: Number porting is a structural flaw in the market benefiting the old incumbent networks and hindering new entrants. It wont be a level playing field until its sorted. We dont believe new entrants should continue to subsidise existing operators.

Ofcom maintained its change to termination charges was the right move. 3 is appealing to the Competition Appeal Tribunal on the matter.

Baldry joins from Thus and where she earned numerous top achiever awards. She will now oversee Avenirs nationwide team of business development managers.

Avenir Telecom managing director Tanny Price is delighted that Baldry is joining Avenenir. She said:

Sues appointment represents Avenirs continuing commitment to its customers. Her experience and knowledge of the B2B sector will be vital in continuing the close working relationship that we have with our clients and helping them to develop their businesses in order to increase revenue streams and generate further success.

Around 90 staff are expected to lose their jobs as a result.

ETs biggest creditors 20:20 Brightstar and smartphone manufacturer i-mate sought a winding up order earlier this month after the distributor failed to find the necessary investment to improve cash-flow.

Earlier this month Emblaze who own a 51% stake in ET announced that they were no longer willing to continually fund ET and were seeking investors to reduce their stake to 10%. But negotiations between potential investors have since broken down and liquidation firm Bergbies Traynor have now been appointed as administrators.

Full story in Mobile News June 4.

Phones 4U is understood to have made the majority of the 250 staff cuts during the past six weeks. >They were rumbled by management and around 250 staff have been let go.

For the full story see the latest edition of Mobile News.

The new VeloMobil HTC S620 handset allows users who are in a range of a WI-FI hotspot to connect to a Velofone IP which charges at a reduced rate.

Velofone will also be releasing the service on the Nokia E series handsets.

Velofone business development manager Colette Bean said: The VeloMobile proposition offers business travellers the opportunity to benefit from significantly reduced international roaming charges without the need to constantly amend their mobile settings.

As a result Ericsson will take on 97 members of Vodafone Netherlands staff who will be relocated to Ericssons offices at Stein in the South Limburg region.

Vodafone Netherlands Chief Technology Officer said: By transferring responsibility and existing resources for the core and transport part of the network we are convinced that we will be able to capture synergies with Ericsson and that the quality of our core and transport network will be further enhanced.

The Quad-band Luna uses opaque smoked glass with soft-touch stainless steel. The keypad illumination pulsates from beneath the glass case if a call comes in.

The Luna is the first Nokia also to use a single micro-USB port for charging audio and data connectivity. The Luna comes with a two- megapixel camera.

The Nokia 8600 Luna is expected to be available during the 2nd quarter of 2007 for around £500 before subsidy.

Other networks are AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular Wireless) China Mobile DTAC Maxis MTN Orange SingTel Smart Communications TeliaSonera Turkcell Vodafone and Wind. The programme was put together by the GSM Association.

The research includes field trials to quantify mass market PC buyer interest in mobile broadband. The idea is for affordable notebook PCs with embedded mobile broadband that work right out of the box .

This is expected to appeal to millions of PC buyers in developed and emerging markets as mobile broadband coverage expands worldwide.

Following the success of our initial program to infuse the notebook market with mobile connectivity we are delighted to be working with Microsoft to initially understand the scale of the opportunity for mobile broadband enabled PCs in the mass market said Rob Conway CEO of the GSMA.

Understanding the market size and customers requirements is the first step towards developing devices to meet those requirements.