As part of a strategy to maximize returns and pay off its ballooning debt Vodafone has announced that it has agreed to sell its 25 per cent stake in Belgian mobile network Proximus to 75 per cent shareholder Belgacom for two billion euros (GBP1.35 billion) in cash.

The proceeds will be used to reduce Vodafones net indebtedness which currently stands at around GBP17.3 billion. On the down side of the balance sheet Vodafone will no longer receive anticipated dividend income of around GBP150 million this year and there will be a corresponding reduction in cashflow.

Commenting on the deal Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin said: We do not see ourselves as the most appropriate long-term holder of this minority stake. In line with our strategy of actively managing our portfolio and maximising returns we have achieved an attractive price with this sale.

Vodafone services will still be available in Belgium through a renewed long-term partner network agreement with Proximus with an initial five-year term. Services involved include Vodafone live! the Vodafone Mobile Connect Card push e-mail via BlackBerry and international roaming services.

The sale is subject to certain regulatory approvals and is expected to close before December 31.

Pre-pay customer losses were offset by gains in churn data revenues and customer reaction to the Free Weekends proposition. He hinted at an aggressive tariff review but also took time to pay his respects to outgoing European head Bill Morrow.

The headline for the results is that they are a bit mixed he said. Im pleased with the contract churn rate – 20.1 per cent is industry-leading. There is a good quality mix to the additions in contracts and we are in a strong position in the enterprise space at the moment.

Read was also cheered by the take-up of data services in particular growth in mobile broadband customer numbers. Vodafone is already the clear market leader in data cards and the new service has helped to build on this dominance he said.

Data revenue has been driven by 3G data cards and mobile broadband said Read. Since the launch of the service weve improved on our 80 per cent market share of data cards and doubled volumes of cards sold through our own retail operation. The Cheltenham business centre is really making an impact on the results and we will be seeing more of that in the future.

Read was also unafraid to hold his hands up to recent losses and revealed that a new tariff structure is imminent. The signs are that pre-pay prices will be simplified while contracts will be made more tailored in obvious response to the phenomenal gains made by T-Mobile.

I want to be aggressive in the market he said. We are the market leader and I want the company to act like it. The cut in pre-pay customers by 148000 is unacceptable. Our reaction has been innovation in pricing and a revision in commissions for pre-pay sales.

The Free Weekends proposition is the vanguard of Vodafones attempt to recapture lost market share. Whats interesting is that the offer is supported by a visually striking advertising campaign more resembling similar efforts from 3 and T-Mobile rather than its more laconic approach to the Passport and Stop the Clock campaigns.

We had a very strong launch with Free Weekends said Read. It works because its simple to understand and has been advertised imaginatively. That said Im not happy with pre-pay and will be launching a new proposition in three to four months. The move will be accompanied by a contract refresh by the end of Q2.

This progressive approach doesnt seem to be filtering down to the channel however. In a press conference last week group CEO Arun Sarin mentioned a review of the UK channel. Read would not be drawn on the subject but he didnt sound very encouraging.

Were always reviewing the channel he said. Its clear that with the saturation of the market place in pure mobile our growth has to be at the expense of someone else. What has happened with The Link is a sign of that. Other consolidation will happen down the line.

Finally Read praised European CEO Bill Morrow who has resigned unexpectedly to spend time with his family in the US. He is replaced temporarily by Vodafone Germany head Fritz Joussen.

Read acknowledged that it would be tough for the company to replace him but he was confident that there was enough talent remaining in the company to cope until then.

We have a strong talent pool and Fritz Joussen is an example of this. He has a strong marketing product and sales background and he drives hard on differentiation.

LGs drop in profit is the first slip the company has suffered in the past 10 quarters. Reports suggest the reduction in profit is attributed to the handset division losing money in the intense mobile pricing war.

However the company hopes the launch of further versions of its Chocolate phone will boost earnings for the second half of the year.

LG increased its shipment volume by an above-average 26 per cent year-on-year during the second quarter of 2006 due to strong demand for the phone.

Fone Logistics head of marketing Julian Parven noted: The Chocolate range was one of our best performers in July and will no doubt continue to be.?

Despite pricing pressure among handset manufacturers Nokia has managed to increase its profits by 22 per cent with the majority of its growth from markets demanding cheaper phones.

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said: In the second quarter Nokia delivered strong year-on-year growth in net sales operating profit and EPS.

We started initial shipments of several new products – including important ones in the mid-range the Nokia Nseries and the Nokia Eseries – further strengthening our product portfolio.?

And to meet demand Nokia shipped 78 million units during the second quarter of this year a 29 per cent year-on-year increase for the Finnish manufacturer.

Called activepilot the device comes pre-installed on new handsets or can be downloaded on to existing handsets. Users can pay a flat rate for the service or can opt to pay by each individual journey they take.

Activepilot marketing director Stephen Duke said: Activepilot is easy to use and competitively priced and we are confident it will do well in the current GPS mobile phone market. With distribution secured in Carphone Warehouse it will be available for purchase nationwide from August 1?.

Users can get turn-by-turn voice instructions as well as navigation arrows and scalable maps to find their way around.

Activepilot works on more than 100 handsets models including Nokia Siemens Sony Ericsson and Samsung. It costs 79.99 for the cable version and 99.99 for the Bluetooth version.

His remit will be to develop new channel relationships for the handset manufacturer.

Hicks moves up from his post in LG as senior manager for 3 partnership. He formerly worked at Unique Distribution and VK Mobile which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. He joined LG late last year.

The handset which is designed for and by women includes a compact mirror and a Flash animation guide to make-up application.

BenQ Mobile has teamed up with make-up brand Pout to launch the EF61 Mia Special Edition clamshell phone.

Scrolling text accompanies the five-step animation guide and links users to Pout products suited for each step.

BenQ Mobile UK head of marketing Louise Forbes said: The Poppy was a groundbreaking phone that set the pace in terms of designing for women. The EF61 Mia Special Edition is the next result of our approach.?

It comes packaged in a gift box with a boutique-style gift bag a satin phone pouch in a petal design a powder-blue stereo headset and data cable plus a leather charm accessory. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera and 64MB memory card.

The phone will be available to dealers from September 2006 at 99.99 on pre-pay. More Pout-linked products are expected to follow.

Carphone Warehouse CEO Charles Dunstone said: We need to make sure we understand our customers and the way they live their lives which is changing and evolving faster than ever.?

The study revealed that 26 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds considered their mobile more important than TV. It also showed that 55 per cent of under 25-year-old women used their mobile to deter the unwanted advances of men.

The survey also revealed that 41 per cent of mobile users think they are too much at the beck and call of their employer as a result of using their mobile at work.

The agreement gives Vodafone access to EMIs 200000-strong full-track digital music catalogue from artists such as Robbie Williams as well as realtones and ringback tones.

The news comes as O2 renewed its partnership with Sony BMG last week which will see a music video premiere by hip-hop act OutKast on O2 mobiles.

O2 users will be able to download bespoke versions of Morris Brown taken from the new album Idlewild before it is released on August 21.

O2 head of content marketing Grahame Riddell said: The decision to offer O2 customers the first view of OutKasts new music video demonstrates the power of the mobile community for artists.?

The black LG U400 music phone features an external click-scroll wheel and dedicated music keys on the exterior so music and media files can be accessed while the device is closed.

The LG U400 lets users download music over-the-air and play it back while performing other tasks. 3s music player is integrated so users can create playlists and search tracks by artist title and genre.

The handset which includes a two megapixel camera comes pre-loaded with DJ ringtones and video content and a ?scratch function so users can re-mix content themselves.

3 sales director Marc Allera said: Were second only to iTunes for digital music sales. Seventy-six per cent of all mobile music sales happen on 3 so were well-placed to exploit this growing market. The LG U400 will enhance our position further.?

The Sony Ericsson K800i features the Sony Cyber-shot brand and has a 3.2 megapixel camera with Xenon flash and auto-focus.

The K610i is an upgrade for the K608i model and is 20 per cent smaller than its predecessor at 17mm thick. It features a two mega-pixel camera Bluetooth stereo streaming and an external memory slot.

Both handsets feature the 3 Instant Viewer giving access to all 3s media services.

According to communications director Mark Squires the N73 has been shipping to all channels for a week and the N93 should be in all channels by this week.

The two phones are specialised digital imaging devices with high-spec components. The N73 includes a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics and a mechanical shutter. The movie recorder N93 also sports a 3.2 megapixel camera as well as a 3x zoom plus MPEG4 VGA video capture at up to 30 frames a second.

The two devices follow hot on the heels of Sony Ericssons high-profile K800i Cyber-shot. However Squires denies that the timing has anything to do with the rival handsets popularity.

We said we would ship the N73 in July and we are shipping in July? he said. We expect it to be a big seller and the channel seems to agree judging by the orders weve had.?