NEC is pulling out of the UK and European handset market. According to sources close to the situation there will be around 31 redundancies at the company as a result.

The decision was taken by NEC MD Dave Payeppe who joined NEC from Avaya a year ago. Sources cite the reason for NECs departure is that 3G services havent taken off as the company had hoped.

None of the NECs 3G phones made in Japan work in UK and Europe which means that even handsets made abroad will not be imported to the region. NEC was selling around a million handsets in Europe including 500000 for the UK mainly supplied to 3.

The move can only be descibed as an ignominious end for a company that was market leader in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Mobile content provider Sybios has launched 3Bill a mobile marketing platform it claims allows any business to set up its own mobile marketing programme.

After users set up the platform using guided instructions 3Bill claims to allow them to upload content libraries of images or music and convert them to mobile formats and run different kinds of mobile campaign including voting polling competitions or donations.

Users can also select and run tariffs for premium SMS services and monitor revenues generated in real time.

Symbios CEO Martin montague claimed the platform was a one-stop shop that would allow companies to run mobile marketing campaigns without the need to use third parties.

The service costs GBP275 to set up plus GBP200 a month rental.

Vodafone UK has launched Your Price Plan and Your Extras – a contract that promises to mix the number of minutes texts and data on offer to subscribers in a flexible way.

The success of rival T-Mobiles Flext offering has shown the level of consumer demand for flexi-style packages. The Vodafone offering works by giving users a base number of minutes and texts at different price points together with one two or three free extras that can be used in effect to buy extra minutes texts or data services such as mobile TV.

For example a user signing up to an 18-month contract at GBP35 a month could get 750 minutes and 250 texts 500 minutes and 1000 texts or 500 minutes 500 texts and six months free mobile TV.

In preparation for the launch Vodafone said it had trained 4000 staff to sell and support the package.

Weve paid close attention to what contract customers want and what the market is currently offering said Vodafone UK director of consumer Tim Yates.

O2 is taking on 97 stores from The Links chain of 291. Of these 14 will replace existing O2 outlets because they have a better location.

The 14 replacement sites are in Balham Barking Bexleyheath Brent Cross East Ham Edmonton North Finchley Stratford Tooting Uxbridge Walthamstow Watford Wembley and Wood Green.

DSG will in effect run the remaining 194 Link stores for O2 until buyers have been found or their leases expire. Most of the remaining Link stores will be sold to other mobile phone retailers.

Pretty much anyone that is involved in selling mobile phones is interested said The Link managing director Nick Wood. The transmission period runs until the end of March.

Wood will retain his position until the last Link store is transferred or closed. It is very important that there is a consistency of leadership during this period he said. Opportunities within both DSG and O2 may arise. My plan is to ensure that staff are properly looked after.

and understand where they are.

O2 will take on all staff at the 97 Link stores under the same or improved employment terms. Staff at the remaining 194 Link outlets are expected to be taken on on the same conditions by the buyers.

O2 and DSG announced the exchange of contracts to Link staff at the end of July. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval from the EU due next month.

The latest move in the clampdown on carousel fraud has seen 30000 mobile phones scanned over a five-day period on the German border.

The huge investigation called Operation Sunrise was carried out by HM Revenue & Customs in conjunction with German Customs. Several arrests are expected to follow within the next week.

German Customs matched the IMEI numbers of phones entering the country by road at the Swiss/German border at Weil am Rhein and by air at Frankfurt airport against Customs database of IMEI numbers compiled at UK border controls. That database called Nemesis now lists 1.6 million unique IMEI numbers.

Customs said that the intelligence gathered as part of Operation Sunrise has thrown up new information about the trade routes and warehouse facilities used by fraudsters. Customs also said that fraudsters were sharing information about checkpoints where cargos were being scanned and diverting their routes accordingly.

A Customs spokesman said: It is an unprecedented operation which has focused on the German/Swiss border and Frankfurt airport. There are going to be arrests. Our German partners expect to make them this week.

Operation Sunrise ran from August 14 to 18. It is separate from the recent raids on 170 properties and business across the UK which led to 23 arrests but a part of Customs wider attack on the fraud which has intensified significantly in the last month.

The bundled service provision which was first announced by the mobile phone giant in May is set to launch in October but will initially only be available in Germany.

John Earl senior group media relations manager said: We want to meet all our customers communications needs by offering them a range of services. We are launching in Germany because there is a suitable partner – Arcor – that we can partner up with to offer other services like fixed-line offerings.

The scheme will be rolled out in Germany in the last quarter of this year. The price of the service is yet to be confirmed.

Earl added: The market is moving on towards this type of combined package offering and we want to make sure we are a part of it so our customers get the best value for money.

If the launch proves successful in Germany Vodafone said it would look to bring a similar service to the UK once it had found suitable partners.

T-Mobile is looking to reverse the slump in its sales which have switched to Orange and 3 by guaranteeing the volume bonus for two weeks in August. But not all distributors see it as a gamble worth taking.

All UK distributors failed to hit T-Mobiles volume targets in July and profit margins within distribution fell dramatically as a result.

The important thing for T-Mobile is to stop the rot because its sales dropped through the floor in just two months said Hugh Symons business manager Bob Sweetlove.

Hugh Symons has gone for broke by offering dealers an additional GBP50 commission on U-Fix Relax Flext and Business 1 plan sharer tariffs.

European Telecom and Avenir have hedged their bets by passing the money down to dealers in the form of volume bonuses for hitting targets. Others are unwilling to put their weight behind T-Mobiles latest offer at all.

One senior distributor source said: We gambled on the volume bonus last month and didnt hit targets. Our profits went down.

European Telecom sales director Frank Masson said: Its a big request in the face of the activity from 3 and Orange which are both pretty strong right now. This is a very large gamble.

Fone Logistics marketing manager Julien Parven added: The risk is that we would have to put GBP50 into the pack to get dealers to push it – if we dont hit targets we miss out on the bonus.

Distributors worried that there is sufficient ill-feeling towards T-Mobile within the channel for dealers to refuse to connect and for distributors to miss targets. There is concern that the damage has already been done said a source.

Avenir managing director Tanny Price said: Its very easy to turn dealers off quickly but much harder to turn them back on again.

Go Mobile managing director Iain Humphrey added: T-Mobile had the opportunity to create real partnerships for the future and it hasnt taken it. It will find it difficult to come back into the independent channel because dealers will be very wary.

A Vodafone spokeswoman said: As part of the continual evaluation of its distribution strategy Vodafone UK confirms a change in its supplier arrangements with The Link from September 1. The Link will continue to sell Pay As You Talk on the Vodafone network. Contract tariff sales through The Link however will be discontinued from the same date.

The move is attributed to the companys ongoing channel approach to review key indirect relationships increase revenue potential and improve the customer experience.

The spokeswoman added: One element of this approach is our investment into the direct channel. We will redesign a third of the Vodafone retail estate further enhancing customer experience.

Vodafone said the move would not result in a reduction of overall trading volumes.

The spokeswoman added: Vodafones broad-based relationship with The Link and DSG International is otherwise unaffected.

Mark Geraghty managing director of Acton-based dealer/distributor Olive Communications said 12 former 4U Business employees have signed up as new dealers in the past few weeks.

I expect to see more Caudwell people setting up dealerships he said.

There are a lot of people there with a good customer base from their time there. Three or four customers is enough to start off with. Were giving good credit limits too so you dont have to have much to set yourself up.

Avenir managing director Tanny Price said: Weve had a lot of applications for new accounts and also a lot of Avenir dealers have taken on ex-4U b2b people to start up internal sales teams. One good quality dealer has just set a new team of six all of them formerly of 4U.

Hugh Symons business manager Bob Sweetlove added: There has been a steady flow of applications from former 4U Business employees setting up as b2b dealers.

Vodafone acquired the Caudwell owned service provider for GBP405 million in 2003.

Talking to Mobile News about his time in the industry Caudwell said the sale was a landmark in his career as it guaranteed the prosperity of the rest of the group.

Selling Singlepoint was a big day. It ensured the financial success of the business in the long term he said.

Caudwell added that his greatest achievement while heading up the group was forming a top-flight management team.

Building a management team and workforce that is so professional and do a great job is my biggest achievement he said.

His advice to others in the business was to keep their nose to the grindstone. For a business to succeed requires determination passion hard work resilience and leadership. Anyone who applies these will make it successful he said noting that this advice will not be new to other businessmen and women in the mobile phone channel who are already aware of the fierce competition in the industry. Everyone in the industry knows that they have to be good to prosper he said.