Around 14.6 million Symbian devices shipped in Q4 last year up from 3.3 million the year before. There were nearly 7000 Symbian-driven phone mobile phone applications at the end of last year.

Former Carphone Warehouse commercial director George Dymond is returning to the UK to take up the role of trading director at Carphone vacated by John Durkan earlier this month.

Durkan replaces Richard Walker as chief operating officer.

Dymond had been working on Carphones US joint venture with US consumer electronics retailer BestBuy called BestBuy Mobile. Dymond opened nine BestBuy Mobile stores in New York a combination of concessions and standalone outlets over the past six months.

Walker will work within BestBuy and in a consultancy role for TalkTalk in the US.

A Carphone spokesperson said: George went to America to bring his experience in the UK to them as their market is so different. He will be based in the UK but will travel to the US about once a month to check on the companys progress.

Vodafones new flat-rate data roaming tariff which boasts overseas mobile-laptop access to the internet email and business networks has been dismissed as out of touch with reality by London telecoms analyst house Ovum.

Vodafones European customers with mobile-enabled laptops can roam abroad for a flat-rate fee of 12 Euros a day from July 1 allowing customers to download up to 50MB of data.

But Ovum principal analyst Jeremy Green said: The tariff is available to laptop card users and apparently not to other data users. Its down to the user to work out when a 12 Euro outlay is cheaper than just paying on a per-MB basis.

Vodafones suggestion that that 50MB per day constitutes practically unlimited data usage seems a little out of touch with reality a short while browsing BBC websites can easily rack up 10MB. So this isnt really a flat rate and it isnt really unlimited either. Its an offer thats roughly comparable to what you might pay on a daily basis to use hotel broadband.

However Green has lent his praise to Vodafones offer to other operators for lower wholesale data roaming rates on a reciprocal basis deeming them a small practical step towards ending the roaming logjam.

More than 65 per cent of the UKs equipment providers are in the dark about the governments new electronic waste directive which takes effect from July 1 and face heavy penalties for non-compliance.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive requires companies to recycle a proportion of goods that pass through their warehouses.

Companies that import manufacture rebadge and sell electronic goods should have registered with a WEEE compliance scheme by March 15 and compliance schemes should have registered members with the Environment Agency by March 31.

A survey by waste disposal provider WeeeCare found the majority of businesses had no idea what to do or even if they needed to be signed up to a WEEE recycling scheme.

The EA said it had taken every opportunity including producing fact sheets and holding workshops to ensure businesses knew their obligations. But an EA spokesperson said the department would not be hasty in handing out fines to non-compliant businesses but warned there would be eventual consequences.

He said: We appreciate its quite difficult and we recognise that businesses are trying to adjust. It doesnt mean to say that if we find a business who has purposely avoided the requirements that we wont take action. It will be pursued by our legal department if a business has had enough time to meet the requirements.

Affiniti is the latest O2 data dealer to qualify for its Data Centre of Excellence programme.

Affiniti mobile connections manager Phil Sharpe said: We were set with the task of connecting 400 data connections per quarter. As well as delivering a long-term data strategy we had to show we had a team that delivered pre-sales expertise and deliver an end-to-end customer service process.

O2 UK general manager of business sales Ben Dowd said: Affiniti already has a well developed strategy for mobile data solutions and is a specialist in this field. Affiniti knows the data market and will help O2 to understand and meet its business customer needs.

Virgin Media will sponsor the next series of Big Brother. Of the brands under the Virgin Media unbrella Virgin Mobile will take top billing in sponsorship of the programme.

Virgin Media managing director of marketing James Kydd said: Were a pioneering and innovative company so it made sense to create an alliance with a show that has genuinely changed the face of TV. We want to take the show to the next level by engaging viewers and pushing the boundaries of interaction across platforms in a way never seen before.

Channel 4 head of sponsorship David Charlesworth said: We share so much with Virgin in both brand and business so look forward to pooling our expertise to create a ground-breaking sponsorship.

The Carphone Warehouse confirmed its exit from the programme sponsorship earlier this month. Orange had also considered the deal.

3 said its new £15 budget tariff provides dealers with sufficient value to discourage cash-back offers.

Its new 18-month voice contract launched last week includes 500 cross network anytime voice minutes for £15 per month. It represents a £10-per-month saving on old £25 voice tariff which also included 500 minutes. The new tariff is available through February only.

3 director of indirect sales Bernie OBeirne said: It is available to all sales channels. We want to shake up the other networks again. This package gives great value without the need for dealers to issue cash-back. There is a £180 saving to consumers straight away and we are still paying dealers very useful commissions on the package.

The new £15 tariff is available on the Sony Ericsson K610i Z610i and the LG u400.

O2 is set to pull its new contract connections business from Phones 4U in April and to take all its high street connections through The Carphone Warehouse.

Phones 4U marketing manager Jim Slater said: Were constantly in discussions with O2. As with all strategic partnerships these discussions remain confidential.

Carphone which already handles the billing of close to one million O2 customers is perceived as the better bet by O2 for its meagre acquisition business going forward and the pair renewed their trading contract at the end of January.

Under the terms of the new contract O2 is understood to have pressed Carphone to sign more customers per month to O2 for less commission than under previous their trading terms.

Phones 4U is understood to have been connecting only a few thousand new O2 customers per month during the past quarter as O2 has switched its focus away from consumer acquisition almost completely towards retention of its consumer base.

O2 spent £5 million on its latest advertising campaign around customer retention promoting its Fair Deal pledge to existing customers that re-sign direct with O2.

Sources claimed last week that the O2 UK management team has had its acquisition budget slashed dramatically by parent company Telef³nica as Telef³nica pursues new customers in emerging markets such as Latin America.

Mobile News understands that the O2 management team is likely to resign with Phones 4U when its acquisition budget is bolstered again by Telef³nica.

The move follows Vodafones exit from Carphone Warehouse before Christmas. Vodafone has signed an exclusive deal on new business with Phones 4U which is understood to have committed up to 70000 new connections to the network per month.

Phones 4U connects around 110000 customers per month.

As with the ongoing Vodafone/Carphone relationship Phones 4U will still be able to upgrade existing O2 customers.

O2 was unavailable for comment.

LG is launching a luxury version of its Chocolate handset. Featuring a two megapixel camera FM radio and 256MB on-board memory the Chocolate Platinum retains its glowing red touch keypad whilst the classic LG Chocolate styling has been gently updated.

The phone also boasts an upgraded music and video player. Users can search through their music using voice activated commands as well as by keyword.

3 launched the application on the 3 network in August 2006 and was the first operator to provide this service free to its 3.75m UK customers. 3s mobile broadband offering provides customers with an identical messaging experience to the one they are used to on their PC allowing them to see the presence of their Messenger(tm) contacts and exchange messages from their phone. There are now more than 300000 customers registered on the service – sending and receiving over 1.5 million messages every day.