LG Electronics has beaten eight other handset manufacturers to a contract to produce a low-cost 3G handset for the mass market.

The tender for the contract was set by the GSM Association in conjunction with 12 operators. The handset will be called LG KU250. It will be engraved with the 3G for all campaign symbol.

LGs product beat around 17 other phones judged on price service and support.

20:20 Logistics business development director Richard Baxendale is set to leave the business.

Baxendale will be prevented from working for competitor companies for 18 months under the normal 20:20 severance terms.

Baxendale has been with 20:20 for six years. His departure follows a string of departures from the 20:20 Mobile Group late last year after its sale to venture capitalists Doughty Hanson.

20:20 refused to comment.

Baxendales exit from the 20:20 Mobile Group which comprises 20:20 Logistics and the Dextra distribution businesses follows the departures of former 20:20 Logistics managing director Rod Millar HR director Maxine Brough Dextra Solutions managing director Chris Jones financial director Gerry OKeefe trading director Rob Hendry and commercial director Andrew Burgess.

A source said: Its the end of an era. All those people were moulded in the way that John Caudwell liked to do business. Its a new culture now and they have looked to move on to new challenges.

Reaction amongst dealers has been mixed after 3 announced a range of new Office Share plans designed for small businesses.

The new plans are aimed at SOHO and SME companies which 3 says will give them total flexibility in their mobile working.

However 3 has fallen out of favour with many dealers recently after Mobile News reported last issue that 3s call centres in Glasgow will be closed with all dealer service calls now being fielded by call centres in Maidenhead and Mumbai.

One dealer said: They opened the call centres in Glasgow with the aim of dealing with small businesses.

With call centres being moved to India people will want to speak to people in this country because 3s overall customer service is abysmal. Anyone daft enough to sign up to these plans must be completely bonkers.

Another dealer said: A lot of dealers are annoyed with 3 at the moment for obvious reasons. Its too much of a headache with not enough benefit.

3 will become the first network in the UK to include Windows Live Messenger and voicemail in their five Office Share plans as well as free calls to other 3 phones.

Four packages offer voice text and data bundle whilst the other package offers data-only.

3 UKs marketing director John Penberthy-Smith said: 3 is the challenger brand in the UK and with our Office Share plans we are doing for small businesses what we did for customers offering great value and easy to understand price plans.

Mainline has appointed former Hugh Symons sales manager Jo McLarty as regional sales manager.

McLarty spent seven years at Hugh Symons where she led the Orange sales team before becoming sales manager and taking on responsibility for the internal sales team and for relationships with all networks.

She has been tasked with developing and growing key dealer accounts and will manage Mainlines field-based dealer team for the North Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Mainline managing director Andrew Boden said: Jo has a strong track record of customer retention and management. This experience will help tremendously as we focus on supporting dealers and providing them with the best possible platform from which to grow their business and to maximise their success.

McLarty said: Our single-network focus makes our product offering straightforward and means we can concentrate on developing and supplying complementary services all of which adds value to dealers businesses.

Hough joined Mainline in August from Orange where he was head of independent retail. He was tasked with restructuring its dealer manager team and bringing to market a Mainline-branded accessories range to bring it new revenues.
Mainline is in the process of making the final two appointments to its field sales team which should be confirmed by mid-February. Its accessories range which Hough sourced in Hong Kong towards the end of last year will be available to dealers at the start of February.
Mainline revamped its field sales team at the end of last year scrapping the old dealer manager roles for new dealer sales consultants tasked with building relations with around 1000 dealers across the country.
Hough said: We restructured the field sales force. The new team is talking to lots more dealers across the whole country. We compiled a database of all the dealers in the UK and our new dealer sales consultants have each been allocated ground to cover.
The new accessories range goes live in February. We wanted to reduce our total reliance on Orange month-to-month so we have established a new accessories range to bring in extra revenue. The products are all sourced in the Far East and will be Mainline-branded.
Hough is expected to remain within the industry and could rejoin Stuart Henry at Carphone Warehouse with whom he worked at Orange. Im keen to maintain the contacts and experience that Ive built up and to stay within the industry said Hough.
Mainline managing director Andrew Boden said that Houghs exit comes on the back of Mainlines most successful year to date.
Boden said: Chris came here with a clear insight of the industry and a unique perspective on the independent channel. He has helped me to review our current structure and has recommended and helped to implement changes that will enable us to build on the successes of recent years. Chris has helped us to create a platform from which to build.

Efforts to find a buyer for BenQ Mobile have failed after the last potential buyer ended negotiations. The announcement will affect around 3500 workers although most of them have found work at Siemens.

BenQ Mobile went bankrupt towards the end of last year after new owner BenQ decided it would cease funding the company because of the failure to compete on a level playing field with Nokia and Motorola. Siemens had sold its mobile phone manufacturing business to BenQ in June 2005 due to disappointing sales.

BenQ Mobile insolvency administrator Martin Prager said in an e-mailed statement: I now see no realistic chance to sell the company in one piece and enable a new start. We have to acknowledge that the market has decided against BenQ Mobile.

Prager had held talks since October 2006 with more than 100 potential buyers and entered into negotiations with 30 and according to Prager Sentex Sensing Technologies and SF Capital had failed to deliver acceptable offers.

Kent distributor MoCo has taken on two new B2B dealer managers Ryan Neal and Duncan Austen who were previously dealer managers at Mainline.
Lester Dougall has also joined as business sales manager from Cheshire telco Chess where he was business development manager.
MoCo director of marketing and direct sales Harvey Alexander said: It s part of our 2007 strategy to develop a loyal and committed B2B dealer base.
Anglia has appointed ex-Mainline dealer account manager Steve Cross to deal with existing customers and create new good quality business for the company .
Mainline said it had filled five out of seven vacancies and that the remaining two appointments would be made by mid-February.
Mainline managing director Andrew Boden said: We re restructuring so that we can have more contact with more customers more often.
Helen Carville has joined Avenir as a new business development manager from Fone Logistics. Avenir has also appointed Rosie Mateo as its new marketing manager reporting to head of marketing Valerie Haines.
Carlos Capitan has joined Fone Logistics as trade sales manager from 20:20 Logistics where he was on its international trade desk.
Fone Logistics has appointed ex-Carphone Warehouse corporate sales executive Ian Morris to channel manager for Fone Logistics O2 business partner programme while Tony Beard has joined from Dextra as credit risk manager.
Fone Logistics has lost dealer manager Darren Yorston to Yes Telecom as new business development manager while Vodafone and O2 service provider Timico has taken Teresa Warwick from Avenir as channel manager.

Adaptive Comms director James Brayshaw said: We have four times as many bookings as we did in December around 50 appointments between three people. Were busier than we were at our height last year. Business is brisker than it has ever been and its all new business for us.
Davison Communications director Kevin Davison said: Were up by around 30 per cent on last year. We hit targets long ago. All the staff are on appointments. Im pleased.
He added: A certain amount of business has come about because customers two-year contracts have expired. So theres easy retention there. But its busy anyway.
Connect B2B director Andrew Doe said: It has been a surprising month; business is up 100 per cent compared with this time last year.
At the same time sources said that the B2B space was being overpopulated by dealers and sales could suffer in the long term.
One source said: Everyone is retreating into the B2B sector. An awful lot of retailers started at the front of the shop and have moved to the office at the back to do B2B connections. We could face a year when we have to do a lot of work for not much money.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is set to squeeze mobile traders in March when Chancellor Gordon Brown announces the Budget.
The stakes are high. According to the latest estimate missing trader intra-community (MTIC) fraud cost the Treasury between £3.5 billion and £4.75 billion last year.
The UK is still waiting for EU member states to approve its reverse charge proposal which will remove the obligation from import/export traders to pay and collect VAT on goods and will switch it to the point of sale. Earlier this month France appeared to scupper UK hopes for a swift introduction by rejecting it.
We are working on this with other member states and the European Commission said an HMRC spokesman. Meanwhile the Government will not hesitate to bring forward further domestic measures in the Budget.
But innocent traders are getting caught up. Dipak Jotangia partner at Dass Solicitors said: It is attacking criminal elements from every conceivable angle. The problem is that innocent companies in the middle are still getting caught out.
Anthony Elliot-Square chairman of industry trade body the Federation of Technological Industries (FTI) said: Anything HMRC can do to tackle fraud is welcome as long as it safeguards the interests of innocent traders and does not suffocate UK trade.
The FTI has a joint action against HMRC under way on behalf of traders because of grossly unlawful actions of HMRC with its extended verification policy.
But HMRC argues there is no excuse for innocent companies to get caught up in a chain.
It is inconceivable these days that any business can be unaware of MTIC fraud yet some businesses trading in these markets seem prepared to continually ignore suspect trading patterns and practices said a spokesman.
HMRC also vigorously defends its tactics.
Our response has been proportionate targeted and risk-based he added. We are actively checking a greater number of suspect claims but as soon as we have satisfied ourselves that even part of the claim is valid we repay it immediately. The courts have found that our policy is reasonable and we are not taking too long to process claims.
HMRC is gearing up for battle. More than 600 extra compliance staff have been redeployed to tackle MTIC bringing the agencys total to more than 1400. HMRC said that 100 had been added this year.
In August HMRC employed 400 officers to search more than 160 premises across the UK in its biggest ever VAT fraud operation. To date 18 people have been arrested and charged. International investigations to recover the proceeds of these crimes continue. In December it carried out another nationwide investigation which resulted in simultaneous raids of premises across the country and saw the arrest of a further 17 people.
Just before Christmas the UK signed a cooperation treaty with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Home secretary John Reid and UAE minister of justice Mohammed Nakhira Al Dhaheri signed bilateral treaties on extradition and on mutual legal assistance.
One emirate Dubai has a reputation as a centre for re-export of mobile phone and computer chips items most closely associated with carousel VAT fraud. Up to 90 per cent of money defrauded from the British government is thought to be laundered through banks based in Dubai according to reports.
Reid said: The treaties will make a real contribution to reducing the harm caused to both our countries by such individuals. Criminals and terrorists are going to find it harder to exploit the links between our countries for their own ends.
The treaties enable HMRC to extradite suspected fraudsters from the UAE to be tried in UK courts and to issue civil orders that restrict their travel and financial dealings. They will also see closer dealings between UK and UAE officials when tracking shipments between countries that are suspected to be part of carousel fraud.
HMRC will be able to convict those who assist or encourage crime under the new treaty terms.
A wider net and stronger legal case for the prosecution will sound alarm bells for innocent traders that are already stuck in the middle of ugly scenes. But while the trade is under pressure Jotangia argues it will not die.
There isnt a grey market in the world that can be just shut down like that and the demand for mobile phones is higher than ever now he said. A lot of companies will get closed down. But some legitimate traders will fight on.

O2 has promised a Fair Deal to existing customers.

Its new Fair Deal pledge will see existing customers that upgrade receive the same handset and tariff deals as new customers.

They will also be rewarded with O2 treats for their loyalty to the network.

O2 UK marketing director Sally Cowdry said: We want our customers to be the happiest and most loyal so we listen to what they want and crucially act on what they tell us. They asked why they shouldnt get the same deal as new customers to the network. And theyre absolutely right.

All O2 customers should always get the best O2 has to offer so thats what were giving them.

Customers that have been with the network for more than six months are eligible for O2 Treats. Contract customers will also be offered the same phone at the same price as new customers regardless of how they decide to purchase it.

Upgrading pre-pay customers will receive 10 per cent of their top-ups over the past two years or since their last upgrade and can use it as free call time or as a contribution to the cost of their new handset.