O2 said UK service revenues grew by 14 per cent over its third quarter ending on September 30 compared to the same period the year before. Net new customers grew by 524000 in the quarter contributing to a total customer base of 17.3 million. ARPU was static at a blended pre-pay and contract average of 23 a month. Contract churn over the period was 24 per cent compared to 30 per cent in the same period last year.
O2 CEO Peter Erskine said: In the UK we added net new customers driven by our ongoing strategy of treating both new and existing customers equally. Contract churn was again reduced for the fifth quarter in a row while gross connections grew 15 per cent year on year.
However the network said that the rate of service revenue growth in the quarter was likely to be mirrored in the 11 months to December 31. This is likely to cause operating income margins to be reduced by one percentage point.

EasyMobile has posted up a notice on its web site advising customers that the network will shut down at midnight December 13. Customer accounts will formally close on December 20. Any remaining credit after the shutdown date will be refunded and an alternative arrangement has been made for easyMobile customers to pick up Fresh Mobile accounts from The Carphone Warehouse.
The notice said: The Carphone Warehouse is a reputable operator and if you choose this option we hope that you find their service useful.
The network has promised to port numbers and unlock any phones for customers that want to go to an alternative network.

Vodafone reported a pre-tax loss of GBP 3.3 billion for the six months to September 30 citing tough market conditions in the UK Germany and Italy.

In the UK Vodafones churn rates across its contract and pre-pay base increased from 31.9 per cent last year to 37.6 per cent. Where contract churn has dropped slightly from 21.6 per cent last year to 18.8 per cent pre-pay churn has jumped from 40.5 per cent to 49.9 per cent.

Pre-tax profits for the period jumped to GBP 4.8 billion before pricing pressures and regulatory issues in Europe caused an GBP 8.1 billion write-down in the value of Vodafones German and Italian operations.

At the same time growth and expansion in developing markets and the US saw Vodafone record revenues of GBP 15.6 billion and organic growth of 4.1 per cent. Vodafone shares climbed by over four per cent. It said it was on track to meet targets for the year.

Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin said: The Europe region remains very competitive with flat organic growth year on year. Of our four principal markets Germany Italy and the UK saw declining total revenue after taking into account the impact of termination rate cuts whilst Spain continued its strong progress posting another period of double digit top line growth.

Higher interest rates along with pricing and continued regulatory pressures in the German market led to an impairment charge of GBP 8.1 billion in the total carrying value of goodwill in respect of our German and Italian operations.

Mobile News will soon become the definitive online resource for jobs in the mobile industry. This follows a partnership between Clark White Publications and online recruitment consultancy Sunalysis. Companies are invited to upload their vacancies free of charge to the Mobile News web site by clicking the Jobs tab.
Job seekers click on the Jobs tab soon to be created on the site. They will be able to review job vacancies and send through their CV.
Companies can upload job details for free and advertise them without charge until they are filled by Sunalysis which handles the recruitment process. No fee is paid until a candidate is successfully placed.

The Carphone Warehouse has opened the doors of its big Christmas bash to Hugh Symons dealers.

Hugh Symons? top dealers on its Unity dealer scheme have been invited to Carphone?s fancy-dress Christmas ball which is usually for Carphone employees only. The balls has an Asian theme this year and dealers have been asked to get in costume ? sumo wrestlers geisha girls and samurai warriors ? for the event.

Hugh Symons business manager Bob Sweetlove said: It is the least we can do to offer them the chance to come to one of the biggest nights of the mobile calendar. This is yet another example of Hugh Symons delivering exclusive benefits to the best independent dealers in the UK.

From next month 3 users in the UK will be able to use their mobile phones to make unlimited VoIP calls watch television and access their home PCs.

3 parent company Hutchison Whampoa launched a new mobile Internet service last week called the X-Series with internet brands Sling Media Orb and Google. The X-Series also builds on global deals with Skype Yahoo! and Microsoft.

The X-Series will be priced at a flat rate subject to fair usage on top of users regular airtime subscriptions. The basic package will cost around 10 with a higher bandwidth package of around 15 for those who opt in to the Sling and Orb services. Pricing will be confirmed ahead of launch.

X-Series customers will be able to make and receive unlimited Skype calls with Skype PC users around the world and to any other Skype 3 mobile customer. Skype to Skype calls will be free.

Customers that purchase a Slingbox which plugs into the back of a television will be able to watch their home television from their mobiles including all terrestrial Freeview cable and satellite channels. They will also be able to record pause and playback live television shows. 3 did not provide a price for the Slingbox hardware.

Users can also access all types of content stored on their PC at home on their mobile through the new Orb interface.

Access fees include unlimited Skype chat and search services There will initially be an additional access fee for customers who opt in to higher-bandwidth services like Sling and Orb.

The services will be compatible with the Nokia N73 and the Sony Ericsson W950i at launch.

Hutchison Whampoa managing director Canning Fok said: This is the Internet as it was meant to be and what people have been waiting for. Mobile broadband is the natural next step for mobile services extending the full power of the Internet to mobile handsets. By partnering with the leaders of the Internet and the leading handset makers the X-Series from 3 will give everyone access to more of what they want when they want it and however much of it they want all free when they use it.

The X-Series will launch in 3 s other markets early next year.

From midnight on November 24 dealers will no longer be able to connect customers to Vodafone via Fone Logistics.

In practice Fone Logistics is able to connect upgrade and port Vodafone customers until February 8 when the 90-day notice period handed it by Vodafone ends. But it is unable to offer commissions packages to dealers to back up business and has therefore pulled the plug ahead of time.

Fone Logistics has told dealers that it will process and pay dealers commissions on Vodafone connections until November 24. It also stated that it will deal with existing Vodafone service queries and that it will accept unused SIMs back from dealers for a full credit.

Fone Logistics has connected Vodafone airtime contracts since 1998.

NXP Semiconductors has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sony to begin a contactless smartcard venture. According to press agency reports the company formerly known as Philips Semiconductors said the aim of the venture is to create a universal integrated circuit platform for mobile phones to enable functions such as mobile ticketing and payment.
The joint venture hopes to bring a product to market by mid 2007.

T-Mobile launches its latest Sidekick handset to the channel next month.

The Sidekick 3 which has been endorsed in the US by celebrities Paris Hilton and Hilary Duff launches some time in December and is exclusive to T-Mobile. Price will depend on tariffs.

The Sidekick 3 is the latest in T-Mobiles Web n Walk range and includes a QWERT keyboard a 1.3 megapixel camera 64MB of internal memory and an external MiniSD card slot.

T-Mobile UK marketing director Phil Chapman said: The Sidekick brand has been hugely successful in the US and T-Mobile is delighted to be the first and only company to offer the Sidekick 3 in the UK.

T-Mobile said that so far the Sidekick 3 has no UK celebrity endorsements.