A total of 28 stores are planned to open before the end of next year. The new retail chain will be branded 3Stores and the expansion program will create over 200 retail jobs before the end of 2007 with the investment program estimated to be worth ?10-?15million ( 6.7- 10million) in the Irish market.

The first two 3Stores to open will be in Cork and Waterford next month and a flagship store for Dublin will open at an as yet undisclosed location shortly after.

BenQ Mobiles UK division has filed for insolvency. In a letter to its network and distributor customers last week BenQ Mobile UK managing director Philip Rambech said it has exhausted all avenues and followed the German business unit into administration.

Rambech said: Unfortunately despite our best efforts there have been too many factors working against us and we have exhausted all avenues to ensure minimal impact on our joint plans for the Christmas quarter.

We have always strived to deliver a total product experience. Although we have found ways of securing deliveries directly from Taiwan and from the administrator in Germany in the meantime we regret that we have reached the stage where it is no longer possible for us to keep up the level of service needed in order to fulfil our ambitions. Therefore I am sad to inform you that BenQ Mobile UK has filed for insolvency in the Court in London.

Robert Birchall from PriceWaterhouseCooper has been appointed as the administrator. Around 30 UK jobs could be affected.

The decision came just 18 days after BenQ Mobiles German operation – consisting of the headquarters two factories and the European distribution centre – was shut down reporting losses of ?840 million ( 566 million).

BenQ Mobile is estimated to have shifted just 500000 units in the UK this year.

A source within the company confirmed that Essex based B2B telecoms provider Business Comms is in financial difficulty after an employee defrauded the company.

It is understood that the matter is being investigated by police.

Director Kevin Veitch said: This is an internal matter that I am not willing to comment on.

Business Comms predicted turnover for this year was 2million.

Dextra is expected to confirm the Nokia accessories contract this week.

Nokias director of communications Mark Squires said: We parted amicably and have never stopped talking with Dextra. But there is no signed agreement with it at present.

Dextra refused to comment.

An Orange spokesperson said: We are always looking at ways in which we can support our Orange Specialist Partners. Now that broadband is part of our proposition we are shaping a consumer package that will only be available through selected partners later this year.

Mainline sales director Chris Hough said: All Oranges key launches will be available through the channel eventually. Orange Broadband will certainly come down to the channel. Orange knows that it will sell if there is commission behind it. Orange is looking to use the channel going forward for different product areas. Mainline is a trusted valued partner for Orange and we hope that we will get to trial any launches in the channel first.

It also added an extra 20 meaning distributors can pass down to dealers as much as 80 extra per consumer connection. The revised commissions have been guaranteed until the end of the year which suggests that it is like Orange looking to issue a quarterly price book.

T-Mobile upped commissions mid-September by putting an extra 45 on each consumer connection. Having told distributors in July that it had exhausted its channel budget and would not put money back into the package until after Christmas its commissions for consumer connections are now on a par at around 330 with its spring levels.

Avenir managing director Tanny Price said: Its good news. T-Mobile was holding out and looking at different strategies. Its recent strategy obviously hasnt worked. If dealers back this then it will see good results between now and the end of the year. There are only so many times you can chop and change before dealers decide not to back you but this looks like a good move.

Mobile News understands that O2 is the most likely to pressurize Carphone first. It is estimated that 50 per cent of Carphones monthly connections go to O2 and that it would be most eager to twist the knife.

Both O2 and Orange made public statements last week that they viewed Vodafones decision as an opportunity. Orange went so far as to make clear that it is reviewing its rolling three-month contract with Carphone for next year.

Vodafone itself suggested that the retail landscape would change and that other networks would react to its lead.

Vodafone director of commercial operations Ian Shepherd said: All the networks have said in the last week that they are having a good think and Im not surprised.

The question that networks have to ask of indirect sales is where the value is coming from. The relationship has to deliver business that the network wouldnt get elsewhere. This relationship with Phones 4U is designed to generate value as well as sales.

One source said: The commissions paid to all the indirect channels have been as high this year as they have ever been – since the heyday five years ago. The cost to networks of acquisitions through the indirect channels is astronomical.

Carphone is on the back foot now. The networks are in the driving seat again and theyll look to cut commissions to Carphone. It is an ideal opportunity to exert a bit of pressure.

Phones 4U connects on average around 70000 consumer contracts per month according to sources close to the networks. Phones 4U is understood to have agreed to deliver in the region of 35000 consumer contract connections per month to Vodafone.

During 2006 Phones 4U is thought to have delivered most – about 30-35 per cent – of its connections to 3 a much higher proportion of 3s new monthly subscriptions than delivered by The Carphone Warehouse.

Phones 4Us agreement with Vodafone would appear to put 3s numbers under threat.

3 denied that the Vodafone deal would affect it. A 3 spokesman said: 3 does not believe that the Vodafone agreement with Phones 4U will impact its business with the retailer. If there was to be an impact it would be felt equally across all the networks. But as a brand 3 has a different appeal to Vodafones.

Phones 4U and Vodafone said that targets would be met by working to increase footfall to Phones 4U outlets rather than cannibalising connections across other networks.

Vodafone director of commercial operations Ian Shepherd said that the number of Vodafone subscriptions guaranteed by the deal would not vary much from the kinds of numbers Phones 4U has connected for it in the past.

It is not going to require Phones 4U to unduly skew its business in our favour he said.

Around 90 per cent of the business done by East Anglia dealership Digital Phone Company is on Vodafone.

Its managing director Phil Rider said: Carphone has opened stores in most of the towns that we have a presence. This decision by Vodafone gives us an edge.

Vodafone puts just one third of its consumer contract connections through the indirect channel and most dealers said its exit from Carphone would have little impact on their businesses in strictly financial terms. But they warned that neither Carphone nor Phones 4U could claim to offer impartial advice any more.

Carphone cant offer all networks and Phones 4U is committed to hit targets on Vodafone so it cant [be impartial] either said one dealer.

Dealerships connecting either Vodafone consumer or business customers via a distributor can still connect to Vodafone despite the Phones 4U deal being billed as an exclusive third-party retail contract in other press.

Vodafone classifies independent multiple retail differently to the dealer and distributor channel. The high street multiple retailers have connected Vodafone via its consumer business unit. The demise of The Link and the cancellation of Carphones pay-monthly sales contract means that Phones 4U is the only third-party multiple retailer that can now connect Vodafone contracts.

Distributors connect Vodafone via its enterprise business unit which offers a far meaner remuneration package than its consumer business unit for consumer connections. The exception to this rule is Dextras airtime business which still connects Vodafone through Vodafones consumer business unit.

Dextra receives better commercial terms on Vodafone consumer connections – it is able to offer around 50 more per box. Vodafone denied claims last week that it is looking to re-negotiate its airtime contract with Dextra to run it through its enterprise business unit along with the rest of distribution.

Vodafone director of commercial operations Ian Shepherd said: The Dextra agreement reflects the balance of consumer business we are doing through Dextra. There are no plans to alter that agreement.

Hugh Symons part of Carphone connects Vodafone through its enterprise business unit like all other distributors and is unaffected by the Carphone decision.

Hugh Symons business manager Bob Sweetlove said: We have a different legal contract with Vodafone to Carphone. This is an internal decision by Vodafones consumer business unit.