Staff Reporter

According to company sources handsets include a pale blue version of the Motorola L6 SLVR a 3.5G version of the Motorola RAZR and a purple version of the Sony Ericsson W710 flip-phone for health nuts. Following on from the Siemens Poppy the retailer has secured an exclusivity deal for the florally decorated EF61. It also has exclusive UK rights on a silver version of the Samsung X820 a handset claimed to be the thinnest in the world at just 6.9mm from front to back although boasting 80MB of memory. A Carphone spokeswoman could only confirm that exclusivity deals on the blue L6 the W710 and the X820 have so far been finalised and further announcements about other deals will be made in the next couple of weeks.

The Mobcharger is a credit card-sized battery that is available for the four biggest makes of handset – Nokia Samsung Sony Ericsson and Motorola. A mini USB is also available which is compatible with all new mini-USB connectors such as the Motorola RAZR.

The Mobcharger is available throughout the UK from branches of ASDA WHSmith Travel Stores and One Stop shops.

The unit fits into your handset like your existing charger and is designed to give you power when you are on the move or not near a mains power source. Mobcharger provides up to 90 minutes instant talk time or 480 minutes standby and when empty can be thrown in the bin with your household rubbish.

Instant batteries are also currently in development by Mobcharger for Blackberries and the PlayStation Portable market.

The Mobcharger can also be used a marketing tool – customising the unit with your own logo and contact details is free for orders over 5000 units.

UK B2B comms reseller Alternative Networks has announced its strategy of culling smaller customers has resulted in improved Q2 trading figures.

The focus on larger customers has resulted in a net increase in the number of customers spending over GBP1000 a month with a number of large contracts signed. It has also followed a successful cross-selling strategy.

The absorption of acquisition ICB has resulted in the final assimilation of telesales sales and client management functions and the closure of offices in Bracknell and Bristol.

The financial results show ARPU staying constant at around 63. The group claims it will hit its target of 40000 connections for the year end up from 37589 at March 2006.

Churn is up but the comapnz claims this is as a result of the reduction of ICBs zero usage customers.

Fixed line margins rose slightly in July and August while margins for advanced solutions sales were also up in the same period.

Alternative Networks CEO James Murray said: Trading over the past few months has been solid and we are on track to meet the boards expectations for the full year.

Vodafone has signed a licence deal with service provider Timico to offer converged services to business customers across the Vodafone network.

Timico has added Vodafone to its existing O2 offering. Timico is an independent provider of converged communication services to the business market offering fixed Internet VoIP and mobile communication services to SME businesses. Timico offers customers one bill one point of contact flexibility in tariff choices and claims to provide high levels of personal service.

Chief executive Chris Tombs joined Timico in August after he resigned as Vodafones enterprise customer management director. Tombs was one of many high-level executives rumored to have left Vodafone as a result of management differences with director of enterprise business unit Kyle Whitehall.

Tombs said: The agreement with Vodafone provides us with a host of high quality business mobile services that we can integrate with our existing services portfolio. I look forward to providing our customers with the chance to choose all their communications services from one source as our integrated offering adds simplicity to the power of converged services.

High street bank HSBC together with its online and telephone arm First Direct is offering customers access to their bank account via their mobile phone.

The service runs on mobile banking platform MONILINK which was developed by the LINK cash machine network and development company Monitise.

There are now more people with a mobile phone than a landline making it the worlds must-have communications device said First Direct chief executive Chris Pilling.

First Direct was the first branchless bank in the UK. We are now the first to introduce this mobile phone banking service which allows consumers to top up a mobile as well as check their account balance.

Customers can sign up to use the service by downloading a piece of software on to their phone.

Sony Ericsson head of marketing for UK and Ireland Ben Padley has taken the role of director of global product marketing at the company.

Padley reports to Sony Ericsson vice-president of global product marketing Steve Walker.

I was asked to take the role to introduce improved marketing and product business management activities following the success Sony Ericsson has enjoyed in the UK in establishing the Walkman and Cyber-shot categories said Padley.

Padley has been replaced as UK and Ireland marketing chief by David Hilton formerly of NTL and BT.

The deal sees Pipex pay Toucan parent company IDT GBP20 million in cash and GBP4 million in Pipex shares. Toucan which uses T-Mobiles network provides voice mobile and broadband to 185000 customers of which 57 per cent take more than two services Toucan delivers an average ARPU of GBP23.

Pipex will retain Toucans staff premises and brand.

Toucan managing director Joseph Blass said: It is very positive news for people here. We are joining a bigger group in the UK. We are already known for our customer service and the innovation of our tariffs and services. Hopefully by being part of a bigger group we will be able to enhance our offerings further.

He added: We saw the triple-play opportunity early in this market – before Orange entered the market. Vodafone only just now looks set to launch a proposition.

An IDT spokesman said: We have built a successful residential business over the last three years combining fixed and mobile telephony with broadband.

Our strategy is to focus on our core products and expand them throughout Europe. We will however continue to provide Toucan with our core underlying telecom services.

Pipex has also acquired Internet service provider Bulldog for GBP13 million. The acquisitions give Pipex a total customer base of GBP1.14 million.

RemoteXT is a new service being launched on October 2 that allows phone users to register all the information contained on their smart phone so that it can be automatically backed-up and the phone rendered useless if lost or stolen.

Mark Whiteman Managing director of RemoteXT said: The current problems people have is that the information stored on their devices is very sensitive and you can become a victim of identity theft if your phone is stolen – as well as losing all your information and a very expensive device. With Remote XT every piece of information contained on your phone is automatically backed up like contacts ringtones and favourites on your web browser.

Whiteman said: The current way to set up a device so that you can access your e-mails is painstaking and very hard to do. Remote XT removes the pain and gets a user up and running with just eight clicks.

If a subscribers device is stolen they can ring up a helpline and immediately lock down the phone. An alarm will sound from the device. The phone displays a message that tells the thief or whoever has found the phone that it has been disabled and gives a telephone number for that person to ring. If it has been stolen the handset has no resale value and cannot be used again unless Remote XT restores the information on it.

Whiteman said: It is good for dealers as it means less hassle for them. Customers who are signed up to Remote XT are free to change contracts or handsets without having to worry about transferring all the data from one device to another. It means dealers can increase their amount in new contract sales as previously those customers would have just upgraded with the same network because of the hassle of getting a new contract.

Whiteman believes this may upset the networks as it will be much easier for dealers to change customers with new contracts across networks.

Virgin Mobile has followed its summer of free on-net texts with an offer of 3p per minute Virgin-to-Virgin calls.

The deal is available to all UK customers through all channels for the next six months until March 31 and complements the networks existing 3p per on-net text tariff.

Virgin Mobile spokesperson Jo Baker claimed the move offered customers lower price on-net calls than any other standard tariff offered by rival networks. She described the offer as an early Christmas present for customers.

The Mobile Life Youth Report which examines how mobile phones have changed the way young people live has been published by The Carphone Warehouse and advised by The London School of Economics.

Over 1250 young people aged 11-17 who own mobiles were surveyed by polling organisation YouGov.

The survey revealed that the majority of 10-year-olds (51%) now have a mobile phone.

Charles Dunstone chief executive officer of Carphone Warehouse said:

The mobile phone has become the most important electronic device for young people in the UK today with 91% of children having a mobile phone by the time they go to secondary school at 12 years old.

But the issue divides public opinion because only half (54%) of parents think it is acceptable to allow an 11-year-old to own a mobile phone.

Dr Pat Spungin founder of parenting website raisingkids.co.uk said: Some people think mobile phones are like earrings and are unnecessary and inappropriate for people below a certain age. However most parents disagree as the mobile phone offers new ways for young people to connect that many adults wish they had enjoyed as teenagers.

However the survey also exposed some worrying trends about mobile phone use and young people. According to the report 42% of 15 to 17-year-old girls would feel unwanted if a whole day went by when my mobile phone did not ring.

One in three young people talk and/or text regularly with people they do not want their parents to know about and two thirds of 15 to 17-year-olds would not let their parents look through their text messages.

The report is the second from Mobile Life a forum set up by The Carphone Warehouse earlier this year.