Staff Reporter

Sales from the site are now equivalent to those generated by a large Carphone Warehouse store. Direct customer contact to the site measured by the number of e-mails received has increased 200 per cent since the TV commercials started showing the address.

Installation of a new Compaq 7000 server has increased speed and improved stability of the web site.

Experienced internet and mobile users can now bypass the step-by-step product information pages and go directly to the products they want to buy.

Once we had made a few tweaks here and there and added some new services we knew we had a web site which would deliver second-to-none service so the time was right to give it a bigger profile said Carphone Warehouse group marketing director Lesley Angus.

The results are remarkable in the light of recent research which indicates that although over a third of UK companies believe e-commerce will open up new markets only a fifth have actually seen an increase in sales she added.

The Carphone Warehouses web site was launched last November. It cost around 500000 to develop.

The UMTS video calls took place in a mobile survey vehicle and a stationary environment. They were made at data transfer rates of 394kbps which is three times faster than ISDN and 40 times faster than current GSM mobile data speeds.

Orange is currently trialling W-CDMA as its air interface technology in line with the European standard for UMTS.

Phase one of the trials will be completed next month with core network trials ending in November.

Orange intends to deliver mobile commerce rapid internet access and advanced information services on its existing network and through the next generation of technologies to provide customers with a wider range of services said Orange group director of commercial activities Richard Brennan.

Orange chief operating officer Bob Fuller commented:

Orange is the most advanced of all the UK operations in preparing for the third generation of mobile telephony. We are excited by the possibilities that UMTS offers.

Dextra reckons it now has a 25 per cent share of the UK original accessory market which it values at 90 million up from three per cent share in January 1996 when it was set up as a specialist accessory division within the Caudwell Group.

The company says it has also seen a 256 per cent increase in sales orders in the past year and now delivers an average of 1000 orders a day and up to 500000 accessories a month.

The next millennium will see Dextra become a global specialist in accessory distribution said Dextra managing director Richard Slee.

Dextra is also now Vodafones main accessory supplier sending more than 40000 accessories into 245 Vodafone stores and recently won a three-year contract with BT Retail as the sole supplier of accessories into 120 stores.

Dextra has spent 250000 this year in information technology systems to improve service delivery.

Dextra says it is now the UKs largest accessory distributor for Nokia Ericsson and Motorola. It has also set up new partnerships with Samsung and Maxons accessory divisions as well as Psion Dacom and BT EasyReach the consumer paging service.

Vodafone now has five stores operational across the province.

The new Coleraine store was opened with music from DJs at local radio station Q102.9FM in a live-three-hour link-up giveaways and competitions. As a special promotional offer the Coleraine store was selling the Alcatel One Touch Easy for 99.99 with 12 months line rental 30 minutes airtime a month itemised billing leather case and in-car charger.

Also in June the store was offering free connection with 100 free off-peak minutes with any Motorola phone bought on a 12-month contract.

Vodafone (NI) is the Northern Ireland subsidiary of Vodafone Group.

This new store in Coleraine highlights our commitment to making Vodafone more accessible to our customers said Vodafone (NI) general manager Byron Bramwell.

With our latest store opening more customers in Northern Ireland particularly in the north and west of the province will have direct access to Vodafone and advice offered by our staff.

Cleartone makes radio comms equipment primarily for the emergency services.

Dolphin (which is a subsidiary of global wireless operator TIW) recently announced plans for a release of its ExpressNet service which offers integrated voice and data mobile communications over a seamless network to cover the UK France and Germany by the end of next year.

UbiNetics says the more important issue is achieving interoperability between standards and that there is already enough similarity between digital standards to do this.

Suddenly the harmonisation issue is less relevant says UbiNetics president Ali Pourtaheri.

Conway was formerly head of global business development for Motorolas International Network Ventures Group and was general counsel for Motorolas Subscriber Terminals Group.

Conway previously held key executive positions within the international cellular operations of Motorola where he served as a CEO vice chairman of the Board and has chaired steering committees to launch major wireless joint ventures world-wide.

He will be based at the GSM Associations headquarters in Dublin.

Robs role is fundamental to ensuring that we continue to develop and grow the range and depth of support services for our members in order to maintain future leadership of the ever evolving GSM standard said the GSM Associations chairman Michael Stocks.

The GSM Association is responsible for the development deployment and evolution of the GSM standard. It represents the interests of 347 GSM Satellite and 3rd Generation network operators regulators and administrative bodies from 133 countries of the world.

The Association also recently announced the launch of a new Associate Membership category for manufacturers and suppliers to further cement industry wide partnerships.

Vodafone says it will be organising further similar seminars for corporates and utilities to drive the growth of managed solutions that deliver real benefits.

The other shareholders are Samar Telecommunications (an Arab group of investors) and Societe Nationale dInvestissement the Moroccan holding company.

The Government of Morocco has the option to buy up to eight per cent of the companys equity.

The bid if successful is expected to create thousands of much-needed new jobs in Morocco.

The Moroccan market is ready for a new kind of mobile phone operator given that telecoms penetration in the country is so low this is an ideal opportunity to make the Orange concept of a wirefree future a reality said Colin Tucker Oranges chief operating officer for international activities.

Morocco is in an excellent strategic geographic position and will serve as a hub for investment in the whole area.

The system will handle all dealings with customers. It captures and retains information and triggers marketing and sales incentives.