Staff Reporter

Speculation that Caudwell might be ready to sell 20:20 grew after 20:20s trading name and handset trading business were transferred to a new company.

The move is part of a group restructuring following Caudwells sale of Singlepoint and Corporate 4U to Vodafone for 400 million last year. Caudwell told Mobile News:

20:20 is absolutely not for sale. This is just a restructuring to ensure the right companies report to the group managing director. We are always changing the structure to reflect the way the group looks he said.

Caudwell declined to go into detail on the structure of the new company following a statement that said a new equity team comprising three new shareholders had come into the business.

However Mark Ryan remains the new 20:20 Logistics managing director. The statement from 20:20 said the company had aggressive plans for expansion and development of the handset trading business and was aiming for significant (Cont P2) growth in 2004.

Another interesting fact that has not gone unnoticed is that the new 20:20 formerly a shell company known as K&S (511) Ltd and first registered in July 2003 has a new VAT number.

Caudwell assured Mobile News this was not a measure designed to protect the company in the event it were ever linked to a VAT or carousel fraud as part of Customs and Excises recent crackdown on the practice. He further added:

The company [formerly 20:20 Logistics now renamed K&S (511) Ltd] will remain a part of the Caudwell Group and is not being liquidated. I have personally spearheaded the attack against carousel fraud by getting Customs and Excise more and more focused on it and bringing together a think-tank on the issue.

I met with Customs and Excise five or six years ago to put a code of conduct together to try and enable distributors to take greater checks to prevent carousel fraud.

We are not vulnerable [to carousel fraud] because the precautions we have taken over many years are so strong.

We would be the last people to be significantly caught in that way.

He went on to say: There is no skeleton reason behind this change. This is a simple restructuring to refocus the business. Other restructuring has taken place in the past and other group companies will be restructuring in the future.

The move is enabling me to spread my wealth with further employees. I created the millionaire scheme for Phones 4U employees and I am permanently looking for ways to spread wealth among Caudwell employees to produce even greater wealth [for the company] through [staff] ownership and enhanced motivation.

Cellular Solutions boss Mike Bowers claims his engineers equipped 731 vehicles in November with a further 343 installations booked in during December.

Bowers is unhappy about the way he has been treated by O2. He said: Even initially the small print of the offer was unattractive from our point of view. We were expected in effect to take a 100 hit on every installation.

Subsequently he claims he has been kept waiting for the money while O2 audits the installations.

The deal was that wed receive our money at the month-end and any discrepancies would be sorted out he said. So far I havent received a penny of the money Im owed – some 50000.

According to Bowers (Cont P2) the network has asked for and received copies of all the contracts but still refuses to pay up promptly. He claimed payment for the 731 installations carried out in November but after carrying out its audit O2 offered to pay for just 247. Of this Bowers has yet to receive a penny.

It makes me wonder if O2 has run out of money on the new client acquisition trail said the dealer. But all these clients are SMEs and they are all being tied into a two-year contract for very little outlay from the network.

Other O2 dealers are understood to be worried about what they regard as network delaying tactics over other commission payments – particularly the re-sign bonus.

However a major distributor told Mobile News: Im not surprised that O2 is going through dealer claims with a fine-toothed comb. The way the car-kit promotion was put in place left it open to abuse. Some dealers are bound to try and exploit any loopholes they think theyve found. The network is only protecting its interests.

Ian Driver O2s general manager of channel marketing rebutted allegations of tardiness. Our intention is to pay our dealers as quickly as possible but we have to ensure that the customers are entitled to receive the car-kit offer and that they are satisfied with the installation before any final payments are made. We have an open dialogue policy with all our channel partners and will be happy to discuss the detail of any issues they raise.

Driver is unaware of any issues relating to the re-sign bonus scheme. Payments are not being delayed any longer than our normal processes allow but were happy to discuss the issue with any account in question. O2 will always pay commissions that are due and is fully funded to be able to do so.

In an interview with Mobile News Allwood said its 3G network was on a par with Vodafones and was some way ahead of O2 and T-Mobile.

Weve effectively got most of the sites we need doubling up on 2G sites he said.

Allwood said Orange already had 50 per cent population coverage around the UKs 10 major cities.

(Full interview p22)

Monmoham Singh Sandhu will be sentenced on February 16 at Southwark Crown Court after being convicted of false input tax claims through his Birmingham-based distribution company Bestline Data.

Customs investigations revealed that Sandhu bought and sold 400000 Nokia handsets and turned over 110 million between June and July 2001. Bestline claimed to have purchased the handsets from a UK company called MS Coton. It submitted what turned out to be a false input tax claim on the goods purchased from MS Coton.

However Sandhu had not paid any money to MS Coton. In his defence Sandhu claimed that MS Coton had instructed him to pay the cash directly to its suppliers in Luxembourg – Willcom and Handycom.

Customs later discovered unopened invoices from a company called MS Coton bearing Luxembourg postmarks and stamps.

At his trial between October 13 and 28 last year at Southwark Crown Court Customs asserted Sandhu was in possession of false purchase invoices.

Customs is also seeking a confiscation order for 6.6 million in assets and 9000 Nokia handsets worth 1.8 million.

The Governments strategy to hold all companies in a purchasing chain responsible for the VAT debts of fraudsters and missing traders was referred to the European Court of Justice by Mr Justice Lightman on February 12.

The wording of the draft document must be agreed by both parties before the case can go before the European Court of Justice.

FTI solicitor Robert Holland of Dass Jakhu said the next step is to agree the wording of the case to be heard by the European Court.

The case revolves around whether or not the Government had the authority to charge businesses with the VAT that other businesses should have paid.

Wed like the wording to be relatively broad. Customs will want it narrow. It will probably end up falling somewhere in the middle. But until we know exactly what that question is we cant do anything said Holland.

The FTI met on Friday February 27 at Birmingham City football ground to brief its 65 members on events following Mr Justice Lightmans ruling.

The case is not expected to appear before the European Court for another year said Holland.

Meanwhile Mr Justice Lightman has cautioned Customs and Excise to exercise great care before applying the joint and several liability provisions until the issue is decided one way or another.

Smith has been with Vodafone for 19 years. He is on gardening leave until July while another appointment is being sought for him.

I am still at Vodafone and in dialogue with various people. Should nothing become available I will leave Smith told Mobile News.

The new structure marries the sales teams of Vodafone acquisitions Project Telecom and Corporate 4U with Vodafones own business sales teams. MacDougall reports to Vodafone business segment director Ken McGeorge. The indirect sales team will still be run by Iain Graham.

Well have sales and account managers and data and fixed-line specialists. This move takes the best bits of Project Telecom and gives them the muscle of the Vodafone Group said MacDougall.

Carphone Warehouse UK chief executive Andrew Harrison said:

If Andy leaves Vodafone hell be a great asset to any other network.

Mobile industry specialist Graham Sedgley of recruitment firm (cont P2) Peplow has known Smith since 1985 and was stunned that he appeared to have been marginalised.

Andy was one of my first managers when I worked at Vodafone and always enjoyed the strong support of those working for him.

I have recently interviewed some of his former staff and all strongly sing his praises. It seems a shame that Vodafone apparently doesnt have a need for Andys services. I am sure their loss will be someone elses gain.

Vodafone watchers said Smith and Ken McGeorge had rarely seen eye-to-eye.

One trade souce believed that MacDougall had been promised the top business channel job as a sweetener to discourage him from leaving after Project Telecom was acquired by Vodafone.

Theres little doubt Andy has been a victim of politics. Most people familiar with the situation know that he has never got on with Ken McGeorge said the source.

But McGeorge said MacDougalls role was key to promoting the profile of the business sales channel.

Colin will develop a sales strategy to deliver revenue targets consistent with the overall Vodafone strategy and which will balance acquisition and retention of our business customers McGeorge explained.

Although MacDougall comes most recently from Project Telecom he has strong Vodafone credentials.

He is an ex-Royal Marine commissioned officer who has served in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. (See White Lines P44).

In 1992 he was selling telephones in South Africa. Then David Henning boss of Vodafones in-house service provider Vodac hired him as a regional sales manager.

This UK role was only meant to last a year but he was seconded to Fiji for 14 months to set up the Vodafone network there. Vodafone then sent him to Uganda to fulfil a similar role.

MacDougalls appointment comes a short time after a decision by Vodafone UK chief excutive Gavin Darby to set up three segment directors reporting to Nick Read who has been promoted from UK finance director to chief commercial officer.

Richard Daly becomes consumer segment director; Ken McGeorge is business segment director; and Stevan Hoyle is now corporate segment director.

Vodafones new UK finance director is John Townsend who has held senior financial roles with Vodafone in Sweden and Australia.

Darby has also merged Technology Development and Technology Operations into a single function under chief techology officer Chris Burke.

Thando Made (26) of St Julians Road Kilburn was freed on bail until December 30 after spending a night in a police cell. He has worked for The Carphone Warehouse for two years. He is also charged with stealing 380 of mobile phones and other property from the shop.

He faces three charges of falsifying accounts. Police are investigating other offences they suspect the salesman committed against The Carphone Warehouse.

Customs and Excise will from the end of next year no longer be able to launch their own prosecutions for suspected VAT fraud.

An independent Customs and Excise Prosecutions Office (CEPO) will take over Customs prosecution cases. Customs is currently responsible for prosecuting VAT and duties fraudsters. But these powers will be transferred to CEPO the new body recommended by Mr Justice Butterfield in July following an investigation into failed cases involving Customs and Excise. CEPO will be accountable to the Attorney General and will function in the same way as the Crown Prosecution Service with a focus on VAT and duties. However the removal of prosecution powers from Customs should not mean that fraudsters fear it any less.

Tax specialist firm WJB Chiltern has warned that Customs investigators will remain ruthless in seeking out the fraudsters. WJB Chiltern director of VAT and customs investigations Don Mavin told Mobile News:

The new regime should mean that people who have committed offences will be prosecuted successfully. There should be fewer failed cases and more successful prosecutions.

He went on: It wont mean that Customs investigators are any less active and aggressive than (cont P2) before. The independence of the new body is important. To date Customs solicitors have not been sufficiently in control of their cases. Customs lawyers have been too heavily influenced by investigators.

He concluded: The new body should ensure there are fewer breaches of procedure and guidelines. CEPO will decide independently whether to proceed with cases and how to proceed with cases. The arrival of CEPO is welcome but it has been long overdue in coming.

John Joselyn sales director of

Telecom Plus has died after suffering a heart atack.

Joselyn (47) was chatting to colleagues at a 20:20 dealer hospitality event at the Bedford Autodrome last Tuesday when he collapsed.

A 20:20 Logistics spokesperson said: We are all completely devastated by what happened and our thoughts and deepest sympathies go to Johns family friends and work colleagues at Telecom Plus.

John collapsed in one of the hospitality suites inbetween events. Everything possible was done and the para-medics fought hard to revive him. Unfortunately he did not respond and we were told that he had died by medical staff at Bedford Hospital.

We had organised the Jonathan Palmer day as part of a sales incentive and immediately called the event off as soon as this tragedy occurred as a mark of respect. John was a well known and respected figure in the mobile industry and will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him.

Joselyns brother-in-law Chris Evans of Kiss Communications described him as one of the nicest and most generous men you could meet.

Joselyn began his career in the mobile industry at Motorola before spending a brief period as a mobile dealer at Kiss with Evans. In early 1990 he joined Peoples Phone managing the dealer distribution channel. He became sales director and oversaw the opening of over 180 shops in less than 18 months.

Following the purchase of Charles Wigoders Peoples Phone by Vodafone in 1997 he moved to Samsung for a short while. He rejoined Wigoder as sales director at Telecom Plus which is now a leading multi-utility and telecoms provider.

Said Wigoder:

John was the epitome of a true gentleman in all of his dealings and anyone that knew him personally will have been so impressed with his zest for life honesty and integrity in everything that he did. We have all suffered a very deep personal loss with Johns passing.

The funeral will be held in the Tring area towards the end of this week. Anyone wishing to attend should call Chris Evans on 07768 735736.

The three networks are claiming that the results achieved by O2 were misleading. All networks receive the results and it is up to them to publish them or not.

O2 has been the only network to release the figures which come from 22000 test calls on each network in 70 cities and towns as well as A-roads and motorways. (Cont P2)

O2 had come top of the survey with an overall national call success rate of 99.2 per cent between April and September.

The twice-yearly Mobile Network Operators Call Success Rate survey comes from data submitted by the networks which is independently audited by the British Auditing Bureau Telecom (BABT).

The surveys started in 1999 and

Participation is is voluntary with networks are under no obligation to publish results.

This is the first time that more than one network has chosen not to publish the survey data. The networks raised their objections after O2s results were announced

A Vodafone spokesperson said:

For comparative performance data to be of real value for the public it has to be representative of consumer experience and matter in a way that can highlight genuine differences between operators.

As the overall standard of mobile networks has improved the current results may no longer be able to meet these requirements.

Vodafone has reluctantly come to the conclusion that the data risks giving a misleading impression to customers and has therefore chosen not to publish the data.

Orange said:

Orange withheld its results because we dont believe the survey reflects actual usage patterns. We have called for an independent survey to be carried out by an independent third party.

The survey results do not allow consumers to make a valid comparison. We want information that helps consumers choose.

O2 replied:

We are determined not to let anyone take the shine off our achievements. We have always published our figures even when we havent come in first.

O2 said the high level of connection rates were a result of the 100million invested over the last year the deployment of 20 advanced network features to reduce the number of dropped calls and more frequent and vigorous network testing.

Oftel said:

The methodology used this year is exactly the same as in previous surveys.

We are disappointed that the other three networks have decided not to publish their results. We issued a consultation document on November 19 with the explicit purpose of trying to stop this kind of dispute from arising.

Comparable material is useful for the consumer to have. That said operators are completely within their rights not to publish their results.