Staff Reporter

Cellcom had sought to overturn Oftel director general David Edmonds ruling that Orange and One 2 One could bypass independent SPs if they wanted to.

The Judge Mr Justice Lightman said Edmonds only had to make sure telecoms services were available to meet demand in general.

These services are available from Vodafone and Cellnet. There is no suggestion that Vodafone and Cellnet do not have ample airtime to meet demands. There is no obligation on the part of the (Oftel) director general to maintain or make available to the Applicants the telecommunication services also of MPCL and Orange.

Commenting on the outcome of the case Cellcom chief executive Paul Cohen said:

We are grateful that Mr Justice Lightman has clarified the position as regards the continuity of supply of airtime services to independent service providers in the future. To maximise competition and choice for our customers it is desirable that we obtain airtime from all the networks.

Whilst this may not be possible mobile number portability will allow all mobile users to obtain our services irrespective of the network that is supplying us at the time.

Oftel director general David Edmonds said he warmly welcomed the judges ruling.

I am committed to promoting competition in the mobile sector and safeguarding the interests on consumers. We believe our licence amendments furthered this aim and were a step towards removing unnecessary regulation. The Judge agreed we were acting within our powers.

The licence modifications which removed the obligations on Orange and One 2 One to provide airtime to service providers was aimed at giving the two networks more freedom in choosing how to mar-ket their products and compete effectively.

College student John Bogle (19) was bailed to appear at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court on May 4.

His bail conditions include staying away from the Edgware Road in Paddington London – the scene of the alleged robbery.

The warning came following a series of disrupted handset shipments throughout the end of 2005 and a cancellation of major marketing events in Dubai following the death of the countrys ruler.

This was compounded by delay in the manufacture of its JAM PDA affecting markets world-wide.

The company said it had taken steps to meet the shortfall in supply for this handset by bringing forward the launch of the JAMIN due to commence shipment next month in most markets outside the US.

It said: The directors continue to expect to report significant year-on-year increased in revenue and profit for the year to March 2006. However the cumulative effect of the factors detailed above is expected to result in sales and profits for the year to March 2006 being lower than analysts expectations.

Former BT Cellnet manager and i-mate founder Jim Morrison was set to become a multi-millionaire when the mobile phone developer he created four years ago floated in London late last year.

I-mate supplies own-brand handsets for a number of UK networks including Orange O2 and Vodafone.

The device which features a full QWERTY keyboard in a new sleek lightweight design will be available from T-Mobile from early February with a recommended retail price of 189.99.

However the handset will be available for just 79.99 on Relax 200 – an 18-month contract with 12 months half-price line rental.

In addition to standard BlackBerry functionality the BlackBerry 8700g was completely re-engineered to boost performance and features an Intel processor as well as 64 MB flash memory and 16 MB SRAM.

Maker Research in Motion (RIM) claims the improvements means the handset delivers faster Web browsing attachment viewing and applications. It also allows users to view common attachments such as PowerPoint Excel and Word.

The e-mail read: 4.99 line rental per month for up to 12 months 30 thereafter 12-month contract. The ASA upheld a complaint that customers would actually have to pay 30 each month and then claim a redemption credited to their network.

The ASA ruled that the headline was likely to mislead as the redemption wasnt fully explained.

The ASA has also upheld a complaint over a T-Mobile press ad picturing a woman in a car.

The body ruled that the ad was irresponsible as it could encourage motorists to engage in other activities while driving.

The network said that UK net service revenues grew by 12 per cent in the three months ending December 31 last year compared with 2004. UK customers increased by 895000 new connections taking the total UK customer base to 14.2 million. 12 month rolling churn fell to 27 per cent from 30 per cent in the same period the previous year.

O2 also revealed how its management structure would be affected by the takeover. Peter Erskine has been appointed as chairman and chief executive while Sir David Arculus has stepped down as chairman to become a non-executive director.

Telefonica general manager of coordination business development and synergies Julio Linares and executive chairman Cesar Alierta have also become non-executive directors.

David Chance Judy Gibbons Stephen Hodge Rudolf Lamprecht Patrick Lupo and Kathleen ODonovan have all stepped down as non-executive directors.

O2 was keen to stress to its channel partners that it was still committed to an indirect strategy. UK sales director Mark Stansfeld said: The overall pie is growing and the direct channel is only a part of that. We need all channels to be successful.

The service called WePay pays pre-pay customers 5p per minute for calls and 2p per text they receive. Customers reclaim their credit when they purchase a new top-up voucher. Credit can be used to purchase any 3 services including music and TV. On top-up pre-pay customers have 30 days to accrue credit.

3 marketing director Graeme Oxby said that 3 wanted to give pre-pay customers a reason to port their number from rival networks a process that normally takes up to seven days.

Because the process can be slow only a fraction of people on pre-pay port their number when they get a new phone he said. Our new reward for picking up calls and texts makes it worthwhile for consumers to move their number.

3 UK sales director Marc Allera explained that the network is putting on a big marketing campaign on the launch on February 1 to drive home the message that it pays to be popular on 3.

We want to reward loyalty and stimulate use he said. There are six million mobile phone users out there with more than one pre-pay account and we want all of that usage on our network. Its a market-breaking proposition.

The company is expected to announce the strategy shift this week and the official launch of the product will be at next months 3GSM show in Barcelona.

As well as positional co-ordinates provided by the GPS satellite network the device will also include full-screen colour 3D maps and voice commands now familiar in many of the current navigation devices.

The news comes as Benefon is preparing for a share issue that it hopes will boost the companys coffers by about ¬13.5 million ( 9.2 million). In the companys most recent interim report published in November last year it revealed operating loss for the third quarter of 2005 was ¬1.6 million up from ¬746000 in the same period the year before.

The company said it hoped to shift 200000 units this year through distributor 20:20 with which it struck a deal in October last year.

It is understood that this months handset announcement is one of a number of such launches set to target both business and consumer customers.

In November and December 3 introduced massive changes to the price book. Commissions were slashed and the channel was left with an unsettled feeling said MoCo communications and operations director Harvey Alexander. We felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under us. Things had been getting better and better with 3 and then all of a sudden it changed in a downward direction.

MoCo switched its focus to T-Mobile which Alexander claims has a more consistent price package.

We read the tea leaves and started pushing T-Mobile. We went into the channel and got more T-Mobile dealers on board. The call centre had started to switch from business with 3 to T-Mobile.

According to Alexander the network had been offering the most consistent package over the past three months.

It dropped the price of the Sony Ericsson K608i by 60 in November he said. Over the past three months sales on T-Mobile contracts have risen by over 700 per cent.

Seemingly in response 3 last week lightened up on its stance on dealer commissions.

Now 3 is offering another 50 commission on the LG Muse. Its trying to win back some custom he said.

Dass Solicitors announced the move at a VAT conference in Birmingham last week that it may seek judicial review of the policy.

Alias Dass of Dass Solicitors said: The closure of UK bank accounts is the next major problem for traders. If the banking problem isnt resolved then the industry will die. We have managed to get evidence that shows that there is some kind of policy to attack mobile phone and CPU traders.

Dass said the firm had obtained using the Freedom of Information Act confirmation of the existence of internal HMRC documentation which states that HMRC has put pressure on UK banks and used the threat of money laundering to make banks freeze traders accounts.

Dass Solicitors is also considering a civil conspiracy action against the banks.

The firm issued an action to challenge Customs for discriminating against exporters for judicial review on December 23.