Staff Reporter

Northamptonshire police say four or five men were involved. One of the men was a white male between 30 and 35 years old with a medium build and short blond hair.

A police spokesman said: We know that the handsets taken were manufactured by Sony Ericsson but we dont know what model they were as yet.

This is the second robbery involving Sony Ericsson mobile phones in the space of a month.

More than 5000 Sony Ericsson 3G v800 handsets were stolen on January 4 in Wednesbury in the West Midlands (Mobile News January 28).

Adrian Foot of The Phone Shop in Welling said: Its another source of income thats been slashed from the independent dealer.

Our pre-pay SIM profits were once very healthy. A year ago we were selling 200 SIMs each week. Were probably only doing about 50 now because Orange and the others are selling them direct at nothing prices.

O2 has been doing it for about a year now. Its the same old scenario. Were getting hammered again.

Gary Bridger of Airwaves Communications in Yeovil said:

We used to sell about 20 SIM cards each month but its down to around 10 now. We sell them for about 10 each. People are cottoning on and going online to get hold of them.

Orange has devalued the product again. O2 started offering SIM cards for free online and the others now have to match it. Its another nail in the independent dealers coffin.

Manny Hussain managing director of Paignton-based Intek Communications was more sanguine however.

I understand it from the networks point of view he said. Why charge to put customers on to your network? It doesnt want obstacles. From our point of view thats the way things work.

Responding to the furore an Orange spokesman commented:

Thats just one offer. You get different deals with different dealers. It is just one thing we are trialling at the moment.

But there are a number of deals out there for independent dealers to capitalise on. Its certainly not the case that we arent offering them anything.

See Sharp End page 14

However an internal e-mail from

T-Mobile UK managing director Brian McBride to staff leaked to the Communications Workers Union (CWU) revealed that the number had spiralled to 795.

The figure corresponds to a Mobile News report of the cull which T-Mobile denied last month.

T-Mobile says the figure of 475 has now been amended to 535 and did not include 260 jobs that would be outsourced to other employers.

It claimed 535 losses would be part of natural turnover anyway.

A T-Mobile spokesperson said:

We are going to reduce the number by 795. However the reduction in the headcount by 535 does not necessarily equate to redundancies. If we reduce the workforce by 535 theyre not necessarily enforced redundancies. But I cant say categorically that they wont be enforced.

Nick Childs CWU lead organiser for T-Mobile workers said:

Near enough 800 jobs are going in the UK. All of its operations are currently being reviewed with the intention of cutting 800.

We dont know exactly where those job cuts will come yet but some will go from its Hatfield operation. Three hundred of the 800 jobs will be outsourced by its agencies to other companies and its final salary pension schemes will be affected.

Childs said he believed that call centre staff in Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales Greenock in Scotland and Doxford in the North East are likely to be affected.

We got hold of the information from an internal e-mail that was forwarded to all staff by Brian McBride. We have had quite a few further leaks of the same e-mail as well as further confirmation from staff within T-Mobile.

T-Mobile began consultation with staff and its workers unions on January 21. An announcement from T-Mobile about the whereabouts of the cuts is expected later this month.

But Childs said: Theyre not happy. There is a culture of fear and anger within the workforce. The mobile market has had a rocky ride of late and T-Mobile staff have suffered a lot of cuts. But the UK market is doing well now and just as things are starting to go well they have more potential redundancies hanging over their heads.

T-Mobile responded: Weve been open and fair with employees but it is a sensitive issue and it will take us time to consult with all the staff.

They include independent channel and distribution head Adam Clarke and Anita Birch account manager for The Carphone Warehouse and Henrys wife.

Henry last week e-mailed Orange dealers and distributors a bulletin announcing the recent restructure and organisational changes.

It stated that Henry had created three new positions all reporting directly into myself which I believe will enhance out ability to meet the increasingly challenging objectives faced by the indirect channel.

He outlined the new positions and named the Orange employees that had been promoted to fill them and those who would be would leaving the business as a result.

Simon Wetton formerly commercial manager for dealers and distributors becomes head of multiple retail responsible for The Carphone Warehouse Phones 4U and Dixons Stores Group accounts.

Chris Hough previously Dixons Stores Group commercial manager becomes head of independent retail.

Lee Bonniface who was channel support controller is responsible for all aspects of channel support product forecasting and channel strategy/direction.

Henry confirmed the three redundancies – of Adam Clarke Kate Adam and Anita Birch.

Clarke had been with Orange since launch. Kate Adam was channel marketing manager. Both Clarke and Birch have now left Orange. Adam has been seconded to Orange Retail.

Orange press spokesperson David MacDonald declined to expand on the restructure saying things like this happened all the time.

Siemens will decide by January 27 whether or not to to sell Siemens Mobile possibly to either NEC or Chinese manufacturer Ningbo Bird.

Siemens outgoing chief executive Heinrich von Pierer said Siemens Mobile would be sold or shut down if its poor performance in 2004 could not be remedied. Von Pierer wants a decision made in time for Siemens AGM on January 27 when successor Klaus Kleinfeld takes over.

A Siemens Mobile spokesman said: There have been a few problems within the mobile division. As with any business you have to either fix it or sell it. Our main priority now is to identify the problems – market growth has slowed the prices of handsets have decreased and the competition has increased. We also had a software glitch that affected us through the middle and end of last year and there were delays with launching products to the market.

Data Select marketing director Eric White commented: A sale wouldnt really surprise me. Siemens has got to change something. Its not had a very good 2004.

Motorola marketing director James King agreed: Siemens has always been an interesting package. Eighteen months ago we were rumoured to be looking at buying it. But Siemens Mobile has had a very difficult year and when a manufacturer struggles there is always speculation.

Henning Dransfelt research director at telecoms analysts Ovum said: There is a lot of pressure to address issues with under-performing units in the whole operation. The results for the communications division have not been up to the standards of some of the better performing units. The handset unit has been particularly troublesome pulling the whole division down.

Von Pierer has taken it up with the handset division directly. He wants to present an answer by the time Kleinfeld takes over to keep him out of the line of fire.

Kleinfeld is much younger than von Pierer and has just stepped up to the plate. Von Pierer wants to protect him. Of all its options it is most likely to sell. Certainly if Siemens decided it couldnt fix it this is the solution they would seek.

Dransfelt says the hot favourite to buy is Ningbo Bird which has declined to comment. He argues that Siemens Mobile has a number of advantages such as its channels to market and deals with operators in Europe and the Americas which will appeal to manufacturers.

Access to those markets could well be a factor. It would make it an interesting proposition for someone like NEC suggests Dransfelt which is pushing into Europe but is not well established on the usual operator shopping lists.

Siemens Mobile already has a relationship with both Ningbo Bird and NEC noted Tim Sagar head of marketing at Chinese manufacturer Haier. Siemens has struggled in 2004 and I know Ningbo Bird has intentions to expand into Europe.

Siemens Mobile accounts for a quarter of Siemens total sales but has suffered thousands of job cuts and operational losses in recent years. It is ranked fourth in terms of worldwide handset sales behind Nokia Samsung and Motorola but has lost ground recently to Korean manufacturer LG.

Siemens has under-performed as it has been trying a lot of things to grow its market share and appeal to the mass market and top end as well said Dransfelt.

Under Oranges new 3G tariffs 30 buys 200 monthly minutes 50 buys 400 minutes and 70 buys 700 minutes.

The first handsets available are the LG u8150 the Sony Ericsson Z1010 the Samsung Z107 and the Sanyo S750. The Sanyo S750 is free on any tariff. Premiums are attached to the other handsets of between 49.99 and 119.99.

No pre-pay is available yet and the independent channel wont be brought online until the new year.

Orange was the first operator to demonstrate wireless broadband in Europe five years ago in Bristol claimed CEO Sanjiv Ahuja.

Today we are offering our customers in the UK and France access to the largest 2G/3G network in those countries as well as 3G roaming in six others.

Meanwhile T-Mobile said it would launch its consumer 3G services in time for the January sales. T-Mobile is going for a soft 3G launch with just a single handset the Nokia 6630.

O2 says it will launch the fastest 3G network of all the networks in the summer with the deployment of a super-fast 3G data network that uses HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) and IMS (Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem) technologies.

See full story page 18

Hassan Mouhsine (27) of Sinclair Road Kensington London was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of blackmail. Mouhsine admitted making unwarranted demands with menace against employees of Phones 4U relating to a 3 million demand against the company and its chairman John Caudwell.

Detective Inspector Roger Dutton of Staffordshire Police said:

This has been a very successful operation. Staffordshire Police carried out a thorough and detailed investigation which led us to London and the arrest of Mouhsine following an undercover operation.

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Lees revealed exclusively to Mobile News the sting that led to Mouhsines arrest.

John Caudwell contacted us in August after Phones 4U received a number of demands by e-mail and telephone he said.

The demands were coming from a former Phones 4U salesman. Mouhsine was demanding 3 million from John Caudwell in order not to make public details of alleged fraudulent activity at a number of Phones 4U branches specifically the Oxford Street branch in London.

Mouhsine was a salesman at the Oxford Street store until a year ago but was dismissed for dishonesty.

DCI Lees said he believed the Caudwell Group thought that was the motive behind his demands.

Although he admitted the offence in court Mouhsine claimed his demands were only empty threats and he never planned to carry them out.

He said he was joking and that he never intended to take the money said DCI Lees. But we proved that his threats were not idle. We produced hard evidence linking him to the phone calls and the e-mails. These were very threatening and malicious. This led to him being charged and gave him no choice but to plead guilty.

DCI Lees concluded:

This sends home the message to blackmailers that we take this offence very seriously and will put a lot of resources into finding those responsible whether their victim be John Caudwell or any other person.

A spokesperson for John Caudwell commented:

The matter is closed. Weve decided wed rather not comment.

Dealers gave the move an enthusiastic welcome but were also aware of the work that would be involved.

Nigel Harrison of Midlands-based Phonebox said: Orange is looking for people who are committed to doing it. The idea is that we should have staff who are specialists in this area. These would be people who really know their stuff about data and can go out and sell it.

It could be really good by making it an elite tier rather than something thats open to everyone. It would be a better accolade to have and would be something that could really drive revenue in this area.

As elite data specialists we could grab the attention of the IT managers who normally dont speak to mobile dealers – its giving us a backdoor angle and I think it could be very strong.

Ian Robinson of MoCo Cell Link added: Data sales are very complicated. Out of 15 salesman we have hired two data specialists because data is not about selling a product its a solution. Youve got to understand all parts of it.

Paul Leonard of Sprint Communications said: Weve been talking about data for the past two years without much action but now we have 3G and its useful speeds its time we started exploiting it.

Orange explained the development saying:

We regularly meet with our Orange Business Specialist partners. At three regional events last week we discussed several thoughts about the development of the programme. These included looking at how we can support Orange Business

Specialists in a retail environment.

A T-Mobile spokesperson said:

Sandy has resigned from his position as marketing director but hasnt actually resigned from T-Mobile as a whole. I cant announce his new position just yet.

Munros resignation comes as

T-Mobile last week made another 30 employees redundant. It is understood this is part of an internal cost-cutting exercise called Save For Growth which aims to slash 78 million in operational costs most of which will come from the indirect channel.

T-Mobile informed at least 14 staff of the changes in an internal conference call on November 15 and gave them two months redundancy.

All 14 employees are part of T-Mobiles direct SME sales team which will be disbanded and the accounts handed back to independent dealers.

It is believed T-Mobile took the decision to break up its SME sales team because it was under-performing and because it had fallen well short of attaining a 10 per cent share of the business market as management desired.

The Department of Trade and Industry is routinely investigating the dismissals because of the high numbers affected. T-Mobile declined to comment on this move.

A source close to T-Mobile told Mobile News:

This further signals T-Mobiles intention to go for its own stores and the web. It fits with [MD] Brian McBrides vision. He wants all the business to be done on the web and through the networks own stores. He has ripped 12 heads out of the training team and 14 people from the SME business as well as five or six supervisory and administrative roles.

The business handled by the now defunct SME sales team is being given back to independent resellers.

T-Mobile said that more job cuts had been announced in the networks campaign management team bringing the total number up to around 30.

T-Mobile head of business sales Simon Ainslie called the moves a matter of good housekeeping. He said that 22 of the 30 staff would be given different roles and that the company was actually bolstering activity in the independent channel.

Ainslie confirmed that it would take four weeks before the proposed job cuts took effect and that an internal works council was taking charge of negotiations.

All these positions are in consultation at the moment. Some of those affected will reapply to other roles. As part of EU law we have to consult the employee council which represents the company. That process takes four weeks said Ainslie.

People will pigeonhole the news as T-Mobile moving away from the indirect channel. But actually were putting more into the indirect channel as our SME business will go through this channel.

We are going to re-employ 22 out of the 30. So the net loss will only be eight positions. We will support the ongoing sales distribution strategy to drive our SME business through the indirect sales channels. Examples of this are our launches with Genesis and Yes Telecom.

We are refocusing our SME business through our partners. The proposals also affect our campaign management team. We are refocusing that resource and taking heads out of there to put them in front of the customer.

As an example The Carphone Warehouse will have a dedicated manager rather than a centrally-focused resource.

Its about putting the best resource in the right place said Ainslie.

There is a shift in the business on the consumer contract side from the indirect to the direct channel. But we are actively disengaging the direct SME business. Were taking our direct team out and the independent dealers will have free rein.

The network sent out a strong memo last week saying selling handsets and SIM cards separately was forbidden and that packaging has been changed to reflect this.

The memo stated:

You will see that we have changed the packaging of all new SIM packs to state: Not For Resale – Property of Hutchison 3G UK Ltd.

The reason for this change is to ensure that it is clear that the SIMs are and remain our property and are not to resold separately from the handsets supplied.

Please note that under the terms of your agreement with 3 the SIMs remain our property and you must NOT sell or supply any component items contained in the handset box (including the SIM) in different combinations or packaging to those intended by 3.

In addition you must also NOT sell or supply any component items contained in the handset box (including the SIM) to ANY third party who intends to on-sell or on-supply any of the component items contained in the handset box in different combinations or packaging to those intended by 3.

Any attempt to do so will be a breach of your agreement with 3 and may lead to 3 ending your agreement. In addition criminal and/or civil proceedings may also be taken in order to recover the SIMs which remain 3s property.

One dealer told Mobile News:

3 must have been getting stung to act in this way. It seems some have been guilty of box-splitting.

He blamed the increasingly low prices being offered by high street retailers. I think people are going to Woolworths buying pre-pay cheap and then exporting the handsets and selling on the SIM card.

However a 3 spokesperson insisted that the memo was sent out as a precautionary measure.

Box-breaking is not an issue for 3 and our recent work with retailers has been precautionary.

Ahead of this busy period and the anticipated high volume of sales 3 is simply re-emphasising the importance of selling our products in the appropriate way. These rules have been put in place to protect the customer and the retailer – not just 3.

She added: 3 monitors its sales process by talking to its distribution channels regularly as well as ensuring that handsets are activated at the point of sale where possible.

3 works hard to ensure it is bringing the right customers on to its network we hope retailers understand what were doing and why at this very busy time for 3 and thank them for their support.