Staff Reporter

Ashley Simon 25 of Playfield Crescent East Dulwich will be sentenced on March 12.

T-Mobile is the third UK operator to officially switch on its network behind 3 and Vodafone. Orange and O2 have not yet confirmed when their 3G services will go live.

T-Mobile says a group of corporate users will be trialling high-speed mobile data services using dual-mode 3G/GPRS PC cards.

These offer broadband data speeds of up to 384kbps within T-Mobiles 3G coverage area. Outside this area the PC cards switch over to lower-speed GPRS.

A shortage of handsets means the network doesnt expect to launch commercial services before the summer at the earliest.

A T-Mobile spokesman said: We will be launching commercial services in the next few months once handsets become available. At the moment we have no handsets.

T-Mobile UK managing director Brian McBride added: Making our 3G network live is a major milestone in the evolution of the UK industry.

The investigation and suspensions follow an internal audit.

Phones 4U managing director Peter Green said:

I can confirm that our internal auditors detected that in an isolated incident the correct procedures for processing new contracts were not being followed at the Inverness branch.

He went on: We treat this kind of incident extremely seriously and a thorough investigation is in progress to ensure it does not happen again.

This episode also demonstrates the effectiveness of our auditing system which immediately brought this situation to the attention of our security team.

One independent dealer who is familiar with the Phones 4U regime said:

Staff are under a lot of pressure to make connections. When a customer is persuaded to sign up they are asked what proofs they have on them. If the customer has only one proof they proceed with the connection but ask the customer to bring in a further proof.

This rarely happens however so I have heard that staff are tempted to create utility bills using computer software.

Meanwhile a male ex-Phones 4U employee is expected to appear in court on June 3 charged with various offences relating to contract fraud.

Newings task is to develop marketing campaigns that will run across the region.

The global restructure of Siemens mobile operation allows the newly created regions to deliver more relevant local marketing campaigns which will increase awareness and demand for the Siemens mobile brand he said.

Newing has worked in the Siemens mobile marketing team for three years. He reports to Jonathan Bate vice-president of Siemens mobile Northern Europe.

East also accused Maxon of failing to honour its duties as a manufacturer to replace faulty goods and supply warranty information within the handset packaging.

East said there was a 50 per cent returns rate on a batch of MX7920 handsets he bought through Fone Logistics. East claimed the model was so bad it should never have been allowed on sale in the UK.

This handset was clearly not of merchantable quality. To say they were problematic is an understatement. Half were faulty. Maxon is refusing to exchange the handsets. It insists on repairing the stock.

East said Fone Logistics was prepared to replace or credit him for the faulty handsets. But it then withdrew this offer after receiving so many faulty handsets back.

How can a manufacturer get away with offering so little support. Should it not be mandatory that all companies selling product in the UK deal with any warranty complication direct with the customer?

All goods sold should have a warranty booklet containing helpline numbers and companies should arrange uplift and repair or swap out the goods concerned.

Maxon UK sales manager Robert Johnson admitted there had been a software glitch on the MX7920 but he said Maxon has done all it could to honour warranty claims through its UK distributors.

We suffered a 20 per cent return rate with the MX7920 due to a software glitch. We identified the fault and replaced the MX7920 with an improved MX7922 he said.

Any dealer who has suffered faults with MX7920 has been offered MX7922 exchange handsets through our UK distributors Phones International and Baillies.

We dont have an agreement with Fone Logistics. If the dealer contacts us we will be happy to deal with the problem.

Fone Logistics boss Ian Gillespie commented:

We bought the Maxon stock in the UK. We have a seven-day returns policy. Outside that we will only exchange a handset if the replacement will be honoured by the manufacturer.

Maxon has told us it would only repair the units. We are trying to resolve the problem.

The multimedia CX65 handset features a 65000-colour screen integrated video camera and 11Mb of memory. The clamshell CF62 is equipped with Java GPRS WAP and polyphonic ringtones. It provides five hours talk time and 220 hours standby time.

Wolontis has been with Nokia for 10 years. Most recently he was general manager for Nokia Mobile Phones Export Sales heading sales operations for over 70 countries.

Before this Wolontis was responsible for Nokia mobile phone sales in Finland Russia the Commonwealth of Independent States and other Baltic countries.

At a VAT tribunal meeting on February 9 the operators and the Government agreed on how the case would proceed and what evidence and witnesses would be required.

The operators started their action in October last year.

The operators case surrounds the 3G licence auctions held four years ago.

Under the sixth EU VAT directive neither the Government nor any public body is allowed to charge VAT on any supplies it makes including radio frequency.

However the operators argue that the 3G licence auction in 2000 which raised 22.5 billion was handled in a different way because it was designed to bring as much money as possible.

The operators claim that the Government handled the sale of 3G spectrum in a commercial capacity rather than that of a public body.

If the courts agree it could mean that the operators combined payment of 22.5 billion to the Government was inclusive of VAT meaning they would collectively be entitled to a 4 billion VAT refund.

None of the operators would offer a statement on the matter.

A similar case is set to be heard before the European Courts shortly.

Communications which uses modulated magnetic rather than electromagnetic radiation to communicate with the headset.

An earpiece with a small processing unit connects to the phone via an adaptor and enables handsfree voice ommunication within two metres. The modulation frequency is between 10kHz and 15kHz which is well away from potential sources of interference. Security is assured by a 16-digit pairing code and the units limited range.

The same chipset can be used for data transfer at speeds of up to 204 kb/s.

European Telecom says the M100 offers advantages over Bluetooth devices both in terms of battery life and security.

The Mobicell unit has a three-month stand-by and 25-hour talk-time from one AA battery and the company claims it offers greater clarity. It does not need to be electronically paired and is impervious to Bluejacking whereby people flash unwanted messages to other Bluetooth phones in their vicinity (see feature P28).

European Telecom MD John Drinkwater claimed most people do not want a device that works more than two metres away.

As multimedia terminals become the norm users will demand true hi-fi sound which isnt a realistic proposition using Bluetooth he said. Well be bringing a stereo headset to market using Auras technology.

European Telecom will sell the 60 M100 to other distributors as well as selling direct to networks and retailers. It will be on the market by the end of February.

Small-scale retail trials have been carried out and have apparently gone well.

We kept it low-key until we were completely satisfied with both the quality and the potential of the product said Drinkwater.

Founded in 1995 Aura Communications has raised over $21 million in venture capital including a significant investment from

Motorola Ventures.

When Virgin Mobiles lawyers faced their T-Mobile counterparts across the negotiating table to hammer out the dissolution of the blighted joint-venture there was little doubt they felt they were playing with a stacked deck in their favour.

While no one at Virgin or T-Mobile is allowed to divulge details of the settlement its widelyaccepted that Virgin paid T-Mobile a nominal 1 for T-Mobiles 50 per cent share.

T-Mobile must have realised that losing a further court case against Bransons empire could have cost it its entire 50 per cent stake in Virgin Mobile. The termination provision of the joint-venture would have enabled Virgin to walk away with all the shares and move the entire business to another network.

With its new contract Virgin Mobile is still free to shift its entire base to another network. But at least under the new scenario T-Mobile has received a 10-year commitment from Virgin Mobile albeit a non-exclusive one.

Thus T-Mobile gets the certainty of a solid revenue stream at least until 2014 and a share of the cake – something it would have missed out on entirely should it have lost out in any further litigation.

Virgin Mobile now has the freedom to enter into discrete alliances with other networks for different technology offerings. It could for example approach 3 and launch a 3G service using 3s infrastructure.

This would give Virgin Mobile a mix of customers. Some would be on 3. Others would remain on T-Mobiles GSM system. All Virgin subscribers would deal with the same call centre product literature and personnel but a different network would serve them.

This freedom could come at some cost to Virgin. The virtual network has denied reports it could lose up to 30 million now that T-Mobile doesnt have to pay Virgin 4.50 a month for customers who stayed inactive for up to a year.

But at least one analyst reckons that the end of the 4.50 payments under the old joint-ventures Telecoms Supply Agreement could mean 20 million less revenue for Virgin Mobile.

Apart from that it is business as usual for Virgin Mobiles 1700 employees and 3.6 million customers. The fact that the Virgin Group now owns Virgin Mobile outright clears the pipe that was clogged by legal shenanigans. It also frees Virgin Mobile to get on with new strategies and launch new technologies such as premium messaging and MMS.

Litigation

A lot of the litigation was making people walk though mud said Virgin Mobile corporate affairs chief Steven Day. There is a whole series of things that were delayed such as MMS. All of that is unblocked and we are free to manoeuvre. Youll find other services quickly coming on-stream.

The virtual network will now also expand into the independent dealer channel. When Virgin Mobile first started in November 1999 it did not have the experience resources or expertise to sell through any other outlets other than its own V.Shops and Megastores.

Over the years however this distribution channel has expanded to include supermarkets Dixons The Carphone Warehouse and more recently specialists such as KJC. Sales from these non-Virgin retail outlets now account for half of all Virgin Mobile connections.

The virtual network has also started to explore other relationships with firms such as the Gadget Shop chain. Hitherto however it has left the mainstream independent dealer channel untapped. But now that it has nearly four million customers chief executive Tom Alexander has decided the time has come to explore the independents with more adventure and intent.

Were more able to cope with more things going on said Day. In the early days we didnt have the personnel and experience to deal with a huge number of stores so we kept the operation small. Weve grown organically.

He added: Now we have a very strong sales team led by Graham Hutchinson. Weve lots of people who worked at other mobile companies who have experience of dealing with the independent channel. We now find ourselves with the capability to expand.

See Comment P14