Staff Reporter

Nash spent eight years with Ericsson as UK and Ireland sales director before moving to Generation Telecom to head up the UK service providers sales and marketing activities.

I am still finding my feet but there is huge potential here commented Nash. I was looking for the right opportunity in mobile following the takeover of Generation Telecom by Vodafone.

Elite is a very strong distributor with more than 10 years experience in the industry. It has key agreements in place with all the top manufacturers and has just secured a contract for Vodafone pre-pay.

Deals will replicate those on offer through its direct retail outlets at Superdrug stores and through its direct telesales channel.

A 3 spokesperson said:

It should launch in the next two weeks. We have a great high street presence already and we have been doing sales direct over the phone for some time.

This is a natural extension of that. A lot of our subscriber base falls into the 18- to 30-year-old age bracket which is very comfortable with browsing and buying online.

The networks online sales pages will be accessible through its website.

On the high street however 3 has quashed rumours that it has bought up retail space from estate agents to extend its direct retail presence.

There is no truth in it. We are not looking at new retail space said the spokesperson.

The 3G network last week launched its cartoon Critters into cyberspace on the new version of MSN Messenger.

This enables users to view animations as well as text and still pictures. 3s Critters are available as emoticons and wallpapers.

The launch forms part of an integrated advertising campaign on MSN and includes banner advertising.

Its about getting people to engage with the brand. It is a good way to reach out to the relevant tech-savvy audience said the 3 spokesperson.

Prior to this people used to send smiley faces on Messenger. Now they can send dancing pandas with angry faces.

Customers can opt to try the service for a fortnight or have up to 25 voicemails converted.

SpinVox offers next-generation speech-to-text services for mobile phones. Users voicemails are delivered directly to their mobile phone through a SpinVox integrated push technology platform.

SpinVox won the Best Innovative Service category at the Mobile News Awards 2005 while CEO Christina Domecq has been nominated as a finalist for the 2005 UK Technology Innovation and Growth Award in the Technology Entrepreneur of the Year category.

SpinVox has also attracted the attention of some of the largest high street mobile retailers and distributors and has already signed deals with The Carphone Warehouse The Link KJC Mobile Phones and Hugh Symons.

4U Business head of marketing Peter Haddock said: In a fast moving business environment our customers needs are always changing and we reflect this by expanding and updating our products and services to ensure weve got the right offering for them.

He added: We are confident that SpinVoxs voicemail-to-text service is going to be very popular with 4U Business customers saving them valuable time and money while increasing their productivity.

Above all SpinVox makes voicemail simpler and more effective for both caller and recipient.

Images of the devices have already appeared on the Internet. The Zoe handset is expected to retail for around $200 ( 110) and the Ellen will be $350 according to reports carried on the Internet.

We havent announced any products with those names so I cant say a lot about them commented Sony Ericsson marketing manager Richard Dorman.

Nothing that weve launched to date has fitted into that profile but as we have seen in the past months and years the whole area of pricing is absolutely key to driving the market.

Dorman acknowledged that Sony Ericsson had responded to the huge growth in pre-pay by launching the K300 and J300 handsets.

It is an area in which we havent been strong to date because of the legacy of the joint-venture he conceded. But cost is key and we are continually looking at it.

He added: From the products we have announced to date it is clear what our strategy is going forward – imaging music and entertainment. We have now launched the K750 and the W800 will be available in August.

We are launching handsets at a lower price point already. The K300 and J300 are available on pre-pay now.

Previously our products have appeared at that price point only towards the end of their lifespan said Dorman.

Sony Ericsson will be launching a range of handsets and accessories in London on June 13.

Thats the view of Superintendent Eddie Thomson head of the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit (NMPCU).

The NMPCU in partnership with the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum (MICAF) has been campaigning to get an amendment brought into the Mobile Telephones (Reprogramming) Act 2002 for some time.

A bill was proposed to go through but got waylaid because of the general election.

Now it is back appearing this time as a subsidiary to the forthcoming violent crime bill meaning it could become legislation in a matter of weeks rather than months.

The current act makes it punishable by up to five years imprisonment to reprogram offer to reprogram or be in possession of equipment that would facilitate the reprogramming of a handsets IMEI number.

However Thomson says that although the act has gone a long way in helping the NMPCU to target and catch perpetrators as it stands each arrest has involved a lengthy police sting to ensure a successful conviction.

At the moment just offering or agreeing to reprogram a phone is not enough to get a conviction – we have to prove that the person had the capability to do that.

So its a case that we have to actually catch them in the act. We want the offer to be the crime.

Thomson draws comparisons with the current laws on ticket touting and drugs.

It is an offence to sell or offer to sell tickets unless you are licensed. Therefore if an illegal tout offers you a ticket he can be convicted whether or not he even had a ticket for sale on him.

Those same laws apply with drugs – just the offer to supply drugs is unlawful and we would like to see the same thing happening with the doctoring of stolen mobile phones. That way we would not have to spend so long on each case.

So far the NMPCU has carried out more than 200 successful operations.

But Thomson is convinced that if the amendment was in place this number would be significantly higher.

Weve carried out more than 200 operations but they have been resource-intensive he explained.

The change would allow us to carry out even more operations with those same resources.

MICAF chief executive Jack Wraith added: The efforts of the NMPCU in tackling this sort of crime has had a very positive impact since it was set up.

We have seen that year-on-year mobile phone crime has been driven down.

But if we can get measures in place to mean that the offices are using their time as effectively as possible that can only mean further reductions in this area which is great for the entire industry.

This is something we have pushed for and we are glad to see that ministers accept the need for action and recognise that changes to the current legislation are necessary.

The Mobile Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey carried out by Aura Corporation quizzed individuals on dozens of criteria such as their perception of network call quality customer service and handset ease of use.

Virgin Mobile merged as leader for customer service with 3 placed bottom among networks.

Samsung took the highest handset excellence rating with NEC coming last. O2 came top in retail satisfaction and product knowledge with Vodafone in bottom place.

A big surprise was a slump in The Carphone Warehouses standing in overall satisfaction.

On quality of reception 3 was rated significantly lower compared with all other networks. For overall satisfaction with networks 3 got an eight per cent ranking well behind Virgin Mobiles 18 per cent.

3 was also in last place on the perception of its customer helpline.

In 2004 we couldnt recruit enough 3 customers to give us a sample size we were comfortable with said Aura managing director Mike Trotman. As a result 3 was not included in the survey.

This time the number of 3 customers was far higher – and they were not satisfied. The network certainly has some problems to address. Loyalty quotients amongst 3 customers are on the floor.

He added that churn would be a massive issue for 3.

There might be a tide of enthusiasm at the moment on the back of its big marketing spend. But that tide will ebb as customers come to renew their contracts.

The survey says in many cases that as soon as 3s customers get a chance to leave they will be off.

3 responded: LG had a software problem with some versions of the LG 8120 handset which caused issues for some customers at the end of 2004 to early 2005.

This has been recognised and fixed. 3 continues to be the UKs leading 3G network winning several industry awards including best network and several awards for innovative services and tariffs.

3s customers continue to use 3s services more than customers on any other network with an ARPU of over 40 well above the industry average. 3s customers recognise our great value and leading range of mobile services.

See centre pages

Dan Biesler research director at Ovum said:

At least it has got it out of a mess. That is the only good thing to come of this. It isnt exactly a glorious exit. It isnt good news for Siemens that it failed to fix the handset unit having promised to do so.

Richard Windsor a telecoms analyst at Nomura remarked: Its a lucky escape. Thats why its such a good deal. Siemens has given BenQ the business debt free.

BenQ has acquired Siemens entire mobile phone business and its 6000 employees. BenQ has acquired the rights to the Siemens brand which it can use for five years.

The deal will be finalised at the end of September when 350 million ( 235 million) in losses will be carried through its accounts.

It is understood that of the losses 100 million are write-downs and 250 million will be paid to BenQ for investments in product harmonisation and patents. Siemens will also acquire a 2.5 per cent stake in BenQ for 50 million.

Windsor added: It will be up to BenQ to turn it around or else suffer the pain. The profitability of the company is down to BenQ as is the responsibility for the employees.

It is a much better deal for Siemens than it is for BenQ. The groups share price has gone up from 56 to 62.5. For Siemens that is a lot because it is a big conglomerate and its share price doesnt change that much. See p20.

The True Tones include songs from Kylie Minogue Robbie Williams Blue and Joss Stone at 3.50 each.

The EMI tracks are available from Orange World and can be downloaded and remixed using Oranges Fireplayer service. News alerts text updates competitions and interviews with EMI artists will also be available to download.

Orange head of commercial relationships and entertainment Mark Ashford said:

The deal with EMI demonstrates our commitment to deliver high quality official content.

EMI Music UK digital media director Danny Van Emden said:

The opportunities we have with Orange allow us to deliver music content direct from our artists in the shortest timeframe possible so that fans have the earliest access to official products rather than cheap and poorly executed imitations.

Partnering with mobile phone companies is a natural progression from our recent web-based deals and puts a wide array of music content into the hands of our consumers.

In a letter Stansfeld said: Your account manager will ensure we share any relevant changes with you once we are in a position to communicate further but at this point in time our focus is very much on business as usual working with you to deliver another successful quarter.

Stansfeld also outlined measures to cut churn revealing that over the coming weeks O2 will spend more on simpler more compelling propositions that reward customer loyalty.

Over the next 12 months we will recruit around 1500 extra customer service advisers and set up a fourth UK call centre to increase service levels to our growing numbers of customers he said.

Phone4U UK owner Abdul Heykali who also runs an independent dealership in south London reportedly wants 100000 for his website name phone4u.co.uk which has been trading for nearly five years.

Lawyers claimed in the High Court last week that Phone4U UK was receiving up to 500 e-mails each week from customers under the impression that they were dealing with the Caudwell Group-owned Phones 4U.

Phones 4U said: Its a trademark infringement case. Its not something were going to talk about.

Were keen not to give it any fuel. Its going on in court and it will stay in court.

Phone4U UK was unavailable for comment.

The trial was ongoing at the time of going to press.