Staff Reporter

Ashveen Moorghen 26 of Manor House is charged with attempting to obtain a mobile phone worth 90 from Phones 4U in Oxford Street by using someone elses credit card.

He is also charged with stealing a Nokia handset belonging to a Christopher Stuhrenberg on February 20 and theft of a Wells Fargo credit card belonging to the same man.

Moorghen is also charged with using the credit card to buy a pair of Nike training shoes from Foot Locker in Oxford St.

The NMPCU the polices specialist mobile phone crime task force wants to encourage more retailers to register their customers details on the National Crime Register at the point of sale. At the moment the Carphone Warehouse is the only high street retailer that does this.

The Register was launched by Home Office Minister for Police Hazel Blears in January.

It effectively links four databases of information together creating one central resource where police officers can cross-check information against all four in one fell swoop by inputting the IMEI number of any phone.

The databases include the Crime Reporting Information System (CRIS) which is used by the police to record details of all crimes ranging from street robbery to rape and the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) which features the blacklisted IMEI numbers of stolen handsets and was launched as part of the Immobilise campaign.

There are also the Mobile Equipment National Database (MEND) which was set-up to allow members of the public to record details of their mobile devices so they could get them back if they were recovered and the Stolen Equipment National Database (SEND) which records details of stolen equipment.

So far 13 million people are registered but with 61 million phones in the UK there is still a long way to go.

By the end of this calendar year I would like to at least 20 million phones registered on the database and we seek the industrys help and innovation as to how we can do that said Detective Superintendent Eddie Thomson head of the NMPCU.

This register is a great asset but to make it work we need people to register their phones. The way to do that is to register your phone at the point of sale so we are encouraging the mobile industry large and small to get people to register their phones.

All we need is the customers name alternative contact number hopefully an e-mail address and details of the property. That goes into the system so that when the police enter a handsets IMEI number all that information comes up.

To help the industry understand the role they can play the NMPCU carried out a pilot scheme in Hammersmith and Fulham throughout January in which they visited every mobile shop in the borough. This is now being rolled out across London.

The idea is that we visit the mobile retailers talk to them about what we do and how we can work together explains Thomson. We have a pre-set presentation about the register we give advice about crime prevention about handling stolen goods and about reprogramming and we exchange information about who people are.

Thomson says the police hope to have visited every mobile shop in London by the summer but says the scheme could even widen its scope to have national reach. Theres significant interest in this from other police forces so conceivably every phone shop in the country could be visited.

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TTG announced last week it has agreed heads of terms for the sale of Anglia for 10 million by the end of the month.

Acting CEO and TTG financial director Julian Synett said:

Weve seen an opportunity and were taking it. We paid 6.8 million for the business originally and have a good cash offer now. We wont say who the interested party is. It is up to them to announce it when they are ready.

Sources have identified either The Carphone Warehouse or Alternative Networks as the secret buyer.

But Carphone Warehouse chairman Charles Dunstone denied that his company was involved.

Alternative Networks chief operating officer Ben Marnham said:

Its very difficult for me to comment. We are a publicly listed company so I cant comment on anything to do with mergers and acquisitions.

A source close to TTG dismissed as rubbish speculation that former managing director Aidan Coughlan is in the frame to buy into Anglia again.

TTG said that 6.5 million from the proceeds of the 10 million Anglia sale will pay off its outstanding UK bank debt and 1.1 million will cover the final instalment of the original purchase price. The balance will be available to the group as working capital.

TTG is also looking at offers for its fixed-line businesses in Holland and Belgium.

Said Synett:

Weve had approaches for the Dutch and Belgian businesses and we are considering them. We still havent made any decisions. If we were to sell them TTG Europe would revert to a cash shell. Our handset distribution unit Phone Direct is to all intents and purposes no longer trading.

The UK breakdown of its results included Virgin Mobile subscribers which Virgin calculated as 5.026 million at December 31.

T-Mobiles UK customer base remains largely pre-pay with three million contract and 12.7 million pre-pay customers.

T-Mobile UK put on 2.1 million new customers in 2004 with 500000 joining in Q4. ARPU dropped to 20 per month. Non-voice revenues were 17 per cent of ARPU.

Earnings before profit depreciation amortisation and interest were up 26 per cent to 925 million on revenues of 2.9 billion.

T-Mobile UK managing director Brian McBride said:

We have focused both on our T-Mobile-branded business and on our wholesale strategy.

We are now the largest mobile operator in the UK by number of customers using our network.

We have continued to innovate building our leadership in integrated 2G 3G WiFi devices and our Office in your Pocket services.

Half-year results for the period July to December 2004 were released this week and showed a net profit across the group of 60 per cent.

The market has grown because of 3G and Hutchison 3G said Avenir Telecom UK managing director Ishai Novick.

We have grown with the market and also grown our share of that market he said.

Cosgrove who has previously worked for Motorola and Avaya joined Your Communication in December last year to drive sales in the Midlands region.

He says he was forced to get rid of staff that werent up to scratch.

People were under-performing. I decided to have a clear out and this led to five people leaving. I have hired six new sales staff and I am confident that we can go out and win business.

Your Communications has always had a presence in the Midlands but it has not been utilised to best effect. We are going to be out on the high street banging on doors.

I am looking for half a million pounds of new business a month said Cosgrove

The handsets were being transported from High Wycombe to the Riverside industrial estate in Northampton in a white Mercedes van. As the driver approached the drop-off point a man appeared smashed the drivers window and opened the door to the vehicle.

He forced the driver into the passenger seat threatening to stab him if he alerted anyone before violently pushing him out of the passenger door and driving away.

Northampton Police found the stolen van 20 minutes after the robbery dumped on the Bedford Road near to the Barns Meadow roundabout but the entire mobile cargo was missing.

The Mercedes van has the registration BN54 TNV. The thief is white with a medium build. Police are asking anyone with information to call 01604 700700.

Sami Krasniqi (29) was already on bail for another offence when he sneaked up behind the woman and grabbed her Sony Ericsson mobile from her bag and ran out of the shop chased by staff.

He was caught a few roads away having thrown the phone into a front garden during the chase. It was retrieved.

In another similar case beggar Ahcene Naar was remanded in custody after being caught trying to rob a man talking on his mobile outside a pub in Paddington on

February 10.

Details of the new 2005 entertainment and imaging-led strategy will be unveiled at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes this week.

Having established a profitable base and a reputation for quality innovation and design in 2004 this year will see us expand our product portfolio and challenge the market once again with new thinking and stunning designs said Sony Ericsson president Miles Flint.

3G will also become increasingly important as the year progresses. Although 3G sales amounted to less than five per cent of the overall market in 2004 we expect this segment to come close to 10 per cent of overall volumes during the year with further rapid expansion in 2006.

Flint and other executives will outline the companys strategy for 2005 how the company will expand its product range and how consumers will be offered a new experience with their handsets.

Sony Ericsson handsets on display in Cannes in a 630 square metre pavilion will be the V800 for Vodafonenominated for an award as Best 3G Handset by the GSM Association as well as the K700 S700 and P910.

In 2004 the T610 won the award for Best handset terminal or device during the GSM Associations Awards evening at the 3GSM World Congress.

The virtual network already sponsors the Kiss FM Breakfast Show MacKenzie Group Barfly venues and the V Festival.

The TRL deal which was put together by Viacom Brand Solutions starts from next week and will run for a year.

It will enable Virgin to tap into TRLs association with celebrities music and entertainment as well as engage with the shows youth audience.

TRL viewers will see Virgin Mobile start and end credits bookending the show and at ad breaks. Online activity will comprise a Virgin Mobile-branded area on the main TRL website.

The area will include biographies of the TRL presenters and weekly listings of guests and artists on the show as well as bespoke Virgin Mobile games and competitions. Users will have the opportunity to download desktop wallpapers and screensavers and sign up for a weekly TRL newsletter.

Users of Bites Virgins interactive mobile content service will be able to receive exclusive interviews from the stars appearing on TRL plus images and the opportunity to win tickets to the TRL show.

Commenting on the deal

Alison Corfield head of consumer communications at Virgin Mobile said: Part of Virgin Mobiles success is its strong youth appeal. The partnership with MTVs TRL sees a collaboration of two youth brands with shared values united in their use of music celebrity and irreverent humour.