Staff Reporter

The network has written to service providers apologising for delays. Dealers have complained of ongoing frustration when trying to connect port or migrate customers.

They say the situation has caused intermittent problems with connections which take double the usual time to put through.

From January 28 no connections could be put through for almost four days.

Naeem Khokhar managing director of Cambridge-based dealership Select Telecom said:

My connections team have been experiencing delays with

Vodafone. But the 96-hour problem caused headaches. Staff were chasing deals that should have already gone through.

Gareth Penman of Liverpool-based Voice Telecom was not affected by the four-day problem. but he complains of other delays with Vodafones systems.

He added:.

With Vodafones Sharetime tariffs we have to register an org.id to ensure that all the sharers get free calls.

That is supposed to take a day. In last few months its been taking about two weeks. Some unregistered customers are paying for calls that should be free.

Some Vodafone service providers were blamed for the delays.

Keith Curran managing director of Yes Telecom said:

We were being blamed by our business partners for their connection delays. So I was really pleased when Vodafone wrote a letter and admitted its share of the blame.

A Vodafone spokesperson said:

The success of Perfect Fit for Business has increased demand on our provisioning systems.

This resulted in some system errors causing delays.

We are trying to minimise the impact. We are implementing a new system in the next couple of weeks.

His comments followed a move by 66 MPs who have backed an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons calling for the statutory barring of incoming calls to mobile phone numbers on prostitutes calling cards placed illegally in phone boxes.

The MPs expressed disappointment at the continued inaction of mobile phone operators in implementing this policy.

Mobile phone companies are completely neglecting their social duty to do something about this issue Malthouse said.

There are 12 pages in Vodafones annual report about corporate social responsibility. If people knew what Vodafone is doing and how its behaving over this issue I dont think it would be quite so popular. People would see through that social responsibility and see it as rank hypocrisy.

Vodafone was unmoved and issued a statement in response:

The investigation of an alleged breach of the law is the proper realm of the qualified authorities.

If anyone is aware of illegal activity we would recommend that they report such matters to the police so that they can be investigated appropriately.

We do not wish to set a precedent under which we might be expected to take independent action against segments of our customer base in response to a different perceived social nuisance. To do otherwise is not the legitimate role of a telecommunications operator.

O2 could break ranks with the other mobile operators which have so far remained adamant that such action does not fall into their remit as communications providers.

In a statement O2 said:

We are willing to conduct a trial of barring incoming calls to mobile numbers advertised on prostitutes cards placed in phone boxes.

This however would be subject to certain reservations being satisfactorily addressed. Such a trial would also need the participation of the police and approval from OfCom.

See main feature page 28

They will get the chance to quiz Chris Huff (head of independent retail at Orange) Maggie Kennedy (head of distributor sales at O2) Iain Graham (head of dealer sales at Vodafone) Mark Duncan (head of post-pay at T-Mobile) and Declan Shilton (head of dealer distributor and distance sales at 3).

Hugh Symons skipped its 2004 dealer event to revamp its Unity dealer scheme established in 2001.

Hugh Symons project development manager Sophie Vincent commented:

We have run Unity seminars in the past but there has never been this level of network involvement before. It is a chance for our key dealers to have direct contact with the networks.

Monstermob chief executive

Martin Higginson confirmed that the money had been on the table on Monday evening but said that the board decided to pull out the following morning.

Said Higginson: We have ceased all talks with iTouch. It was completely our decision.

Higginson refused to explain the eleventh-hour withdrawal.

Monstermob issued a statement at lunchtime on Tuesday saying:

Further to the announcement made by iTouch Plc on February 4 2005 which stated that iTouch is in preliminary discussions with Monstermob which may or may not lead to an offer for iTouch the board of Monstermob can confirm that they have terminated all such discussions with iTouch to pursue other opportunities.

Monstermob said last week that it was considering the purchase of an overseas mobile phone content provider as well as in reference to iTouch an acquisition that may constitute a reverse takeover under the Aim rules.

Monstermob has a market value of 87 million less than the 155 million at which iTouch is valued and it would have required a reverse takeover for Monstermob to incorporate iTouch into its business.

Miles is currently managing director of Vodafone New Zealand.

Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin commented:

In New Zealand Tim has led one of the most successful operations within the group.

He is a talented and respected manager. He is very well-placed to execute the strategy that Bill Morrow and his team have put in place.

See Whats in whats out? page 16

Isis mobile data account director Andy Arnold said Isis was so impressed with Reply Mail which is manufactured by Reply Wireless it is offering customers a free trial.

Usually companies pay an an initial set-up fee and a 20 monthly subscription plus usage for each user.

Reply Mail works on any mobile network said Arnold. Like BlackBerry it synchronises with Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange mail servers. However it is compatible with Pocket PC Palm OS devices and Symbian phones so customers dont need to invest in new equipment.

Isis is sending information about the Replay Mail device to more than 130000 Palm subscribers.

This is not about us looking for a replacement for Blackberry it is about us expanding our portfolio. There is still a lot of scope for BlackBerry Arnold added.

Isis based in west London was judged one of the countrys fastest-growing companies in a recent

Sunday Times report.

Which is just as well as 3 is letting Bedders fans upload her BRIT-tastic tune five weeks ahead of its main release. There is a catch though – they have to be 3 customers.

Daniels lil sis who was obviously not prompted by a 3 spin doctor said: Im excited that my videos have been so popular with 3 customers and I hope they enjoy watching I Bruise Easily as much as I enjoyed making it. Not alf as much as we enjoy watching it Nat.

The bulletin said:

The Nokia 6820 version 4.x was found to contain bugs that prevented it from supporting BlackBerry. A short-term network fix was implemented enabling the Nokia 6820 to work despite its bugs. On this basis T-Mobile continued to support BlackBerry on the 6820. This solution will no longer be supported.

Stories that T-Mobile was experiencing problems with the BlackBerry service on the 6820 first emerged last month when Mobile News was contacted by dealers complaining of a glitch.

One told us:

T-Mobile was selling a BlackBerry-enabled device the 6820 to many customers at the back end of last year. All of them were less than chuffed to find on December 20 that

T-Mobile took the e-mail service away from them.

They were particularly upset that T-Mobile didnt give them any warning. The first thing customers knew apparently was when they no longer received their e-mails.

T-Mobile had denied there were any problems however.

This is the finding of a poll of 2000 UK consumers which suggests people are confused by hard-to-use mobile services. This could deter them from upgrading to 3G.

Around 41 per cent of people quizzed were confident that 3G phones and services would be easy to use. But only four per cent planned to upgrade to a 3G phone.

The survey also highlighted gender differences. A sample of 48 per cent of the males were confident 3G services would be easy to use compared with only 35 per cent of female respondents.

The survey was comissioned by Netonomy which provides systems enabling people to manage their accounts online.

Vodafone is currently testing the Silver Phone on behalf of its MVNO venture BT Mobile.

Charities and workers unions are also testing the device as a lone worker solution.

The Silver Phone made by an unnamed Swiss manufacturer has three large coloured buttons backlit and embossed for customers with impaired vision and a built-in loudspeaker phone for customers with impaired hearing.

Its three buttons correspond to three pre-programmed contacts. The emergency services can be contacted by pressing the red button twice. Contact numbers can be changed by contacting customer services.

A Communic8 spokesman said: Vodafone is very close and hopefully BT Mobile will be on the box as a result. Vodafone is already selling the product in Germany and Orange is selling it in Holland.

It is important because it is a growth segment of the market that is completely ignored by the main handset manufacturers.

Communic8 is also looking to fit an anti-radiation device the size of a penny to the phone.

The technology claimed Communic8 was developed by the Russian Space Agency and adapted by a company in Silicon Valley.

Following the Stewart Report into mobile phone safety in December Communic8 was forced to pull its MYMO handset from the market.

The spokesman said: Were looking to box it with an anti-radiation device. We have taken the Stewart Report very seriously.

Our follow-up research has convinced us the industry knows far more than it admits and that the conclusions of the Stewart Report are very serious indeed. We will be the first UK handset provider to fit a technology chip based on bio-technology from the Russian space agency on every device we sell.

The issue of radiation is going to get bigger and bigger. I have seen some of the latest reports and studies from across the EU and it is pretty damaging.

This is the way forward and we believe we will steal a march on the competition.

The Silver Phone is currently available online for 29.99 on contract and 139.99 on pre-pay.