Staff Reporter

The company released a pre-close statement last week that revised previous forecasts on service revenue growth.

Underlying service revenue growth for the half-year was around 11 per cent. As a result O2 said it expected to see a rise in UK service revenue growth of between six per cent and nine per cent for the full year.

The network put the growth down to tighter control on customer churn coupled with strong customer acquisition. In a statement O2 said that it had managed a net increase in customers of 400000. Around 45 per cent of those new customers are contract subscribers.

O2 chief executive Peter Erskine commented: O2 UK continues to perform well in a highly competitive market with our active base growing to more than 15 million customers. The customer retention programmes put in place at the start of the year are continuing to deliver improving churn metrics.

However for all the earnings gains earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation will remain flat compared to the same period last year on a like-for-like basis.

The company said that capital expenditure for the year had increased by 100 million to 15 billion. However this increase will be primarily sunk into Airwave O2s emergency services network.

More details of first-half trading will be announced by the network next month.

It produces and packages streaming news and entertainment content for the major 3G mobile phone operators – 3 O2 and Vodafone – and for the MobiTV channel on Orange.

ITN Multimedia fought off international competition to take first place. Other finalists in the category included Bharti Airtel Turkcell Ringback and ntl On Demand.

The judges commendation said: News is a logical content for 3G and ITN has surely worked out how to deliver it. ITN has not stuck to the television formula of accessible journalism but has extended its brand into entertainment news business news and youth-focused bulletins.

Nicholas Wheeler managing director of ITN Multimedia said: This justifies the commitment ITN has shown to pioneering the new medium. We have a fantastic team of hard-working resourceful journalists who have genuinely created something fresh and new.

This is going to be a great 12 months for 3G.

The network is offering a single flat-rate charge for both voice calls (15p on-net and 35p cross-net) and messaging (10p per SMS 30p per MMS and 50p per video message).

Access to Orange World Extra costs 1 per megabyte of data while TV subscription costs 10 for up to 20 hours usage per month.

Oranges TRY preview service also applies to pre-pay services for a limited period.

Orange is offering seven pre-pay 3G handsets. The Nokia 6680 is available at 269.99; Nokia 6630 at 159.99; Sony Ericsson K600i at 189.99; Samsung Z500 at 239.99; Samsung Z107 at 99.99; Sanyo S750i at 99.99 and Sanyo S750 at 79.99.

LG said last week that its portfolio of devices for launch in Q2 2006 to be previewed at 3GSM in Barcelona in February will be the first LG handsets in the UK to feature unique LG design characteristics.

The marketing push will start in March and run through the year. It will include cinema advertising as well as television and print media.

Weve got fantastic products in the pipeline and we will launch a marketing campaign to reflect the prestige of the new products in Q2 said LG Mobile UK marketing manager John Bernard. LG Mobile will come to life more in 2006 and be very aggressive on the back of the handset range and this campaign.

We want to hammer home the point about LG Mobile as a young vibrant brand. You will see us taking the brand to the key 16- to 25-year-old market and attacking that market segment.

The 2006 campaign comes on the back of LG Mobiles sponsorship of the Action Sports Championships itself worth several million pounds. The Action Sports Championships event encompasses skateboarding BMX and freestyle motocross and climaxes in Manchester on October 21-23.

LG will launch handsets to the open market from next month.

Among the Q2 2006 launches is the LG LP5500 a five megapixel cameraphone with a 180-degree swivel screen and digital camera. Also slated for March is a new device a slim black slider phone that is still under wraps which is just 10mm thick.

The working model shown to journalists in Seoul South Korea last week features a checkerboard keypad and a 1.3 megapixel camera. LG Mobile executive vice president of R&D Skott Ahn said that the launch model would feature a two megapixel camera and appear in both GSM and 3G versions.

LG Mobile vice-president and general manager for Europe Simon Hahm said: The Carphone Warehouse and The Caudwell Group have both expressed excitement at LGs Q2 range already and are both looking to broker periods of exclusivity with us.

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A BenQ spokesman said: Siemens spotted a gap in the market. Women arent catered to in the UK by handset manufacturers. We have an all-female marketing team at Siemens and they have persuaded Germany to produce a limited edition phone aimed at women for the UK market. A lot of our hopes for the Christmas market are pinned on it.

BenQ said that it would launch its first 3G phones in January.

Following the official handover of Siemens Mobile to Taiwanese company BenQ last week Siemens confirmed the appointment of Philip Rambech as managing director. Rambech previously worked at PalmOne and Sony Ericsson.

Philip has only been with us for a week so he has to analyse the situation before he sets out his strategy said the spokesman.

The CL75 will be available from the end of October priced 99.99.

The ongoing poll showed 87.03 per cent of voters thought that the handset was a miss at going to press. This is out of a total of 7908 votes.

The handset which had its world-wide debut at The Carphone Warehouse on October 15 topped the retailers sales for the following weekend but has received a number of bad reviews across the media. Among the criticisms of the Apple iTunes-compatible handset is that it has a limited capacity storing only 100 songs compared with the iPod Mini which can store 10 times that number. Other available handsets such as the Sony Ericsson W800i are also capable of storing many more songs. Another gripe is that the design of the ROKR is based on a handset that has been on the market for more than a year.

A Motorola spokesman said: The ROKR has had some great reviews from publications including The Sun The Guardian and The Daily Mail and topped The Carphone Warehouses sales lead in the first week where it now represents the top-selling phone for subscription based customers in this channel.

Motorola is very excited about where the ROKR is taking mobile phone music and feel it places us at the forefront of this constantly evolving sector of the market.

He was previously trading manager for mobile communications. The retailer said that it was still seeking a replacement for him. In the meantime a new role of mobile phone buyer has been created and filled by Rebecca Hughes who formerly managed franchises such as Star Wars Batman Barbie and Finding Nemo for Woolworths. Cooke will no longer have any involvement in buying mobile phones for the retailer.

John McFarnon chairman of Woolworths distributor Unique distribution dismissed any speculation that the retailers buying relationships were under review as a result of the reshuffle and said he was confident about Woolworths commitment to selling mobile handsets.

He said: Its going to be interesting to see what is going to happen to Woolworths over the next six months but it has put Rebecca in place so it must be committed to selling mobiles.

Woolworths recently reported shaky figures for the half year to July 30. The retailer experienced a pre-tax loss widening by 9.1 per cent to 35.9m compared with the same period a year earlier.

Serene will be launched in Europe Russia and Ukraine during Q4. It will retail in Bang & Olufsen stores for approximately 1100 ( 770) and in select high-end Samsung distribution partners.

When Serene is placed in its docking station and a call is received it automatically opens up and activates the display. If left unanswered it closes again. If the phone is placed in the docking station or used in table mode it can be used as a mini-laptop as the display turns 180 degrees.

The promotion runs until December and the top prize will see one dealer and a guest net an all-expenses-paid holiday to either New York Las Vegas or Los Angeles.

MoCo is also offering dealers prizes every month.

In October they can win a weekend break to Ibiza Amsterdam or Venice. Other prizes are six iPod Nanos and 12 100 HMV Vouchers.

In November winners can choose between Paris Milan Cannes or Rome. Runners up get Motorola RAZRWire sunglasses or 100 John Lewis Vouchers.

December destinations are Monaco Stockholm and Berlin. Other prizes are PlayStation Portables and 100 Dixons vouchers.

Lea would not be drawn on the precise nature of his task except to say it involved working on projects to develop business opportunities outside the usual dealer channel.

Lea was given the job by Carphone Warehouse director of indirect distribution Steve Fraser who he has known since the latter was at 3.

Lea worked at Fone Logistics for four years before an bust-up with Fone Logistics boss Ian Gillespie. Lea hinted that he and Gillespie have now settled their differences leaving him free to join Carphone Warehouse this Wednesday.

Lea joined Fone Logistics from 20:20 where he spent five years as a sales manager. Before that he was an area sales manager at Vodafone having joined from Talkland.