Staff Reporter

The news that third parties will also be able to market the tariff will calm growing dealer concern that they would be offered exclusively on 3s website.

A 3 spokeswoman said: These online tariffs have been developed specifically to meet what the type of tariff a person who purchases a handset online is looking for and we think they will be very popular.

The tariffs are available via three.co.uk but we are also allowing third party access which means that should a customer wish to they can sign up to these tariffs in the normal channels.

3s new online tariffs for customers who buy directly from its website. The new price plans Online 675 (75 minutes and 600 texts for 20 a month) Online 950 (150 minutes 750 texts and 25 video minutes and 25 photo/video messages for 25) and Online 1400 (300 minutes 1000 texts 50 video minutes 50 photo/video messages and 5 inclusive downloads for 30 a month) became available on September 1.

3 dealer and Mobile News columnist Jez Harris said it was good news that dealers werent being cut out of the loop. Id heard that 3 were going to be offering these online deals exclusively to direct customers he said.

Now Ive heard from my distributor [Hugh Symons] that 3 are going to give us third party access. I havent seen the commercials yet but as I understand the margins are very very small.

However historically networks offer direct deals that we cant have a hope in hell of matching so its good news that even with a small margin 3 are allowing us to offer these tariffs.

Wed make a lot more commission by getting a customer one of 3s other price plans but at least this way if a customer comes in and asks about these tariffs we can sell it as opposed to saying sorry no chance.

Two other tariffs were also available from September. The first Video Talk and Text 350 gives punters 200 minutes 100 texts 25 video minutes 25 video/picture messages for 25 a month. Meanwhile Video Talk and Text 1300 gives punters 1000 minutes 150 texts 50 video minutes 50 video/picture messages for 60 a month.

He said: In the last few months a number of players have not given the consumer the best value for money and there has been a lot of bad press about content providers that have failed to put the customer first. Some have duped customers into signing up for things that they dont want.

Commenting on the latest half-year figures Higginson said that Monstermobs UK subscriber base had stalled at around 400000 in the first half of 2005 as its strategy switched to customer retention and away from advertising. However the company hopes to take advantage of a real music download service in the run up to Christmas.

He said: Our focus has been to improve content and the consumer experience to the benefit of subscriber retention. There has been some regulatory uncertainty in the market and these factors together have informed our cautious approach to marketing spend particularly in print media. Therefore subscriber numbers have remained at around 400000.

Monstermob reported strong trading across all territories for the six months to June 30. EBITDA was 4.1 million on net revenues of 14.1m for the period with 3.1 million net cash inflow from operations. Among the highlights for the period was a four-fold increase in its US business and the acquisition of businesses in the Philippines Malaysia and China.

Despite the 191 per cent increase in shipments Symbian said that its share of the overall market remained small and that it needed to focus on higher volume devices.

Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford said: We are delighted by Symbians H1 performance but shipments of Symbian OS phones remain small relative to the overall handset market.

Symbians strategic focus must remain on driving increased shipments through the adoption of Symbian OS for further handset models and particularly for the development of lower price mid-range handsets designed to ship in higher volumes.

Symbian said that 54 different Symbian OS devices from seven different manufacturers shipped in the first half of the year; more than in the whole of 2004. It has so far launched 16 3G devices in Europe and Japan.

Symbian launched OS Version 9 in February to help it crack the mid-range mobile phone market.

The first device to launch with Version 9 will be the Nokia N91 expected in Q4.

Just before the distributor hit the financial troubles that eventually led to it going into administration VK decided to part company with Unique and handle its own fulfilment.

But they lured Hicks to follow suit by offering him a healthy wage package. Under Hicks VK Mobile has seen its UK sales soar with the red and pink variants of the clamshell VK 530 particularly enjoying huge sales via Vodafone retail.

Hicks told Mobile News that he has parted VK on good terms but felt it was the right time to leave so that he could start up his own business in technical authoring.

I have been looking for the right opportunity to start up on my own; its an itch I have wanted to scratch for some time he said. I now believe that I have found the right opportunity.

I am developing a project that has come out of the work I have done over the last year. I am in discussions with a number of companies regarding localisation solutions for the UK and Ireland market.

I believe that there are opportunities to assist new entrant companies into UK and Ireland with a variety of go-to-market tools and services. These will help the new entrants with access to sales channels and enhancement of the end-user experience through better product collateral and support.

Hicks said he was not sure who was being lined as his replacement. Part of my role at VK was a strategic review of the UK organisation. I am sure there will be an announcement from VK in the near future.

And he insisted that despite his departure he believes the pieces are in place for VK to continue to enjoy good sales in the UK market. The structure of the UK and Ireland business has been put in place and the business plan is being implemented he said. I believe the future will be good for VK.

Teamworking is what VK excels at. I still have an excellent relationship with VK and I dont see that changing.

Live streams into the house made up 90000 hits on the 3 service. 3 offered Big Brother fans live action from the house 24 hours a day plus video highlights a trivia game a weekly poll competitions eviction night tickets wallpapers and ring-tones. The 3G network even offered users 3s very own video diary room.

Hoyle quit in June after fours years with the network. After 10 weeks gardening leave he was able to take up his new position at LG earlier this month.

Id already heard about LG the clincher was John Barton coming on board. Hes someone with a great reputation in the industry and I was keen to work with him he said.

Hoyle who has also spent stints working for Orange DVH Distribution and TCL added: The key attraction to joining LG is that it is the last manufacturer to make real inroads in the UK. My role will be to build up the portfolio within O2 and build up the sales that we have.

Barton said that Hoyles joining was a real coup. We are obviously pleased to have Chris joining the team. He brings with him a wealth of experience gained on the operator side with both T-Mobile and Orange and a full understanding of the competitive nature of the handset business. He will prove to be a real asset to the expanding LG Mobile team.

Haddow will take up a new role as business development director for Harlow-based games console and software distribution company Gem Distribution.

I am leaving after five-and-a-half wonderful years he said. The reason is quite simply down to my personal ambitions and my family. Nokia is a fantastic company to work for but I was doing an awful lot of travel as part of my job.

Ive been in the role for a year-and-a-half but with two young children I felt the time was right to find something UK-based. At the same time it was important for me to find something challenging and my new role will certainly be that.

Haddow joined Nokia in 2000 as business development manager. He was then promoted to head of product marketing. A further step up the corporate ladder saw him promoted to his current position.

But Haddow said that even in his new role he will still have ties with Nokia. Gem is one of the UK hardware and games software distributors for the Nokia N-Gage so Ill still be keeping in touch with some of my old colleagues.

Haddow is working out his notice until September 9.

Dutch operator KPN confirmed last week that it held discussions with Deutsche Telekom about the joint-acquisition of O2. The deal originally mooted by Deutsche Telekom would have seen it acquire a controlling stake in O2 UK and Ireland while KPN took charge of O2 Germany. However both companies said that preliminary talks had been abandoned.

An O2 spokesman said: At no point have they contacted O2 or our advisers. (CEO) Peter Erskine went on record as saying that O2 has held no discussions with any other company since the talks with KPN in February 2004.

We believe we have a credible organic growth structure that will deliver more value to the shareholders. There is still plenty of growth within O2.

Reports in the press had claimed that a takeover offer of 14 billion which valued O2 at 160p per share was discussed by Deutsche Telekom and KPN.

See Business Watch page 14

Dealers will be awarded points redeemable as prizes for each new connection on any network. The promotion runs available across all five networks. Some networks are considering awarding points for upgrades as well as new connections.

We will still award dealers with CDs and DVDs. So even smaller dealers can take part and get rewards. Everyones a winner. We are still negotiating some of the prizes though. We want exclusive prizes like designer jewellery from companies like Cartier and Tag Heuer and top-end home entertainment equipment from the likes of Bose and Bang & Olufsen.

The total cost of the scheme across the quarter is estimated at between 70000 and 90000 depending on the volume of connections and the focus of the networks.

Orange is jettisoning its wise man and returning to its original 1994 The Futures Bright slogan for a new 13 million ad campaign.

The network is attempting to reverse a fall-off in consumer loyalty. The new campaign which airs on September 19. Head of brand and advertising Kristof Fahy said:We hope that the campaign will re-ignite the optimism that people feel for the Orange brand. British consumers now care less about their mobile operator than their margarine brand. We need to restate Oranges optimistic view of the future.

The two ads are adapted from true stories and are set respectively in New York and Rio de Janeiro. The New York advert tells of a citywide blackout. The Rio advert is about a street cleaner whose reputation for spontaneous dancing is spread via MMS and made him a star. Orange insisted that it was not simply revisiting past glories.

See Comment p18

Celltalk chairman Derek Joseph told shareholders at an AGM last week that the company fell short of sales targets during the first four months of the financial year and expected to report losses for the six months to September 30.

Celltalk refused to comment this week on its results or its cost-cutting plans.

Joseph put the companys poor performance down to the late running of a cost-saving IT project the cost of setting up a call centre in South Africa and a shortfall in sales.

Joseph said: These issues are being addressed and significant reductions in the UK cost base are being implemented. We hope that these factors will achieve a better trading position for the second half of the year although the company expects to report substantial losses for the full year.

Celltalk went into administration in 2001. It escaped a Company Voluntary Arrangement by paying creditors 350000 and then made a profit of 632000 in the first half of 2004.