Staff Reporter

In addition to the handsets from LG and Sony Ericsson that were announced in July Orange has now revealed that phones from Samsung Sanyo Nokia and Motorola will also be available.

Orange said it had been working closely with the selected handset manufacturers to develop world-class devices all of which have been part of extensive customer trials in the UK and France.

The first results of this cooperation are the LG U8150 the Sony Ericsson Z1010 the Samsung Z107 the Sanyo S750 and the Nokia 6630.

The S750 is Sanyos first foray into the European mobile market. It is exclusive to Orange and features a megapixel camera and a QVGA screen.

But even though Orange has been forthcoming on the subject of what handsets it will offer when it launches 3G the network has still failed to give a specific launch date.

Instead it reiterated its previous assurances that the commercial launch will take place before the end of the year.

Commenting on the handsets Florian Seiche director of devices at Orange SA said:

Orange is moving into the 3G market by extending its successful Signature Phone strategy.

He added: We remain focused on delivering to our customers the best possible user experience and so have carefully selected device vendors who also share this objective.

Through the Freemove Alliance Orange customers will be able to roam with their 3G devices across major towns and cities in Spain Italy and Germany in addition to the established Orange 3G networks in the UK and France he said.

Orange also announced the signing of two further contracts as part of the framework agreement it signed last year with Nokia Networks. It has now also hooked up with Nortel Networks and Alcatel to provide 3G radio access network technology infrastructure across the Orange footprint.

The network has agreed to purchase UMTS radio accessnetwork equipment and a full range of professional services and operational support systems from Nokia Networks for Orange Switzerland and from Nortel Networks for Mobistar (Belgium).

This follows the ongoing rollouts in the UK with Nokia Networks and in France with Alcatel Nokia Networks and Nortel Networks.

Orange SA chief technology officer Vivek Badrinath said:

Nokia Networks Nortel Networks and Alcatel are demonstrating extensive technical capabilities commitment experience and industry leadership with the work that they are completing on our 3G infrastructure development in the UK and France.

He concluded: The delivery of an outstanding 3G network will allow us to leverage the capabilities of 3G technology to launch world-class services to our customer base across the Orange Group.

The survey was based on exit interviews with 1095 consumers split between both browsers and buyers at mobile phone stores across the UK.

T-Mobile came top of the heap in the survey followed by O2 Phones 4U and The Link. T-Mobile ranked highest mainly because of above average scores in the areas of staff and low waiting times.

A Carphone Warehouse spokesperson countered the claims however saying:

We are very surprised at these results. They contradict all other surveys that we have seen including our own independent mystery shops independently commissioned research and of course our own customer feedback.

We have won three industry awards for customer service in the past nine months and recently achieved the highest ever Mobile News Mystery Shop score with a perfect 30 points out of 30.

The JD Power study found that store location is the main reason customers choose to visit a particular outlet.

A good previous experience with the store is cited by 22 per cent of customers. Special offers are indicated by 18 per cent.

Staff can have a significant impact on a customers experience said Gunda Lapski director of telecommunications and utilities services at JD Power and Associates.

On average customers wait 2.4 minutes before being served and spend just under nine minutes speaking to a staff member.

The study also found that the average customer spends 36 per month on mobile phone services In the past year 51 per cent of customers upgraded their handset or switched their mobile phone service provider.

Among those who upgraded their handset 46 per cent selected the same make.

Were growing and we simply need more people said a spokesman for the network.

Most of the new jobs will be front-line advisers. You would expect us to make sure that we are as efficient as possible but we wont compromise on customer service.

Of the new jobs 500 are in its Bury call centre which handles pre-pay enquiries and 200 will be in its Leeds office which oversees business enquiries and non account-related questions. The recruitment drive will increase numbers at the Leeds office to 3200 and at the Bury office to 1500.

O2 is also shifting its Leeds customer service centres into a single office at the Arlington Business Centre to improve inter-departmental communications and working.

Siemens has signed an exclusive partnership with DaimlerChrysler to equip Mercedes with Siemens mobile phones direct from the factory.

Previously Nokia was the preferred manufacturer of choice for Mercedes installed kit.

Siemens has labelled its high-end phones after top Mercedes cars for some time (such as the SL55).

The first Siemens phone to be made available will be the CX65 which will be offered ex-works for all Mercedes models in the E CL CLK CLS S SL and SLK classes.

The broad range of products offered by Siemens mobile phones also fits perfectly with our own vehicle portfolio said DaimlerChrysler.

A DTI spokesperson confirmed that the department had examined the receivers report into the dealings of the directors and the trading of the company prior to the winding up and would not be taking the matter further.

Mloop set up by Fonexco director Byron Rose went bust two years ago after barely a year plunging 1.38 million in debt.

The company was backed by industry luminaries such as Charles Dunston (The Carphone Warehouse) and Gareth Jones (3).

It was set up as an Internet-based handset broking service to facilitate large-volume handset transactions between networks around the world.

The company hoped to make 2 million from a flotation but the share issue never happened.

The flotation had been set for November 2001 but was delayed – first for three months and then for a further two months – with fatal consequences for the company.

The directors tried to find private investors but no one was found who was willing to pay off the creditors and pump in a further 2 million to keep the business afloat until it might came into profitability.

Mloop generated transactions of 4.4 million but only ever made a profit of 89000.

Donovan had a three-year tenure at the company. He replaced Stephen Brewer who oversaw the changeover from Telecom Eireanns mobile division ircell to Vodafone.

Donovans promotion will put him in overall charge of Vodafone in Albania Egypt Greece Hungary Ireland Malta The Netherlands Portugal Spain and Sweden. He is expected to take up the post in January and will report directly to Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin.

Recent Vodafone management restructuring at group level has resulted in a change at the top at the Irish subsidiary.

Vodafone Ireland remains the countrys dominant mobile operator with more than 1.8 million subscribers and sources within the company indicated that headhunters are currently searching for a suitable replacement.

Donovan joined Vodafone from Cable & Wireless where he was chief commercial officer for C&Ws Australian network Optus.

Before that he had been marketing director of One 2 One having joined the network from Apple Computer where he held a senior marketing role.

Surely no one is suggesting that fixing it for a leggy lovely to help Dave through his milestone was nothing more than a tawdry opportunity to beg exposure in gullible newspapers who fall for this kind of sexist nonsense?

Well at least Dave was happy.

I had a real shock when Sarah walked around the corner especially as she was wearing a T-shirt with my name on it. It was definitely a dream come true.

In which case Dave put down your blimmin phone and at least look at the lady.

McBride was hosting a press conference to discuss the latest developments in its Wi-Fi roll-out and to showcase new products.

We will see a steady build-up (in 3G coverage). Today we certainly have less than 50 per cent. But we have to get to 80 per cent by 2008 as part of the conditions of our licence he said.

We dont want to cover every hill and glen in the country. We can tell from 2.5G where the revenue is and we will be doing commuter routes and the like. It will be some time before places like north Wales get it he added.

McBride also announced that T-Mobile had signed a deal with BT Openzone that gives customers of both organisations access to all of BT Openzones 1300 Wi-Fi locations in the UK and Ireland and to T-Mobiles 9200 European Wi-Fi hotspots including 600 in the UK.

This more than triples our Wi-Fi locations to 1900 said McBride. We are giving T-Mobile customers by far the largest UK Wi-Fi network as well as by far the largest network in the western world.

Vodafone recently signed a deal with BT Openzone to allow its subscribers to use its hotspots. But with T-Mobile having a network of 600 of its own hotspots the network is leading on the Wi-Fi front.

McBride emphasised T-Mobiles 3G strategy was currently aimed at business users. A new term Office in Your Pocket has been registered as a trademark to encompass T-Mobiles services for businesses.

New products such as the new Fusion card which integrates 2.5G 3G and Wi-Fi networks; the BlackBerry 7290; and the latest tri-band T-Mobile PDA the MDA 111 will come under this banner.

McBride said the whole concept was about giving people their office environment when they were not actually in the office.

This is changing the way business is done where it is done and when it is done. Customers can increasingly access whatever they need wherever they are whenever they want he said.

Although Blackberry is popular it doesnt meet the needs of all users. The main thing people want access to when they are away from the office is e-mail. But BlackBerry only meets 80 per cent of the needs of about 80 per cent of the people out there.

McBride added that T-Mobiles Wi-Fi roll-out is different from those of other networks and claimed he wasnt bothered by Vodafones deal with BT.

He confirmed that T-Mobile would not be following Vodafones lead by releasing a massive amount of 3G handsets for Christmas.

We are not going to do a Vodafone and bring out 18 3G handsets. Thats not the way we want to go. We will have some 3G handsets out there before Christmas.

There will be a couple of Nokias a Samsung and a Motorola. We still havent got our hands on enough volume but we dont see that this will be a big revenue spinner.

This wont be the Christmas for the 3G market. I think next year it will start to grow. Our approach is to get the service right first.

Its not all about toys and technology its about finding ways to get people to spend money with us with our jukebox and news Xpress service for example.

From November 1 Shebang is paying 30 commission to its dealers for each new connection to the Severn Trent Telecoms service.

Shebang managing director Iain Humphrey has been trialling the service through retail chain Go Mobile for three months and reckons he has added 200 new connections per month.

It is an additional income for dealers at no extra cost to them said Humphrey. It is another communications service that independent dealers can offer to their clientele. We have been connecting through our own retail stores and have been adding in excess of 200 connections per month across the whole group.

Shebang saves up to 1300 per quarter on phone bills too. We felt it was a great proposition for dealers. Were offering upfront commissions to dealers who give customers the opportunity to save on BT bills.

Shebang and Severn Trent Telecoms are offering three landline tariffs: 4.99 per month for unlimited off-peak calls to local and national landline numbers; 12.99 per month for unlimited anytime calls to landline numbers; and a 25 monthly business tariff per line for anytime calls to all landline numbers.

Humphrey claims customers will also save up to 25 per cent on their BT bill for calls to mobile phones. It is not a contract-based service so customers are free to exit from the deal when they like.

Shebang is offering the package to dealers that have already signed up to its Sellfone 3G stock-auditing system from November 1. It will make it available to its entire dealer base from January 1 and hopes to introduce ongoing revenues within six months.

Ahuja made the statement at the European Technology Roundtable Exhibition in Cannes two weeks ago (Mobile News October 15). Since then 3G manufacturers have remained strangely reluctant to comment about the alleged problems of overheating.

Major 3G handset manufacturer NEC declined to comment at all. Samsung also remained quiet on the subject. Motorola was one of the few manufacturers to raise its head above the parapet.

In response to the furore Motorola marketing director James King said:

All Motorola handsets are designed and manufactured to strict industry and internal standards and are rigorously tested. As part of the process of launching any new product we work with our network partners to ensure that we meet all approval process and test requirements.

Nokia director of corporate communications Mark Squires was also unusually shy merely stating:

This is not a problem that affects or has affected any of our 3G products so we do not feel we can comment further.

Siemens refused to be drawn into the debate. Siemens brand marketing manager Chris George remarked:

Im going to refrain from commenting because we are not really involved in this sector as yet.

From a 3G perspective we have only had the U15 – which was essentially a Motorola chipset not a true Siemens product. I dont think it would be too fair for us to weigh in with a comment.

He added: We wont be launching any more 3G handsets until next year.

LG general manager of communications Andrew Mullen backed up previous comments by LG marketing manager John Bernard who said he didnt know what Ahuja meant by overheating and that LG handsets do not get too hot.

Mullen said: Mobile phones get hot because everything that requires power heats up to a degree. But our phones certainly dont overheat. So this is not an issue for us and we dont believe its an industry issue either.

Reactions from Oranges rival networks were also muted although a 3 spokesperson said: There are teething problems when you launch any new network – we know from experience. However 3 now has well over a million customers on its network and a choice more than seven handsets with more to come this year. This just shows Orange has got a lot more work to do.

T-Mobile UK managing director Brian McBride dismissed Ahujas claims altogether however. He said he had not come across any overheating 3G handsets.

Ive been trialling a few devices. I havent found that theyve been overheating. The main things I noticed is that you dont get great battery life and the handsets are slightly larger than 2.5G handsets.

An O2 spokesman said: We are undertaking ongoing trials with a variety of 3G handsets. We have not had any issues with handsets overheating.

Vodafone declined to comment:

We cant comment about something which wasnt said by us or about us regarding a service which we have yet to launch said a spokesperson.

Virgin Mobile was also reluctant to speak out: We havent made any announcement about 3G services or handsets yet and do not wish to get drawn into a debate on the merits of other networks handsets or services in the meantime said a Virgin Mobile press officer.