Staff Reporter

The recommendation from Investec analyst Christian Maher follows an update statement from Virgin Mobile prior to its closed period for its interim results to September 30 which will be announced on November 18.

Maher reckons Virgin Mobile revenues will be around 528 million but that these will be hit by higher mobile termination rates and the addition of more SIM-only customers with lower ARPU particularly strong through Carphone Warehouse stores.

Virgin agreed the planned termination cuts would hit its revenues but said that it still expects revenue growth in the high teens and rapid customer growth for the full year.

The combination of strong customer growth and our efficient operating model will result in margins for the first half being well ahead of the same period a year ago said Virgin Mobile chief executive Tom Alexander.

Virgin Mobile claims it has more than 4.2 million customers and the network is distributed through more than 5000 outlets.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of TTG Europe claims its Talk-4-All service will allow customers to keep their BT line and number including services provided by BT such as 1471 but with cheaper call charges and simplified call packages. BT line rental is paid in the normal way.

Anglia CEO Andy Smith says the service will allow Anglia dealer partners to compete with their high-street rivals. This is good news for Anglias existing mobile dealers enabling them to offer complementary services that can increase their revenues and market share he said.

Simon Catterick head of network services at Anglia added:

This is not just about gross profit its about supporting our dealers and allowing them to compete with the big boys. The Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U have been able to sell fixed-line alongside mobile connections. We are giving our dealers the chance to do the same.

Talk-4-All operates three tariff packages.

Pay-As-You-Go is for occasional users who dont want to pay a monthly standing charge. Calls start at 1p per minute.

Evening and Weekend has a 5 monthly charge and free local and national evening and weekend calls.

The third package called 24/7 is for users who make frequent calls at any time. It is 15 per month with free local and national evening and weekend calls. Peak calls for all three tariffs are 2p a minute peak and 1p a minute off-peak and weekends.

The Talk-4-All service could not be simpler said Smith.

Customers contact us and we will make the necessary arrangements with BT to transfer them to the Talk-4-All service.

There are no hidden charges connection fees or breaks in telephone service. Customers just benefit from cheaper calls backed-up by our customer service expertise and high-quality network.

All Talk-4-All customers benefit from international calls charged at 4p per minute to Australia Canada Germany France Ireland Italy Netherlands Spain Switzerland and the USA at any time.

Calls to mobiles are priced at 5p per minute at weekends 17.5p at peak hours and 11p off-peak. Free calls exclude calls to mobiles premium-rate lines international calls directory enquiries and all non-voice and non-geographical numbers such as 0845 and 0870.

Dealer reaction has been positive. We have already done tests with key partners who have reacted really well said Carrick.

Orange customers who are Star Wars fans will be able to access characters images film clips and music clips as well as truetones and ringtones from the Star Wars saga as mobile content.

Orange is charging customers an extra 50 upgrade fee to customers who spend less than 30 per month and have been on a contract for between 12 and 18 months.

Ian Robinson of MoCo said:

Even if a customer is a month out of contract youd think Orange would want to sign them on to a new contract.

Is Orange saying that the other networks are welcome to their low-spending customers? If it doesnt apply to Oranges own sales routes or especially the likes of The Carphone Warehouse independent dealers will be very upset. Customers are clever. If the service is comparable between retailers they are going to make their decision based on price.

Andrew Culverhouse of Time2Talk in Potters Bar said:

They are charging the customer to extend their contract. This is unfair. It would appear Orange is trying to impose an 18-month contract. It seems that Orange is saying If your contracts up you are a low-spending customer and you want an upgrade then go elsewhere.

We try and upgrade a customer and find out that they have to pay 50. In one respect it could benefit us switching them to another network.

A spokesman for Orange said:

It applies to all Orange customers and all retail routes across the board. Its actually a reintroduction of an old clause. It existed before. We are going back to what we did before.

The hope is that the new centre will enable 3 to resolve customer queries more quickly. The new unit will employ 40 staff .

Mehran Mehmood director of Wimbledon-based dealership Fonevision commented:

Its something the network had to do. Customers complain that the customer service is poor all the time. The people in India do their best but if you dont speak very clearly they dont understand. So its about time – 3 has come good.

Ellis Dunning the director of Talksense in Borehamwood was also pleased about the news.

Its excellent he said.

The team in India are getting better and dealing with issues more quickly as they gain more experience and knowledge. But this is a big step forward.

Its great news for us but it would be good if they set up a call centre for the customers as well.

Speaking at a dealer event in central London last month (see Page 27) 3 UK sales director Marc Allera said 3 commissioned quarterly surveys and performed extremely well in every area except customer service.

Two new dealer incentives also launch this month.

Prize draws will be held on a weekly basis with each sale of a 3 handset equating to a raffle ticket and winners taking home a variety of unspecified electronic kit.

Also up for grabs are around 100 skiing trips in the new year based on the volume of sales up to Christmas.

3 also said that it would launch a basic business package to help dealers sign small businesses to the network and at least eight new handsets will be made available before Christmas.

3 will launch a no-frills proposition aimed at the small business market place this year some time.

Called The Real Business it will be based on current price plans but will include extra dealer support one part of which is the new customer service team in Glasgow.

New credit checking and registration processes for small business customers will be put in place as well

(See full report P27).

Vodafone service provider Enable Communications (for-merly WaveTech) has been bought by Centrica as part of a 43 million deal. No changes will be made to Enable Communications staff or premises. Centricas telecoms division One.Tel which has an existing customer base of 1.1 million will acquire 10000 mobile customers 238000 residential fixed-line customers and 11000 business fixed-line customers following the takeover.

Centrica Telecommunications has around 1.5 million customer accounts under the One.Tel and British Gas Communications brands.

Asif Aziz head of voice services at Centrica subsidiary One.Tel said:

Weve bought Telco Holdings and all the companies within that including all their customers assets and capabilities. The name Enable Communications will continue to operate.

Centrica acquired Enable Communications parent company Telco Holdings last week for 43 million in cash.

Centrica has also taken on 1.2 million of debt. Vodafone has transferred Enables SP licence to Centrica which will run the mobile division exactly as it was under its former parent company.

A Vodafone statement said: Vodafone has agreed to transfer the SP licence to Centrica based on the strength of the strategic relationship already exists between Centrica and Vodafone and assurances that Centrica will maintain the SP business at its current level.

Sir Roy Gardner chief executive of Centrica said: This acquisition will enable us to reinforce One.Tel as the major alternative for BT customers and support our efforts in the B2B market.

Enfield-based Telco Global Group was set up in 1996 and provides fixed and mobile telecoms and Internet to residential and business customers. Telco is also a major distributor of international pre-paid phone cards.

And big grovels to T-Mobile and The Carphone Warehouse who won the Network Caller and Mystery Shop that week and didnt have their week of first place glory publicised.

Our impressive screw-up was even more galling for Carphone Warehouse whose sales star Miah garnered an unprecedented 100 per cent score of 30 points out of 30.

If youd like to see an Acrobat PDF of the articles e-mail us at editorial@mobilenewscwp.co.uk.

MoCo Business part of dealer distributor MoCo Cell Link is on the recruitment hunt after signing up to be a 3 direct dealer. Said MoCo director of business sales Dave Burrell:

We were previously putting all our 3 connections through Unique Air but weve seen a real change in 3. The network has got over its initial teething troubles and presents an attractive option for us right now. Our main push will be through our telesales department which sells directly to consumers. 3s tariffs are very competitive and it should do well for us.

MoCo Businesss field sales division is pulling in around 2500 connections a month.

We have just clinched a deal for 400 connections for a building company in the north.

MoCo Business won part of the Governments Central Buying Consortium (CBC) contract in May and says that it has now landed around 7000 of the 14000 possible connections despite competition from the other two CBC bid-winners T-Mobile and O2.

We are now the largest connector of BlackBerrys for O2 said Burrell. We have just connected 300 BlackBerrys for the CBC alone and are trialling them with other 3G services.