The commercials will be seen in the UK to support Virgin Mobile Bundles a range of products offering customers a selection of voice minutes text messages and picture messages.

The ads were directed by Bryan Buckley who directed the Christina Aguilera The Devil Makes Work For Idle Thumbs commercial.

Virgin claims its the first network to allow unused minutes and messages to carry over for another month.

Joint-branded areas will offer Nokia camera phones and printers to print out photos taken with them.

The concept was trialled in the Tottenham Court Road High Street Kensington and Leicester branches of Boots. The scheme will be rolled out to 50 more stores by mid-November.

Handsets stocked include the Nokia 6600 6670 7610 and upcoming 6630. Nokia imaging business manager Mirko Aksentijevi commented:

This is a step forward for the mobile imaging market. Boots is the ideal partner to bring mobile imaging to the mass market.

O2 said that it had disconnected 100 Expansys customers after Expansys failed to pay its bills. Expansys denied that it was late with its payments but confirmed that its customers had been disconnected for a brief period.

O2 said that it re-connected the customers the next day after Expansys made the relevant payment but has refused to renew its contract with the retailer beyond February 2005.

However the Manchester dealer claimed that it had itself taken the decision to terminate the relationship with O2.

Expansys managing director Roger Butterworth said: There is absolutely no truth in the rumours whatsoever. We were a virtual service provider for O2 but it didnt suit our business. We switched from a service provider relationship to a reseller one.

Our business is pan-European and O2 couldnt provide us with that capability. O2 cant even offer service to us in Ireland.

A hundred customers were cut off when the contract finished because O2 cut them off at about 5pm. We couldnt get them reconnected until the next morning.

But O2 claimed it was not sorry that the relationship ended.

Expansys is a very small reseller not a service provider of O2 with fewer than 700 O2 customers said a spokesperson.

We informed Expansys last February that we would not renew its current contract. This was part of a strategy to reduce small resellers and focus on more strategic partnerships the spokesperson continued.

Butterworth said this was O2 putting its own spin on it.

The agreement was as a virtual service provider he said. We sent out bills on Expansys paper. O2 billed us.

The decision to stop that relationship was made in June not in February. How O2 chooses to represent it is its own business. It was a business that didnt work for us and we took the decision to end it.

Butterworth added: We now have deals to act as a reseller for Vodafone Orange and T-Mobile alongside our regular business of selling phones. The fact that we are still a reseller for O2 is just a vestige of the virtual service provider relationship we had before.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.