The multi-million pound deal is The Carphone Warehouses first TV sponsorship and is calculated to drive awareness of the brand and the fact that all TalkTalk customers can talk to each other for free.

The sponsorship includes broadcast slots on Channel 4 and E4 as well as the Big Brother website and interactive TV service.

Also Carphone Warehouse is opening three new retail outlets bringing its total number of UK stores to 527.

The new openings will be in London Victoria St Andrews in Scotland and Skipton in Yorkshire.

Vodafone will supply all BTs own internal comms requirements and also thousands of corporate customers who will start to use Vodafone minutes through BT Mobile.

A key part of the initiative revolves around a technology called Bluephone. This will enable BT customers to switch between BTs fixed-line network and the Vodafone network with a single handset.

When the phone gets out of Bluetooth range of its base unit the call switches automatically to Vodafones GSM network.

O2 lost out to Vodafone in its bid to extend its tenure as BTs wireless network provider. O2 said it had tested the Bluephone technology already but was not convinced of its merits. O2s previous incarnation BTCellnet rolled out a similar technology under the Onephone brand but it was never successful.

We tested Bluephone recently and werent convinced that it provided a good customer service said an O2 spokesperson.

Its not yet a proven technology. It relies on Bluetooth which is designed to work over a short range. The reception doesnt carry well through walls. Its a new technology so problems are to be expected.

T-Mobile which also made a bid to provide network space to BT shares many of O2s views.

Good deals are where each side receives good value said a spokesman. We took the view that this wouldnt necessarily happen in this case.

BT Retail CEO Pierre Danon referred to it as the companys flagship new offering and a revolution that will change the face of communications.

Project Bluephone provides better reception and better data speeds claimed BT Mobile Products chief Ryan Jarvis.

BT selected Bluetooth technology because of its small form-factor and its existing presence in handsets. We have successfully tested this feature. We are using class 1 Bluetooth which extends reception to 25 metres within the home and gives good voice quality through walls and ceilings in a typical UK house.

BT will use Motorola V-series handsets the same size and form-factor as current GSM handsets to carry the service.

BT said that it chose Vodafone over O2 and T-Mobile because Vodafones vision of fixed/mobile convergence matched its own.

O2 said Bluephone was not a key factor in its own bid.

The tender BT made was more about wholesale network access than a commitment to a particular technology.

We set a price at which BT could have wholesale access to O2s network. We were not interested in business with BT at any cost said the O2 spokesperson.

Some have questioned the wisdom of Vodafones decision to partner fixed-line business BT.

We are puzzled by the new MVNO agreement with BT said investment bank Citigroup. We are concerned that if BTs product takes off Vodafone will have contributed to a convergence strategy at odds with its capabilities.

(See Business Watch P10 and feature P24)

An AOL spokesperson said: AOL currently features w@mobs Buyers Guide in its top mobile phones gallery and is looking forward to working with w@mob to give AOL members direct access to even more information about mobile phones from this leading industry source.

Film fans will be able to access ringtones wallpapers interviews reviews trailers competitions discussion boards and picture galleries.

Content includes an exclusive downloadable Day After Tomorrow game developed by India Games.

Orange customers will also be able to download free pictures of Troy stars Brad Pitt Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom.

The solution developed with partners ARINC will be offered to operators as a one-stop implementation package.

It uses the classic Inmarsat Satcom systems already deployed in 3000 aircraft worldwide to relay the GSM signal and treats airspace as a virtual GSM country facilitating mobile connectivity during the flight.

Airlines currently ban the use of mobiles on flights primarily because of fears that the radiation they emit may adversely affect navigational aids and aircraft systems. Older aircraft are particularly susceptible.

However it is estimated that whenever a 747 leaves Heathrow bound for JFK around 50 mobiles are left switched on in overhead lockers.

The girl who cannot be named was granted unconditional bail and ordered to appear at Redbridge Youth Court.

She was further charged with obtaining a Puma T-shirt and tracksuit by deception from a sports shop on the same day.

The cheap call rate is latest stage of the networks Relax tariff strategy. Voice calls text messages picture messages and downloads from the t-zones web portal all contribute to the 40 spend.

If a qualifying customer spends more than 40 the calls they make for the remainder of that month are halved to just 5p per minute.

We want to reward the loyalty of our high-usage customers many of whom prefer the flexibility and control of pay as you go said T-Mobile director of marketing Sandy Munro. With our new 5p per minute rate these customers really can feel relaxed about using their phones whenever they want to.

More than 2500 people in London make false reports about losing their mobile phones each year claims the Metropolitan Police.

The Met is currently running a campaign reminding the public that there is a penalty for reporting lost mobiles as stolen. The message is pressed home in an advertising campaign that was launched on July 12.

Commander Brian Moore from the Mets Territorial Policing Crime Directorate says the force is working closely with the mobile phone industry to stamp out false reporting and the massive costs involved in investigating these allegations.

Last summer Metropolitan Police research into false reporting culminated in an operation codenamed Pavilion that saw arrests made at 12 mobile phone retail outlets across the capital.

People who falsely report their mobile phone as stolen dont think they are committing a crime. The levels of false reporting we are seeing in London are unacceptable.

As well as diverting officers from dealing with genuine victims false reports can inflate the levels of robbery in London and make the public feel unsafe. My message is clear: falsely reporting anything to police is a crime and we will deal with you.

The campaign has been planned to communicate with the target audience at key times when they might lose their mobile phone or be reporting it as stolen.

Alongside London-wide press and radio advertising there will be leaflets and posters in mobile phone retailers beer mats in pubs and adverts on taxi seats and buses to reach people when they are having a drink and travelling around the city.

There will also be posters in police stations reminding people when they are at the point of reporting a crime. 23-year-old Matthew Shiu an IT student at Middlesex University was one of the first to fall foul of the tough new stance.

He admitted making 15 fraudulent claims against insurance over a two-year period. Shui went to police stations on four occasions where he made false reports and obtained crime numbers in order to make multiple claims to his insurance company.

Shiu was arrested in June and admitted three counts of deception and four counts of wasting police time. He was sentenced this week to 180 hours community punishment.

PC Mick Donaghy working within the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit said:

Shiu falsely reported that his property had been stolen on many occasions. He claimed mainly against mobile phones but also alleged digital cameras and Apple iPods had been stolen. The total value he received in false claims amounted to 2800.

His sentence sends a clear message to those that think they can get away with making false claims – It is a crime and we will deal with you.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled against O2 after a complaint that the mobile networks text message marketing failed to provide an opt-out.

The dispute began with an unamed female O2 customer in Hertfordshire. She received a text message which stated:

Get sport alerts & more. Text ACTIVE to 2020 2 set up then go 2 Info services 2 subscribe 2 alerts. Terms@o2.co.uk. Each alert from 13p to receive.

Her objection was that the text message did not include an opportunity for her to opt-out of receiving further marketing text messages.

The ASA examined the consent given by the customer to O2 in 1998 when the contract was signed with BTCellnet.

It included consent to receive marketing communications. But the ASA considered text message marketing was not widely used in 1998. The ASA thus decided that O2 lacked explicit consent for text message marketing.

An O2 spokesman said:

We were disappointed with the ASA ruling. We believed we had customer consent through the terms and conditions of our service. We are now looking at the possibility of introducing an opt-out for these types of text messages.

The case highlights differences between the CAP Code – a set of industry rules applied by the ASA – the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and a European directive of 2002 .

Shelagh Gaskill a partner with Masons Solicitors an international law firm specialising in IT law said these mixed messages create confusion for SMS marketers.

Although the ASA acknowledged that O2 obtained consent to send marketing communications it had not obtained consent to send them by text message. The complainant should have been told she had the opportunity to opt out in every text message said Gaskill.

The ASA was not saying that text message marketing was wrong just that the nature of the consent was not explicit so an extra requirement for opt-out instructions with each text message was called for.

Gaskill claimed the O2 case highlights the contrast between the guidance followed by the ASA and the guidance published by the Information Commissioner the UKs privacy chief.

The contrast is most visible when a marketer does have explicit consent she went on. Does a text message marketer need to offer an opt-out with every message? The ASA says not if there is explicit consent but the message from the Commissioner is always yes.

The ASA also rapped cosmetics company Avon over a promotion it ran with Orange. Avon promised a voucher for a free Orange pay-as-you-go phone for customers spending 15 or more on products from its Avon Anew range. But Avon ran out of vouchers leaving scores of disappointed customers.

The ASA told the promoters: to take greater care when estimating demand for free gifts on the basis of previous promotions and to minimise disappointment in the event that demand for future promotional items exceeded supply.

This follows an agreement between graphics card maker NVIDIA Corporation and Samsung to fit the GoForce 2100 media processor to Samsungs new SCH-M500 Mobile Intelligent Terminal phone launched in Korea last month. NVIDIA also supplies chips to Motorola Mitsubishi and LG.