The service allows its subscribers to call or text other T-Mobile subscribers for 5p per minute for calls and 5p per text at any time of the day or week.

T-Mobile marketing director Phil Chapman said the tariff was devised after research carried out among current customers particularly 16- 19-year-olds who have told the network that they consciously choose the same network as their friends and family to get the best value for money while they talk and text each other.

Chapman pointed out that rival operators charge an average of 30p per call or text for the first three minutes of calls a day to the same network. But Mates Rates offers low-cost calling and texts from the outset.

The majority of calls made are less than three minutes so many people never get to the low-cost calling rates offered by other networks he said.

With Mates Rates people get low cost calls and texts right from the start – and the new rate is open to both new and existing customers.

Mates Rates handsets include the Sagem MyZ-55 Nokia 3120 LG B2050 and LG C3300. Chapman confirmed that

T-Mobile is planning a big TV and print advertising campaign to promote the tariff.

The campaign kicks off on Monday with heavyweight

outdoor ads and bus sides.

This will be followed by print ads in the national press and online. The TV commercials will begin on August 22 and run until November alongside cinema and radio ads.

The overall creative follows the theme of friends sticking together and keeping up to date he said. People on Mates Rates are able to see things that everyone else cant. The print ads follow the same theme.

News of the Motorola Q was leaked when a Dangaard Telecom roadmap featuring the device appeared on the Microsoft website at the start of July.

The device was finally confirmed this week at Motorolas financial analyst meeting in Chicago.

The Motorola Q will be available in Q1 2006.

As revealed in Mobile News last month the device is based on Motorolas successful RAZR design and around Microsofts new Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.

The Q has push e-mail capability and a QWERTY keyboard which pits it squarely against RIMs highly successful BlackBerry range.

However users of the Motorola handset will save on the server costs associated with RIM because the Q runs off the Microsoft Exchange 2003 server.

The Q integrates with Microsoft Outlook e-mail calendar and address book. It comes complete with a navigation thumbwheel Bluetooth and a 1.3 mega pixel camera with flash.

Motorola claims the handset is 50 per cent thinner than all other competitor devices.

With the Motorola Q weve combined the best voice data and design technology in one ultra-thin intelligent hard-working device claimed Motorola president for mobile devices business Ron Garriques.

He added: Todays office space has the potential to be any place you want it to be with Q.

Phone Division was a London exporter which ceased active trading in 2003 and finally went into liquidation last month.

Mohammed told a creditors meeting he had been under continual pressure from Customs since 2002.

Phone Division was notified by its banker in 2002 that its account was to be closed because of a number of high level transactions.

It is the directors belief that the actual reason was due to pressure brought to bear on the bank by Customs says the report by the companys insolvency adviser HKM LLP.

Phone Division was successful in finding new banking facilities and provided Customs with the required documentation to support its subsequent VAT reclaims.

HKM LLP added: Without warning on July 2 2003 the companys London premises were raided by officers from Customs and all equipment paperwork and stock of mobile phones was seized.

Mohammed was bailed and bailed again subsequently but to date no charges have been levied against him or the company.

It is the directors view that that the actions of HM Customs & Excise and its failure to deliver up the stock assets and books and records (to enable the company to comply with its reporting requirements and trading generally) has effectively put the company out of business.

The director is confident that he has a good case against Customs for damage caused to the company but unfortunately does not have the funds to pursue a recovery action against it having already spent 200000 in legal bills to date.

Mohammed had retained the business as a shell company since 2003 in the hope of launching a claim against Customs.

However a disputed 80000 tax claim against him by the Inland Revenue forced his hand and he started liquidation proceedings last month.

T-Mobile was set to stage a gig by The Magic Numbers at Camden Market as part of its series of impromptu street gigs. But the event was called off at the last minute after the second wave of terrorist attacks on London.

T-Mobile had already alerted subscribers when it pulled the gig. A second text message explained the reasons for the cancellation.

A T-Mobile spokesperson said:

We didnt feel we should bring large groups of people together under the circumstances.

The Magic Numbers gig was rearranged and took place off Brick Lane in east London this week. Other headline acts in the six-week series have so far included Lemar and Rooster.

T-Mobile is expected to stage more than 20 outdoor gigs in London and Birmingham for audiences of a few hundred.

T-Mobile customers aged between 18 and 22 can opt in to SMS and MMS alerts from the network and receive information about the secret act and location two hours before the live show.

Gig-goers have the chance to photograph the events with the two megapixel Sony Ericsson D750i. A Kodak printing service will also be available to fans.

Manchester United Supporters Trust handed out leaflets saying Why Vodafone should hang up on Manchester United.

Oliver Houston vice-chairman of Manchester United Supporters Trust told Mobile News:

Manchester United is a tainted brand. The original partnership between Manchester United and Vodafone worked well because both companies were beacons of financial success.

Now Manchester United is laden with debt and will face meltdown within three years. If Vodafone is number one sponsor it could face a public relations disaster.

Houston said Vodafone chairman Lord MacLaurin and chief marketing officer Peter Bamford fielded questions from the Manchester United Supporters Trust during and after the meeting.

These include supplying radio terminals to paramedics and ambulance staff and migrating existing data applications to work on the new digital network. It will wait to hear whether or not that also incorporates Welsh and Scottish ambulance services.

O2 Airwave is a national digital radio communications network dedicated to the emergency services and public safety agencies. In total O2 Airwave has 150000 users across 78 public safety organisations including all 51 police forces in England Scotland and Wales

The network has 99 per cent coverage in Great Britain. It also offers complete interoperability between users so that paramedics and control room operators will be able to talk directly with police at the scene of an incident when it is operationally beneficial.

At Horseferry Road Magistrates Court on Wednesday Russell Merchant was remanded on unconditional bail until August 24 for Crown Court committal proceedings.

Merchant 26 of Larkspur Court Hawthorn Road Wallington Surrey is charged with stealing the vouchers while employed at the store at 261 Oxford Street between December 13 and 16 last year.

Thieves broke into the networks offices at The Boulevard Business Park Welwyn Garden City between 11.51pm on August 2 and 1.04am on August 3.

Crooks forced entry to the building damaging five doors without apparently finding anything of value. They then broke into a computer room and removed the IT equipment and four live routers thereby immobilising Vodafones entire paging network.

The thieves evaded security patrols a CCTV system and internal Access Control measures.

Detective Sergeant Ian Butler of Hertfordshire Police which is leading the investigation said: It is believed the offenders broke in just before midnight and left around an hour later. It is possible they used a metal trolley to move the stolen goods which was abandoned outside the building.

The thieves escaped in a white Transit van.

No one here knows anything about it claimed Nokia UK communications director Mark Squires. The Business tried to run it six months ago but didnt.

UK weekly The Business claimed last Sunday (August 7) that Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers is keen to merge Cisco with a large wireless infrastructure company and that Nokia is the most likely target.

A Cisco Systems spokesman commented: We have made 103 acquisitions to date in our 20-year history. We made six acquisitions in the past quarter. But all of them without exception have been small niche companies where we have acquired either engineering talent or a niche product. You can draw your own conclusions.

The speculation comes on the back of Nokia CEO Jorma Ollilas resignation to join Shell though he will stay as non-executive chairman.

See Business Watch page 12

Orange has launched an initiative to give away millions of free voice minutes and texts to new and existing pre-pay customers.

Bonus top-up is part of the Orange Prepay Repay campaign to reward pre-pay customers. The amount of free minutes that customers receive will depend on how much they have used their phone.

Rewards vary between 1 and 25 per month for all customers spending more than 10 per month. For example a customer spending 50 in a month would receive an extra 25 credit.

Bonus top-ups are awarded at the end of every month and can be redeemed in the following four-week period as calls or texts. Existing customers can call 452 or 450 to join the scheme.

Alistair Johnston head of Pay As You Go at Orange said that Orange is expecting to give back top-ups equivalent to 50 million minutes of call time in the next six months.

There are nearly 17 million Pay As You Go customers in the UK and we have launched this initiative to give them the same benefits enjoyed by contract customers he said.

For too long networks have taken pre-pay customers for granted and we are working hard to reward our loyal and valued customers and offer them real value.

This month also sees the introduction of a new pricing plan for Oranges Pay As You Go framework. Call charges have been simplified so that the same rates apply 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Under the new system calls from Orange to Orange phones and landlines will cost 15p per minute while calling from Orange to other UK networks will cost 35p per minute. Text messages will cost 10p each video messages 50p each and answerphone retrieval will cost 10p.