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

Merchant was granted unconditional bail.

Avenir sales and marketing director Tanny Price said Avenir was aware of long waiting times coming into its call centre and was trying to remedy this as soon as possible. She explained Avenir had done the most O2 connections in the channel in August by a long way.

The connections increase we experienced last month really took me by surprise she said. However I am confident that the changes and improvements that we have put in place will have a significant impact and that our levels of service will be back to what our customers have always enjoyed with Avenir.

Things were obviously never going to improve overnight once the move [to new offices] had taken place. New systems always take a while to bed in and tweak she said.

Price added that Avenir had put in new telephone systems and recruited four new members of staff to bolster resources.

We have a proposed restructure in place for October which will mean a different kind of service will be given to Avenir dealers. We will be introducing dedicated relationship managers whose responsibilities will be to liaise continually with the networks for exceptional queries and for any incidents that may arise.

I am monitoring the stats on a daily basis and can see a definite improvement. We have introduced a generic e-mail address where any dealer issues or requests can be forwarded. This also acts as an online help desk and normally responses are turned round within an hour.

See Sharp End page 14

The network will supply the firms 2500 partners and staff with a range of mobile devices including 3G Mobile Office cards SPV C500 smartphones and BlackBerrys direct. In addition the contract requires Orange to supply additional security training support and device upgrades.

We reviewed and piloted all the major UK operators said BDO Stoy Hayward head of technology Graham Knight. Orange was the only operator that understood our business and was flexible enough to accommodate it.

Knight pointed out that the accountancy firm considered using a third-party distributor but he decided the channel was not capable of providing the level of service it required.

With the level of technical assistance we needed it was easier going direct he said. We were looking at a new BlackBerry and a new version of 3G. The networks were able to provide us with these more easily and quickly than a third-party distributor.

Introducing the packages Yes Telecom managing director Keith Curran said:

An existing customer should be worth as much as a new one. Finally a provider is paying every bit as much for you to upgrade a customer as to introduce one.

Yes has also confirmed the upgrades to its MVNO Business Enterprise range of tariffs.

Yes is offering three types of Enterprise tariff: Enterprise is eight single user bundles ranging from 200 to 600 minutes; Enterprise Plus is nine shared bundles of two to 24 handsets ranging from 500 to 5000 minutes while Enterprise Power is six shared bundles of more than 25 handset accounts with talktime of 8000 to 35000 minutes.

Yes business partners will be able to offer Enterprise tariffs 10 per cent cheaper than comparable network bundles by tying SME customers into 18- and 24-month contracts.

We have a range of tariffs that will sell themselves to the business partners and their customers said Curran.

Symphony acquired Anglia Telecom in April for 10 million.

An Anglia spokesman said: The purchase of Anglia rounded out the Symphony portfolio. Prior to it Symphony would have struggled to get onto AIM because its portfolio wasnt wide enough. It means that money will be available to Anglia if it needs it for any projects in the future though those probably wont be until next year.

Anglia is understood to be in discussions with Dutch operator KPN about setting up an operation in Holland.

Symphony is proposing to carry out a placing of 10997561 ordinary shares to raise 4.51 million before expenses. Symphony parent company Eckoh is expected to retain a controlling stake in Symphony with a 64.64 per cent share of it following a flotation.

Anglia Telecoms turnover for the year ended 31 March 2005 was 30.5 million generating pre-tax profits of 1.3 million. Symphony Telecoms turnover for the same period was 21 million with pre-tax profits of 1.3 million.

The virtual network already sponsors the Kiss FM Breakfast Show MacKenzie Group Barfly venues and the V Festival.

The TRL deal which was put together by Viacom Brand Solutions starts from next week and will run for a year.

It will enable Virgin to tap into TRLs association with celebrities music and entertainment as well as engage with the shows youth audience.

TRL viewers will see Virgin Mobile start and end credits bookending the show and at ad breaks. Online activity will comprise a Virgin Mobile-branded area on the main TRL website.

The area will include biographies of the TRL presenters and weekly listings of guests and artists on the show as well as bespoke Virgin Mobile games and competitions. Users will have the opportunity to download desktop wallpapers and screensavers and sign up for a weekly TRL newsletter.

Users of Bites Virgins interactive mobile content service will be able to receive exclusive interviews from the stars appearing on TRL plus images and the opportunity to win tickets to the TRL show.

Commenting on the deal

Alison Corfield head of consumer communications at Virgin Mobile said: Part of Virgin Mobiles success is its strong youth appeal. The partnership with MTVs TRL sees a collaboration of two youth brands with shared values united in their use of music celebrity and irreverent humour.

Details of the new 2005 entertainment and imaging-led strategy will be unveiled at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes this week.

Having established a profitable base and a reputation for quality innovation and design in 2004 this year will see us expand our product portfolio and challenge the market once again with new thinking and stunning designs said Sony Ericsson president Miles Flint.

3G will also become increasingly important as the year progresses. Although 3G sales amounted to less than five per cent of the overall market in 2004 we expect this segment to come close to 10 per cent of overall volumes during the year with further rapid expansion in 2006.

Flint and other executives will outline the companys strategy for 2005 how the company will expand its product range and how consumers will be offered a new experience with their handsets.

Sony Ericsson handsets on display in Cannes in a 630 square metre pavilion will be the V800 for Vodafonenominated for an award as Best 3G Handset by the GSM Association as well as the K700 S700 and P910.

In 2004 the T610 won the award for Best handset terminal or device during the GSM Associations Awards evening at the 3GSM World Congress.

Sami Krasniqi (29) was already on bail for another offence when he sneaked up behind the woman and grabbed her Sony Ericsson mobile from her bag and ran out of the shop chased by staff.

He was caught a few roads away having thrown the phone into a front garden during the chase. It was retrieved.

In another similar case beggar Ahcene Naar was remanded in custody after being caught trying to rob a man talking on his mobile outside a pub in Paddington on

February 10.

The handsets were being transported from High Wycombe to the Riverside industrial estate in Northampton in a white Mercedes van. As the driver approached the drop-off point a man appeared smashed the drivers window and opened the door to the vehicle.

He forced the driver into the passenger seat threatening to stab him if he alerted anyone before violently pushing him out of the passenger door and driving away.

Northampton Police found the stolen van 20 minutes after the robbery dumped on the Bedford Road near to the Barns Meadow roundabout but the entire mobile cargo was missing.

The Mercedes van has the registration BN54 TNV. The thief is white with a medium build. Police are asking anyone with information to call 01604 700700.

Cosgrove who has previously worked for Motorola and Avaya joined Your Communication in December last year to drive sales in the Midlands region.

He says he was forced to get rid of staff that werent up to scratch.

People were under-performing. I decided to have a clear out and this led to five people leaving. I have hired six new sales staff and I am confident that we can go out and win business.

Your Communications has always had a presence in the Midlands but it has not been utilised to best effect. We are going to be out on the high street banging on doors.

I am looking for half a million pounds of new business a month said Cosgrove