The dodge is advertised on Internet auction sites which claim it is possible to continue getting 300 free texts each month by simply modifying a few settings on the handset.

The information is being sold for between 50p and 1. The sellers promise to send an e-mail on delivery of funds containing detailed instructions.

However O2 said the scam was more likely to be the work of con artists. The network was currently investigating the claims and had not been able to ascertain whether the scam worked or not.

Ironically Evans engineered One 2 Ones partnership with Virgin

Mobile before that agreement hit the buffers (see White Lines).

Evans joins BT from environmental technology business

Microgen. Prior to that he was chief executive at Dolphin Communications. As well as working at

One 2 One he was CEO of French operator Bougues Telecom.

He reports to products and services MD Steve Andrews.

Evans takes up his role in

January. He said:

The challenge is to get fixed-mobile integration on the map.

People have talked about it but the technology to do it is finally around. BT is ideally positioned to make it a seamless service. [BT Retail CEO] Pierre Danon wants 300 million from mobile services by the end of 2005. My challenge is to ensure that we reach these figures.

Ex-3 sales director John Barton worked with Evans at One 2 One.

Steve is a smashing guy and a good operator qualities that dont always go hand in hand he said. He is thoughtful and focused. If Steve gets backing from the powers that be then I see no reason why BT cant become a significant player in the mobile arena.

Over 25 per cent of people polled by mobile insurer and consultancy CPP Group picked the National Anthem as their most hated ringtone.

Also in the top 10 most hated list were Nokias trademark tone Rule Britannia Three Lions and Mission Impossible. TV and film themes were the most preferred ringtones among people aged 16 to 24 years.

This has led to industry rumours that Samsung miscalculated its requirements for Q4.

But Samsung general manager Mark Mitchinson said the stock shortage was because Samsungs factories could not meet the demand for product.

Samsung UK has not under-forecast its requirements for this quarter he said. We dont have the production to accommodate increasing demand from operators.

We send our forecasts to the factory and we receive a response advising us of what the factory can produce. We are getting more stock from the factory than we were initially advised. There is a big shortage of handsets in the market generally. People are desperate to buy whatever they can get their hands on.

He admitted Samsungs market share would dip because it wouldnt be able to fulfill the forecasts submitted.

We dont sell huge volumes of low-end pre-pay products he went on. Anyone can buy a market share for a couple of months but we have sustained the number two position over many months. Its more important to be profitable than have a good market share.

According to Siemens latest market shares are Nokia (49.7 per cent) Siemens (11.8 per cent) Samsung (11.3 per cent) Sony Ericsson (8.3 per cent) Motorola (5.4 per cent) Sagem (5.1 per cent) and the rest with 8.4 per cent.

The grant is to be used to investigate how best to plan the locations and parameters of 3G masts so the smallest number of masts are erected while maintaining coverage and capacity.

The research in collaboration with Sony Ericsson Siemens and T-Mobile will investigate how the positioning of masts is planned in the future.

Users can view a specified location on the colour screen and see traffic delays displayed in either miles per hour or estimated delay time.

The software has been provided by Integrated Mobile Technologies.

Entrants get placed in one of four leagues and are set an individual target based on new SME connections during the promotional period

We are expecting a huge response and a massive drive to exceed targets from both existing and new customers commented Avenir Telecom commercial director Tanny Price.

The jolly held on Tuesday November 4 was to promote Siemens Mobile Direct an initiative designed to increase sales of Siemens products through smaller independent dealers. The scheme starts on January 1. Participating dealers are being promised the benefits and kudos of a direct relationship with the manufacturer even though they will continue to purchase handsets through Siemens-appointed distributors.

Siemens vice-president for Northern Europe Jonathan Bate explained why the manufacturer needed to launch the scheme.

We havent had a relationship with the dealers in the past. We are determined to change that he said. We want dealers to feel they have a direct relationship with us and with our distributors.

While Bate admitted that the manufacturer is not geared up to supply small amounts of kit to dealers he still believes it is important to have a direct relationship with dealers in other areas.

However Siemens priority over the past year has been to get the foundations right by strengthening its relationships with operators high street multiples and distributors and getting its product range right.

Only a couple of years ago we only had one operator partner Bate said. The company didnt know how to look after the retail channels. We have addressed that by hiring in new staff to build those relationships. Siemens has also worked hard to get its product offering right.

Having launched a new camera phone (the MC60) and with the launch of its SX-1 smartphone imminent Bate reassured the dealers that they were a vital part of the market.

A regular visitor to mobile phone shops up and down the country Bate says he is frustrated at the small number of dealers selling or recommending Siemens products.

We want a broader presence in the market. I want Siemens to be a preferred recommendation in your stores he added.

To achieve this Bate promised the dealers a direct channel of communication with the manufacturer. Siemens will also directly supply dealers with point of sale materials and dummy handsets while joint marketing promotions and a loyalty scheme are also being offered. Bate said he aimed to sign up around 50 Siemens Mobile Direct dealers even though he acknowledged that the scheme is not the first of its type in the industry. It is in fact similar to the Samsung Elect dealer initiative.

Where it differs however is that Siemens will not be using its distributors to provide extra support as Samsung does. Instead the manufacturer plans to supply everything bar handsets directly to the dealers leaving its distributors to concentrate on supplying kit.

We looked at using the distributors to provide the extra support but we felt it would be better to do it in-house Bate said.

Dealers who attended the event were impressed with the initiative. MoCo Cell Link boss Maurice Whelan told Mobile News:

It is good that a manufacturer has taken the trouble to get nearer the retailer rather than through distributors. It is better to get training and sales material direct from the manufacturer. Distributors are being pressurised with price and all they are interested in doing is selling handsets. Distributors generally cant give the same level of backup or service.

The handsets look good and are reliable. With a bit of luck they will give Nokia a run for its money.

(See White Lines P52)

At 30000 feet above the Atlantic Sir Richard Branson confirmed that it was not beyond the realm of possibility that Virgin Mobile would seek another host network if its long-running legal dispute with T-Mobile was not eventually resolved.

And while Virgin Mobile chief executive Tom Alexander agreed it could be a logistical nightmare to migrate three million customer calls to another network to do so would not be impossible.

The sky-high revelation came as Branson and Alexander held an impromptu press conference around the Upper Class bar of a Virgin Atlantic 747 winging its way to New York.

It was Virgin Atlantics inaugural flight showing off its new flatbed berths and Branson had invited the press along for the ride (see White Lines P52).

Virgin Mobile also took the opportunity to announce its best-ever quarterly figures. After all any hack who wanted to walk out of this presentation would have had a long way to fall.

Branson alluded to the problems T-Mobiles past management had created which he ascribed to one difficult individual – taking great care not to name ex-T-Mobile MD Harris Jones.

The new team at T-Mobile had given him great hope that a resolution would not be far off. But there were issues still to address. Branson needs to put the T-Mobile difficulties behind him as it is no secret that he and the rest of Virgin Groups management have aspirations to float Virgin Mobile sooner rather than later.

The company was incredibly upbeat about its 269681 net connections in Q3 which rocketed it to a total customer base from zero to 3138347 in exactly four years making it the worlds leading virtual provider. ARPU (average revenue per user) of 135 a year was better than any other network Alexander said.

For the first six months we grew our base quicker than everyone else put together. Our base is up 56 per cent year-on-year with churn of just 16 per cent a year.

How come? How is it that Virgin Mobile seems to be accelerating past everyone else in the slow lane?

The 3p on-net texting campaign has been a big factor with many Virgin Mobile users buying another phone for friends or family to take advantage of the giveaway rate.

The 3p text tariff and other value-focused offerings are driving growth and customer loyalty Alexander reckoned.

The Flash It loyalty programme also drove extra connections through Virgin stores as existing owners showed their Virgin handset to Virgin counter staff every time they bought a CD DVD or computer game and qualified for an instant 1 call credit.

Alexander explained how the multi-million-pound rollout programme of 92 Virgin Mobile concessions within existing Virgin Megastores and Virgin Megastores Xpress had contributed to the new high numbers.

The plan is for Virgin Mobile is to create 160 virtual shops and employ 220 new retail staff by the end of 2004.

Virgin Mobile already had numerous stores-within-stores in Virgin Megastore. But the new concessions are Virgin Mobile-branded and segregated from the rest of the store and staffed by people trained in mobile technology and retail methods. The idea is to have knowledgeable staff able to show customers how to set their phones up use voicemail set up VirginXtras and copy their SIM directory to their new phones among other tasks.

I think one reason why Virgin Mobile has been successful us that were not a stuffy corporate. We have people who enjoy working for the company said Alexander. l

Its your chance to bathe in indescribable glory at the Hilton on Park Lane on March 25 and show 1150 of your industry muckers who really is The Daddy.

See entry form in this issue or go to mobilenewsawards.co.uk.

Go on. Itll give you something to do on Boxing Day.