Cem Urmen (21) of Pasture Road Catford is charged with stealing a 177 Ericsson T610 at The Orange Shop at Whiteleys shopping centre in Queensway Paddington between June 22 and June 28.

He is also charged that between June 27 and November 1 he dishonestly obtained a telecommunicaitons service from Orange Communications making calls costing 123 with intent to avoid payment.

Siemens is the number two handset manufacturer in Europe according to reports by research firms Strategy Analytics and IDC.

But research company Gartner Dataquest puts Motorola and Samsung ahead of Siemens on global market share.

Nokia remained number one globally in Q3 2003 (45 million units) with Motorola second (19.4 million) followed by Samsung (14.8 million) Siemens (12.1 million) LG (7.08 million) and Sony Ericsson (7.07 million).

Strategy Analytics said that Siemens European market share grew from 11 per cent to 17 per cent between Q2 and Q3 this year. Nokia lost market share for the first time in two years. The report also noted improved sales by Sony Ericsson and Sagem.

However IDC says Siemens western European market share grew to 18.7 per cent.

The company shipped 4.75 million handsets in Q3. Siemens has some way to go in order to catch Nokias 12.8 million handsets in the same quarter.

Sony Ericsson was in third position (2.3 million) Motorola in fourth (1.7 million) and Samsung in fifth (one million). Overall handset sales of 25.4 million in Q3 2003 were almost identical to the same quarter last year.

Nokia saw its Q3 sales drop by 1.1 million handsets over the same quarter in 2002. Motorola and Samsung dipped in sales compared with last year. Motorola was down 400000; Samsung was down by 325000 units.

The biggest winners were Siemens (up one million) and Sony Ericsson (up 765000).

Siemens vice-president for Northern Europe Jonathan Bate said:

Siemens strategy is working. We have seen this reflected in our increased UK performance. Our market share continues to rise. We are starting to see cracks in Nokias skin. We expect our performance to improve.

He went on: This time last year we only had one or two handsets in the market. This year we have six or seven products on sale. We now have products in the vast majority of retailers. We are also selling handsets on all the networks.

There will be even more products next year. The Real Madrid sponsorship deal and the Beckham effect are helping brand awareness which is stronger than ever.

Sony Ericsson UK managing director Philip Rambech was also delighted with Sony Ericssons increase in sales and share.

The T610 is selling well. We can eat into Nokias share he said. The product roadmap for 2004 gives us confidence we will take a serious step forward. The benefits of the joint venture are finally materialising. 2004 will see a continuation in sales growth with a strong and broad product range.

Fraser joined Orange from Safeway in October 2000 as head of retail activities and was appointed to the position of sales and distribution director personal and small business in June.

The next issue will appear on January 12. We wish all our readers and advertisers a Merry Christmas and prosperous new year.

Autocall was one of six Vodafone SPs warned in August they had not performed to their business plan and would not have their licences renewed on December 31 unless they met their targets.

Autocalls 1200 customers have been transferred to Vodafone Business Services.

Autocall founder John Ditchburn told Mobile News:

Autocall Services is in liquidation. A creditors meeting has been held. PricewaterhouseCoopers has been appointed as the liquidator. Vodafone wanted a minimum of 250 connections per month which we could no longer meet in a saturated market.

Surprisingly Ditchburn does not blame Vodafone but Oftel.

Once Oftel removed the regulation that obliged the networks to use service providers it was obvious that this day would come. Oftels decision reduced competition.

Its disappointing because we tried to take a long-term view of the market. Other SPs had a short-term strategy to build a customer base with the ultimate aim of selling it. Maybe thats what we should have done.

Autocall Services was an airtime company. Without a service provider licence it no longer had a business. I had no option but to liquidate. Autocall Limited will continue to trade for the time being. I will evaluate things over the Christmas period and decide on what to do in the new year. Selling the customer base was not an option.

Vodafone had a debenture on the customer base and will offset the value of the customer base against any debt.

The most significant creditor will be Vodafone said Ditchburn.

Vodafone declined to comment specifically on Autocalls situation. However Vodafone business segment head Ken McGeorge said:

We sent letters to six service providers that were not performing to their business plans. Two have since improved and will not have their licences removed. The licences of the other four will not be renewed. They have until March 31 to sell their customer bases.

An FCS statement said:

Throughout 2003 the mobile network operators acquired a number of the remaining mobile independent service providers.

Recently both O2 and Vodafone indicated that they will not be renewing their agreements with a number of other mobile independent service providers when they expire at the end of the year.

As a consequence the Federation of Communication Services has decided to wind up its MISP group with effect from December 31.

The Association of Communication Service Providers (ACSP) and other FCS groups remain available to provide representation for mobile independent service provider companies it concluded.

FCS chief executive Jacqui Brookes added:

An industry grouping of mobile phone service providers has been part of FCS since 1989. The end of the MISP group is a sad milestone for competition in this marketplace.

She added: The major reduction in the number of mobile independent service providers is bound to have a negative effect on the mobile market as customers will have far less choice of branded mobile phone airtime suppliers in the future.

Nokia was contacted by a trader who bought some units and then complained to Nokia. This led to Nokias own Investigation and the subsequent raid.

Nokias legal representative Jeremy Newman said: We cant name the company that was raided. Trading standards are investigating the firm with a view to prosecution. It was not a dramatically big raid. Less than 500 items were seized.

More than 170000 counterfeit products including batteries chargers and covers have been seized over the last six months.

Nokia has launched a new anti-counterfeiting campaign following a spate of incidents where customers have been reportedly injured as a result of fitting poor quality counterfeit batteries to their phones (Mobile News).

The company expects there will be a booming market for counterfeit car-kits due to the incoming legislation.

Nokia is focusing on ridding the market of counterfeit batteries chargers and car-kits because they are safety critical. It is fighting a secondary action against passing-off.

Consumers are not deceived by passed-off products as they are with counterfeit products. Passed-off products do damage Nokias brand and reputation and the distinctive character of its trademarks said Newman.

Nokia launched its anti-counterfeiting drive days after Belgian consumer organisation – Test-Aankoop – slammed the company for producing unsafe batteries after testing what it thought was a batch of original Nokia batteries.

Nokia said Test Aankoop may have inadvertently tested counterfeit batteries and invited them to test original samples. These were protected against short circuiting.

Nokia has launched an ad campaign to warn about the dangers of counterfeit batteries and how to spot them. The website (www.nokia.com/battery) contains pictures of counterfeit batteries and details of a dealer helpline.

Nokias UK head of corporate communications Mark Squires said:

We are the most active manufacturer in fighting counterfeit products.

We would like to see more cohesive work from the industry to tackle the problem.

We need more support from governments. We are doing as much as we can to protect consumer.

This is very good news for all 3 dealers said Ian Gillespie of 3 distributor Fone Logistics. I have seen the product and it is very impressive. The download speeds are extremely quick and it should be a good seller for Christmas.

But the six 3 distributors were also told not expect the new NEC 616 handset until the first quarter of 2004.

The reorganisation aims to replicate rise in Siemens UK sales across Sweden Denmark Norway Finland Iceland Greenland Holland and Ireland.

Bate is credited with more than doubling Siemens UK handset sales and trebling its profits in less than two years. Bobby Sanghera who was network accounts director takes over as director of UK sales.

Bate said: The re-organisation will give Siemens Mobile more focus in each individual market rather than all countries being part of one large EMEA region. We already have the number two position in northern Europe.

Bate will be joined by Neil Sansbury who is the financial director for the region.

Orange has been hit by a handset shortage following the success of its current commission bonus scheme.

The network launched its bonus scheme last month with dealers able to earn up to 75 extra commission for every handset they sell if they reach targets.

But dealers have reported a surge in Orange sales as the network is reported to have connected the same number of customers on contract as it usually achieves on pre-pay and contract together.

One major Orange distributor said:

We are only getting stock on allocation. We have some supplies but nowhere near enough to meet demand. There isnt much we can do.

We have ordered more but like I say we are only given limited stock on allocation.

Another dealer told Mobile News:

When you see the number of products available from Orange it makes you laugh.

We do a lot of work with business customers and they want standard products like the 3510i and 5210. Ive had a deal waiting to be closed and Ive had to search everywhere for a 3510i.

The sudden increase in sales has left the network suffering severe shortages across its handset range. In one of its October stock situation updates only 10 out the 32 handsets listed on contract are available now.

Models listed as out of stock include the Nokia 7250i Sony Ericssons popular T610 Samsungs A800 V200 and C100 and the Panasonic GD87.

Other popular handsets listed as on allocation orders only include Nokias 3510i and 6100 as well as the Sagem My-X6.

A spokeswoman for Orange said:

Like all networks we have a short-term supply difficulty primarily driven by volume constraints placed upon us by manufacturers late launches and cancelled launches due to quality issues.

This has been exacerbated by an unusually high number of orders that we were happy to satisfy last month.

We expect this situation to be rectified in the coming weeks.

It is understood that Orange is unlikely to continue its bonus scheme past its initial two-month period.

When the scheme was launched it was set to last two months with the possibility that it would be extended for a further two months.