Mitsubishi has announced its intention to axe its former European telecom division and replace it with a new company next year to concentrate on R&D and marketing of new high-end GPRS handsets to be built in China.

Our intention is to fulfil all orders. All the different markets are working to fulfil customers orders for handsets a Mitsubishi Electric spokesperson said.

French law prohibits a company from discussing the situation until an agreement has been reached about employees futures.

Mitsubishi Electric had announced its intention to close the factory in Rennes. But the protracted French legal system has slowed negotiations which are still ongoing.

A final agreement between all parties could be reached by the summer.

When Generation Telecom bought failed Anglo Communications customer base some corporate/SME subscribers had direct contracts with Anglo.

The remainder were connected through dealers who acted as VSPs. The customers relationship for billing and other services was with the dealer rather than the actual service provider or the network.

Generation Telecoms VSP dealers have been given three options: sign up to the Generation Telecom Strategic Partnership for ongoing revenue payments of up to seven per cent of the total bill for the life of the customer have the PAC codes released to them or sell their customer base to Generation Telecom.

Subscribers who have not been opted in to one of the three options by April 1 will be disconnected.

Generation Telecom MD Keith Westcott MD told Mobile News:

Working with the dealers as traditional VSPs doesnt fit with our strategy. Reaction to the letter we sent our VSP dealers has been mixed.

Wed already started to change terms and conditions compared to what the dealers were enjoying from Anglo. We simply couldnt carry on the same way.

You only have to look at what happened to Anglo to see why. Dealers respect that.

Whether the virtual service provider as a concept is dead is in the hands of the few organisations that continue down that route.

We prefer not to have any grey areas when it comes to who owns a subscriber. Thats impossible with virtual service provision. We are happy to continue to work with (Cont P2)some of the VSP dealers through an indirect strategy which will continue to provide them with an ongoing revenue stream said Westcott.

Westcott added that the decision to dump virtual service provision was a strategic decision and not connected with the quality of the companies it partners.

VSP doesnt sit easily in our portfolio. We have not left our dealers in the lurch. Weve given three options and plenty of notice. Weve been in dialogue for a while. This hasnt come out of the blue. No ones being left high and dry said Westcott.

One of the affected dealers John Hepworth of Stoke-based GB Phone Solutions said: I can see both sides of the argument. I dont feel desperately badly done by – Ive found somewhere else I can put the business. However we werent given the three months notice stipulated in our contract with Anglo.

But he added: Its not as if Generation Telecom has cut us off overnight. Weve got six weeks to sort things out.

Generation Telecom did not understand the complexity of the VSP proposition when it acquired the Anglo Communications business. Im not too sure that it understand dealers that well or the way that we work. It sent us a contract to sign. It was a very one-sided document. No dealer that I know of signed it. Generation Telecom decided that it would scrap the VSP package completely.

Hepworth detects the influence of Vodafone in all this.

Vodafone does not like anyone other than itself having ownership of the customer. The network is not a big fan of dealers reselling its services.

Hepworth remains committed to the concept of virtual service provision delivered by dealers.

No matter what kind of problem our customer has we will sort it out personally. Hes not connected to a call centre in India.

Call centres may be OK for the consumer but not for businesses and SME customers.

Our customers are prepared to pay us a little bit extra for the element of service and flexibility we deliver.

The Spring training roadshows will be held nationwide. Events will concentrate on products and services mobile data future developments business-to-business and retail sales skills.

Each course is led by a professional Orange trainer and hosted by a European Telecom account manager.

These courses are designed to arm dealers with the knowledge and tools to make the most of the opportunities available said European Telecom director of group sales and marketing John Drinkwater.

The vending machine is due to be trialled next month in the forecourt of a Texaco petrol station. If the trial is successful the machines could be installed at other Texaco stations nationwide.

The vending machine accepts credit cards and currency in pounds and euros. The machine authenticates card transactions by connecting over Vodafones GSM and GPRS networks to the banks. Phone Kiosk hopes to sell the machines into other retailers and operators.

Telement teamed up with Phone Vending to adapt the design of the pre-pay voucher vending machines it supplies to operators and retailers so that it can handle mobile phone accessories and pre-pay mobile phones.

The machine could also dispense the new wave of disposable mobile phones coming into the UK this year.

Priman says the only way retailers will make any money out of low-margin goods is to automate the sale.

Margins on accessories are getting lower and it makes sense to sell them through a machine rather than over-the-counter. Its not cost-effective to have a member of staff on hand to sell low-margin goods that could be dispensed from a machine at a lower cost.

Priman says he conceived the idea while working at the Pau brothers former FoneRange company prior to its liquidation and the sale of its brand name and customer base to Elite.

Three years ago (former) FoneRange launched a concept accessory vending machine at CeBIT. There was a tremendous response to it but it never came to market. The concept was principally my idea and I was in charge of the project.

It is a good concept because there is less margin on a number of products especially top-up vouchers. It is hardly worth retailers selling them for such a low margin.

If you can automate the retailing process it is an excellent opportunity. And the machine will operate 24 hours a day seven days a week Priman says.

The boy Michael Austin was given the phone as an exchange unit which Carphone Warehouse obtained in good faith from Club Nokias Merryhill service centre.

Mobile News recently exposed a loophole in Club Nokias procedures which potentially allowed faulty stolen handsets to be exchanged for new units.

This was because some Club Nokia service centres did not ask customers for proof of purchase on handsets less than 15 months old (Mobile News February 18).

The Carphone Warehouse issued an apology saying:

The Carphone Warehouse would like to again apologise sincerely to Michael Austin and his family for this very unfortunate incident.

The Carphone Warehouse received the exchanged handset in good faith from the manufacturer and had no reason to believe that it had been stolen.

This incident has highlighted a loophole within the mobile phone industry.

There is currently no central database that records blacklisted and stolen handsets and until this is set up this situation risks reoccurring.

The Carphone Warehouse is willing to take on the cost and management of such a database and has been urging the networks to urgently work with us to make this possible.

We have already made considerable progress with two networks and urge the other networks to start working with us on this as soon as possible.

Speaking exclusively to Mobile News in a rare interview Edmonds said:

To accuse me of being naive demonstrates a naivety on the part of those making the accusations. No ones ever made any such allegations to my face.

Im quite happy to invite anyone who feels that way into my office to discuss why they think as they do.

Lets take a look at what Ive done in the last six months.

I produced the Review of the Mobile Market. Is that a naive document?

No. It is a penetrative analytical piece of work that takes the economics of the mobile market down to first essentials and builds up a case as far as most of that marketplace is (Cont P2) concerned for not making it subject to regulation.

That review led directly to mobile operators being able to offer a wider range of product without in the vast majority of cases that product being subject to any price regulation. Was that naive?

No it was a huge step forward.

Where did I step in to regulate? I intervened over calls to mobiles because there was conclusive evidence that the prices being charged are very much higher than should have been the case.

Thats not naive. It is taking action after a thorough appraisal of the facts and the market concluded Edmonds.

The stores to be closed are the smaller kiosk-sized ex-PocketPhone Shops. Around 100 shop staff will be affected. But it is not yet clear how many people will be made redundant. One 2 One (which will be officially renamed T-Mobile this week) hopes to relocate staff.

One 2 One closed 23 unprofitable stores last year.

Thus it has shut nearly a third of the 167 shops it purchased almost two years ago for 73 million from PocketPhone Shop founders Simon Jordan and Andrew Briggs. (Cont P2)

One 2 One denies this means that the purchase of PocketPhone Shop was a disaster. One 2 One external relations manager Patrick Barrow says a change in the market forced the closures.

The shops suited our requirements at the time of the purchase. Nothing is set in stone in business. We still have a clear retail strategy. We want the right stores in places where we will get the right people through the doors to buy our products and services.

The strategy is still on track and we will be opening bigger and better stores in due time. In some cases the stores were not attracting the customer profile we are aiming for.

Only last year One 2 One rebranded 136 PocketPhone Shops with joint One 2 One and T-Mobile branding and renamed the company One 2 One Retail Ltd. Earlier this year One 2 One retail managing director Andrew Fryatt quit following the decision to incorporate One 2 One Retail into the main business and run the shops directly.

PocketPhone Shop was also found to be the least favourite place people would go to buy a mobile phone in December last year according to the results of a survey commissioned by ICM Research.

Of the 1000 adults interviewed only 80 thought PocketPhone Shop would give the most honest advice. Nine per cent thought PPS would offer the best choice. Just six per cent thought PPS would have the best prices while 10 per cent thought PPS would have the most knowledgeable staff.

Newcastle-based Cityphone has put a bid in and is currently carrying out due diligence. But bids from other suitors have also been made reports Bard Covington.

European Telecom declined to either confirm or deny that it was selling off its PCN business.

European Telecom chief David Mc Kinney told Mobile News in February that the company was always looking at different aspects of the business and how it can reduce costs.

It has been suspected for some time that European Telecom wanted to extricate itself from handset distribution to concentrate on (Cont P2) handset configuration and fulfilment for manufacturers. In January it signed a three-year deal to configure and distribute Philips handsets in Europe in a deal worth 300000.

The company has been looking to sell off all parts of the business not related to fulfilment and distribution of cellular equipment. In August last year it sold its 50 per cent stake in Global Telematics for 6 million.

Last September it shut down its Slough HQ and made 50 staff redundant in a bid to cut costs after running up losses of 27 million.

At the time of going to press European Telecoms share price was at an all-time low of 4p.

Cellphone Warehouse had over 25 stores. It is understood to have ceased trading after all its shops closed two weeks ago.

It is unconfirmed whether the company is now in the hands of liquidators. The extent of any debts and whether the 67 staff have been made redundant are also unclear.

The Cellphone Warehouses accounts for 2000 to 2001 show that chain made healthy profits of just under 1 million after tax and opened new branches within Asda supermarkets.

The Cellphone Warehouse also planned to expand its stores into mainland Europe in preparation for a public listing in 2003 in spite of the downturn.

Meanwhile calls to Miracles head office were unanswered and the companys trading offices have been closed for a number of days.

A number of directors resigned within the last few months. One ex-director told Mobile News he had been brought in to try and raise extra cash for the business but resigned when accountants told him it was futile.

However the contract will be fairly restrictive and 20:20 will not be allowed to undercut distributors who are being supplied by other Orange distributors.

We are looking for incremental business following the consolidation in the market and we are giving ourselves the best opportunity to do this. We have ignored the Caudwell Group for too long said Orange sales director Stuart Henry.

The deal brings to a conclusion a long-running feud between Caudwell Group and Orange based on a mutual dislike between ex-Orange group sales director Gareth Jones and John Caudwell.

It was generally acknowledged throughout the industry that the two men couldnt stand one another.

Jones left Orange a year ago. He recently re-entered the mobile industry as a board director of online handset distributor Mloop (Mobile News April 18).