The shutdowns are said to be due to the slowdown in the retail market. Ten staff were affected but five have been found positions elsewhere in the company.

According to Digital Phone managing director Phil Rider the closure of the stores marks a refocusing towards the business community.

Like most dealers we have experienced a 40 per cent decline in new acquisitions over the past year or so. Being the sponsors of Norwich FC we have a high profile in the area and we are trying to get as much benefit as possible out of that.

Businesses know that we are a trustworthy firm and that if they work with us they are keeping money in the region. There are no other major independent business retailers in the area and we want to take full advantage of that. (Cont P2)

As part of Digital Phones links with Norwich FC it has seminar facilities at the football clubs Carrow Road ground and is set to hold the largest-ever business seminar in the area this week.

The future for independent retailers in the area is very difficult says Rider. All the networks have stores in the area as well as Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U. For one of our stores we had a Vodafone network store 100 yards down the road a Phones 4U store 50 yards past that and a Carphone Warehouse just next to that.

Our plan had been to open stores in the areas where these guys werent which are the small market towns. But these wont sustain the stores.

We could have kept the stores open without them losing any money but they wouldnt have been profit-making. So what would be the point?

What we now have to do is concentrate on the SMEs and ensure we provide them with excellent knowledgeable advice.

Of Digital Phones 20 stores 18 were Vodafone-branded and two Orange-branded stores. Digital Phone also offers O2 and T-Mobile direct.

The company acquired three Norwich Phone & Fax stores in November 2000 and six Retail Telecom stores in April 2001. The seven store closures are in Bury St. Edmunds Gorleston Lowestoft St Neots Swaffham Thetford and Great Yarmouth.

The Anglo base was split between small business and corporates and those being managed under a virtual service provider (VSP) arrangement. Generation Telecom has taken the small business and corporate customers.

The acquisition fits into our strategy very well. We heard there was an opportunity and reacted quickly. We thought the corporate and SME base would complement our base said Generation Telecom managing director Keith Westcott.

Kroll Buchler Philips receiver Andrew Pepper told Mobile News it is unlikely that Anglo Communications which went into receivership on August 29 will now be sold as a going concern.

Pepper says it is too early to determine the precise cause of Anglos collapse. He blamed the failure on Anglos slowness in collecting debts from its customers causing cashflow problems.

Anglo recently lost 250000 (Mobile News May 27) when one of its Virtual Service Providers (VSPSs) went into receivership. (Cont P2)

Telecom South MD Clive Thomas agreed to let Anglo take over the Vodafone customer base which was connected through Anglo.

However sources close to Anglo say that the company would only have benefited from the deal some six or seven months down the line.

Anglo parent company Recall group has had its shares on the Ofex market suspended as a result of the problems and is under threat of collapse due to the fact that Anglo was the mainstay of its business.

The collapse of Anglo is a blow to Recall which had only recently acquired a licence to sell Thuraya satellite phones and services.

However it is understood that Recall could take legal action against its finance company Bibby Factors due to the manner in which it called in the receivers. Anglo managing director Jeremy Bartholomew – White could not confirm that legal action had been served against Bibby.

However he did tell Mobile News:

It is true our parent company is unhappy with the treatment by Bibby Factors.

Bibby Factors declined to comment.

Kondor already supplies The Link Carphone Warehouse and Vodafone retail outlets with accessories but the deal is the first time the company has put accessories into a high-footfall store outside the mobile phone retail sector.

Mobile News has learned that over the coming months Samsung will be holding a number of roadshows across the country at which it plans to meet independent dealers and explain its plans in greater detail.

According to an industry source Samsung is looking to create a direct relationship with the independent dealer while still working through the existing distributor channels.

Samsung general manager Mark Mitchinson has spoken on numerous occasions about taking relations between the manufacturer and the dealer channel to another level and the new scheme is believed to have been designed by Mitchinson himself.

The scheme is set to get an extensive roll-out and will involve improved training in-store merchandising and information to ensure that dealers are better equipped to sell Samsung products. It also has the backing of Samsungs current distributors.

With Samsungs MMS package not expected to launch until the start of 2003 the company is said to be planning to use the time between now and then to educate the dealer channel on how its new products will work. It is also understood that as part of the scheme dealers will have the opportunity to become accredited by Samsung although this will not involve any direct trading with the manufacturer.

His replacement will be Stewart Sherriff who is currently senior vice-president of Western Wireless International which is the major shareholder in Meteor.

Meteor chairman and WWI president Brad Horwitz said:

Davids experience in running mobile companies in the UK and Australia meant that he was well suited for the start-up nature of Meteors market entry.

Meteor now has over 82 per cent population coverage and the new ODTR figures show we have reached four per cent market share which is a considerable achievement in a very challenging environment.

David successfully completed the challenges that we set for him and we wish him well in his (Cont P2) future endeavours.

But Sims formerly with Orbitel and Vodafone said he resigned under duress.

I was placed in a position where I had a gun at my head. I had to face the possibility of a year of legal action or step aside. Difficulties arose in the second year. It was like being in charge of a football team with regular demands from the board that I should sell off my key players. When those players were responsible for your marketing strategies and network roll-out you can appreciate how our future plans could be seriously compromised he said.

Sheriff has been with WWI for over 14 years as technical director overseeing the companys interests in Austria Slovenia Iceland Ivory Coast Bolivia Georgia Croatia Ghana and Haiti. An industry insider hinted that with WWI no longer bidding for new networks it was Sherriffs job that was facing extinction.

Sims enforced departure simply allowed the company to make necessary cost savings while juggling a few chairs in the boardroom. Speculation has been rife that WWI wishes to sell its investment.

Sims acknowledged this in an earlier interview with Mobile News saying only if the price was right.

The decision not to pursue a 3G licence application was seen as being caught between a rock and a hard place.

The licence fee of 114.1 million over 15 years would be a substantial drain especially for a network still to recover its 2G network build and launch costs.

Yet without an ability to offer 3G its attraction as a future investment would be greatly diminished.

Entries may be made from this week using the Entry Form attached to this issue of Mobile News. Call 0500 002 275 for extra copies.

The Mobile News Awards will be presented at a gala dinner dance at the Hilton on Park Lane on March 27 2003 attended by more than 1100 guests and sponsored by O2 Orange Virgin Mobile and Vodafone.

The furious VSP dealers have been taken on temporarily by Vodafone. They met at the Hilton Hotel at East Midlands Airport last week to discuss action reports Bard Covington.

Vodafone last week wrote to Anglos dealer/virtual service providers telling them that Vodafone would treat them as dealers from the end of the year and that they would lose their status as virtual service providers.

This means Vodafone will take over the billing and management of their customers. Anglo VSPs who reject this offer can take their business to another service provider if they want. But Vodafone has told all its service providers they are not allowed to take on virtual service providers. The Anglo VSPs now resent the possibility of Vodafone obtaining their customers for free and losing their ongoing revenues.

Tim Speer of Folkestone dealer RHA Telecom said:

Vodafone sent us a daft letter which was very ambiguous. Crooked VSPs and Anglos insecure commercial relationships with the VSPs have affected our business but Vodafone cant force us to hand over our customers. The customers signed with us. We signed with Anglo. We didnt sign with Vodafone. We could churn all the customers to another service provider or network.

Vodafone head of sales Iain Graham admitted a letter had been sent to all 24 Anglo VSPs saying Vodafone would support them through Generation Telecom until the end of the year.

We have offered them the opportunity to become direct dealers but that we would take over the management and billing of their customers. Any Anglo VSPs who dont want to become direct dealers will need to take their customers to an independent service provider.

This is not a knee-jerk reaction to Anglos fall. When a (Cont P2)failure like Anglo happens you look to the reasons why. We are looking carefully at VSPs and the issues they raise said Graham.

But in another letter Vodafones service provision division told Vodafone service providers that Clause 11.7 of their licence forbids them from selling or subcontracting airtime to third parties without Vodafones consent.

This letter asks service providers to report any dealers who are acting as virtual service providers and demands clarification as to who is billing the customer.

But very few SPs have been given such consent.

Thomas owns 18.5 per cent of PNC shares and left the company two years ago.

He says the company is being undersold and that PNCS mobile phone business KJC has improved prospects. In the last six months PNCs deficit narrowed from 14 million to 3.9 million.

Thomas is angry that PNC is looking for a buyer because he feels that the low 16p share price will mean minimum return for investors.

He reckons the share price should be allowed to rise based on the fact that rival Opal Telecom fetched 65 million when it was sold to Carphone Warehouse. (Cont P2)

Thomas will seek re-election to PNCs board at the EGM. If he succeeds he says he will move PNC back into profit and raise share value. This would be better he says than selling the company now.

I support the changes made by the board to reduce the losses. However I question the logic of flogging the company for next to nothing Thomas told Mobile News.

Ian Gray (PNCs current chief executive) has done a good job in turning things around. But I am not impressed with the latest results. Selling now would not provide the best value to shareholders. I have doubled my stake in PNC since I left the business. If the company is sold now I will get very little return on my shares which are currently trading at around 16p he said.

Opal Telecom shareholders received nearer 65p per share. PNC Telecom should be worth nearer 30 million to match the value of Opal.

Thomas says he has the support of a number of other shareholders.

Gray shrugged off Thomas claim; The company has not been valued so it is premature to say how much it will be sold for. Geremy Thomas does not have to sell his shares if he feels the offer price is too low. He can put in an offer for the company if he so wishes.

Some PNC insiders claim Thomas wants control of PNC without investing any money. But Thomas claims his previous attempts to buy back PNC were rejected by its directors.

The board asked me to leave after rejecting my plan to split the mobile retail and fixed-line businesses. I left with a significant shareholding which I doubled Thomas explained.

In the past six months turnover fell from 31 million to 28.5 million. Losses reduced from 14 million to 3.9 million.

Other Cityphone Group companies such as Talk4All and Phone City Franchises will remain unaffected by Pointgolds fall providing that they can remain T-Mobile stockists.

Pointgold will be wound up. I have not offered to buy it from the receiver nor has the receiver had any bids for the business. It is not worth a penny. We have lost as much money as T-Mobile Cityphone boss Barry Donaghey told Mobile News.

We are working with T-Mobile to try to stop the other businesses from going under. The other companies look very secure. They are owed commissions by Pointgold.

We want to carry on connecting through T-Mobile. The other companies within the Cityphone group remain profitable and should escape any collapse. Other parts of the group are entitled to become T-Mobile stockists. They were stockists to Pointgold the distributor and have their own management teams and are entitled to get stocks from other T-Mobile distributors. It has been a very bad time for us.

Donaghey agreed Cityphones ambitious plans to have a nationwide chain of 100 shops had overstretched Pointgolds resources.

Ironically Pointgold purchased 30 WAP stores in January for 700000 from the same insolvency specialists RSM Robson Rhodes which is now administering Pointgold.

(see analysis P16)

Howard Philips of accountancy firm Sorskys has been appointed as the administrative receiver.

Agcomm director George Savva says the liquidator is likely to pursue the unnamed mobile phone trader who was paid 419000 for a consignment of mobile phones but disappeared without delivering the handsets.

The matter is now in the hands of the liquidators. We tried to pursue the debt without success he said.

Philips was unavailable at the time of going to press to confirm the identity of the rogue UK trader or whether legal action had been taken against it.

Agcomm also got stung by a 1.6 million consignment of Prada clothing that it has been unable to sell for legal reasons.

We bought the Prada stock from an Italian trading company which supplied us with documents stating that we could sell the stock in any country except Italy said Savva. But the documents were forged and Prada served an injunction against us preventing us from selling the stock in all but a few countries.

Unsurprisingly this caused cashflow problems.

We have been unable to sell the stock even at very low prices he added. We are only allowed to sell the stock in the Middle East and Far East but not Japan. We initiated criminal proceedings against the Italian trading company before we went into administration.

A creditors meeting will be held this Friday (November 1) at Agcomms accountants offices in Regents Park London.