Vodafones managing director of customer services Iain Graham has replaced Andy Smith as dealer manager.

Smith now becomes sales director for a newly-formed small-to medium-sized enterprise (SME) division tasked with improving sales to this sector of the market.

The changes have been ordered by Vodafone sales and distribution director Stephen Brewer who felt more emphasis needed to (Cont P8) be placed on SMEs. Brewer said that SME tactics needed to be spun out from under the Vodafone Corporate banner.

One of the victims of the shake-up is Vodafone Corporate managing director Graham Ward who has taken redundancy along with 650 out of 10000 other Vodafone UK employees.

Orange has also geared up to improve distribution to the SME sector. Fourteen dealers from around the country have been chosen by Orange to become business specialists in a drive to target the small business market.

There are 900000 small businesses of two to 49 employees. We have a 23 per cent market share of that community. There is a great opportunity for us. To concentrate on developing new customers from small businesses Orange is creating a new channel of business specialists.

Small businesses prefer to buy and deal with a local independent specialist said Andy Hollingworth sales manager for dealers and distribution.

Former Ericsson UK managing director Alex Rodrigues heads up the new global marketing communications team. He is joined by former Ericsson UK director of marketing and new business Steve Walker who has a global product-marketing role.

Ericsson president of Asia-Pacific Philip Rambech becomes SonyEricsson UK managing director while Sony UK business unit manager Peter Marsden is now SonyEricsson UK head of marketing.

Ex-Ericsson head of product management Colin Ellis has landed a regional product-marketing role based in Munich.

Rodrigues says the appointment of Rambech is significant.

I worked for Phil Rambech when I went to work in Singapore. He has loads of experience heading up the Asia-Pacific region. He has a vast understanding of the Asian market and that experience will (Cont P8) be vital for the UK. It shows that SonyEricsson views the UK as an important market added Rodrigues.

Our campaigns have yet to be announced. To begin with we are focusing on the integration process. The first step is to align the products from both brands. They will continue under their existing brand names but brought to you by SonyEricsson. There is a strong portfolio of products. SonyEricsson is very strong in GPRS. We have more GPRS phones in the market than our competitors. On the connectivity side we now offer Bluetooth and Memory Stick. In time people will see why Sony and Ericsson are well suited to working together.

The network has told dealers it will be reducing pre-pay stock allocations to focus on higher-value customers and is also predicting impending stock shortages due to manufacturers struggling to meet demand.

Many retailers and dealers say that all networks are reducing distribution and allocation of pre-pay stock. But a Vodafone spokesperson said there would be no restriction of pre-pay stock. BTCellnet and Orange were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

We estimate there will be greater demand for pre-pay stock than we can obtain from the networks. We are only being allocated 60 per cent of the pre-pay stock we require. Networks are turning down many retailers and are restricting volumes and distribution channels Carphone Warehouse UK chief executive Andrew Harrison told Mobile News.

One 2 One marketing PR manager Neil Bent said:

We still expect substantial numbers of people to buy pre-pay propositions. But our priority is to satisfy demand from higher-value contract customers. Stock allocations will reflect this.

Pre-pay was popular because handset prices were low. Most people have a phone now. There will be fewer people buying phones as gifts. We are not desperately going to chase those people who (Cont P2) have yet to buy a phone.

There will be no above-the-line advertising is to support our Pay As You Go offering. Handset supply could be a problem for the industry at Christmas this year. The most popular handsets are in shortest supply. We cant get hold of Samsung A300s concluded Bent.

Samsung general manager Mark Mitchinson agreed demand for the A300 was extremely high.

We have experienced increasing orders for A300. We are working on ways to get more product into the UK. It is great news for us but it puts demand on capacity. We are hopeful of increasing supply. All the products are selling well. We are in the top three on most networks and retail chains. You just cant turn volumes on and off to meet demand. Its a nice problem to have.

Carphone Warehouse has sourced a number of Sim-free handsets that it can sell at cost ( 50) within Fresh packs to overcome the issues of subsidy and box-breaking. Its long-term revenues will be from airtime.

Carphone Warehouse chief executive Andrew Harrison confirmed that Woolworths and Comet are starting to receive supplies of Fresh handsets and Sim cards.

We will offer handsets at 49.99. With our buying power and an oversupply of stock there is lots of cheap kit out there to be bought. We have secured a large number of Motorola T180 handsets.

We are not intending to make margin on the hardware. The return will come on airtime. The deal with One 2 One allows us to monitor the performance of customers. The more that Fresh customers spend the more we and our partners can earn.

Harrison doesnt see Comet and Woolworths as a threat to its business. (Cont P2)

The fact that Comet and Woolworths were involved with us in buying pre-pay stock from the networks helped maintain our presence in the pre-pay market. Woolworths and Comet made a commitment to stay in the mobile phone market said Harrison.

Networks have started to become less interested in pre-pay customers. They created a product with huge demand that economically doesnt make sense. Networks have left a gap in the market.

Although pre-pay products are still available people expect it to be an entry-level proposition. They have come to expect products that cost 30 or 40. People dont want to spend 129.99 on a phone. The networks arent doing enough to develop propositions for people who dont want to pay 13.99 per month on a contract and those that want pre-pay he added.

Harrison hinted Fresh could potentially be sold to specialist independent retailers.

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Westcott a former managing director of Ericssons mobile phone division in the UK joins Phones International after just five months at Kondor the Dorset based accessories company.

Says Westcott:

There were no issues with Kondor. It was agreed that I would review a decision to move my family down to Dorset after six months. The opportunity with Phones International came up at the same time. It appealed to me from a personal and career level.

Theres nothing more to it than that. Ive enjoyed my time at Kondor. This opportunity appealed more. It took away the decision to move the family. Kondor has great potential and will do well.

It wasnt an easy decision. I had to weigh up the potential (Cont P2) at Phones International and working with Peter Jones (Phones International managing director). Kondor is disappointed but respects my decision. I wont be diving straight out of the door. I am staying on to finish off some projects.

Kondor chairman Malcolm Bartlett admitted Westcotts defection was a minor setback. But he put on a brave face saying:

We are disappointed. I know Keith was having difficulty with the 180-mile daily commute. We thought it would be alright but he had a good offer come up locally. Keith has done some good work for us here. He will be staying on for a while. We are recruiting a replacement. We dont have anyone specific in mind. It is only a minor setback.

Keith is a good guy and opened some doors up for us. We have had a good year. Sales are up by 40 per cent. Keith leaves on very amicable terms. Its a great job for him to go to and is allied to his past experience said Bartlett.

Meanwhile ex-Kondor sales director John Farwell has joined rival accessories company Online.

Jacobsen and Rich both leave at the end of this month. Jacobsen is moving to a major software company while Rich is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities after only four months. She joined Ora from Mitsubishi Electric as head of marketing.

It is understood she was unhappy at Oras revised hierarchy after Banner Telecom sales director Bob Walker joined as sales and marketing head.

I am leaving to pursue other opportunities in consultancy rather than marketing. My decision to leave has nothing to do with any internal issues at Ora Rich said.

We will continue to produce a wide range of phones. The announcement means our production is being transferred to the Czech Republic. In the meantime we are extending the mobile phone research and development facility at the Thatcham site spokesperson Brendon Gore told Mobile News.

Panasonic continues to manufacture mobile phones globally in China the Philippines and (Cont P2) Japan. A drop in demand for phones in Europe increased competition and pressure from exchange rates means it is cheaper to produce phones outside the UK said Gore.

Panasonics head of business systems Bob Tate added:

The desire to be successful in mobile phones is maintained. We had to react to the difficult market by transferring production out of the UK. As the market declines the cost of manufacture is critical. We need a low cost base for manufacturing.

Tate says Panasonics UK performance is starting to show improvements.

Operators have moved towards contract business. That suits us as a company and the products we want to bring in. Sales are starting to improve. New products have been launched. We are making steps forward.

Two Orange employees have been suspended pending investigation of allegations of misappropriation of company funds.

Orange takes these allegations very seriously and is conducting a full investigation said a statement from the company.

Industry sources hint that information from the Orange dealer database may have been sold for cash to third parties. Some Orange dealers have complained that customers are getting unsolicited calls from third-party companies offering them upgrade phones within a few days of their contracts expiring.

Vic Hockley a partner in East London-based Cellular Connect says his customers have been affected.

Some of our customers have been approached by third-party companies offering them upgrades. We try to provide a good service to our customers and part of that involves keeping an eye on the amount of time they have had their phone said Hockley.

In recent months customers have been getting calls within a few days of their 12-month contract expiry date. It seems like these companies have obtained details from Oranges customer base.

It needs the money to develop a new service platform because Swiss GSM operator Swisscom which provided the Mint Sim cards was no longer going to support the service.

Mint has about 100000 active subscribers and the service continues as normal for the time being. No customers have been cut off yet.

Icelandic mobile phone operator Hallo has a 50 per cent share in Mint. Hallo chief technology officer Larus Jonsson told Mobile News:

Mint has ceased trading. The decision was taken by Mint directors after the company was unsuccessful in raising funds for projects. The directors are looking at all the options. The company will go into receivership in the next few weeks unless finance can be raised.

Running costs were higher than profits. Mint experienced technical problems with credit top-up. Customers couldnt refresh their call credit without calling the call centre. A big problem has been the failure to provide post-paid services (Cont P2) to corporate customers. Both problems would have been addressed with the new service platform but Mint has been unable to raise funds in time.

Profitability per customer was not as high as calculated. The corporate market was an essential element to the business. Corporate customers want post-pay services added Jonsson.

Elite Mobile Accessories which distributes Mint Sim cards and vouchers said the failure of Mint would not hit the company badly.

Elite managing director Ajay Gokani told Mobile News:

We still have some stock here. But Mint isnt a big seller. None of our customers have complained that the service is not working. We are not able to get any new stock at this time. If it does go into receivership it wont be a big loss to our business.