Rigby reported to Vodafone director of corporate and business sales Ken McGeorge. Alternative Networks has been one of Rigbys accounts for the past three years.

Ive loved every second of my time at Vodafone Rigby said. But Ive been offered an opportunity at director level at a smaller company. So Im moving out of a large corporate entity to something that is more fleet of foot.

He went on: It was important to me to leave Vodafone with all my relationships intact and Im delighted to say this has been done.

Listed in the 2000 2001 and 2002 editions of the Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table Alternative Networks claims to be one of the UKs fastest growing companies. It provides telecoms services for around 3000 small firms. 

The company which has offices in London Manchester and Bracknell was founded in October 1994 by friends Chris Wilson and James Murray and is described as Britains largest independent reseller of telecommunications services.

In 2002 it won the National

Business Award for being the UKs top growing company.

At the time of going to press nobody from Alternative Networks was available to discuss the specifics of Rigbys new role.

The viral ad (www.best-hands.net) will only be available on the Internet and was created to celebrate Virgin Mobiles recent JD Power award for best customer service. It shows a toilet attendant taking his duties to the next level by providing a hands-on service in the most literal sense. It ends with a hugely obese man entering a cubicle with the now grim-faced attendant following behind with a large toilet roll. Viral ads aim to get a brands target audience to send them out to their friends creating a chain reaction.

Sources claim that Jackson wants out of service provision and is talking to advisers. But Intercity press spokesman Bob Keys denied this.

I can say categorically no advisers have been appointed or approached by Alan Jackson or any of the other directors. Mr Jackson has absolutely no intention of putting Intercity up for sale. He is quite comfortable and satisfied with the companys performance.

Intercity describes itself as the UKs largest independent cellular service provider with nearly 60000 users and an annual turnover of more than 50 million.

The company has no dealer base but sells equipment direct to companies.

Jackson is one of the wealthiest men in the Midlands with a fortune estimated at around 75 million.

He started Intercity Mobile Communications in 1985. The company provides services to its UK corporate customers from its offices in Birmingham and London. Intercity also provides communication services to Europe from its offices in The Netherlands.

That is when the test case between Bond House and HM Customs and Excise over the definition of non-economic activity for VAT purposes is to be decided by the European Court of Justice reports Ian White.

The Bond House case is to be fast-tracked through the European Court by November.

Bond House one of the countrys biggest international resellers of computer chips hit the headlines when its May 2002 VAT return was selected by Customs and Excise as a test for a new legal argument of non-economic activity.

More than 13.5 million in VAT repayments were initially withheld from the company.

There have been suggestions that the Bond House case would drag on for four years at the European Court. These suggestions are incorrect. We are likely to have a hearing date by November said Bond Houses lawyer Hassan Khan.

Khan who is head of the Civil and Tax Group at Customs and Excise legal specialists Bark and Khan LLP estimates Customs is withholding around 700 million in VAT refunds and assessments in actions against around 50 traders.

He said the Bond House case has put Customs and Excise in a no-win situation.

If Bond House wins then Customs will have to pay back all the sums they are withholding from traders and withdraw many of the tax assessments now issued.

If Bond House loses Customs will have to revisit all supply chains and refund the output tax paid by traders since according to Customs own case it was not tax arising from economic activity.

Khan (rhkhan@barkco.com) is holding free seminars to update traders on the future VAT trading environment for phone- and chip-reselling. They will be at the Law Society in London on July 5 and on July 8 at a Manchester Airport hotel.

It is the second time this has happened this month.

The e-mail entitled Hardware Returns was sent from O2 channel support to 250 dealers and distributors. One recipient replied and sent a virus that replicated the originating O2 e-mail address.

As a result dealers received between 200 and 20000 junk e-mails that appeared to be from O2. The virus created a spoof e-mail address that resulted in a string of repeat e-mail messages being sent to all of the recipients of the original e-mail back to O2 and out again.

Smaller independent dealers say they lost business as a result of their systems crashing and being inaccessible.

We turned the computer on in the morning and there were 15000 e-mails in the inbox said DM Telecom director Justine Halliday. It took four or five hours for them all to get through. They just kept coming. In the end there were 20000.

We had to shut the server down in London and block everything. We had to delete every e-mail from that day. We lost 250-odd messages in the end and we dont know who they were from so weve potentially lost business because of it.

For larger businesses with more resilient IT systems in place (Cont P2) the deluge of junk mail was a nuisance.

We had a few thousand come in. But we saw it was spam at a very early stage said Paul Butler chairman of Axxent Voice and Data Communications.

In the end only a few hundred got beyond our server and into our e-mail accounts because we put a block on it. It happened again a fortnight ago but it hasnt had a massive impact because our server and systems are pretty resilient.

O2 was actually very good. It told us to block the e-mail address and promised it would not use that e-mail address again. But its the nature of the Internet – the plague of e-mail. You cant stop it. Its just a pain in the neck.

Avenir got more than 200 of the rogue e-mails.

Exactly the same thing happened a week later – hundreds of e-mails that appeared to be from O2 addressed to its entire channel distribution list said Jake Carby marketing coordinator at Avenir.

They came through in a very short timescale. It was a nuisance but didnt cause me to lose any work nor did it affect my PC.

Last week O2 sent its dealer channel an e-mail in explanation:

You may have been impacted by our e-mail communication titled Hardware Returns that we sent on Friday 11 June 2004. One of the e-mail recipients responded to the e-mail and unfortunately it contained a virus.

O2 experienced the same problems as its dealers. A spokesman said:

It was extremely irritating. We had lots and lots of multiple e-mails come through our end too and lots of enquiries from the channel flagging up the problem to us.

But the process weve got in place to communicate with the channel is well established and works very well so it hasnt affected the ongoing process.

We removed the infected e-mail and changed the channel communications e-mail address to avoid further complications.

Ammar Hussein (36) who worked at Westbourne Grove Communications is charged with unlawfully tampering with the IMEI of a Nokia 3310 last July.

He has been remanded on bail until July 27.

Hussein faces three similar charges of doctoring other phones at the shop once on August 12 last year and twice a week later.

District judge Michael Snow said the case was so serious it should be dealt with not by the Magistrates Court but by the Crown Court which could impose the maximum penalty of up to five years imprisonment an unlimited fine or both.

Tampering with IMEIs became an offence under the Mobile Telephones (Re-Programming) Act.

This Act which came into force on 4 October 2002 was a key measure in the Government and industrys strategy to make stolen phones of little use or value.

John McCann of Tel-ka exclusively told Mobile News: In October 2001 HM Customs and Excise withheld some 2.4 million of VAT due to us promising that it would give us a legal basis for its actions at some point in the future.

These actions were in respect of missing traders and uneconomic activity surrounding one piece of business wed concluded.

As a result the business we had is no more. HM Customs and Excise has destroyed it and the livelihoods of everybody involved.

Eight people lost their jobs at Tel-ka which used to be a thriving business and had been trading successfully for five years.

We did everything right by Customs and Excise. We invited them in every month on the basis that theyd help us to identify any potential problems. We took that precautionary approach to protect ourselves said McCann (full story P18).

Last week Virgin Mobile made the announcement that it would sell 98 million shares to institutions. A further 14.7 million shares could be listed if the demand is high. This would mean between 37 and 43 per cent of its total shares will be available. Virgin Mobile is hoping to price the shares at between 235p and 285p to institutional investors in the UK and abroad. This would value it as highly as 1.2bn.

Employees will receive free shares with an average value of 750 depending on length of employment.

There is no reason why it shouldnt be successful said Paolo Pescatore senior analyst at IDC.

The mobile market has been apprehensive about flotations until now but this could stimulate the market for more. It is a good time to seek an initial public offering. Virgin Mobile has been successful with its customer service revenue targets and the services it has pioneered. It shows the success you can have if you have a good brand.

As the shareholder base changes there will be different opinions on how to move forward. Issues will arise but it could (Cont P2) mean that Virgin brings services to market more quickly than it has in the past. It may also mean that Virgin looks to other European countries to expand.

Ovum wireless analyst Carrie Palsey said Virgin Mobile is on the verge of establishing itself as a proper MVNO by acquiring its own mobile switching centre.

This means it will be able to collect its own termination revenues for the first time said Palsey.

Virgin Mobile however denied that it was about to acquire its own switching centre.

Virgin chief executive Tom Alexander who reportedly stands to make 10 million from the float said: I do have a percentage of the original equity of the business and Ill find out how much I make from it in the next few weeks.

Were phoning our Orange customers and offering them a switch to 3 three months before their contracts are up said Mark Whitaker of Findaphone in Accrington.

Were offering to buy them out of their Orange contract. Even if there is a lower margin were still making money and were retaining customers.

Whitaker said each of his Orange customers had told him that Orange had already contacted them to offer them a free upgrade before their 12-month contract was up.

It shows how scared Orange is of 3 said Whitaker.

Each of my customers has been tapped by Orange two months before their contract was up. If Orange says otherwise its denying what is obvious to everyone else in the industry. Our customers have no reason to lie.

Whitakers 3 connections have increased six-fold over the past three months.

Customers show us offers advertised by Orange in newspapers and on the web. We can either tell them to take the offer or we sell them 3.

And if Orange thinks were going to let customers go they should think again. Either we let it happen or we do something about it.

Ellis Dunning of Talksense in Borehamwood added:

I know what Orange is doing and I would consider taking similar action (to Findaphone).

This problem has to be (Cont P2) addressed. Independent dealers dont have a voice. I would consider offering customers 3 before Orange gets to them.

Adrian Foot of the Phone Shop in Welling agrees that dealers need to take action.

Our own customer feedback says that most of our Orange customers have been approached by Orange within 12 months. Orange is not playing the game he said.

Dealers have to take measures. I would churn a customer three months early if I thought I could keep their business for another year.

Jonny Marris of M-Tech Mobiles in Hemel Hempstead said:

Calling customers before their contract expires is drastic and there would be a lot of admin. But its worth looking at.

Orange commissions are so poor on upgrades that we are changing customers to 3 where possible.

Gary Bridger of Airwaves Communications in Yeovil said he churned a 24000 Orange business contract to Vodafone last month because of Oranges treatment of the independent dealer channel.

Bridger said that Whitakers actions were understandable if drastic.

If you are an Orange direct dealer or an Orange Business Specialist you are protected. But Orange shows no commitment to independent dealers that go through an Orange distributor.

It makes the kind of action people are taking very understandable though its perhaps a bit dramatic. It was on the cards.

Independent dealers have to be more proactive with their Orange customer base. Churn would be reduced if Orange introduced ongoing revenue.

Orange responded to the dealers comments with a statement that said:

Orange values its customer base and we are always keen to ensure that we retain our high-value customers.

The network described as inaccurate and contradictory a note by analyst Mark James at investment bank Nomura Securities.

In Hong Kong Hutchison chief Canning Fok expressed disbelief at Jamess predictions.

We are seeing good results said Fok. I dont understand this report. Why would we exit?.

Nomura reckoned Hutchison will accrue debts this year of $2.7 billion on its investment in 3.

James said:

We find it hard to see how H3G can ever achieve an economic return on capital and our valuation of the company is a negative HK$63 billion ($4.5 billion). Our Hutchison Whampoa estimates include an assumption that the company walks away from its 3G ventures by the end of 2006.

3 dismissed Nomuras forecast. A spokesperson said:

The report is one analysts estimates without any guidance from Hutchison. It is contradictory because it says Hutchison has staying power and will back its 3G investment yet that it will pull out by 2006. (cont P2)

The hard times were last year when we had problems with handset supplies. Weve now got good handsets selling well. If Hutchison was going to pull out it would have done so last year not now.

People are changing their views more and more. The bad press is getting less and less.

Martin Garner director of research programmes at London-based analyst Ovum forecasts a period of consolidation across the whole industry but regards Nomuras predictions as radical and controversial.

We do expect to see consolidation within the industry said Garner.

The Nomura report is fine in itself but it is quite a controversial view. Hutchison stepping out of 3? No we cant see that happening.

All the signs are that Hutchison is going to have a tough time with 3 but it wont pull out. We wouldnt predict that at this stage.

Hutchison is expected to reveal more detail about its 3G business at the groups annual general meeting on May 20.

The company last week revealed its latest handset this time from Korean supplier LG (see pic below).