A statement from the company said Mr. Mitchinsons resignation will take effect upon the identification of a suitable replacement.

Anders Torstensson president of Brightpoints Europe Middle East and Africa division added:

Mark has demonstrated a high level of professionalism and dedication in leading Brightpoint UK and Ireland. We believed that he would lead us into the next century.

Reliable trade sources hinted that Mitchinson had gone because of big losses suffered by Brightpoint in the first quarter.

His replacement is tipped to be Brightpoints chief in South Africa Bradley Turkington who is being brought in because of his experience in marketing pre-pay.

For some years Brightpoint has worked with South African network MTN in packaging all its pre-pay products.

Mitchinson is the second general manager to leave Brightpoint within the last six months. His predecessor Kevin Brummitt left acrimoniously last year and is taking legal action against Brightpoint over the terms of his departure.

Ironically Mitchinson was Brummitts protege. Brummitt brought him in to Brightpoint as his number two from Nokia.

Most of the 200 call centres staff will be offered other jobs within the Vodafone Group including relocation to other call centres at Banbury Hartlepool Birmingham and Croydon.

The new tariff a riposte to One 2 Ones 2p off-peak deal announced last month is the first to be promoted using the new BTCellnet branding.

Also customers who subscribe to Cellnet this month and next will have a chance to double their free inclusive calls for the first three months.

The promotion applies to customers who connect to the Occasional Caller Plus Regular Caller Plus Frequent Caller Plus and Coroprate Life plans.

*Meanwhile on the pre-pay front. Cellnet has signed a multi-million pound deal to sponsor the All Saints girl band to promote its U pre-pay brand.

The All Saints tour which kicks off at the end of this month will be called the U tour with branding on stage.

We were keen to tap into the youth market as we think its under exploited said Cellnet spokesperson Dave Massey.

We want to do something credible with the 16 to 24 age group. Its the first time weve been involved in music sponsorship.

Called the OnePhone the Ericsson handset is the culmination of more than two years work by Ericsson to produce a phone that can seamlessly switch from domestic or office cordless to full-blown GSM mobile.

BTCellnet is selling the product at 299. This will include a slave DECT handset to enable the DECT base station to be used when the primary dual-mode handset is at another location. The box will also include a BT Flex number which subscribers can use in addition to their fixed and mobile numbers. The only requirement is for the phone to be connected to a Cellnet contract tariff.

Its a very complex product. Its the first product which is DECT and GSM and it has taken a lot of development to get it right. We didnt want to launch it until we were absolutely certain it was right said OnePhone product manager John OBoyle.

Its being marketed as the home phone thats also a mobile. Were going to offer it for distribution to conventional mobile dealers as well as shops like department stores where you would find existing DECT handsets. OBoyle said OnePhone was the first in a range of products that will eventually lead to mobile convergence in a true sense.

Our hope is this will establish the category of fixed and mobile convergence. We will obviously be looking to the make product more widely available and more competitively priced.

Wheeler was made sales director of the new JWE operation when JWE acquired Networks Direct some 18 months ago

An anonymous tip to Mobile News claiming almost the entire JWE field sales force resigned in April as did the majority of the telesales operation at Sale. Rumour has it theyve all joined the recently resigned national sales manager in a rival operation.

This was denied by JWEs commercial director Mike Walsh who suspected mischief-making.

Its an absolute nonsense. Russ Wheeler left the company four sales people left and thats the end of it. Since his departure internal and external staff have been contacted and it has been suggested they will be out of their jobs by the end of the week. Other malicious rumours including one of JWEs imminent demise have been spread.

It is very unusual for JWE to part company with anyone leaving a bad taste behind. We acquired the business in Sale some time ago and tried to work with Wheeler. He declined to adopt the JWE ethos so there was a parting of the ways and he resigned.

Ive heard hes now gone to another telephone company and told them he can set up a telesales and field sales operation on their behalf. The bottom line is that hes left JWE and taken four field sales people with him out of 41 says Walsh.

Called Take Back the scheme will be operated by the European Telecommunications and Professional Electronics Industries Association (ECTEL) in conjunction with Alcatel BTCellnet Ericsson Motorola Nokia Orange One 2 One Panasonic Philips and Vodafone.

Customers will be able to return old and unwanted handsets batteries and chargers to recycling points around the country at more than 400 High Street and regional locations or by post.

Essex company Shields Environmental will safely dispose of any hazardous substances in batteries and circuitry.

Until now customers who have upgraded their phone or replaced their battery have not been able to dispose of old equipment in an environmentally-responsible manner said Ectel chairman Bill McCartney.

However many of the components can be recycled and put to good use elsewhere. This will be a forerunner of schemes that will proliferate across the industry in the coming years.

Industry estimates are that there could be more than two million old disused and broken handsets in circulation.

Dawe joined 20:20 last August from UniqueAir where he was distribution manager. At Fone Bitz he will be re-united with his old boss Rob Lees an ex-MD of UniqueAir.

Theres no animosity. I decided about a month ago that it was too good an opportunity to pass up Dawe told Mobile News.

There will soon be 25 million subscribers out there who will all want handsfree kits and other accessories. The plan is to expand the operation selling out of small specialist sites such as train stations and motorway service areas. We may also run a trade operation and go into pre-pay but certainly not contract phones.

He reverts to his old role as a non-executive director of European Telecom. Meanwhile ETs chairman Warren Hardy re-assumes the role of CEO he relinquished to Bruegger late last year.

Cole will be the face of Low Costs marketing and TV campaigns. Cole recently launched the Manchester Low Cost shop.

Speaking exclusively to Mobile News Edmonds said:

The four networks say they are interested in producing clear information for the consumer. The evidence suggests that is not the case. Its incredibly difficult for the consumer to work out what the right tariff is for them. And I do not believe that the mobile companies try to help the consumer (cont P2).

The issue is understanding that the consumer wants clarity and simplicity. The consumer doesnt want to be mislead. Thats good business practice rather than regulation. It is fundamental to having success in running a business. The companies that will eventually come out on top are those which give the customer what he wants which is all of the above.

I dont want to be seen as knocking the quality of service of the mobile phone companies. They are offering freedom and value in a way that few of us could have anticipated even a few years ago. But they are not going far enough.

Given the very significant profits that these companies have made and are continuing to make I do think that there is a margin there that they have to revisit and address.

Its the margin of the unsatisfied customer the margin to do with clear information about pricing and coverage and its to do with clear information about the contracts that the customer is entering into.