The departures follow John McLuskies arrival at Ora as sales director last month.

The sales function has changed and substantially increased because were now taking on a number of very large contracts with the networks and handset manufacturers (cont P2) said Ora MD Ken Edmonds.

So what were doing is moving the sales force into professional account management which involves a different set of activities. Were also now rebuilding and making more solid the work across Europe. As this year goes on you will see us adding more people and agents across Europe.

This complements Vodafones existing A Head For Business initiative. Service providers get extra marketing support and the ability to offer customers a special business customer service line manned by operators trained in handling queries from small businesses. SPs will also be able to offer their SME clients regular tariff checks and a 24-hour handset replacement service in the event of theft or damage.

Its a good move. Anything that can help us target the SME is a good thing. They account for a large percentage of the business and tend to be more loyal and less likely to churn said Geoff Walters head of distributor/service provider CMC.

A spokesman for Fone Logistics solicitors Robert Muckle told Mobile News:

Proceedings have been issued. We have leading counsels advice that we have a very strong case. The matter will be decided through the courts. The actual proceedings have been bought by a factoring company on behalf of Fone Logistics.

JWE Telecom chief executive Tony Farmer said:

The relationship with Fone Logistics was not satisfactory from the beginning. The supply contract was beset with IT and delivery problems which took many months to resolve. We are very concerned regarding a number of areas of the contract including quality timing of deliveries and pricing.

Our customer and dealer partnerships require high levels of service which were not being met. As a result of advice from leading counsel we have withheld an (Cont P2) element of payment claimed as due by Fone Logistics under its outstanding invoice. This claim has been defended in its entirety and we are currently finalising our counterclaim which we believe will be significantly in excess of the amount claimed by Fone Logistics said Farmer.

Meanwhile the acquisition of Oxfordshire-based Managed Network Services (MNS) brings in a revamped management team at JWE.

The transaction brings 14 million of new cash into JWE through placing of shares with institutions.

The companys new chairman is current MNS chairman Bob Kennedy. MNSs managing director John Wood becomes networks services director at JWE.

We are building a company at the forefront of the convergence revolution providing products and services spanning voice and data fixed line and mobile internet and airtime in a single integrated offering said Farmer.

MNS brings us airtime service and billing we can develop and deploy in ways which suit our customers needs.

We have all the ingredients in place and the resources to grow our market share and become a much larger player covering the whole of the UK.

Industry sources claimed Ackroyd had walked out of the company last Monday after a management dispute. TAP marketing director Afzal Chaudhray told Mobile News:

There was a misunderstanding over Richards starting date. He is definitely here and is working from our new premises.

Caudwell says it was always his ambition to achieve financial security by the age of 40.

Quite frankly Ive been so bloody busy for the past 20 years that many leisure and family opportunities have passed me by he told Mobile News.

Ive a lot to catch up on. My passions are motor sport and cycling. I want to have some sort of big cycling adventure maybe riding across America. I also want to maybe try some car racing. Ive had trials in Formula Ford and I may want to pursue that. Id love to get my private pilots licence.

Foremost now is that I develop the freedom to pursue my personal interests. I am now lucky enough to be able to do just that and enjoy the fruit of the last 20 years hard slog.

John and myself have programmed a 10-month exit schedule which obviously means I wont just suddenly not be there. It is too early to say how extensive or not my ongoing involvement will be. I may retain some interests maybe consultancy.

Johns aspiration is to run and lead the business to being the largest of its kind in the world. Mine isnt. Mischief-makers may want to believe theres been a board-room bust-up but John and I are as close as weve ever been.

Said John Caudwell:

Our culture has always been to build a company capable of competing and winning in the toughest of markets against the stiffest of competition.

To succeed the management not only needs vision and operational ability but also an uncompromising commitment to be the best.

The culture and quest to attract and secure the highest calibre of management possible has enabled

Brian the option of pursuing other interests.

Orange is buying 200 million worth of infrastructure from Nokia. The equipment includes GSM base stations. mobile internet systems. and high-speed data GSM HSCSD and EDGE technologies.

The Nokia technology places us on our first step towards next generation mobile services through the provision of HSCSD and EDGE technologies said Bob Fuller COO of Orange.

This agreement means that we will be able to meet the capacity requirements both now and in the future as we see the continued growth in mobile voice and data services.

Joint managing director Jason Pickthall told Mobile News:

We have been talking to various networks one of which has been One 2 One. Our preferred option would be for someone to take a stake in us. But sometimes you cant always have your preferred option. There may or may not be something to the rumours that you have heard about One 2 One having an interest in the company.

Pickthall also confirmed that some area sales managers had left but denied there had been mass sackings.

Martin Carter (sales director) has resigned. One area manager also resigned. Two have swapped roles. One has become store development manager another has become stock auditor. So rumours that 10 area managers have left the company are untrue. We still have 10 area managers of the 13 we had.

Pickthall admitted The Phone People had encountered difficulties from its rapid growth but he denied the company was in crisis.

We have expanded very rapidly in the past 12 months. Weve gone from 50 stores this time last year to 125 now. Obviously in undertaking such a rapid expansion we have encompassed some difficulties. The pressure is now on for the sales staff which is why Paul Diffin and Martin Carter have left the company.

We have our problems just as other companies of our size will have problems but we are not only beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel but we are starting (Cont P2) to come through the tunnel.

We definitely expanded too quickly. We will now be consolidating. For the next three to six months you will not see much activity on the High Street. We will be concentrating on our e-commerce interests and on the call centre that we are opening.

We will also be concentrating on improving the performance of our existing stores and clearing up the problems we have in terms of non productive sales staff and non productive area managers. The area managers know that if they dont sort themselves out they will not be with the company much longer.

Over the past 12 months the company has been run in too much of a lackadaisical way. You can perhaps get away with doing things that way if you have 30 or 40 stores. When you have 125 stores you need to perform. And some people have not been performing.

Only 18 months ago the company had 25 Vodafone centres. Now we have 125 Phone People Stores a number which will continue to grow in time. The leases we are committed to will bring about this 125 figure said Pickthall.

The final few outlets are in the process of shop-fitting now. Once these have come on stream we will enter a period of consolidation. There will be few if any new stores opening for a period of time (see White Lines).

One 2 One will work closely with Jaguar Racing to develop (Cont P2) and trial fast wireless mobile data solutions to improve the flow of critical data to or from Jaguars main office systems from anywhere Jaguar are in the world.

The device which will be used is yet to be confirmed though it will be in the form of the next generation PDA and lightweight laptop devices said Andy Haworth head of business development at One 2 Ones Mobile Multimedia division.

One 2 One marketing director Tim Yates added:

Formula One has always been at the leading edge of motor sport technology which then flows into the mass market. This partnership is about working with Jaguar in finding solutions to their communication needs with many of the learnings from the relationship being passed on to our customers.

One 2 One says its Jaguar deal had nothing to do with Oranges decision to spend 70 million on a three-year Arrows F1 sponsorship.

Industry sources suggest Slee was eased out of Dextra after a disagreement with the Caudwell board about meeting sales targets.

It is believed that Slee has consulted lawyers regarding the manner of his departure from Dextra.

A spokesman for the Caudwell Group said:

We can confirm that Richard Slee is not currently involved in the day to day activities of Dextra Accessories Limited. We will be issuing a statement during the course of the next few days to clarify or confirm the position. Slee declined to comment.

It is understood there may well be some other changes of personnel at board level at Ora soon.

Ora managing director Ken Edmonds said McLuskies job was always on a temporary basis.

We didnt want to tell staff it was a temporary consultative position because we were going through so many changes. Johns main role was to re-organise the sales department so it could focus on Oras key routes to market. This having been achieved John was offered a position as managing director with an internet company and has chosen to take up this opportunity. He built the wholesale division set all the targets and routines. Rob Musk (exTCL) has now stepped into the chair.

The case is due to be heard in Southport County Court.

Diffins solicitors Brown Turner Compton Carr told Mobile News:

Our client was formerly the sales director of The Phone People plc and it is suggested in your article (April 17) by (Phone People joint MD) Jason Pickthall that (Cont. P2) our client left the company because of pressure concerning sales. Our client was constructively dismissed from his employment as a result of breaches of contract by the company.

Pickthall told Mobile News last month:

The pressure is now on for the sales staff which is why Paul Diffin and (sales director) Martin Carter have left the company.