The new unit will combine Nokias expertise in Wireless Local Area Networks Internet Protocol and digital broadcasting.

In the future IP based applications and terminals will work seamlessly among all three environments said Nokia president Pekka Ala-Pietila.

The global market for Home Environment related products will develop in a very positive and fascinating way in the future. Bringing broadband access to the home opens up new opportunities for operators and service providers enabling them to provide internet related and other new services to consumers.

It will mean world-wide compatibility of handsets which will eliminate roaming incompatibilities with the USA and Canada and rest of the world. The GSM Association and UWCC will first focus on a common TDMA and GSM handset and network interoperability scheduled for production next year.

Michael Stocks chairman of the GSM Association stated: Common subscriber equipment and user interfaces will provide economies of scale and lead to lower cost more simplified offerings for consumers.

UWCC president Sheila Mickool said: This historic agreement will provide a cost-effective pathway to serve wireless customers and operators while creating a wireless world with an integrated set of networks providing voice and data services.

We look forward to leveraging the global footprint of GSM and TDMA to eliminate boundaries in the wireless offerings of today and the future.

Robert Conway chief executive officer of the GSM Association added: Both organisations want to create global interoperability for voice and data for subscribers around the world.

The processor can fit all standards such as CDMA GSM and TDMA and satellite phones. It has been designed to quickly process WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) applications that use the Java internet language and will be able to make use of new high-speed data standards such as GPRS.

Our performance in the third quarter gives us every reason to be satisfied said Nokia chairman Jorma Ollila.

The very strong sales reflects our increased market share and the further consolidation of our number one position in mobile handsets.

Our ambition is to grow faster than the market. Based on the strong Q3 we feel confident that our full year 1999 sales growth will exceed 40 per cent said Ollila.

LCR is now adding a product called Freedom Mobile which allows dealers to sell highly-competitive tariffs at volume-related discounts. It is now looking to expand its dealer network.and fin ddealers to take on the new service

Dealers are playing an increasingly important role in LCRs growth said LCR chief operating officer Mel Wheeler.

The company currently routes more than 35 million calls a month with 18 million in the UK. Its systems monitors 10000 tariffs each day patching its customers through the lowest-cost routes.

At the time of going to press Virgin Mobile had not released its plans.

But a handset price of 90 with calls at 15p a minute all the time were being predicted.

Virgins new logistics system designed by Strategix Solutions will process online orders and handle stock control warehouse returns. and accounts.

The mobile phone industry has a reputation for poor customer service. We are going to change all that said Virgin Mobile director Andrew Ralston.

With Virgin Mobile customers will get clear information quality products and top customer service.

The network says its Carry Over service is the longest period offered by any network for rollover minutes.

Many customers usage varies from month to month. Carry Over means that customers will always get the most out of their inclusive minutes said Vodafone managing director Alan Harper.

The first Carry Over minutes will be usable next month.

The magazine said: Orange was easily the best all round. It consistently came first or very near the top for both the quality of its network and customer service. Orange was significantly better for network coverage had better call clarity fewer dropped calls and fewer problems connecting to the network.

Over 80 per cent of Orange customers surveyed thought that Orange had good or excellent coverage A further 71 per cent of Orange customers rated the Orange service as having few connection problems.

Around 78 per cent of Orange customers surveyed said they were satisfied with reception quality significantly higher than customers of other mobile networks. Sixty-eight per cent of Orange customers surveyed rated the Orange network as good or excellent for the number of dropped calls.

The survey was conducted in June this year from 4650 replies from 25000 questionnaires

BTCellnets head of corporate communications William Ostrom said:

Despite Orange getting gongs for this and other surveys customers seem to be making up their own minds about our colourful competitor. Orange is getting the fewest number of new customers pushed into last place by One2One.

BTCellnet came a consistent strong second for every customer satisfaction measure with very competitive results in the tariff analysis. Factually Orange coverage is markedly inferior to both BTCellnet and Vodafone; maybe their customers are more tolerant of no network messages.

Two schoolboys aged 13 and 14 had a phone and 20 cash snatched from them after being threatened with a Swiss army knife by a gang of seven teenagers near Piccadilly Circus.

The gang including two girls pounced on the schoolboys in Rupert Street Soho.

The previous day a young woman was pushed kicked and had her mobile stolen by two men in the Charing Cross Road.

A barman who went to her aid was shortly afterwards himself attacked by two men who smashed a bottle in his face and tried to steal his wrist watch. In Fulham West London two women had their handbags containing phones snatched.