Virgin Mobile said it beat host network T-Mobile Orange and O2 in terms of net growth and expects to attract the most new customers during 2002.

Virgin Mobiles Sir Richard Branson said:

Some of our rivals have shifted their focus to locking in customers with contracts in their hunt for value but to such an extent that their growth has virtually stopped.

Creating value is more than just raising revenue. Its about achieving a blend of things: low customer acquisition costs; customer loyalty and tenure through great yet efficient service; and yes its about raising revenues and that too comes through offering great service.

Were confident we can continue to grow our business rapidly and profitably through the rest of 2002.

Virgin Mobile is now available in over 6000 outlets with more High Street distribution sites planned throughout the summer.

SMS usage on Virgin Mobile was up 13 per cent on the previous quarter. There was also a 29 per cent rise on the average number of messages sent per customer during 2001 to an average of 24 messages a month per customer.

This follows the sacking of SonyEricssons previous merchandising partners Mosaic Technology and Blue Water earlier this year (Mobile News April 2).

Aspen is currently recruiting candidates to form an 11-strong team that will be based in eight different locations in the UK.

The teams brief will be to support the launch of the T68i and demonstrate the phones imaging GPRS and connectivity abilities to retailers.

SonyEricsson head of marketing Peter Marsden told Mobile News that the decision to appoint Aspen reaffirms SonyEricssons support of the independent dealer channel.

This is a positive message to the market about SonyEricsson and what we aim to do. We are the new boy on the block.

The final plans are not yet finalised. We have invested heavily to have 11 people out there training retailers. It will take a few months to get things up and running.

A merchandising team is valuable to us because our product range has things that are different to offer.

We want to push and explain what GPRS means to customers and demonstrate some of the products applications and Bluetooth.

These are complex products and dealers need to be fully informed to sell them effectively.

The independent dealers are valuable to us because they are more wiling to spend extra time in explaining product than sales people in the larger retail chains. You cant expect these complicated products to sit on the shelf and be explained.

Marsden explained that SonyEricsson will give greater support to larger retail chains but it doesnt mean SonyEricsson will neglect independents.

We will get close to dealers but we will work closer with the network stores than before. In the past Ericssons strength was within the independent dealer market.

When the field marketing team started six years ago none of the operators had stores. The fact is that 70 per cent of handsets are sold through the larger chains. So we have had to refocus the programme.

We are not walking away from independents. They will be receiving better training and in-store materials than before he added.

Dealers will also be invited to training forums where they can view the latest products and learn about connectivity to other devices such as the upcoming range of Sony Bluetooth video cameras and laptops.

Orange has given no indication as to Scowsills reasons for leaving.

Scowsill was in charge of the strategy and profitability of Oranges consumer and small business activities and oversaw Orange sales and distribution. He was also the person that Orange sales director for personal and small business Ian Fraser reported to.

The board of PNC Telecom announced that it expected the results for the full year ended March will be substantially below market expectations.

Former PNC chief executive Geremy Thomas left in March last year and was replaced by Ridge.

Thomas brother and PNC Telecom marketing director Crispin Thomas remains confident that the company is in good hands.

We have recently opened two new retail outlets and these are performing well having made a profit from day one. We have simply not met the forecast figures. But everyone has been struggling not just us.

Ridge joined PNC Telecoms management board as KJC managing director when PNC purchased 30 KJC mobile phone stores.

In January last year within six months of the takeover Ridge was promoted to chief operating officer and then chief executive.

But within six months of his reign as CEO at PNC the company was forced to issue a profits warning blaming slow retail sales and networks focus on pre-pay.

Ridge tried to cut costs by closing offices in Leeds and St Albans and axing senior managers and staff at its HQ in Corsley Heath Wiltshire.

PNC Telecoms share price has fallen from just over 80p last July to 10p last week.

In January the company was appointed by Orange UK as a Business Specialist.

Pratt became chairman of the GSM Association this month. He is also director of First E-Commerce.Com the global provider of electronic payment processing.

He has held positions including Chairman of Mobitel in Sri Lanka MD Telstra in Sydney and CEO of Peoples Telephone Company in Hong Kong.

The total number of chargeable person-to-person text messages sent across the four UK GSM network operators between midnight on December 31 and midnight on January 1 was 102 million – up 59 per cent more than New Years Eve 2002 and more than twice the 2002 daily average.

The use of text is also expanding in to things like picture messaging as people explore the range of mobile messaging services that are becoming available said MDA chairman Mike Short.

The MDA also announced that there were 366 million WAP page impressions recorded in November from O2 Orange T-Mobile and Vodafone. This is 10 million more than in October representing a five per cent growth per month in the first three months of data collection by the MDA.

Baskervilles report estimates that at the end of last year there were 952 million mobile users worldwide.

This level was reached on the back of year-on-year growth of 30 per cent substantially down on 2000s growth of 53 per cent.

The first billion mobile subs took 20 years the second will only take seven said the reports owners.

Based on global daily net additions of over 422000a billion-subscriber mark should have been crossed toward the end of April this year says Baskerville.

The report says at the end of last year global penetration stood at 15.59 per cent.

The Asia-Pacific region was the largest cellular market with 329 `million subscribers (44 per cent of these in China).

Next was western Europe with 285 million mobile users then North America (138 million) Latin America (87 million) eastern

Europe (50 million) and the Middle East (36 million) and Africa (27 million).

The Baskerville report says Africas mobile market will grow from 26 million subscribers today to 150 million by 2010.

Th report costs t 999 (paper copy) 1294 (PDF single user) or 1498 (PDF single user plus papercopy).

The bill contains proposals that would create new offences of: changing the unique identifying characteristic of a mobile phone – the IMEI number; and owning or supplying the necessary equipment with the intent to use it for reprogramming mobile phones.

The new offences could be heard in Magistrates Courts or the Crown Court. If dealt with by Magistrates Courts offenders could face the maximum penalty available in these courts of up to six months imprisonment a 5000 fine or both.

If the case is heard in the Crown Court the maximum penalty would be up to five years imprisonment an unlimited fine or both.

The bill was published last week and builds on the action being taken across Government to tackle crime.

Mobile phone operators will soon have the necessary systems in place to enable them to bar stolen phones across all networks – putting them out of use said Home Office minister John Denham.

But if the unique ID or IMEI number is changed on a stolen phone it could continue to be used.

This bill would mean those seeking to change the IMEI on a phone could face five years in prison. It makes reprogramming stolen phones a crime in its own right and backs up police efforts to tackle handling of stolen goods.

There is no legitimate reason to reprogram a mobile phone. Those doing so run the risk of heavy penalties – penalties they deserve because they are fuelling violent street crime.

Tim Godwin Association of Chief Police Officers representative and deputy for Territorial Policing London said:

Mobile phones are property that account for half of street robberies in London.

This is because they are quickly turned into cash by thieves. This measure will reduce their value to a thief and therefore we strongly support and welcome it.

Jack Wraith executive secretary for the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum said:

Members of the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum welcome the introduction of this bill which we feel certain will together with the other crime initiatives taken recently help reduce the incidents of mobile phone thefts.

The activities of individuals have for too long allowed stolen mobile phones to be reprogrammed with impunity.

This bill together with IMEI barring will address this shortcoming and demonstrates the Governments commitment to working with the industry in tackling mobile phone theft.

The Home Offices Mobile Phone Steering Group was set up in January 2001.

As part of the programme dealers retain their own staff and business name but run under the MoCo brand and benefit from national advertising specialist support including administration and IT and access to the latest promotions and products from the networks.

MoCo managing director Ian Robinson said: Smaller dealers are working in an increasingly competitive market; the branding programme is designed to help them fight the bigger players on a more level playing field.

As independent specialists they already have a brilliant understanding of the products they sell to their customers this programme will just give them an edge in terms of market awareness.

MoCo is looking to have more than 20 stores nationwide completed by the end of March. It already has five dealers in England and is looking for another two in the London area. All outlets will sell products on the four networks. MoCo is a distributor for O2 and an Orange Business Specialist.

The phones accessories and support are being supplied by Affinity Telecom which is also providing ringtones and logos.

Affinity Telecom also offers Tinys customers a dial-up credit top-up system which bypasses the usual top-up vouchers.

Other services provided include telephone customer support and a 48-hour fulfilment guarantee.

Packages on offer are Ericsson T68 ( 39.99) Trium Mars ( 49.99) Nokia 3310 ( 89.99). The website also offers the Siemens C35 ( 79.99) Ericsson T20 ( 89.99) Nokia 3310/3330/6210/8210 ( 89.99 to 189.99) Motorola T250 ( 129.99) Sony T250 ( 199.99).

All phones come with 2.50 worth of free calls. A further 2.50 of free calls follow when the customer has successfully registered the phone.

Affinity provides own-label internet and telecom services to major brands including WHSmith Powergen The Royal Bank of Scotland and Egg.

The company was founded in 1995 and employs over 200 people in Europe Africa and Australasia.

Tiny last year sold more than 400000 PCs in the UK.