Daniel Akwagbe (18) tried to obtain two mobile phones by deception from Odyssey manager Matthew Stephens. Akwagbe used a BT phone bill for ID. But the suspicious manager called BT who said they did not have a customer of that name. Stephens called police and the man was arrested.

Vodafone announced a new Europe-wide tariff called Eurocall which offers roaming customers flat rate charges while making and receiving calls in Europe with greater savings for using a Vodafone partner network.

Outside of UK shores Vodafone customers who subscribe to the 2.50 per month tariff will be charged 60p a minute (at current Euro exchange rates) for an outgoing call on any European Vodafone partner network such as SFR (France) D2 Vodafone (Germany) Libertel Vodafone (Netherlands) Europolitan Vodafone (Sweden) Telecel Vodafone (Portugal) Airtel (Spain) Panafon Vodafone (Greece) Omnitel Vodafone (Italy) Proximus (Belgium) Tele.ring (Austria).

Unlike BTCellnets OneRate European service Vodafone customers can use any roaming compatible handset and still benefit from their existing UK tariff and call charges. BTCellnets OneRate service offers slightly lower roaming call charges.

But customers have to buy a specially adapted Nokia 6150 handset and pay 50.25 per month inclusive of 300 minutes call time.

BTCellnets service has been criticised because the phone only logged onto specially-selected partner networks abroad reducing available coverage. Vodafone Eurocall customers can use any network where a Vodafone partner network is unavailable. This is charged at a flat rate of 70p to make a call. Received calls will be charged at 30p regardless of network. Eurocall will be offered to Vodafone customers in all European countries.

Orange says there is world-wide demand for cheaper and easier to understand roaming charges. It has now split the world into five zones and introduced flat rate charges for each. The five zones are Republic of Ireland Europe North America. Australia & New Zealand and rest of the world.

One 2 One said it had no plans to reduce international call rates in response.

Cheap roaming is already available from Mint Telecom a virtual network operation which offers global pre-paid roaming at flat rates of 85p per minute outbound and 42.5 pence per minute inbound regardless of the country you are in or calling.

We dont know if we should be flattered or cautious said Mint MD Adrian Wood.

We understand that the Vodafone rate is billed per minute followed by increments of 30 seconds. So their call charges are effectively higher than advertised to account for unused time. Per minute billing is a big trap

The contrast between us and the others is that we are a pre-paid service with a single rate and available to customers that dont have an account. We have a new hub in Iceland coming on which will allow us to attack the pricing. We may have some announcements in a few days he added.

Yes which is currently jointly owned by Jones and Freddie Fazelynia (who sold his company AAA Telecom to Vodafone last year) has obtained a Vodafone licence to provide mobile services to business customers.

Ex-Phone People sales director Paul Diffen has joined Jones as sales director after an acrimonious split from The Phone People last year.

Jones says he is now looking to put together a management team of industry veterans with a mixed background between retail service provision and distribution.

Jones says Yes intends to invest 20 million over the next three years. It currently employs 11 business advisers in its Manchester office.

The company says it will have five regional offices manned by 60 business advisors and 30 telephone operatives.

Jones says the first business centre will open in April with a new region opening every three months after that.

Products on offer will be converged billing least cost routing and energy services such as gas and electricity.

The advantage of converged billing is that the customer has reduced admin costs and increases their buying strength with one supplier.

We are then able to offer volume and cross discounts across services said Jones.

Our Christmas sales proved to succeed both in retail and on the internet you need to provide customers with the lowest prices and the highest standards of service.

Thanks to the huge buying power at talkingshop.co.uk we can take the High Street competition to task on all counts said talkingshop.co.uk managing director Darren Duesbury.

The stockists with the fullest tanks will win!

Participating dealerswill be sent monthly statements once they have registered so they can see exactly how the are progressing.

PNC acquired KJC last July. In addition to his existing responsibilities Ridge will now be in charge of sales marketing and operations across PNCs mobile fixed and internet businesses.

Geremy Thomas remains chief executive of PNC Tele.com.

Since the acquisition of KJC Darren has been an integral part of PNCs management team. The company will benefit from him focusing on the operational core of the business said Thomas.

PNC now has 50 shops including the 30 KJC outlets acquired in July.

Overall the 128 million mobile phones Nokia sold in the year 2000 represented 64 per cent growth from the year before.

In 1999 Nokia sold 78.5 million units worldwide.

According to Nokias preliminary estimates global mobile phone market volume in the year 2000 was approximately 405 million units representing a 45 per cent increase from the previous year.

Market volume for 1999 was estimated at approximately 280 million units.

Nokias preliminary market estimates indicate that the global mobile phone subscriber base had climbed above 700 million users by the end of the year 2000 representing global penetration of approximately 12 per cent.

The Mobilefone Group was started by June Reynolds-Lacey as a retailer of mobile phones and pagers in 1989.

Since then it has grown to be a major player in the UK telecommunications industry with a turnover in excess of over 25 million a year.

Watson (33) has renamed his part of the company VoiceDAT Ltd trading as Voice.

I have been running the mobile phone sales division of the group for the past nine years and do not see much change in the general operation of the new business except for the investment in new software to increase efficiency said Watson.

The sector is buoyant and we have established secure routes to market that we intend to expand.

We have become one of the largest independent outlets for Orange a position we intend to maintain and develop and our web site is fast becoming a major outlet receiving almost one million hits last month.

The companys research and development arm which has pioneered the use of telemetry through its blackBOX innovation will remain under the Mobilefone Groups control along with its National Service Hub in North Warwickshire which is one of only two companies in the UK to provide after sales service and support for Nokia.

Lorraine Swan pleaded guilty to obtaining a Motorola phone and some pre-pay vouchers by deception from the Virgin Shop on December 4.

She also admitted obtaining a quantity of groceries and alcohol from a nearby Sainsburys and attempting to get a 50 cashback.

Plimsoll says 89 per cent of all Mobile Phones companies had some form of debt last year. Only 23 companies showed no debt at all.

Why would almost 54 per cent of the industry add debt last year? Two key reasons seem to be increasing their formal lending.

Companies are financing losses in a bold attempt to keep afloat and stay in the marketplace. For 38 companies borrowing money is a means of staying in business said Plimsoll general manager David Pattison.

In fact these are located and named in the analysis as having taken on more debt last year whilst funding losses.

Companies are investing to become more competitive believing that extra investment in assets will ultimately deliver more profit. Only 78 out of 111 companies or 70 per cent of those adding extra debts increased profits last year.

The research suggests that a typical Mobile Phone company finances on average 17 per of their assets. This statistic however hides the realism that almost 32 per cent of companies have a debt level twice this average.