Several of the talk plans get more inclusive minutes with Vodafone 500 Leisure which was previously Leisure 250 and doubles its evening/weekend offering to 500 mins while keeping its monthly line rental at 14.99.

There will be just three daytime rates for Vodafone callers: 34p for Leisure time users 15p for Vodafone 20 and Vodafone 60 (previously Vodafone 50) and 10p for the higher usage options.

Vodafone 50 goes to Vodafone 60 Vodafone 250 goes to Vodafone 350 Vodafone 500 goes to Vodafone 700.

Vodafone contract customers with the exception of Leisure 100 and Leisure 100 Local get daytime Vodafone to Vodafone calls and Voicemail retrieval at just 10p per minute.

The latest reduction in price plans is the second by Vodafone this year and the fifth in three years.

Over the last three years Vodafone says its call costs have reduced 59 per cent.

Our latest tariffs offer the best ever value for customers. We have made the use of mobiles more and more accessible to a greater number of people over the last five years said Vodafone UK chief executive Peter Bamford.

In April 1995 if you had used your phone for an hour a month with 70 per cent of your calls made during daytime hours it would have cost 41.84. You can now do the same for 17.50 said Bamford.

The sale is one of several recent actions the company has taken to focus its resources on its more profitable lower-risk growth businesses said CellStar president and chief operating officer Dale Allardyce.

Growth opportunities in the wireless industry are excellent and CellStar intends to pursue those opportunities that add value to our customers in the areas of wireless product distribution and value-added services worldwide.

CellStars European president Keith Curran added:

We have always had an excellent relationship with The Carphone Warehouse and I am delighted that we have been able to conclude this sale to the mutual satisfaction of both parties.

The Carphone Warehouse has also bought Belgium mobile phone retailer Time and Light SA (TNL) for 1.4 million. The purchase is being made through The Phone House SA the Groups European subsidiary in Belgium.

The Carphone Warehouse currently has 34 stores in Belgium. The new purchase will take this to a total of 42. The new stores are located in the prominent Cora shopping centres in cities across the country. Each will be re-branded The Phone House within six weeks.

The purchase is important to our expansion as Cora shopping centres have previously refused new telecoms entrants. Through the TNL stores we are further strengthening our position and now have a prominent presence all over Belgium in both High Streets and shopping centres said Carphone Warehouse chief executive David Ross.

The last month has demonstrated our expansion plans are on track. We now have 1000 stores in 14 countries all over Europe. The Belgian acquisition complements our recent purchase of stores in France Portugal The Netherlands Poland and Holland and represent another significant development in our European growth strategy.

Ryanairs internet booking service will be exclusively available on Eircells WAP service.

Once customers with a WAP enabled mobile phone have registered with Eircells customer service desk they can reserve seats and pay for flights in one transaction over their mobile phone.

This m-commerce initiative gives further added-value by providing a service which enables Eircell customers to save money on a range of travel options said Dermot Griffin director of business development at Eircell.

Internet bookings currently represent almost 40 per cent of the total bookings taken by Ryanair.

On-line booking is now reckoned to be the fastest growing area of the Ryanair reservations network.

The roaming was performed in live GSM networks using GPRS terminals running WAP-based services. A connection to internet services was also maintained across the GPRS network.

Roaming with GPRS is a fundamental requirement in order to make future global mobile internet services accessible around the world.

This and thousands more popular tunes will soon be ring tones following an agreement between Nokia and EMI Music Publishing for EMIs catalogue to be used for custom downloadable ring tones.

EMIs catalogue includes Robbie Williams The Spice Girls Matchbox 20 Sting Puff Daddy Aerosmith Lenny Kravitz Enrique Iglesias Janet Jackson TLC and Phil Collins.

Nokia will provide a service to owners of mobile phones whereby they can download additional ring tones for their mobile phones. EMI will license the use of ring tones to Nokia on a non-exclusive worldwide basis.

The initial service will contain well-known songs television and film themes and will be added to with additional famous titles on a regular basis. The ring tones will be available from the Internet via Club Nokia.

The ring tone can be downloaded either by sending a short message to a specific telephone number.

Ring tones can also be provided for promotional purposes and be sponsored.

Ilkka Raiskinen vice president mobile applications and services at Nokia said:

The soundtrack to peoples lives is about to change. ring tones are here to stay. The large selection of tunes will allow people to stand out with their own set of personalised songs which will be unique and tailor-made for every occasion mood and lifestyle. Nokia invented the concept of downloadable ring tones and we have seen how enormously popular these have become around the world. With EMI Music Publishing we are now taking the next step to develop ring tones into an effective global media for promoting music.

Headquartered in Finland Nokia is listed on the New York [NOK]

Helsinki Stockholm London Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 60 000 people

Jamie Wayland (19) is charged with robbing Philip Ormond of his phone between Woolwich Arsenal and Maze Hill railway stations on May 31 using force.

A 14-year-old a 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy face the same charge but cannot be named.

All three are also accused of assaulting Salvatore Fiordellisi causing him actual bodily harm on May 19 at Charlton train station.

The 16-year-old is also charged with stealing a carrier bag containing two video tapes at the same time and place.

Debenhams customers will be offered a choice of networks and a free three-year Carphone Warehouse warranty instead of the standard 12 months.

The Carphone Warehouse has trained Debenhams mobile sales people.

Martin Hudson external business director at Debenhams said:

Introducing The Carphone Warehouse into 92 stores will strengthen our recently launched media and entertainment offer.

With over 10 years market experience The Carphone Warehouse were the obvious company to work with.

Jonathan Hook marketing head at The Carphone Warehouse said:

Were thrilled to be working with Debenhams. We both share a common commitment to providing the best possible service value and choice to customers.

Project Telecom was set up in 1987.

It is widening its range of services to include fixed line resale short-term rental satellite paging international calling cards WAP and many other value-added services.

It claims to have around 41000 subscribers mainly on Vodafone from blue-chip clients such as News International and the Royal Air Force.

Project Telecom plans to use the money to open up new pre-pay services to include internet access utility payments and pay-per-view television.

The capital raised will also help finance a roll-out of Project Telecom business centres in areas such as Manchester Bristol Newcastle and Glasgow.

Project Telecom will also be investing in electronic top-up systems.

All participating Mainline dealers have to do is connect as many new customers as possible to the Orange network between now and December 31.

Points are awarded per connection. A new contract gets three points. A Boxed & Ready two points and one point for a Just Talk.

The top three dealers will win the holiday next May in Tokyo and Kyoto. Mainline has just moved into a 12000 square foot building that cost 1.5 million.

Each package includes a Motorola handset and accessories pack free CD Walkman and connection to Vodafone.

The offer is available to all Britannia Music members and follows the launch of Celltalks new consumer brand ClubMobile (Mobile News August 2) and is one of a series of affinity agreements that have included Breathe.net and Cheekymonkey.com.

We are keen to develop a number of new affinity partnerships in order to grow our business further. Britannia Music is just one of many affinities we expect to sign over the next few months said joint managing director Jess Meredith-Watts.

Celltalk is AIM-listed. It claims to be the UKs largest contract dealer for Orange and connects more than eight per cent of the Orange contract base each year.

Britannia says it is one of the largest mail order clubs in Europe with more than two million members.