This week Iain Graham and the team talk to Martin Flick of Azzurri Communications about T-Mobile cutting off a number of business partners.

Theres also an interview with a real mystery shopper and reviews on the Samsung G600 and Pocket Informant 2007.

To listen to the latest edition of the Mobile News podcast click here

Its share of the market slipped from 17.5 per cent to just 13.5 per cent after it recorded operating losses for Q2 of £129 million. Its net loss of £13.6 million on the back of a 19 per cent slump in sales to £4.2 billion.

Motorola chief executive Ed Zander blamed weakness in the European market and said Motorola would not return to profitability this year.

But industry commentators claimed its performance was a result of a poor handset range and its slashing of wholesale prices to bump up sales.

Martin Garner director of wireless intelligence at analysts Ovum said that Motorolas woes were down to its weak range.

The biggest single problem is the product portfolio which is under siege across all segments. One aspect of that is that Motorola has had a rather US-centric view of what its portfolio should look like fine for selling in the US but not fine elsewhere and at the moment its putting the business in real trouble.

Garner said Motorolas loss of 46 per cent of the global handset market share in the previous six months was very sudden and brutal treatment. He suggested Sony Ericsson would also pass it in the global rankings this year.

There is no sign of any big ideas coming from Motorola and I cant really see any improvement materialising in the next six to nine months he said.

Samsung on the other hand reported a 50 per cent rise in shipments on the same period last year. Its overall revenues were up just four per cent however at £7.8 billion on last year.

Samsung head of retail and distribution Simon Walsh said: Moving into second position globally is a massive boost for us because in a decreasing market we are our increasing market share.

Some emphasis will be placed on the upcoming G600 in August but were not going to rest on our laurels and are continuously asking ourselves what we can do better. Theres definitely more to come.

Sony Ericsson remains in fourth behind Nokia Samsung and Motorola but reported strong results for the quarter. It shipped 24.9 million handsets up 59 per cent on Q2 2006. Its net profit rose 54 per cent to £148 million from £96 million year-on-year with sales reaching £2.1 billion a 37 per cent increase. It also pushed its global market share three-percentage points to more than nine per cent.

Garner said: Unlike Samsung Sony Ericsson didnt receive a big boost from Motorolas failings so its all the more impressive. The release of about 10 new models between May and June has helped broaden its product portfolio.

Sony Ericsson CEO Miles Flint said it captured three per cent of the market with low-tier phones like the W300 and W200. He predicted that Sony Ericsson would exceed previous estimates of 1.1 billion units for 2007.

LG also announced better-than-expected results shipping 19.1 million handsets in the quarter. Handset sales reached £1.4 billion an improvement of 26.9 per cent. LG Mobile UK sales director John Barton said: When you look at Motorola you realise that the market can get out of control if youre not careful. Were pleased weve remained in a stable position.

Strong products like the Chocolate Shine and Prada have helped us gain an increase of 14 per cent over the two quarters in mobile sales.

Barton said GfK reports indicated LG had overtaken Motorola in contract sales. But he said LG still had work to do in the prepay market.

At the time of going to press Nokia had still not announced its results for the quarter but Garner predicted that its shipment figure could top 100 million. The figure will be around the 97 million mark but if it has managed to pick up any market share from Motorola then that figure could exceed 100 million he said.

AwayPhone offers a SIM-only contract solution which claims to reduce roaming costs by up to 90 per cent in 78 countries. It also provides users with a local number in the region
visited.

As part of the distribution contract Hugh Symons and AwayPhone will award dealers a proportion of the end users call costs on top of a fixed commission for the initial sale.

Hugh Symons sales manager Carlos Pestana said: AwayPhones service provides dealers with an additional touch point for their customers which helps them maintain dialogue with them regardless of where they are in the contract life-cycle.

In a mature market where the opportunities to provide end users with genuinely new and useful offerings are limited this is invaluable.

Pestana added that offering resellers a percentage of end users call costs gave them an ongoing revenue stream rather than a one-off commission often awarded by other operators. He said the deal with AwayPhone was part of the distributors widening of both its retail and business product portfolios.

AwayPhone CEO Sherry Madera said: Hugh Symons has come on board much quicker than we expected. It sees the benefit as it gives them an interesting new product. When you bring a new product to the channel its important to get your strategy right. For us its about using the best route to market and weve been talking to a number of distributors about this.

AwayPhones agreement with Hugh Symons follows its deal with Dextra in June.

3 severed ties with 33 independents last week in its first dealer cull of the year.

It cut off more than 200 dealers last year.

3 said that the affected dealers were under constant review in the past nine months and those affected were aware they were not meeting targets.

A 3 spokesman said: Weve decided to stop connecting through these dealers because they werent meeting our terms and conditions or delivering the right type of business. This might mean simply not following our rules the quality of their sales or the experience they were giving to the customer.

He added: These dealers knew they werent delivering the right type of customer and were aware they werent meeting our requirements. They were given the opportunity to improve but failed to so this decision wont come as a shock to them.

The larger number of affected dealers connected via Fone Logistics and European Telecom.

3 said that there are no immediate plans at this stage to terminate more dealer codes.

Meanwhile independents claimed last week that 3 was getting through dealer account managers like it was going out of fashion. One dealer said: I have had four different account managers in the past two months. Another dealer source said he did not know who his point of contact was anymore.

3 said its restructure prior to Christmas which saw its multiple and independent dealer teams come together under 3 indirect chief Bernie OBeirne had completed now. That should have settled down by February said a spokesman.

Nokia UK marketing manager Simon Lloyd has resigned to join directory services company 118118.

Nokia has not yet found a replacement.

Lloyds decision to quit was announced internally at a Nokia management meeting last month and he is working out a three-month notice period. He departs on amicable terms and joins 118 118 in a senior commercial role.

Lloyd joined Nokia just over six years ago starting as an account manager on the sales side. He has been marketing manager for the UK for three years.

Nokia refused to comment.

Dorset-based accessories distributor Kondor will launch a handset business arm later this year built around former Dextra associate sales director Simon Hassell and former Dextra national account manager Jason Bisseker.

Hassell and Bisseker have good experience from Dextra of handset customisation for non-specialist retailers said Kondor managing director Rob Haycock. They have that experience so we would be crazy not to utilise it he said.

At the same time Haycock dismissed rumours that The Carphone Warehouse is poised to acquire Kondor. There is no truth in that he said.

Kondor is looking to challenge the status quo in handset distribution by providing a handset customisation service for retailers such as Dixons Currys Comet Woolworths and Sainsburys all of which it already works with on accessories.

Haycock said: There is a better way [of doing handset distribution]. The margins are tight and there is a lot of money invested in it Im not sure all that is actually necessary. We are looking at how we can carry out that distribution service and add value with less risk to the distributor.

If you look at the way Carphone does things it buys all its own phones itself but they all need working on. We are looking at the whole market place. That kind of handset distribution is not done quite the right way at the moment.

He added: Our customers are already asking why if we pack and dispatch their accessories for them we cant do the same for handsets.

Kondor has doubled its headcount during the past 12 months to more than 90 and expanded its warehouse.

Haycock is currently recruiting for 10 new positions.

It has carried out a handset customisation and fulfilment service for networks including Vodafone and T-Mobile in the past on an ad hoc basis when they have been caught short said Haycock.

We dont quite have the skill set yet. However the recruitment of Simon [Hassell] and Jason [Bisseker] means we can grow that side of the business this year he said.

Hassell and Bisseker are on gardening leave from Dextra for six months and three months respectively. Hassell will take up his role at Kondor in August while Bisseker will do so in May.

An independent panel of judges put 20:20 Logistics and The Carphone Warehouse at the top of their categories in the Mobile News Awards.

The Carphone Warehouse won Best Retailer for the 12th year having lost out to O2 in 2006. 20:20 Logistics picked up Best Distributor (Handsets) for the 10th year in a row.

The judges described 20:20s entry as undeniably world class 20:20 continues to set the standard. Another judge said the distributors statistics were so powerful there was no choice but to put it first.

O2 notched up its second win in the year as being the best network for customer service by achieving the highest score in Mobile Newss regular Mystery Caller audit of call centres.

HTC and Research In Motion picked up their first Mobile News Awards for respectively the P3330 PDA and BlackBerry Pearl.

This year also saw Dextra Solutions win its third award as Best Distributor (Accessories).

Azzurri picked up another two Awards for Best Customer Service and Best B2B Dealer after success in these categories in previous years.

Samsung also turned in a winning performance nabbing the Best Manufacturer Award for the sheer variety of its portfolio in 2006.

The judges reckoned Motorola would have had a better shot at the title if it had submitted actual handsets with its entry.

Carphone Warehouse continued to impress despite a tough year with its TalkTalk fixed-line business and the loss of its Vodafone contract business to Phones 4U.

The Sim4Travel network-independent prepay SIM won the Innovative Service Award. Judges said it was a fabulous money-saving device that avoided the con of network roaming charges.

London-based B2B service provider Alternative Networks has extended its service provider contract with O2 until July 2009.

Vodafone renewed its SP agreement with Alternative Networks at the end of last year.

Alternative CEO James Murray said: The renewal of our O2 licence is testament to the hard work of our mobile teams. Were always looking to build a very close relationship with O2 and Vodafone and work closely with them on the data aspect of mobile. Its also great news for our shareholders.

Alternative Networks has worked with O2 since 2002. O2 UK general manager of business sales Ben Dowd said: Its service-driven approach knowledge of converged products and ability to customise applications and services are critical in todays market.

The role was initially offered to Motorola UK boss JIM Michel before he reneged last month. Henrys appointment comes two months after he quit his post at Carphone.

Henry told Mobile News: I have seen every distributor up close and 20:20 is way way ahead of the competiton.

Henry will be discussing his new role on this weeks edition of the Mobile News podcast which is available from Wednesday.

LG Mobile is set to sign a shirt sponsorship deal with Premiership football side Fulham FC believed to be worth around £4 million over a three-year period.

The deal is expected to complete within the next fortnight Mobile News understands.

LG marketing manager John Bernard said: We are close to finalising a deal with a top Premiership club but cannot comment any further at this stage.

Fulhams shirt sponsorship deal with broadband company Pipex ends this year. LG is already a handset partner of Fulham.