More than 300 mobile phone traders have signed a petition to pressure HM Revenue & Customs to cease its unlawful actions against legitimate companies.

The e-petition posted on the Downing Street web site was submitted by Monty Jivraj director of operations and logistics at London-based mobile phone trader Olympia Technology.

Jivraj said: There are a lot of legitimate traders who are concerned about their businesses and the livelihoods. We are trading with the latest handsets to meet consumer demand. We are not trading in a carousel.

Under Customs extended verification process VAT re-payments are withheld for an indefinite period.

One trader said: Weve signed the petition and were doing everything in our power to get the witheld money back.

Customs refused to comment.

We hope the government will wake up and conduct extended verification in an appropriate fair and reasonable manner which it is not doing at present said Jivraj.

We havent stopped trading. Weve had VAT payments witheld on everything including stationary and legal fees. It is ridiculous and most clearly delaying tactics by HMRC.

T-Mobiles aggressive store roll-out which saw its retail portfolio hit 250 outlets last week is expected to slow down as part of its internal cost-cutting exercise Save for Service.

T-Mobile director of retail Russell Taylor said that its target of 300 stores which it had originally aimed to reach in June 2007 was under review.

Mobile News understands that only a few roles within T-Mobiles 30-strong retail operations team are likely to be affected and that no area manager field manager store manager or store staff roles will be affected as part of Save for Service.

We have not been put under any significant pressure to reduce our headcount said Taylor.

He claimed that T-Mobile had been the fastest-growing UK retailer in any sector during the past 18 months. When he joined as head of retail in 2005 T-Mobile had 128 stores. It opened its 250th store in York last week.

Taylor was tasked with bringing T-Mobiles own store portfolio in line with that of rival networks and he has overseen the refurbishment of 118 of the original sites and a near doubling of the number overall.

Taylor claimed that service levels across its base had improved.

T-Mobile outlets and dealers rated well against rival stores in T-Mobiles international mystery shopper programme before Christmas. But he added that mobile phone retail in general was below par and so a poor barometer of success.

In the UK service levels are generally mediocre and we are measuring ourselves against a market that is not great he said. So were not there yet but at the same time were heading in the right direction.

He added: Our mission is to become the best-regarded service company in the UK not just in high street retail but in web sales and telesales too.

Last week around 400 area managers store managers and members of T-Mobiles field teams attended a staff leadership conference.

All the networks struggled to get any real traction within the consumer market as far as data and connectivity solutions go until we launched WebnWalk said Taylor.

Weve done a great job breaking that to the mass market and we must look to empower our retail staff. They are the most important people in the business because they are the ones directly in touch with the consumer.

The store roll-out is part of a review of T-Mobiles overall retail strategy which takes in recruitment training and retail systems. Completion is expected in early 2008.

Avenir switched the focus of its quarterly dealer forums to data last week when it hosted dealers at a data forum in Northamptonshire.

Avenir managing director Tanny Price said: As the returns on voice services are diminishing we are looking at untapped opportunities in the data market.

The success of data services is reliant on the industry working together to provide end-users with a consistent offering that provides a measurable return on investment. The data solutions forum was a great example of how this kind of approach can work.

We look forward to holding similar events in the future.

Speakers at the event included representatives of Vodafone O2 Hewlett Packard BlackBerry manufacturer RIM Trackaphone and ESE Applications.

MoCos direct sales arm MoCo Business is looking to turn 25 per cent of its customer base on to data services this year.

MoCo Business is also to double its sales team to 12 in the coming months following the appointments of sales consultants Bobby Sokhi and Michael Thomas last week.

MoCo director of sales and marketing Harvey Alexander said: We have an 80 per cent retention rate across all networks with our direct customers. We are trying to push converged services to 25 per cent of our base. If you sell data voice will follow. Thats is the change in the market. It is a mistake to bolt the data solution on because that wont work.

Sokhi who joins from Wish Communications and Thomas who joins from O2s corporate sales team will concentrate on new business customers while the rest of the sales team look after existing customers. They report to business sales manager Lester Dougal.

MoCo Business is offering mobile landline data and IT solutions to its customers.

Data solutions provider Crimson Tide is offering dealers and distributors the chance to double and even triple their money on standard airtime commissions for bringing data customers to its attention.

Crimson Tide a Yes Telecom business partner and O2 direct data reseller has set up a new partner programme. It is on the verge of signing a major airtime distributor thought to be Ipswich distributor Anglia Telecom or Kent-based MoCo.

It is offering to manage customers data solutions while dealers or distributors take care of voice services.

Crimson Tide sales director Jeremy Roth said: If theyre earning £100 commission per box we will pay them £200 or £300 depending on the size of the contract.

Sales at The Carphone Warehouse are 20 per cent down on last year it was claimed last week.

A Carphone staffer told Mobile News morale was low. There is considerable pressure on sales. Our area is about 22 per cent down for contract sales compared with [the same period] last year he said.

Area sales manager for the North Ken Hanning sent staff an e-mail on February 14 that urged them to raise their games in the light of poor sales. It was sent to 14 stores and around 80 employees

Hanning told staff: We have faced a serious disappointment today. [The sales] mix on your sales floor is your responsibility.

Carphone refused to comment on the area sales performance. But one member of Hannings sales team took issue with the tone of the email. He said: His message does nothing to motivate his managers or inspire them to do well.

A Carphone spokesperson said: The e-mail has been taken out of context from a series of communications between an area sales manager and his team.

Another Carphone salesman said: Ken is a good bloke and Ive never had a problem with him before.

Bail for the 12 traders charged with involvement in a £250 million VAT fraud was set at up to £2 million per person last week.

Suspects were offered bail at between £200000 and £2 million. Sources claimed last week bail for some was as much as £4 million.

This is a distinct change of policy. Theres not been such a campaign on securities and assurities like this before said a source close to the case.

HM Revenue & Customs refused to comment on the bail figures. The case is ongoing said a spokesperson.

At Horseferry Road Magistrates Court on February 6-7 the 12 were charged and remanded in custody pending bail. It was part of a five-year investigation by HMRC called Operation Euripus that saw 350 officers raid 93 premises in the UK and Spain in July 2003 (Mobile News issue 293) and make 42 arrests.

The $4.6 billion (£2.4billion) merger of Danish distributor Dangaard and US distributor Brightpoint is likely to see Dangaards long-expected entry into the UK market delayed for around 12 months.

The merger announced last week sees the creation of the largest handset distributor on the planet with combined revenues of $4.6 billion and operating income of $106 million. The pair handled 64 million devices between them last year.

The integration is likely to take 12-18 months according to Dangaard COO Micha’©l K’¸ehn who will be appointed co-COO and president of international when the deal completes at the end of June.

K’¸ehn said the integration process will delay any UK entry for the time being. He said: The UK remains the blank spot on the map. It is extremely attractive to us still. We want to enter the UK market but the timing has to be right. I cant say that we will enter the UK market by acquiring a UK-based company yet because it is far too early but I find it very difficult to see any other way to enter than by acquisition. It is too mature a market to set up as a greenfield site.

The newly merged company has not yet decided on its branding. K’¸ehn said: We have to plan carefully whether we co-brand across all markets drop one or brand differently in different markets.

Brightpoint CEO Robert Laikin said: This transaction will join two of the most prominent players in wireless handset distribution and logistics to create a true global leader.

The two companies complement each other perfectly in terms of geography service offerings and shared commitment to operational excellence.

The merger sees Brightpoint issue $100000 and 30 million shares to Nordic Capital which acquired Dangaard last year in exchange for all of Dangaard. Nordic will appoint three directors to the board of nine at the new company including K’¸ehn. Its headquarters will be in Plainfield Indiana.

Separately Brightpoint has won a distribution contract for Windows Mobile smart device supplier i-mate. Brightpoint will be responsible for distribution and channel development in a number of European growth markets.

i-mate has an existing presence in the UK and Italy but the deal with Brightpoint means all of western Europe will be covered in terms of sales and support.

i-mate global sales director Jack Caine said: These are exciting times. We were looking for a trusted partner who understands our industry and shares our commitment to customers. This step brings us closer to our European customers and ensures more businesses and mobile operators become familiar with us.

O2 is set to pull its new contract connections business from Phones 4U in April and take all its high street connections through Carphone Warehouse.

Phones 4U marketing manager Jim Slater said: Were constantly in discussions with O2. As with all strategic partnerships these discussions remain confidential.

Carphone which already handles the billing of close to a million O2 customers is perceived as the better bet by O2 for its current acquisition strategy and the pair renewed their contract at the end of January.

Under the terms of the new contract O2 is understood to have pressed Carphone to sign more customers per month to O2 for less commission than previously.

Phones 4U is understood to have been connecting only a few thousand new O2 customers a month during the past quarter as O2 switched its focus from consumer acquisition almost completely towards retention.

O2 spent £5 million on its latest advertising campaign promoting its Fair Deal pledge to existing customers who re-sign direct.

Sources claimed last week that the O2 UK management team has had its acquisition budget slashed dramatically by parent company Telef³nica as it pursues new customers in emerging markets such as Latin America.

Mobile News understands that the O2 management team is likely to sign up with Phones 4U once more when its acquisition budget is bolstered again by Telef³nica.

The move follows Vodafones exit from Carphone Warehouse before Christmas. Vodafone has signed an exclusive deal on new business with Phones 4U which is understood to have committed to up to 70000 new connections to the network a month.

Phones 4U connects around 110000 customers per month in all.
As with the ongoing Vodafone/ Carphone relationship Phones 4U will still be able to upgrade existing O2 customers.

O2 was unavailable for comment.

The 20:20 Mobile Group is on the point of buying two European distributors as part of a fresh acquisition strategy under new owner Doughty Hanson.

Were currently knee-deep in due diligence on two distributors in Europe said 20:20 chief executive Mark Ryan.

Our new backers are looking for us to continue to perform as we have been doing. Last year we had record profits. They want to see that continue. They have a big appetite for acquisition.