Masson quit ET last month due to the uncertainty surrounding the now defunct companys future. Masson has extensive senior management experience in the industry having previously worked for T-Mobile as general manager of their dealer and distributor division.

When I was given the opportunity to join the Advantage group and having heard of its ambitions I was compelled to say sign me upsaid Masson.

Advantage will undoubtedly bring an aggressive but refreshing approach to the telecoms industry and I want to be part of the team that will have the privilege of creating it here in the UK.

The network will offer one of the simplest and most competitive mobile broadband services available in the UK with revamped roaming tariffs and more flexible pricing. A new generation of fast modems offering speeds of up to 7.2Mb are expected to be available (with limited coverage) in September. They will utilise HSUPA a go-faster version of Vodafones existing HSDPA technology which can pipe data at around 3Mb.

Vodafone has calculated that there are 1.3 million laptop owners who have a requirement for mobile data. The network already has around 181000 users signed to its data services so it believes it can target 1.2 million connections with the right offerings.

Sources close to Vodafone have told Mobile News: They are going full out to dominate this square of the puzzle. Its a seriously-full programme of transparent pricing generous bundles and pay-per-session options.

This is the biggest push into data weve ever seen from Vodafone. They are ripping up the data tariff rule book and going all-out to massively enlarge the market. I would say this will put them at least a year ahead of O2 which is their closest rival.

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Barton said: LG is a small business. If you focus on mobile in just the UK it is a tight-knit team and it is a testimony to our success that other businesses are looking to recruit from us. It is just sad there isnt always the means to provide the career paths for young talented individuals that you would like.

Barton suggested channel criticism of LG was down to commercial issues and counselled regard for a possible agenda among its network retail and distribution partners.

He defended its refusal to kow-tow in some cases to its partners on handset pricing. The primary concern for any business is profitability he said and suggested Motorolas Q2 results bear testament to the heavy price of pursuing market share at any cost.

We cant always bow to the needs or go to the particular price some of our partners want. You have to think of your business as a profitable enterprise and the fact one of the other major vendors has just reported serious financial difficulties is perhaps because it went to pricing levels that were not wise.

He added: We dont always just say yes to our partners. It has to be a good deal for both parties. If there is a sense of disaffection within the channel it is not something I have witnessed in bucket loads. Perhaps it reflects our inability to come to a deal. But those are commercial issues. It has nothing to do with trouble at mill.

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Unity partners will be given a gold silver or bronze status based on their quarterly performance and will be given unity benefits according to their level.

HSC business manager Bob Sweetlove said: Those dealers who are already part of the unity programme will continue to benefit as they always have but for those dealers who fall short of the historical criteria it will provide additional benefits to help improve their business.

We want to reward our partners for their hard work which is why the top tier of partners will receive even more from unity.

Recently the unity programme has seen the introduction of benefits such as car-kit installation services TalkTalk TomTom WORK and b2b marketing services.

HSC project manager Sophie Vincent said: The benefits are constantly updated to reflect the current business needs of the dealers. By introducing the new look unity programme we are supporting our valued partners and securing long-term business.

Customers who receive a scratch card stand a chance of winning tickets to see the UK premiere of The Bourne Ultimatum on 15th August including travel to London and hotel accommodation.

The MOTO Z8 includes new technology that displays video at 30 frames per second through a 16 million colour large QVA TFT screen which provides users with crystal clear viewing and sound when watching television.

Motorola has also signed a deal with BSkyB to allow its customers to download Skys Mobile content. Subscribers to the service will be able to watch an archive of sport entertainment and movies on demand. The service also offers customers the option of programming their Sky + box directly from their handset.

The MOTO Z8 is available from free on selected contracts from Vodafone O2 Phones4U or Carphone Warehouse.

The service can be activated via the Downloads option on selected Eseries devices initially the E61 and E65. Users must have a data package in their mobile tariff as ROK TV requires 10Mb of GPRS data per hour of streaming.

Two packages will be offered a five channel Strictly Business package for £5 a month with a strong emphasis on business news channels such as Bloomberg CNBC Europe Euro News and regional news channels presented in nine languages.

There will also be the 10-channel ROK All for £10 a month containing all the live business news channels as well as sports news music videos and comedy channels.

Customers can trial both packages free for the first two weeks.

Nokia business development manager for enterprise solution David King said: Nokia Eseries users tend to be professional people who seek instant information and entertainment so it is a logical step to offer our customers a business-orientated mobile TV service.

ROK chairman Jonathan Kendrick added: Were absolutely delighted to be working with Nokia on this exciting deployment of mobile TV.

We know there is a huge and as yet untapped market for live and instantly-available business and financial news amongst mobile TV customers.

The decision means that Vodafone must now consult with Connect over the pay hours and holidays of its workforce located in the Midlands North of England Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland. This is the first time that the network has recognised a union in the UK.

Todays announcement comes after months of fruitless negotiations between Connect and Vodafone that led to the union issuing legal proceeding. The union has also submitted an application to the court for recognition that would cover Vodafone employees in the South of England.

Connect general secretary Adrian Askew said: This is a landmark victory for our members in Vodafone and it is a tribute to how they have come together to demand a say in their working lives.

Vodafone workers are calling loud and clear for a voice at work that is independent and professional. Our membership growth in the company has shown that even in the biggest of blue-chip companies employees understand that trade unions are still the only way to secure a truly independent voice.

The G600 is a slim-line slider handset containing a 5.0 mega-pixel camera 2.2 inch LCD screen with 16 million colours and full Bluetooth v.2 connectivity.

Samsung director Mark Mitchinson said: We know customers will love having advanced functionality and digital camera features in one compelling device. Additional benefits such as creative shot modes microSD external memory and the Image Editor will make the Samsung G600 a digital must have.

The G600 will hit stores nationwide in August.

HST already bills for fixed-line voice and mobile broadband. Its wholesale airtime deal will enable it to bill for mobile voice minutes. It will offer mobile voice and date billing to resellers as a white label service.

Hugh Symons Telecom managing director Hugh Roper said: We are in discussion with the networks now and will launch a wholesale airtime deal in the next quarter.

We want to provide for resellers that want to sell a converged solution not from a standard mobile price book but as a combination of hardware and services and billed minutes both fixed and mobile said Roper.

He added: We are doing this from a billing point of view because our product portfolio targets the fixed-mobile convergence space.

Mobile is a key part of the convergence proposition. With a wholesale airtime deal we can bill for the whole converged package fixed line mobile and internet.

All met stringent targets on new connections data sales 24-month contracts secondary devices and retention rates. They join already qualified Avenir in gaining access to an online marketing toolkit marketing funding O2 solution selling training and demonstration devices.

MoCo managing director Ian Robinson said: A few people probably wrote us off at the beginning and we are extremely pleased. It is a marker in the sand.

Fone Logistics marketing director Julien Parven said: It is recognition of the hard work and commitment we have shown O2.