FoneStarz will offer five service categories on the i-mode; Manchester United Celebrity World Hollyoaks Pics n Clips and Viral Zone. The packages have been specifically tailored for the Irish market due to an increase in peer-to-peer content sharing as well as the widespread demand for recognised brands.

The O2 Active platform will contain a portfolio of wallpaper animation collections and ringtones on popular categories.

The deal will expand Fonestarzs influence in the content management market where it currently sells more than one million picture and video downloads each month distributing and managing content in 19 countries.

FoneStarz chief executive officer Dave Moreau said: We are delighted to have expanded our coverage in the Irish market with O2. The FoneStarz brand continues to grow and we hope that the buoyant Irish market will be another success story for the company.

3 UK sales director Marc Allera said: It is something we are looking at because that is a cost to us as well. We are not prepared to keep taking on the risks. We are trying to protect ourselves from costs incurred when our partners do not follow the right policy.

We are perfectly within our rights to consider clawing back some of the other exposures we have in terms of cost and that means airtime and usage as well.

The precise detail of the initiative is yet to be worked out but Allera said the claw-backs would occur on a case-by-case basis.

3 is already sounding out distribution partners about the prospect of helping it claim unpaid airtime from dealers. But the channel reacted angrily to the prospect of being penalised for customer payment issues.

One senior distribution source said: If 3 brings this in then it will really struggle to get any sales from dealers it will light a fire under them. It is a very dangerous thing to do and would be extremely detrimental to the dealer market.

Another distribution source said: 3 probably feels like it has been ripped off but its measures are now so harsh and the balance of risk has swung so far in its favour that there is no point connecting at all.

There is one reason to connect and seven or eight reasons to be clawed back.

3 has moved in recent months to reduce its exposure to fraud and non-payments. It is now also looking to claw back commission from dealers after month six if there are payment issues on an account and dealers are found not to have taken the right identity proofs and carried out the correct credit checks.

3 sales in the dealer channel are down around 60-70 per cent on late 2006 as a result of its claw-back policies. Hefty claw-backs have been levied against parts of the channel. Several large 3 distributors are reporting no activity on 3 whatsoever.

At the same time 3 has rolled out its own store portfolio at pace. Allera said its total points of sale will top 400 by the end of the year and its sales mix would reach 70:30 weighted towards its direct channels.

Allera also said 3 would sack certain distributors in the coming months.

He said: It makes sense to rationalise those relationships given the fact the volume requirement has reduced so dramatically.

Truphone CEO James Tagg told Mobile News since the providers registration date with BT on February 23 Vodafone Orange and O2 had agreed to connect Truphones free and low-cost VoIP calls via Wi-Fi and the internet.

Tagg said T-Mobile and 3 users who tried to dial Truphone numbers received a number unattainable message and were not connected.

Tagg said: T-Mobile gives us a different answer each time. The lack of connection might be deliberate or accidental. But the affect is the same.

Tagg said although 3 had an agreement with rival VoIP provider Skype it should not mean Truphone calls were not connected as well.

Tagg said he expected Ofcom to step in to the dispute as the champion of consumer choice.

Ofcom has an obligation to make sure networks route numbers without favouritism he said. Its charter says it aims to promote customer choice and innovation.

A T-Mobile spokesperson said the network allowed calls via Truphone for customers on the monthly £22.50 WebnWalk Max tariff which gives access to internet calling services adding Other customers could have this activated by calling customer services.

3 said it chose Skype over other VoIP providers as it offered greater coverage through 3G rather than Wi-Fi and is the largest VoIP community.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: We understand Truphones argument from a commercial point but Ofcom looks at a dispute from a consumers position. Operators are free to allow access to any services they choose. If a customer feels aggrieved they can leave a network.

We look for evidence of anti-competitive behaviour but there has been no evidence of that here.

Tagg also plans to address Ofcom about Orange and Vodafones refusal to enable VoIP on the Nokia N95.

Orange prepay director Pippa Dunn said the market for the new Call Abroad SIM comprises more than 20 million people in the UK adding that the market for international calling cards is currently worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

Said Dunn: There are about 5.5 million British nationals living in the UK and 18.7 million foreign visitors to the UK every year who are looking for an affordable and convenient way to phone home.

The market for international calling cards is worth about £800 million so it presents a good opportunity for us.

The new SIM card is available for £5 from Orange stores dealers newsagents and other stockists and enables reduced rates for international calls. For example calls to India have been cut from £1 to 12p a minute while calls to Australia have been reduced from 40p to 6p a minute. Customers can port their phone number from an existing Orange tariff or another network.

Orange said the new SIM is a response to expensive international calling rates and confusing international calling cards. Users are not subject to third party carrier costs or the national call charge of 25p usually incurred with calling cards.

Orange has already trialled the service in 55 Orange stores and through selected distributors.

London-based B2B service provider Alternative Networks has signed an extension to its service provider contract with O2 that extends its partnership until July 2009.

Vodafone also renewed its service provider 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 as theyre always interested in these announcements.

Alternative Networks has worked with O2 since 2002. O2 UKs general manager of business sales Ben Dowd said:

Its service driven approach knowledge of converged products and ability to bespoke services and applications to meet clients needs are critical in todays market.

The company had already announced plans to lay off 3500 workers by June and the latest redundancies will see its workforce decrease by 11%. The cuts are intended to return Motorola to profitability after they announced first quarter losses for 2007.

Motorola expects to save $600million through the latest cuts by 2008 and this figure is on top of the $400million it expects to save from the 3500 lay-offs announced in January.

The charges date from September 2006 to April 1 this year when Ofcoms new termination charge controls took effect. BT said the outcome of Ofcoms investigation into its complaint was disappointing and suggested landline customers were funding 3G networks.

BT director of voice services Matthew Dearden said: BT brought this dispute to Ofcom to prevent millions of consumers having to bear the cost of paying over the odds for dialling a mobile from their landlines. By agreeing yet again with the mobile operators fixed line customers continue to fund the 3G networks.

BT initially rejected the proposed call termination rates from the networks higher blended rates the networks claimed to have formulated by combining 2G and 3G charges. BT proposed lower rates to the networks which in turn rejected them. Ofcom ruled the blended rates charged to BT were not too high.

BT will need to pay all withheld charges to the networks but it and the networks must first agree the amount.

Azzurri says an audit of 1200 corporates identified possible savings of £60 million. Azzurri One evaluates existing communications solutions and offers cost-saving alternatives on a single bill. Around a dozen household names have already signed up to Azzurri One it claimed.

CEO Martin St Quinton said: We appreciate what a challenge it is for organisations to effectively manage their communications. With many suppliers and bills to manage budget control becomes almost impossible.

Dangaard chief Michaél Køehn said the merged company would decide on its strategy for entering the UK market at the deals conclusion. He said:

There are many good players in the UK and a very good distributor could be one of our relevant targets.

The Glasgow High Court heard last month that Athif Sarwar 28 had handled thousands of pounds of criminal property. Sarwar was found guilty of money laundering between February and April 2003 while working at Glasgow-based United Wholesale.

Sarwar was found guilty on two charges one of laundering £565000 as part of a VAT fraud scam and the second of moving £280500 from the firms bank account to another held by a shell company.

Assistant manager of the cash and carry firm Mansoor Khan 43 of Glasgow was found not guilty of any involvement in the money laundering scam.

Sarwar was bailed to appear for sentencing on June 28. His father a millionaire businessman and Labour MP for Govan said he would appeal against the verdict.