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Customers can now access Orange TV via the Orange World portal instead of having to download an application making the service compatible with 13 different 3G handsets. Orange has also added new channels including Eat Cinema My Movies British Eurosport FHM TV and Aardman Animations.

Also the service is now available at a broader range of contract price points: the GBP10 per month ?max pack offers all channels and 20 hours viewing time; the GBP5 ?music pack offers three music channels; and the GBP5 ?mix pack offers a cross-section of the channels available.

Orange head of sport and multimedia operations said: The key difference now is its reach. We have opened it up to a host of new handsets so many customers will be able to access Orange TV. A 24-hour free trial of the service is available.

Law firm Halliwells is preparing to take up two cases against HMRC citing abuse of process. Halliwells Head of Indirect Tax Chris Chipperton said: Our customers are getting hit with massive personal tax demands. Customs have said to these people that theyll offset those payments against their VAT repayments. This is not the usual practice – it is an abuse of process on HMRCs part. Its unfair to the trader.

We are proceeding with our expansion of our stand-alone stores as previously announced but the properties in The Link portfolio are not of interest to us at this stage said a Virgin Mobile spokesperson.

Mobile News understands that the locations available and the terms of purchase do not fit with Virgin Mobiles retail strategy and that it is unlikely to pursue any of them.

3 and T-Mobile as well as other indirect mobile retailers remain contenders after Orange snapped up 47 stores from O2 the new owner of The Link last week.

An O2 spokesman said: As well as the Orange agreement which we have in principal we are in advanced negotiations with other potential purchasers. We are confident that those will conclude ahead of the completion of the transaction with DSG which will be announced by October. Additional deals will be announced ahead of that date.

Orange will increase its high street presence to more than 340 stores after its agreed a deal in principle to acquire up to 47 new shops from O2.

The new stores will take Orange into 19 new towns where it currently has no presence and will increase its coverage in others. Of the 47 stores 36 are former The Link stores and 11 previously traded as O2. As part of the deal Orange plans to take on around 250 former The Link staff.

Orange said it will refit the new stores to trade under the Orange brand in the run-up to Christmas. This will be followed by a major refresh to position the companys retail operation as a combined mobile fixed broadband and TV provider proposition.

Orange vice-president of sales Mike Newnham said: 2006 has been a year of consolidation and building for the future and our retail strategy has been a major part of that. Were now planning to expand our footprint across Britains high streets to give our customers a taste of what the new Orange is all about.

3 has announced today that it has bought 95 retail stores in shopping
centres and high street locations across the UK from O2 and The Link.

Under the agreement 3 will obtain 73 Link stores and 22 O2 stores. This is a continuation of 3s strategy to build a nationwide retail presence of over 150 stand-alone stores and 133 Superdrug and Selfridges concessions by the end of 2006.

3 expects over 90 of the new stores to be selling its products and services by the end of 2006. Stores will be re-branded refurbished and converted as 3Stores.

All permanent employees at the 73 Link stores will transfer to 3 and will start work immediately. All O2 store staff will continue to work for O2.
There will also be 200 new jobs created within the 3 retail network.

Marc Allera Sales Director of 3 UK says: Were confident we can turn
these sites into 3Stores in a matter of weeks. Most of these stores will be open in time for the busy Christmas period.

This agreement ensures we have a balanced mix of distribution. With
specialist independents and the major third-party retailers continuing to play a major role in how we attract customers we expect our direct presence to become equally important to winning new business during 2007.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Three announced yesterday that it wants to take control back from the
independent channel.
CEO Bob Fuller said that he hopes that there will be a shift in the percentage of sales between the direct and indirect channel increasing the level of direct sales.
Currently the split is estimated to be around 20:80 towards the indirect channel. 3 are hoping to increase that to an even 50:50 split by next year through the opening of another 95 stores it has acquired from the Link and O2 and with its online presence through the 3 Music Store.
Fuller said: Its about taking control taking control of the customers and taking control of the costs. The acquisition and web presence demands a different route to market for our products. We will be rebalancing traditional routes not losing them.
3 also pledged its continuing commitment to becoming the lead player in mobile media. The network claims to be the UKs second biggest seller of music downloads second only to iTunes.

In its recent attempts to stamp out fraud in the mobile phone/CPU trading sector HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has recently withheld VAT repayments to undertake extended verification of certain deals. Traders can fight back by claiming for profits they would have accrued during this delay writes Greg Lacey.

People in the industry are growing increasingly suspicious that HMRC might simply be seeking to delay the repayment of VAT for as long as possible so less VAT will be lost to fraud this fiscal year. Put another way stop trading for six months and HMRC will be able to report to parliament that they have saved half of the estimated ? 1.9 billion this year.

Whilst good intentions lay behind the approach HMRCs actions have also penalised legitimate traders in the mobile communications industry.

VAT repayments are essential to many companies in this sector who rely on regular repayments to fund ongoing business. With seemingly no end in sight many companies may have to cease trading permanently and administration/insolvency is now a very real concern. But what can they do?

Rather than sit and wait for the inevitable some traders are actively seeking to get their VAT repaid. Using the Freedom of Information Act some have sought to expose information that will embarrass HMRC into making concessions.

Another route is to apply for a Judicial Review of HMRCs actions. This approach enables traders to seek to claim the lost profits which they might have made had HMRC not withheld VAT.

The first step will be to examine the companys working capital (or funding) to demonstrate that it was the withholding of VAT that prevented further trading. As most traders use all available cash to fund the VAT paid up-front to suppliers this should not be too difficult to demonstrate.

The next step is to assess the losses suffered by traders. This works by comparing how the company would have traded had it continued to receive regular VAT repayments with its current position of having had VAT withheld.

Typically companies that have not traded for four or five months because VAT was withheld can also claim for a loss of profits. This loss can be assessed on the basis of past trading. In addition traders may also be able to claim additional costs such as professional fees involved in dealing with the problem.

However by far and away the largest element of claims is likely to be the future losses a company will suffer should it be forced to cease trading or even to exit the sector. Future losses reflect the profits that the company would have generated in the foreseeable future including profits which a dependent subsidiary company may have expected to earn.

In our experience such claims can far exceed the value of profits lost to date. If a company ceases trading or exits the sector the consequential loss of profits could be ten times the annual profits generated.

With so many companies affected by HMRCs recent actions it is easy to see that if these claims are successful the Treasury will have to find the funding to meet these payments which across the sector as a whole could reach billions.

If traders bring successful claims against HMRC the Treasury could end up paying out compensation to legitimate traders on the same scale as the VAT that HMRC was aiming to save. The short term gain might become a long term loss for the Treasury.

With that in mind serving notice on HMRC of an assessment of the potential losses that will be suffered if a company ceases trading should provide some motivation to speed up the release of the withheld VAT. At the very least it might just move your companys file to the front of the queue.

Greg Lacy is a director at accounting support specialist FAR Consulting.