It also puts a spin on the current rush by rivals to transform themselves into multi-service conglomerates.
Two weeks ago Vodafone and T-Mobile announced that their services would start on June 22 and August 1 respectively.
Vodafone is rolling its service out to Glasgow Sheffield Greater Manchester and Tyneside together with the environs of London inside the M25. Full roll-out is expected to be completed by 2007.
Both T-Mobile and Vodafone are restricting their service to datacards but Vodafone is also offering in-built mobile broadband cards within Dell Acer and Lenovo laptops.
The Vodafone service will give download speeds of up to 1.4 Mbps with uploads at 384 Kbps three times the capacity of 3G it claims.
Vodafone enterprise business unit sales director Mark Bond claimed that the service which the network has dubbed 3G Broadband is the first of its kind in the UK. He said it was the perfect fit for business people on the move.
"It´s designed to meet the needs of today´s work anywhere´ business culture as more people access their e-mail or office network on the move or away from the office" he said.
For the moment T-Mobile is restricting its HSDPA service called Mobile Broadband to its Web´n´Walk Professional service which also provides extras such as free WiFi access for 12 months.
The service is delivered through a datacard only with no plans to embed cards in laptops or run it out to handsets.
While Vodafone´s premium Unlimited Data offer is expensive at £45 a month T-Mobile is going for a cheaper £17 monthly fee but with a data limit of around 2GB.
Suggested speeds are up to 1.8Mbps but T-Mobile data marketing manager Rob Langton admits that the average speed will around 1Mbps comparable with most entry-level fixed-line broadband services. Upload speeds are similar to Vodafone´s offer.
T-Mobile´s coverage will be national from launch. "Where there is 3G there will be HSDPA access" said Langton. Consumer devices will be on offer by the end of the year he promised.
The UK is the fifth country to get the T-Mobile service. The others are Germany Austria the Netherlands and Hungary. Research from those markets revealed that 80 per cent of HSPDA traffic is e-mail.
Interestingly this service could be T-Mobile´s answer to rival networks allying themselves with other media to offer three or four-play services.
We won´t go down the route of fixed-line DSL" said Langton. "we are focused on mobile and believe the future is mobile Internet."
Conversely two of the three other infrastructure-owning networks Orange and O2 appear to be focusing on alliances with other media and don´t plan to offer mobile broadband until the end of the year.
The most recent of these is O2´s acquisition of minor broadband player Be for £50 million. Be is only present in 150 exchanges but it is the first Internet provider to use Broadband technology that allows speeds of up to 24Mbps.
3 has also been conducting mobile broadband trials and it is understood to be planning a launch also for the end of this year.
Orange appears to be pitching its own version to consumers running it on a range of handsets. O2 has indicated in the past it will start its Super 3G service in the business space with datacards. 3 is understood to be offering the service with datacards but because of its strength in the consumer market it is likely to pitch it to that sector.

For some time now The Link has been tipped as the likeliest of the big three multiple retailers to be squeezed from the high street by tighter margins. Last week that forecast was made reality.
DSG International formerly Dixons Group confirmed it would sell its 60 per cent stake in The Link to O2 which already owns the remaining 40 per cent for £30 million. The purchase will enable O2 to add up to 300 stores to its existing chain of 300.
"The competitive landscape for mobile phones initially a retail market has changed significantly" says DSG chief executive John Clare. "It has become a market in which the profit opportunities can best be leveraged by the networks and telecom services providers."
Struggle to compete
The Link has struggled to compete with the likes of The Carphone Warehouse and the encroachment of the network operators´ own stores. In the year to April 29 its like-for-like sales slumped 25 per cent and it contributed just £600000 to DSG´s bottom line compared with more than £38 million last year and close to £45 million the year before.
O2 will assume 100 per cent control of The Link´s retail estate and assets. Commercial terms have been agreed in principal for a cash sum of £30 million but legal documentation must be completed before any of the parties involved will talk freely about the implications.
"The proposed deal will accelerate our retail strategy and boost our brand presence on the high street" says an O2 spokesman. "A number of the outlets would complement our existing store portfolio."
O2 will remove The Link signage from above the doors of sites that do not impinge on O2´s existing footprint. O2 claims that where there is duplication it will retain The Link brand apart from a few exceptions that it will sell off. But there is a sense that The Link brand won´t be around for much longer.
Inevitably The Link´s demise raises a lot of questions. How many Link stores will O2 sell on? Who will buy the cast-offs? T-Mobile 3 Virgin Mobile and The Carphone Warehouse were all said to be hovering last week though unsurprisingly none of them was willing to comment.
One obvious question was why The Link´s fortunes had nosedived to the extent that its majority shareholder was willing to offload its share for just £30 million. It is a difficult time in retail but even so O2 looks to have bagged a bargain.
Evolution Securities analyst Nick Bubb says: "DSG has been trying to thrash out a solution to the ownership issue for some time. It was making a lot of money not that long ago and at one point was trying to buy out O2. To end up selling for £30 million is hardly a favourable result."
He adds: "There is no doubt that The Link caused a huge dent in DSG´s profits last year and everyone will be glad to see the back of it."
Part of the problem is that the market is saturated and the networks are not now prepared to pay money to acquire customers who are likely to simply churn.
"The whole of mobile phone retail has changed" argues Investec retail analyst Mark Charnok. "At one point the networks were throwing money at getting connections via retail. Now they are more circumspect. The days of making hay are behind them."
The effect of churn can be seen throughout the sector. The Carphone Warehouse for example has defined itself as a services-led proposition and has rolled out an MVNO offering a landline and a broadband service.
"The Carphone Warehouse has invested in all levels of communication services and has been able to leverage that as revenues from the networks have declined" says Charnok.
"The Link chose not to do that because it would not have sat well with the way that O2 wants to run the business. It doesn´t want The Link billing services to its customers. It doesn´t want The Link setting up as an MVNO. O2´s stake in The Link probably helped it in the early days but not as the market has changed."
The Link has also struggled to define itself in the mind of consumers. Like Phones 4U it pitched itself as a hard-seller governed by targets. But where The Link has fallen down Phones 4U has turned itself around.
"It is strange that Phones 4U wasn´t making any money two years ago and it is unclear how it has turned things around when The Link has suffered" says Bubb.
Charnok puts it down to the fact that Phones 4U like Carphone Warehouse is simply better defined as a retailer. "Phones 4U and Carphone Warehouse are clearly mobile phone stores and The Link has never positioned itself quite right" he says. "It has always stocked a reasonable slug of fixed-line phones and faxes both of which are declining technologies."
On the face of it O2 looks to have snapped up a good deal that will enable it to fast-track its retail expansion to match rival networks.
"O2 wants to roll out new value propositions in the same way that The Carphone Warehouse and Orange have been doing" says Canalys research analyst Nick Spencer. "In terms of straight phone upgrades high street retail doesn´t cut it any more because people can upgrade over the Internet and the phone. But for the new services that all the operators want to harness there needs to be a high street presence and a point of contact for the consumer."

Orange provided N91 demo handsets to its retail stores but recalled the devices and altered its launch plans after they failed Orange software tests.

An Orange spokesperson said: The Nokia N91 will unfortunately not be available with Orange as it did not meet our strict internal testing requirements. This decision was not taken lightly but we want to ensure our customers have the best experience possible with their phones.?

The N91 is available on O2 and Vodafone. T-Mobile is not stocking the device after it also failed its network software tests.

Nokia head of communications Mark Squires said: Most of the networks install their own software on the handsets. If it is not performing with the Orange software installed then they will pull it.?

Squires said that sales of the N91 had been good on other networks and that retailers and distributors were struggling to get hold of stock.

The N91 has sold very well across the board. The problem with it has been getting stock into the channel? said Squires.

The N91 is Nokias headline music phone. It comes with a 4GB hard disk providing storage for up to 3000 songs.

Of most concern to the channel was whether or not the position of Orange head of sales for independent retail Chris Hough could be made untenable by a duplication of roles.

One senior distributor source said: The worry is that Orange is already without a sales director since it hasnt yet replaced Stuart Henry. If Chris leaves and they bring in guys from Wanadoo then we will be dealing with people that dont know the channel and how it works.

Houghs role as head of sales at Orange is duplicated as things stand. Steve Heald holds a similar position as head of sales at Wanadoo. Heald is responsible for the same pre-pay retail routes such as Woolworths and Argos that Hough heads up at Orange.

Mobile News understands that Orange will retain only one person as sales director following the reorganisation.

Orange has offered staff voluntary redundancy for the first time in its history as part of the restructure. Staff had until midnight on Friday (July 14) to opt for voluntary redundancy. It is unclear what Houghs position is regarding this option.

Hough refused to comment but an Orange spokesperson said: The new organisation is expected to be in place in September. While this process is ongoing we cannot comment about specific individuals.

Because Wanadoo has traditionally featured on the high street and not in independent distribution there is little duplication of roles at account level.

Oranges mobile and broadband units will be combined and staff on both sides will go on dealing with their respective accounts under the Orange brand.

Another distributor said: Orange is looking at a lot of senior positions – frontline dealer account managers sales managers and sales directors. Because that is where the doubling up is taking place thats where the integration has to happen. It is in a melting pot this weekend.

He added: The dealer and distributor concern is that while change can be a good thing wholesale change is bad. If Chris leaves as head of channel Orange will be short of senior staff that understand Orange distribution.

The P990i was first announced to content developers in October. It was originally slated for release in Q1 but shipping dates were put back to Q2 to allow Sony Ericsson?s M600i 3G smartphone to gain traction in the market. It now has a projected August shipping date.

Sony Ericsson marketing manager Richard Dorman said: We dont have the exact date for the launch of the P990i handset but it looks likely to be the earlier part of August. We delayed the launch of the phone to differentiate it from the M600i which was a fresh product.

The P990i is just one of nine new handsets Sony Ericsson will launch in the next three months including five new Walkman-branded devices.

Fone Logistics has picked 14 O2 business dealers to join its new Select Business programme which it developed ahead of O2s Advance distributor programme.

However Fone Logistics head of marketing Julien Parven said the figure would probably reduce to around 12 through a process of natural wastage.

Select Business dealers will work to agreed six-month performance targets and receive marketing tools and guidance.

We will help them with lead generation and pass on tools we receive from O2 in terms of training and recruitment said Parven.

Fone Logistics agreed its own six-month business plan with O2 ? around customer churn tenure and ARPU – last month and is set to reach 2500 business connections a quarter within nine to 12 months.

Now it is raising the bar with Select Business which went live on July 1 with targets of 3000 a quarter.

Fone Logistics has also launched a field support division to work alongside its eight dealer managers offering support and field audits.

We have invested in this division as a non-profit entity within our business said Parven. We can work more closely with our dealers to manage risk and educate them as to how to market to and sign up value customers.

Dealers claimed that Vodafones new fulfilment software called Libra/Gemini was installed last month without warning. They said connections on the old fulfilment system Dice took just a few hours.

One dealer said: Vodafone sprung it on us on June 13. Wed happily gone through the Dice connection process for five years. It was a little archaic but it worked well. The new system is all e-mail-based but it takes up to four days to credit check and connect customers.

Another dealer said: The nightmare is real. Business has suffered because Vodafone has changed its fulfilment system. Connections are taking longer and there was no warning of the changeover.

Vodafone said that it had not moved any of its dealer base to new fulfilment software but a Vodafone spokesperson admitted: There are a few small localised issues in the area of credit checks and connections.

Begbies Traynor has been appointed as insolvency practitioner and has sold the companys call centre operation in South Africa. The proceeds will go to pay creditors but early indications are that the funds will fall short of the amount needed.

Jesse Meredith-Watts and Richard Marsden have resigned as executive directors but will remain as joint managing directors. They are currently preparing year-end accounts to March 30 which will be announced at the end of this month.

The company previously experienced a spell in voluntary administration in 2002.

Sweetlove admitted that the pace had slowed following Carphone Warehouse?s purchase of Hugh Symons in December.

It is probably fair to say that our approach with the networks in the first six months has not been ideal said Sweetlove. With recent changes in personnel we are doing a lot of work to ensure that we remain a well-respected and key partner.

His comments follow gripes from dealers that the hype that followed the acquisition has not borne fruit.

Karl May co-founder of Manchester dealership MK Mobiles said: The Hugh Symons Carphone thing hasnt moved at the rate that [former Carphone Warehouse director of indirect distribution] Steve Fraser gave us the impression it would. The takeover was quite promising at one stage but it doesn?t seem to have developed properly.

However the departure of Fraser last month following an internal investigation appears to have eased tensions.

Sweetlove said: Dealers are now going to see a more steady build-up of the proposition.

Sweetlove who takes some of the slack left by Fraser aims to bring Hugh Symons airtime division and Carphone Warehouses SIM-free business Mobile Phone Express (MPE) closer together.

Hugh Symons and MPE can align to offer a more co-ordinated product and service proposition to the independent dealer he said. Initially we will continue business as usual but we plan to develop quickly to allow dealers to buy airtime and handsets on one account. Closer alignment will also allow both sales teams to access a wider customer base.

Hugh Symons dealers should be able to offer Carphone Warehouses LifeLine insurance product and its TalkTalk landline service shortly.

The shocking statistic was revealed by top insurance investigator Royston Ford at a high-level conference on mobile crime organised by Mobile News on June 28.

Ford also revealed that insurance losses due to mobile phone robberies reached 60 million in the past year with at least one incident a week.

A cottage industry of white-collar crime has been taken up by serious and organised criminals who will stop at nothing he said.

See Cracking Crime feature