O2 now has 25 franchise stores in total.
O2 sales director Mark Stansfeld said: We are really pleased with progress to date and we will continue with the programme as planned. O2 sees this as a real opportunity for independents to work closely with their chosen operator and get true alignment. We are continuing to look for people wanting to progress with the programme.
Dan Fountain owner of the Rotherham franchise said: It works well because O2 is a good brand in the marketplace. As a franchise we cut out the middle-man and can offer better deals than third-party retailers as well.
He added: We have a real presence on the high street. If people have issues with their O2 phone they come straight to us not to the retailer that they bought it from. We try to offer the best service we can so that next time they will come straight to us.
Fountain worked at O2 for five years before setting up as a franchisee. He replied to an e-mail sent out by O2 looking for owner/
operators for the franchise stores.
He is now looking to open a
further two franchise stores.

3 has launched a new made-for-mobile TV channel called Geek TV.

The new channel combines clips from shows such as Miami Vice and American Dad with original mobile video content and user-generated clips.

The channel is updated weekly and is pitched to the 16-to-24-year-old demographic.

The service by video content company Player X has been available on O2 i-mode handsets since the middle of 2006.

Player X has invested heavily in the mobile video space and recently announced a deal with Universal Mobile Entertainment to make mobile versions of 1970s TV shows such as Knight Rider and Magnum P.I.

After an extensive six-year investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and two criminal trials the man behind a 54 million VAT fraud has been jailed for 15 years the longest sentence ever handed down by a British court for this type of crime.

Emmanuel Hening a trader with dual Belgian/French nationality was found guilty on three counts of missing trader (MTIC) fraud at Worcester Crown Court following his extradition from France in December 2005. He was described by Judge McCreath as the guiding hand behind the multi-million pound MTIC VAT fraud which has seen an eight-strong crime gang given sentences totalling 38.5 years.

HMRC deputy director of investigation Chris Harrison said: This was not some kind of victimless crime but organised fraud on a massive scale perpetrated by criminals all bent on making fast and easy profits at the expense of the British taxpayer. This was theft of revenue needed to fund our countrys public services. Missing trader fraud is not merely a paper fraud but often features links to other forms of criminal activity. This case is a further example of our determination and success in bringing to justice the criminals behind this type of fraud. The sentence should send out a clear message to others who may contemplate such criminal activity.

Judge McCreath said: This case involves fraud against the Revenue on a massive scale amounting in total to a Revenue loss in excess of 50 million described accurately as an orchestrated attack on the United Kingdom VAT system.

Hening was sentenced alongside two accomplices one from the West Midlands and one from Wales in December. A further two members of the gang from the West Midlands and two from Lancashire were sentenced at an earlier trial. An eighth defendant a woman from Birmingham pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

The court heard the multi-million pound fraud centred on the mobile phone industry. Investigations by HMRC began in 2000 and involved breaking the audit trail of businesses based in the UK Luxembourg and France through a company called Handycom SA operated by Hening.

Handset manufacturers poured cold water on Apple s iPhone announcement last week.

They pointed to the fact that it will not hit the UK until the Q4 Christmas pre-pay market and that it would a command a premium price of over GBP300. They also claimed that their own devices would easily supersede it for functionality by the end of the year despite the clamour that greeted Apple chief executive Steve Jobs address at the US Macworld event last week.

Nokia director of communications Mark Squires said: We are practically a year away from its launch still as far as the UK market is concerned and with products like the N95 coming out in the next few months it is not leading edge. Apple will find that the entry level is judged differently for this market than the digital music market because it is more mature.

He added: Its basic specifications are quite easily rivalled. In this country not in the US dealers will comment on the feature set at that kind of price point.

One manufacturer source told Mobile News: Its not going to be available until Q4 and it wont be available on pre-pay which is what the Q4 Christmas market is all about. It is a high-end device and will be available on contract for GBP300. We don t see it as a threat at all.

You have to see it in the same category as the XDA and the MDA handsets which arent popular as mobile phones. Customers buy them as a second device. Its the same with this. Its too big to be a straight mobile phone.

Another industry source said: Its problem is that it is launching here at Christmas which is all about pre-pay handsets. So it will make minimal impact this year. Apple is talking about shipping 10 million handsets this year but those will go to America. The second generation of iPhones will be more of a threat in the European market and that wont appear until halfway through 2008.

Questions were raised about its marketing strategy too.

Apple will impose stringent guidelines on its distribution partners. Motorolas Dolce & Gabanna (D&G) handset bombed because D&G put tough conditions on networks and retailers. It is the same kind of thing said a source.

Another manufacturer said: The problem with these touch screen devices has been traditionally the tendency for users to be too hard on them. The streaks and scratches and finger marks are also an issue judging by other touch screen devices.

The networks with an eye on data revenues welcomed the launch.

A 3 spokesman said: Its a step in the right direction. We think this shows the market is converging on one device this is Apple understanding that they need to be in the mobile business.

At the launch in San Francisco Jobs said: Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. Well were introducing three revolutionary products of this class: the first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls the second is a revolutionary mobile phone the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device.

He went on: These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Apple is going to reinvent the phone.

The iPhone is not however a 3G device and so does not enable over-the-air music downloads.

The iPhone has new touch screen finger navigation technology called Multitouch. The 11.6mm thick handset comes with a 2-megapixel digital camera and features a 3.5 wide 160 dot-per-inch colour screen and will be available in two versions of four and eight gigabytes.

The iPhone runs a version of Mac OS-X the same operating system that runs on Mac computers. It comes loaded with Apple s Safari web browser incorporates Google s search and mapping services and includes Wi-Fi capability.

How consumers listen to voicemail has also been reinvented on the handset. Users can skip right to the message they want instead of going through unwanted voicemails before getting to the one they require.

The device will be available to buy in the US in June in Europe from October and in Asia in 2008. The four-gigabyte model will be available for USD499 (GBP257) with a two-year contract and about USD599 (GBP308) for the larger model working both with a PC or Mac.

Martin Garner director at analyst house Ovum said: The iPhone is not perfect. EDGE is not as widely used in Europe as in the US so many European users will suffer the very slow GPRS browsing experience. We expect Apple to announce an HSDPA version for Europe and Asia-Pacific soon. The iPhone – like the iPod – does not have a removable battery; it also does not have an expandable memory.

What should other smartphone vendors do now? Nokia was clever to get its Nseries announcements out on Monday since all phone announcements between now and Q2 will seem boring by comparison to this one. At the product level there are few who can enter this new category easily. The closest is Nokia – we look forward to the N810 Internet Tablet on the Thin platform with W-CDMA/HSDPA inside. All should work very hard on their UIs which we believe are currently an obstacle to greater usage.

T-Mobile is dropping its Relax tariffs and replacing them with 12-month Flext price plans from February 1.

Flext gives customers a flexible cash value to spend each month and does not tie them down to an amount of minutes and texts but an amount of credit.

T-Mobile marketing director Phil Chapman said: Flext remains a ground-breaking and market-leading price plan with more than 1.2 million customers signed up since it was launched last February. It is still an innovative and unique offering that gives customers flexibility that is unmatched by any other price plan on the market.

Twelve-month Flext contracts will now be available at 25 35 and 50 price points. Eighteen-month Flext tariffs have been streamlined from six price points to four they will be offered at 20 25 35 and 50.

Customers on 18-month tariffs receive a third more flexible value than those on 12-month contracts.

Fone Doctors proprietor Faisal Sheikh said: Im happy about the changes to 12-month contracts. But I am not pleased they have got rid of Flext 75. This now means we do not have a tariff that caters for the higher spending customers.

Vodafone followed the launch of its Vodafone At Home fixed-line broadband service last week with a declaration that it would set itself apart in a crowded market by its levels of service.

Vodafone UK head of convergence Andy Bord said: Its hard to pinpoint who well go up against because there are a shed-load of players out there at the moment. Were looking to improve our existing customer service and further raise customer confidence.

Bord said that the network had invested in round-the-clock support for the service.

Weve had many requests from our customers for improved customer service so its something we want to push forward he added. We are also strengthening this push with a 30-day money-back guarantee for customers who experience any faults with the service.

The new service is available on an 18-month contract and costs GBP25 per month. Customers who cancel their mobile contract will be required to pay GBP35 per month for broadband. Subscribers will receive up to 8Mbit broadband with inclusive anytime calls for up to 60 minutes to UK landlines. Vodafone said it is available to 97 per cent of UK households.

Vodafone mobile customers get the Vodafone Mobile Connect USB modem for a half-price fee of GBP58. Wireless 3G connectivity is available at GBP29 per month.

The service is available for installation now.

BT has spent millions of pounds advertising the new WiFi version of its BT Fusion product following slow take-up of the original.

BT has signed up around 50000 customers to its Fusion since launch according to analyst Ovum.

BT general manager of mobility and convergence David Grossman said: That is a fair estimate but the number of customers will increase substantially because of the multi-million pound advertising campaign we are backing it with.

BT has teamed up with Phones 4U for the retail launch of BT Fusion Plus which is available now direct from BT and from Phones 4U in the spring.

The new service extends the availability of the old Fusion package into the wider WiFi OpenZone network across the UK and Ireland and backs it with a wider range of handsets.

BT Fusion Plus differs from the original BT Fusion proposition with lower pricing that includes voice minutes texts and free Internet access for the life of the contract. BT claims it will be five times faster than standard GPRS when in WiFi coverage.

Customers will effectively be charged for one minute in four under the new pricing plan for anytime calls to both mobiles and landlines.

BT has plans to establish 12 major WiFi hotspot networks in cities across the UK by March. BT also claimed its expanded handset portfolio which includes the Nokia 6136 Motorola A910 and Samsung P200 would boost numbers.

Grossman said: This is a whole new customer offer and although we are in the early stages of these products we expect our customer numbers to increase substantially.

The service is available to BT Broadband customers starting at GBP19 on an 18-month contract.

Ovum analyst Carrie Pawsey said: To date BT Fusion has not been successful but this announcement is a step in the right direction.

Not only does it allow Fusion to extend into the wider OpenZone network but it is also an opportunity for the operator to change its tariffs marketing and positioning of Fusion which were previously inhibiting its appeal.

France has scuppered the UK Governments fight against missing trader carousel fraud by refusing to endorse a plan to adopt a reverse-charge VAT regime.

This would change the way VAT is applied on cross-border transactions and help eliminate carousel fraud but the French are worried the tax change would move the VAT scamming problem to other EU nations.

The French decision has taken Chancellor Gordon Brown by surprise. Last month Brown said France had agreed to reverse charging after apparently receiving assurances from French finance minister Thierry Breton.

A Treasury spokesman told Accountancy Age magazine the French had raised technical issues that were not on the table when Brown told Parliament the French had agreed to the plan.

But one trader who has been following events closely said:

Brown announced to a parliamentary select committee he had secured the backing of the French finance minister. The French Government knew nothing of this. Today Brown has had to come clean and admit he doesn t have its backing.

All 27 EU member states must agree to reverse charging before the tax change can take effect.

Benefon have announced two new additions to its executive team. Robin Halliday has joined as chief financial officer and Christopher Pay as vice president of global sales.

The appointments come as the Finnish wireless and GPS technology company launches its new TWIG Discovery GPS-enabled mobile devices into markets globally.

Benefon CEO Tomi Raita said: These new appointments will enhance our strategies and help us develop stronger relationships with key-customers and partners. Critical to the success of TWIG in the consumer personal navigation market.

Halliday who brings a wealth of experience in high growth technology businesses will be responsible for consolidating growing and managing Benefons finances in his new role.

Pay will be responsible for establishing the companys presence in new markets as well as creating an extensive partnership base from which to distribute the new TWIG range of handsets by developing their global consumer offering.

Benefon sales manager for North America Geoff Iwamoto another new addition to the team and one that bolsters Benefons presence in the US and its overall sales will support Pay in his new role.

LG Mobiles latest flag-ship handset called Shine will be in UK shops on February 7.

The Shine follows LG Mobiles Chocolate handset as the second in its premium Black Label series intended to establish it as a leading consumer brand among handset manufacturers.

The Shone includes a wide 2.2 inch magic mirror screen multi functional scroll key and brushed metal casing.

Jae Bae executive vice rresident of LG Mobiles overseas sales and marketing division said: Were expecting Shine to be even more successful than Chocolate which continues to sell exceptionally well worldwide 12 months after its launch.

LG said it had sold 180000 Shine handsets in Korea alrteady since its launch in November with more than 3500 units a day still being sold.

The UK launch of the Shine is the first in a global roll out with all major markets covered by Q2 2007.