Shebang managing director Iain Humphrey said: With the figures we are doing at the moment our turnover will be well over 10 million next year and we expect that to grow further.
Humphrey expects turnover for the group of companies including Shebang and retail chain Go Mobile to reach 40 million next year.
Shebang s new fulfilment service an Internet-based version of Sellfone 3G EPOS system includes three separate solutions. Total Web offers dealers a fully-managed web sales service. Stock credit checks and product dispatches are managed by Shebang while the customer controls the offers on the site.
Your Web lets dealers connect customers through the networks direct or through other distributors and to source their own stock. The third solution Data Web lets dealers insert a data link on their own websites to any Shebang product line.
We ve got around 25 web orders and we are increasing our design team to meet the demand. Online sales have started quite well. We have 450 retailers now signed up to the Sellfone system. It is now the dealer standard.
Humphrey also said that Go Mobile would increase its retail footprint which stands at 39 next year. Its franchise operation which includes two franchises as it stands will also increase.
He said: We are looking to grow as long as we continue to get the right support from our suppliers early next year.

The battle over Irelands last 3G licence has been decided by Dublins High Court with the bid from Smart Telecom finally being rejected. Smart Telecoms High Court action was prompted after being told it had won the 3G licence in November 2005.

ComReg subsequently rescinded the licence offer in February 2006 amid claims that Smart had not provided the required Euro100m performance bond on the due date stipulated under the tendering procedure.

In his written judgement Mr Justice Peter Kelly stated that Smart Telecom had lost on all grounds in its bid to overturn ComRegs removal of its licence and went on to note that the misfortunes that befell Smart were of its own making.

He strongly criticised them for their actions in the matter. Justice Kelly noted that Smart was to blame for the situation it created saying it cannot point the finger at ComReg and that the company had tried and failed to make a policy of bluff bluster and threat to make up for its deficit of ability.

He added he found Smart did not satisfy the conditions for the award of the licence within the times provided – or indeed at all.

In his judgement Mr Justice Peter Kelly stated he found that ComReg had been more than fair in its treatment and in its attempts to assist Smart in meeting its obligations and that it had at all times behaved in a perfectly reasonable and lawful way.

He went on to say that the regulator gave Smart time to put its house in order. He added that Smarts attempts to engineer a time extension by submitting draft bonds that had not even been approved by the relevant banks was untenable.

Smart Telecom which was one of the countrys high-profile virtual networks had previously offered voice and broadband services to consumers but was forced last month to end voice services when Eircom disconnected its customers over an alleged billing dispute.

ComReg Chairperson Isolde Goggin commented: While we are disappointed that the award of the 3G licence has been delayed to the detriment of consumers we are pleased that these legal proceedings on this issue have now concluded.

Subject to any appeal ComReg stated it would make renewed arrangements to offer the fourth 3G licence but is not yet clear whether the licence will be automatically awarded to the previous unsuccessful bidders (Meteor & Eircom) who are now one and the same or whether ComReg will opt for a complete rerun of the tendering process delaying the award for another year.

MoCo director of sales Harvey Alexander will be organising the conference and is appealing to distributors for their support. Alexander said: Nobody wants to see another distributor get hurt by an unscrupulous dealer.
A conference will be a chance to talk through issues that distributors face and is widely supported among the distributor community.
Kondor managing director Robert Haycock said: I would definitely be interested. As the mobile industry matures there are a lot of issues that we could talk about. I ve been to conferences in other industries and they were well attended. It s a chance to talk through new legislation and legal stuff.
Fone Logistics head of marketing Julien Parven said: We all compete but we are all happy to engage and it is something we would attend.

3 was keen to stress that jobs will be axed from all levels and that it will create 200 new sales roles next year.
A 3 spokesman said: Following our end of year review we are increasing our workforce and rebalancing resources to ensure the organisation is in line with our commercial goals going forward into 2007.
The cutback represents six per cent of its total workforce which numbers 2200.
The announcement comes just days after parent company Hutchison Whampoa again denied claims that it was selling 3. Hutchison managing director Canning Fok also ruled out a stockmarket flotation for 3 after a tough 2006. He considers flotation no longer a priority .

It has so far opened stand-alone stores this year in Lakeside Gateshead and Southend. Its revised total for next year is 15-20.
Virgin Mobile retail director Paul Williams said: It s a massively exciting time but it s not the best time for massive expansion. We are looking at a gradual roll out. We are still hoping to have 200 stores it just won t happen next year.
Last week Virgin Mobile opened its first new-look concession store in Manchester s Arndale Centre.
Virgin Mobile will open six new concessions next year.

Motorola has suffered a dismal performance in the third quarter. In a recent report research house Gartner said Motorola has been relegated from second biggest handset manufacturer in Western Europe to third.
It has also lost the number one spot in Latin American to Nokia and its number two position in Eastern Europe the Middle East and Africa even though it increased its worldwide market share in the third quarter of 2006.
The market is now more challenging. Motorola s KRZR K1 is not performing as well its forbear the RAZR which has enjoyed phenomenal success since its launch. Gartner principal analyst for mobile terminals research Carolina Milanesi says:
The reason the RAZR worked was because it was a change in product from what the consumer was used to. The new KRZR doesn t have the wow effect doesn t live up to expectations and is not as an exciting product.
There are many other aspects to why Motorola may not be up to scratch including cost brand management and lack of features on the handsets.
Nomura analyst Richard Windsor says: The main problem that Motorola is having is the cost of the KRZR. It is expensive and why should people pay a premium for what is in essence just a thin blue RAZR?
The fact that the KRZR is so similar to the previous handsets that have been launched may be a contributing factor to Motorola s loss. Fonedoctors Faisal Sheikh sums up: How many times can you boil an egg?
This view is echoed by other dealers in the industry. Future Mobile managing director Antony Nathanson says: Motorola is not keeping up to date. The handsets don t have radios the MP3 players aren t very good and the picture quality is pretty poor. The RAZR V3 is now a very basic phone.
ROC Communications dealer Simon O Donnell adds:
The Motorola range is tired and boring. It needs to come up with something new.
There is also the idea that Motorola phones in the past have been very hard to use. Sheikh makes the point:
The RAZR took the attention away from Motorola s poor quality interface. Although the phones are now easier to use it s hard to shake off that stigma.
But Motorola believes it is still going strong.
Motorola communications and public affairs manager Chris Bignell says: The results do not reflect what is actually happening. We are still the second-largest selling handset manufacturer in the world. We do have broad appeal with the handset range in our portfolio and we are taking advantage of the Christmas market by launching the Silver Quartz KRZR K1.
This is sharply contrasted with Sony Ericsson which sold a staggering 19.4 million units in the third quarter and has gained one percentage point year-on-year.
Sony Ericsson s success is put down to a wider portfolio of successful products instead of the reliance on a single product as Motorola has done. It has also focused on better planning to avoid the supply problems that have limited its potential in the past.
Gartner s Milanesi says: Sony Ericsson has done so well is because it has more than one product performing successfully.
Shiekh adds: The Walkman has a cult following who will only have Sony Ericsson phones.
Nomura analyst Richard Windsor reckons that Sony Ericsson is exploiting the space in which Nokia is getting it wrong with mid-range priced handsets with good music and imaging capabilities.
Future Mobile s Nathanson agrees: The Sony Ericsson phones sell well because they have expandable memory great MP3 players and high spec cameras. I actually have five customers waiting for the W850i which are really hard to get hold of because they are great phones.
Nevertheless Motorola still holds the number two position globally. The RAZR although it has been superseded now has sold over
50 million units since its launch.
At the same time the consensus is that Motorola will struggle in the short term.

Nokia still rules
Despite coming unstuck in the UK Nokia retained its top spot globally in Q3. And it won t be budged easily.
It has more than 35 per cent of the global handset market rising year on year. Although Sony Ericsson has performed well this quarter there is no danger that it will be take top spot away from Nokia any time soon.
Nokia gained 2.6 per cent share of the Latin American market and regained top spot after losing it to Motorola last year. Nokia increased its market share in all regions except North America.
Nokia s success can be partly explained by the slow down of the LG KG800 Chocolate phone and BenQ Siemens filing for insolvency after it recorded sales of slightly more than six million handsets in three months.
Gartner principal analyst for mobile terminals research Carolina Milanesi says: In a market where players compete on price technology and strategic partnerships it is impossible to believe that life is not getting tougher for small vendors. Nokia Samsung and Motorola accounted for 68 percent of worldwide mobile sales in the third quarter of 2006.
Gartner reckons 281 million handsets will ship in Q4.

If Orange s channel strategy appears uncertain it is not for want of navel-gazing. US consultancy firm Bain & Company which applied its sliderule to Orange s Belgian subsidiary Mobistar when current UK chief Bernard Ghillebaert was in charge has been engaged with its UK business since the middle of last year.
Bain s stated objective is to convert strategy and action into economic performance . Orange s strategy across all aspects of its UK business should then be absolutely clear. But its lines of communication with the indirect channel appear to have frayed since the departure in late 2005 of sales director Stuart Henry whose shoes remain unfilled and the loss of head of sales for independent retail Chris Hough in July this year.
Successor
A successor to Henry has been in position on three separate occasions only for a deal to collapse at the 11th hour on each. Orange vice-president of sales Mike Newnham says: I ve been very unlucky with recruitment. I have spent a huge amount of time looking for a replacement for the role of sales director. I am not giving up. And I m optimistic we ll have an answer pretty soon.
Newnham rejects the idea that Orange s identity within the dealer channel has suffered because of its personnel changes. Hough s position has been filled by former Wanadoo head of sales Steve Heald whose experience of broadband sales will be brought to bear on the channel after Christmas. Louise Turley Orange s recently departed channel marketing manager has been replaced by Sarah Dunne from T-Mobile. Long-standing dealer managers Andy White Andy Wilton Steve Allen and Vik Patel remain in place.
There hasn t been a wholesale shakeout claims Newnham. I recognise we ve lost Stuart and that he s high-profile but the rest of the team is well-established and Steve has come in with good broadband experience. He brings something more to our team and to our channel partners. The plan is to make broadband available on a standalone basis and in bundled propositions in more indirect channels next year.
Consolidation
Orange showed its hand early this year. Having carried out an internal audit through the second half of 2005 to identify low-quality connectors it terminated dealer accounts on a regular basis through 2006. There is at least a part of the distance-selling market that has brought bad quality business and a bad customer experience to Orange Newnham notes. Mis-selling and poor customer service are frankly unacceptable.
The introduction of key performance indicators for its distribution and direct dealer partners as well as the wider network trend to take more business direct have been taken as signs that Orange will consolidate its third-party relationships next year.
Some distribution sources worry that Orange s present commission structure within its own retail outlets linked to its own mystery shopping scores and its stores overall performances month-to-month is a way of reining in commissions for direct sales before it shuts down third-party retail altogether and drives footfall to its own stores.
Newnham with a nod to the network s heritage rubbishes the suggestion that Orange will ape Vodafone and O2 and turn its back on independent consumer retail.
There will be a continued focus on quality next year but there will not be a wholesale reduction of the channel says Newnham. Orange has grown up with these people and a lot of these people bring great business. Why would I turn that away? As an overall principle I m trying to drive one of consistency rather than one that goes through peaks and troughs as has happened this year.
Support
Consistency will come as Mobile News has reported in the form of ongoing revenue (see right) and quarterly price books. Newnham again won t be specific. But he says Orange is working closer than ever before with its partners.
All distributors have signed up to a data protection agreement to enable an easier share of customer information and Orange is running more stringent checks on new dealer account applications to protect both itself and its partners from re-signing bad connectors that have set up again under new names.
Newnham also dismisses speculation about its rules of engagement that Orange is to ring-fence its own stores so that third-party retailers near Orange outlets will be prevented from selling its products and services. There is absolutely no truth in those rumours. I don t know where they came from. I can say now categorically that won t happen he says.
Carphone
Newnham will not be drawn on Orange s ongoing negotiations with Carphone Warehouse over its first quarter contract nor in specific terms about whether Carphone will sell Orange Broadband alongside its own TalkTalk Broadband proposition next year.
However he draws an offhand analogy to the old hat argument that Carphone is now a competitor of the networks. Tesco sells its own-brand cornflakes next to Kellogg s Cornflakes Newnham says. He disagrees with the argument that Tesco does not offer an assisted sale on account of the point of sale activity in its aisles .
Make of that what you will.

Sharing the wealth

Orange has no immediate plans to hike upgrade commission. It prefers a revenue share scheme for its partners as a tool to halt churn.
The problem for Orange is that the scheme slows churn in the long-term but fuels it in the short. Orange s registration system is antiquated according to sources. As it stands it cannot register existing Orange customers on its revenue share scheme when they upgrade their contracts. Dealers have to disconnect and reconnect them to take a share of the revenue.
At the same time Orange has made disconnect rates one of its key performance indicators. To qualify for the scheme in the first place dealers have to keep disconnect numbers down. For dealers it is a delicate calculation to drip-feed their existing base onto the scheme at a rate that does not preclude their qualification for it.
Orange s 16 federation dealers its club of top-performing direct dealers brought across from its old Orange Business Specialist scheme took their first pay-out on the scheme in October. However sources say a cultural shift needs to take place for most dealers to accept ongoing revenue a fundamentally different reward scheme to regular commission payments as good reason not to churn.
In the meantime the question for distributors is how to redistribute the wealth. Orange s solus distributors Midland and Mainline have set up clubs like the Orange federation and will pass down revenue to those that hit targets. Both have a month s grace on the rest of the distribution channel. Others take their first instalments from March. It remains to be seen how they will work the revenue into their commercial packages for dealers because it is a first.

Sony Ericsson looks set to nick top spot from Nokia for the Christmas quarter and possibly usurp it as best selling handset manufacturer for the year.
According to data from research company Gfk by which the industry measures handset sales Sony Ericsson has been the best selling vendor for the past nine weeks.
One manufacturer source said: Sony Ericsson will take the number one spot this Christmas. It will be the first time that Nokia s been toppled for five years. It s been given a real run for its money. Sony Ericsson has had a phenomenal year.
Figures for the week ending November 18 show Sony Ericsson with over 25 per cent of sales. Nokia had just over 20 per cent of sales for the week. Samsung and Motorola were third and fourth respectively.
Nokia slipped back to third place behind Motorola during the week ending November 25. Motorola s surge coincides directly with it slashing prices on its V3 and L6 handsets to under 100 on pre-pay.
Monthly figures for October show Sony Ericsson to be second in the table with 27 per cent of sales for the month just a single percentage point behind Nokia with 28 per cent.
Weekly figures cover 80 per cent of handsets sold in the UK market. It excludes non-specialist retail outlets such as Tesco Woolworths and Argos. It also estimates sales through O2 and Vodafone outlets. Those figures take longer to arrive.
The monthly figures record sales for 98 per cent of the UK market.
Sony Ericsson s success this year is down to a combination of iconic handset designs strong branding and a full product portfolio. Its high-end handsets from early this year such as the K750i and W810i have been made available on pre-pay ahead of Christmas. Even its K800i camera-phone is available on pre-pay priced at 190 and selling well.
The networks have also got behind Sony Ericsson. One retail source said: Sony Ericsson s had a stunning year. It s edged Nokia out. Nokia is selling a lot of volume at the low-end. Nokia is strong for low-end handsets. Sony Ericsson s releasing monster handsets with great functionality. That s good for networks which want users to download content and increase ARPU.
Another added: At the moment Nokia and Motorola are the weakest players.
Sony Ericsson marketing manager Richard Dorman said: It s proving to be a very interesting scrap this quarter between not just ourselves and Nokia but all the top four manufacturers. We ve seen a little slow down in contract sales but not nearly as much in pre-pay sales as we have in previous years.
Nokia director of communications Mark Squires said: We are a victim of a diverse product range. We tend to be in more outlets than other manufacturers. So it doesn t measure the full range of Nokia s activities and sales. The market has moved on and it is difficult for me to comment upon an imperfect measure.

Kes Ingoldsby 18 from Henley and James Diggins 19 from Reading have been charged with his murder. Both have been remanded in custody.
Langford joined Avantimobile from 4U Business where he had set up a new corporate sales department. He had also worked in sales management at Vodafone and was at Orange as an enterprise solutions sales manager.
Avantimobile managing director Tony Lloyd-Weston said: Though he d only been with us for a few weeks he d made a significant impact. Stephen was immensely likeable. He was one of life s nice people and was widely respected throughout the industry. Our thoughts are with Stephen s girlfriend Kim and his two children.
Mobile industry recruitment specialist Graham Sedgley added: I ve known Stephen for about 16 years. I placed him in a couple of roles. He was always extremely polite and a great guy to do business with. I am devastated. It still hasn t sunk in.

Fifty search warrants were issued for business and domestic addresses in the UK with computers and records being seized. Six arrests were made in the London area three in Glasgow three in the Midlands three in Cheshire and the sixteenth in Cardiff. All suspects were held overnight for questioning. At time of going to press none of the suspects had been charged.