T-mobile last week started selling its 3G data card just a week after Oranges mobile office card went on sale.

Orange claimed that it would have 66 per cent 3G population coverage putting it ahead of its rivals.

T-Mobile was unable to specify an exact percentage but said that coverage is focused on London as well as major UK cities.

T-Mobiles 3G says its data cards currently give access speeds of up to 128k – a speed that will increase to 384k in the coming months.

T-Mobile UK head Brian McBride said speed is not the main attraction.

The switch to 3G is not just a matter of speed its equivalent to the move from the typewriter to the PC. 3G data cards give customers Internet access at similar rates to those they experience with high-speed fixed-line Internet access.

The launch of the card followed trials and usage with more than 150 T-Mobiles business customers.

T-Mobile is offering a 12-month contract multimedia package with the card priced at 199 and a monthly fee of 70 for unlimited data access.

The first three months of service is free as a promotional offer.

Jas Singh MD of West London dealership Microline believes T-Mobiles 3G data card pricing structure will appeal to business users.

If customers are looking for value then T-Mobile will be the choice. But they may be worried that the cheaper option means they lose on reliability and service. Vodafone has a higher tariff and charges but no disruption of service.

Buyers will want the product that wont go wrong. T-Mobile has historically missed out on business clients because they dont have confidence in its ability to deliver.

Dealers are reluctant to sell T-Mobile unless the customer specifically asks for it.

Vodafone has the image. Business customers trust that Vodafones products are reliable.

The T-Mobile proposition seems OK. But the low speeds and its reputation will mean that Vodafone and Orange will still hold most of the market share. They are the networks that business users trust.

Meanwhile Vodafone has expanded its 3G data service to Edinburgh and Glasgow adding to London Birmingham and Manchester.

But Mobile Republics liquidator is investigating the sale by its managing director Henry Amankwah.

One Stop has acquired the Mobile Republic site as part of a plan to bolster its e-commerce operation. But the sale has angered creditors.

Following a winding-up order by creditor A Safer Place to Buy Mobile Republic was wound up. The companys assets are being managed by the Official Receiver.

One Stop marketing director Lee Morris said the deal did not infringe the terms of the liquidation.

We have bought the domain name and website owned by Henry Amankwah. We have not bought the company he said.

Morris admitted One Stop would have to shake off Mobile Republics tarnished reputation. He insisted it was worthwhile.

We are picking the 200 affiliates who linked their websites to that of Mobile Republic in return for commission.

Obviously some havent been paid. Well work to restore their confidence because they can produce a lot of connections.

Liquidator Colin Howarth said: We need to find out whether the assets were sold after the winding up order. Once I have the facts well know what action to take.

A Safer Place To Buy solicitor Stephanie Kleyman was stunned that Amankwah had sold assets.

Once the assets have been sold the liquidators costs are paid first. Then come our legal costs. We dont get the 116000 owed to us. I am stunned that Mr Amankwah has sold assets of Mobile Republic when it is in the hands of the liquidators.

Amankwah was unavailable for comment.

Sharetime offers free International Call Saver shared inclusive minutes to any network at any time and if users sign a two- year contract free calls to an office land line and some free mobile-to-mobile calls.

Ed Liston of Stockport-based Active Business Communications said: Sharetime has been enormous for our business. Traditionally corporates are not interested in bundled packages. Up to 60 per cent of their calls may be to other mobiles on the fleet. But Sharetime will make them think again. Even if there are a lot of calls between company mobiles Vodafone will have done its sums.

These handsets can bring in up to 100 a month in revenue. Vodafone is using a sprat to catch a mackerel. The other networks must see the Sharetime initiative as a serious threat that will undoubtedly lead to a significant amount of churn.

Orange and O2 especially will have to look very closely at what Vodafone is doing and devise a competitive strategy as a matter of priority.

Mike Bower of Link Telecom in West Yorkshire was more cautious however. Many businesses are concerned more with the cost of cross-network calling rather than internal mobile-to-mobile traffic. So the free mobile-to-mobile element of Sharetime may not be as attractive to them as it may first appear he said.

Sharetime has a consumer flavour. Business customers are more astute than the consumer and know theres no such thing as a free lunch. The headline has a tremendous market appeal but some businesses will be wary.

But he added that from a marketing perspective Sharetime was wonderful.

It is enabling us to knock on a lot of doors with something new to talk about. Customers who have seen the TV ads are coming to us. All the channels should embrace initiatives like this. It gives us something to discuss with customers. That invariably leads to a strengthening of the business relationship we have.

The TV ads are certainly prompting business customers to look at the deal they have from their current supplier. People will churn as a consequence. Every network must have aggressive offerings.

My guess is that the others will look at the impact Sharetime has on the market and their customer base before committing themselves to going down a similar path.

Vodafone is obviously determined to win back some of the business customers it has lost to other networks. This initiative will not be the only one it comes up with.

Simon Winter of AMC Communications in Bristol reported a storming month with customers clamouring for Sharetime.

He acknowledged that putting a business proposition on TV was a risky strategy saying that consumers might feel they were getting a raw deal compared with business customers but he thought that on balance Vodafone would gain.

Were happy to leave consumers to The Link and Carphone Warehouse he said.

We will see a significant increase in revenue as we sign up new customers in the short-term. Long term however well see a decline in ongoing as mobile-to-mobile calls come out of the equation. The other networks will react. Its just a question of time before they all fall in behind Vodafone.

Some argue that Vodafone has taken its eye off the ball over the past few years and seen its share of the business market decline as a result. Sharetime seems to demonstrate how serious Vodafone is about recapturing the business sector.

So says a report commissioned by O2 from independent economics and business research consultancy the Centre for Economic and Business Research.

The mobile phone sectors contributions to the UKs gross domestic product and to government coffers will double by 2013.

Around 56000 new mobile industry jobs in the UK will be created by 2013 and productivity will far outstrip the national average.

According to the report the mobile industry will contribute 49.1 billion to the economy by by 2013 – up from 22.0 billion last year. Government finances also stand to receive a massive boost. The total impact last year of mobile operators on the Exchequer was 15.2 billion. This is expected to jump to 31.8 billion by 2013.

Without the mobile industry the Exchequer would need to find the equivalent of more than 4p on the rate of basic income tax today rising to over 5p in 10 years time claimed the Centre.

MmO2 chief executive officer Peter Erskine said:

The analysis underlines what we have long believed – that the mobile sector is poised for even more dramatic growth as we focus on developing new mobile data products and value-added services.

The research shows that these services are likely to account for a significant element of the growth over the next 10 years.

Erskine made recommendations about public policy to the industry.

If we are to maintain the mobile industrys contribution to the economy and to life in Britain it is imperative we have a stable environment he said.

We need non-obtrusive regulation and balanced public policy decisions in areas such as the building of cell sites digital rights management and e-money.

Following years of enormous growth we have seen the industrys contribution to UK GDP plateau over the last two years as a direct result of economic factors and the regulatory climate.

Vanguard and Londesborough worked together on a re-financing deal that never materialised and Fidanza left Vanguard soon afterwards. Sarsfield joins Atitel as a board director and international manager.

Industry speculation was that Fidanza had fallen out with Londesborough causing the deal to fail. Sarsfield says the fact he has joined forces with Fidanza scotches those rumours.

The fact that Im here probably says enough about the relationship that Londesborough enjoyed with Vanguard when Paolo was CEO he says.

If my introduction to my new president and CEO was as a result of my actions at Londesborough obviously there wasnt a problem.

Fidanza commented:

Philip shares our vision of how we want to attack the industry. We enjoyed working together when we were finalising the Londesborough/Vanguard deal. When that fell through and I started pursuing the Atitel venture I spoke to Philip about what I wanted to do. We shared an idea and decided to pursue it. Thats when he decided to join said Fidanza.

(See full story P18)

3G video services provider Mobestar has teamed up with mobile dating and gambling company 3G-Scene to create the video-dating facility.

The 3G dating application which the companies hope will be available some time in the next three months enables people to sign up to a dating service via their 3G mobile.

After that they can search for potential partners view pictures and videos and then make live video contact.

It can function as an add-on to existing dating services or as a standalone dating service in its own right.

We believe 2005 is going to be the year when 3G finally takes off said Mobestar CEO Peter Richards.

We see 3G video dating as a central part of its success. It offers single people an easy to use and discreet way to meet. We are confident we can provide a fun safe and secure dating service with high-quality images suitable for all types of people.

Richards was unable to specify on which networks the service would be available. However he claimed the concept was attracting a great deal of interest from network operators and major dating agencies.

Weve taken losses on it for a year and we werent prepared to carry on running it at a loss said Fone Logistics boss Ian Gillespie.

We said we would invest a certain amount but we couldnt turn the business around. We didnt want it to affect our profitable core business he went on. There is only a certain amount of money to lose that pride will allow.

However the closure has not left anyone else out of pocket. Weve closed the company properly. There are no creditors said Gillespie.

In another development Fone Logistics has appointed Carphone Warehouse co-founder Guy Johnson as a non-executive director. Johnson (40) was one of the founding trio of Carphone Warehouse along with Charles Dunstone and David Ross. He left the company soon after its flotation and set up a property development company in Portugal.

Johnson has now returned to the UK and will work with Fone Logistics for one or two days a month.

Ive known Guy for about 12 years Said Gillespie. We met up when I was on holiday in Portugal and he said he would love to get involved. Hell be an excellent sounding board.

Added Johnson:

Ian and I have known each other since the early Carphone Warehouse days. Hes running the show with his management team but it will be good to have someone else he can run ideas by and with my Carphone experience I can help him add some value to what hes doing.

The TV campaign created by ad agency M&C Saatchi will run for nine months and features Ken and Kenneth as Link sales assistants.

The ad is a light-hearted way of getting across our message of value and good quality service said Nick Wood The Links new managing director.

Its a skit on good old-fashioned customer service and is quite edgy and funny. It will get The Link noticed which is what were trying to do and hopefully attract customers.

The first ad in the series finds Ken and Kenneth discussing the merits of the Sony Ericsson D750 with a customer and pointing up its attributes. The pair will repeat their catchphrase Suits you sir in relation to phone features such as megapixel cameras radio and Bluetooth. Ken and Kenneth will also appear on The Links in-store buyers guides and point of sale material.

Wood added: We have recorded a whole host of creative ideas [with the characters] that will surface over the next nine months. It was quite interesting because there was a lot of ad-libbing on the parts of Paul [Whitehouse] and Mark [Williams]. We provided a structure and they ad-libbed around it.

Wood who was moved to his role as Dixons Stores Group managing director last week to take over from Elizabeth Fagan commented:

I have only been in the job for a week so my initial strategy is about listening to the market and understanding where it is. It has moved on in the 18 months [since I was last at The Link]. We want to make sure we understand the dynamics of the market so that we have a great Christmas.

He added: I will be talking with customers and staff and the operators too. I will be on the shop floor for a few days over the next months to get close to the customers and see what they want.

Fagan becomes group media director in the reshuffle.

The service allows its subscribers to call or text other T-Mobile subscribers for 5p per minute for calls and 5p per text at any time of the day or week.

T-Mobile marketing director Phil Chapman said the tariff was devised after research carried out among current customers particularly 16- 19-year-olds who have told the network that they consciously choose the same network as their friends and family to get the best value for money while they talk and text each other.

Chapman pointed out that rival operators charge an average of 30p per call or text for the first three minutes of calls a day to the same network. But Mates Rates offers low-cost calling and texts from the outset.

The majority of calls made are less than three minutes so many people never get to the low-cost calling rates offered by other networks he said.

With Mates Rates people get low cost calls and texts right from the start – and the new rate is open to both new and existing customers.

Mates Rates handsets include the Sagem MyZ-55 Nokia 3120 LG B2050 and LG C3300. Chapman confirmed that

T-Mobile is planning a big TV and print advertising campaign to promote the tariff.

The campaign kicks off on Monday with heavyweight

outdoor ads and bus sides.

This will be followed by print ads in the national press and online. The TV commercials will begin on August 22 and run until November alongside cinema and radio ads.

The overall creative follows the theme of friends sticking together and keeping up to date he said. People on Mates Rates are able to see things that everyone else cant. The print ads follow the same theme.

News of the Motorola Q was leaked when a Dangaard Telecom roadmap featuring the device appeared on the Microsoft website at the start of July.

The device was finally confirmed this week at Motorolas financial analyst meeting in Chicago.

The Motorola Q will be available in Q1 2006.

As revealed in Mobile News last month the device is based on Motorolas successful RAZR design and around Microsofts new Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.

The Q has push e-mail capability and a QWERTY keyboard which pits it squarely against RIMs highly successful BlackBerry range.

However users of the Motorola handset will save on the server costs associated with RIM because the Q runs off the Microsoft Exchange 2003 server.

The Q integrates with Microsoft Outlook e-mail calendar and address book. It comes complete with a navigation thumbwheel Bluetooth and a 1.3 mega pixel camera with flash.

Motorola claims the handset is 50 per cent thinner than all other competitor devices.

With the Motorola Q weve combined the best voice data and design technology in one ultra-thin intelligent hard-working device claimed Motorola president for mobile devices business Ron Garriques.

He added: Todays office space has the potential to be any place you want it to be with Q.