Ironically Elite boss Ajay Gokani is a supporter of rivals Liverpool FC.

We have been bidding for the licence for the past four months. Manchester United licensed products will contribute a large part to the business he said.

Gokani is hoping the deal will allow Elite to sell licensed team mobile phone products in supermarkets that already handle other Manchester United goods.

For European sales Elite will appoint an agent in each European country.

A kerfuffle ensued when the funsters reached 3s shop where a team of over-enthusiastic 3 shop assistants asked them to move along but only succeeded in dislodging the Virgin Mobile-branded helium balloons which became stuck under the shops awning. Enjoy.

New rules drawn up by the Code of Advertising Practice (CAP) Committee say marketers using e-mail or SMS must state their messages are advertising in the subject bar.

Unsolicited e-mail marketing communications must now be clearly identifiable without the need to open the e-mail or attachments.

Unsolicited e-mail and SMS can only be sent to existing customers and only relating to a similar product already purchased by them. An opportunity to object must be offered.

Otherwise the explicit consent of consumers is required before sending marketing e-mail or SMS.

Marketers must identify whether consumers have asked not to receive marketing communications and whether they have had the opportunity to say that they dont.

Whellams will be responsible for developing new business with the networks. He was about to join Unique Distribution after turning down an initial offer from 20:20. But then 20:20 made him an offer he couldnt refuse.

Distribution is a tough business. I am looking forward to the challenge and hoping to develop new business with the contacts I gained while working for Trium he said.

Whellams was made redundant from Trium when owner Mitsubishi pulled out of the UK. His last deal was to sell a big shipment of Trium handsets to Unique Distribution.

Whellams says he is looking to encourage dealers to maximise sales of SIM-free handsets.

People dont realise the potential of sim-free sales. The Carphone Warehouse is one of the few retailers making the most of sim-free handset sales. Selling sim-free handsets is easier for retailers because the customer doesnt have to think about tariffs. With prices coming down SIM-free sales could boom he predicted.

However bonuses have been increased for managers at bigger stores. This is a deliberate move to encourage the companys best managers to aspire to work in its leading stores.

The bonus payment changes come as part of a wide-ranging pay review at The Carphone Warehouse.

Despite current market uncertainty with cost cuts inevitably coming from the networks in reaction to the Competition Commissions ruling we have made no commission cuts said a Carphone Warehouse spokeswoman.

Basic salary levels have actually increased three per cent for sales consultants and two per cent for store managers she added. There are also other elements in the pay review that allow employees to earn more.

One branch manager who declined to give his name said that the bonus cuts for the smaller stores could see some managers of small stores leaving.

Many store managers rely on their quarterly accelerator bonuses. The cuts now reduce our income by 2000 a year he said.

This follows the introduction last summer of a central IMEI database shared by all networks. This records any phone reported as stolen and renders it useless regardless of which network the user attempts to log on to and even if the SIM is changed.

This action is essential to meet the challenges of existing market conditions. We hope we can make the changes through voluntary redundancy and redeployment within the United Utilities group said Your Communications MD Hugh Logan.

Live! won Best Consumer Wireless Application for Service and Best Television or Broadcast Commercial while the live! handset the Sharp GX10 won the Best Wireless Handset Award.

The awards were presented by comedian Clive Anderson at the Palm Beach Casino.

After watching the clip of Vodafones TV ad Anderson noted it was out of date because David Beckham was now sporting a huge gash on his head (after the infamous incident with Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson) and because the London Undergrounds Central Line was not working (the ad shows someone standing on a London Underground train using a Vodafone live! handset).

Vodafone chief executive Sir Chris Gent picked up the GSM Association Chairmans Award in recognition and honour of his outstanding personal contribution to the growth and success of the global GSM industry over the past two decades.

Other Award winners included 3G LAB (Best Wireless Application Developer) Commtag for its Duality always-on e-mail application (Best Wireless Application or Service for Corporate Market) Entel PCS in Chile (Best Marketing Campaign) XIAM Ireland for its work with West Midlands Police (Best Use of Wireless for Accessibility) MTN Networks Sri Lanka for its SMS blood appeal matching and donor management application (Best Use of Wireless for Emergency Situations) and Telos Technology and Globecomm Systems Canada for Teloss packet switching technology (Best Infrastructure or Network Solution).

The cost of cross network calls on T-Mobiles Everyone 100 & 200 price plans have increased from 20p per minute to 25p per minute.

However T-Mobile claims customers will be better off because it is reducing the monthly line rental on those tariffs. Everyone 100 has been reduced from 25 per month to 21 while the monthly charge for Everyone 200 has been reduced from 40 per month to 29.

T-Mobile has also withdrawn most of its anytime tariffs except for Anytime Share which will continue to be offered to businesses. Pay as You go customers will see a 10p per minute price rise in cross network calls to 40p per minute.

International call rates have been simplified into five world zones. Each zone has a flat rate charge for making and receiving calls regardless of the network used. Different rates apply for pre-pay and contract customers.

The overwhelming majority of customers will be better off following the changes. Despite the small change the (pay monthly) 25p per minute cross-network call rate is highly competitive said a spokesperson.

Until now users of O2 Orange and T-Mobile could send messages between themselves but were unable to send pictures to the 12 million Vodafone users. Vodafone users could only send messages within the network.

MMS has long been championed as one of the next big revenue-drivers for the networks. The service was first introduced by T-Mobile in the UK when it launched MMS last June. The other networks soon followed but until the end of 2002 it was impossible to send them cross-network.

This changed when O2 signed an agreement with T-Mobile. Interconnect agreements with Orange were then signed earlier this year.

Vodafone UK marketing director Lance Batchelor said:

Expanding our service to send picture messages to people who are not with Vodafone is excellent news for our customers and we anticipate picture messaging will become as popular as texting.

Strong sales of live! handsets have shown that there is increasing demand for multi-media services. Many customers regularly prove that pictures speak louder words.

Batchelor added that the network planned to introduce more multimedia services including music sport and video clips in the near future.

T-Mobile has started a major ad campaign to promote usage of its mobile multi-media services using the strapline What will you start?.