The first games available will be Rally (a four-player game) and RC Battle (for eight contestants). Once downloaded the games can be played on a wide variety of Sony Ericsson handsets.

The games are currently being evaluated by a small number of invited participants but following positive feedback from them the indications are that the manufacturer will open up the trial to all-comers in early February.

The Sony Ericsson camera phone phone went missing from the scene of the crash near Napier on the North Island of New Zealand.

Sherlock (33) was killed when the camper-van he was driving was struck side-on by a truck and trailer unit at an intersection with a motorway.

The phone was a silver and black Sony Ericsson camera phone which contained photographs of the family on their New Zealand holiday A reward has been offered for its return.

His wife Vicky and their nine-year-old daughter and three-year-old son escaped with minor injuries.

According to reports Martin Treacey a close friend of the Sherlock family said the phone had gone missing following the accident and may have been thrown out the window of the camper-van in the crash.

The phone was switched on after the accident as someone rang it but the call was not answered.

Subsequent calls by the family to the phone have been unable to make contact.

Police believe the camper-van may have followed a truck into an intersection before another truck slammed into it.

Vodafone is believed to have paid between 3 million to 4 million for Generation Telecom although neither company is officially revealing the amount.

Generation Telecom founded in 2001 was an O2 and Vodafone service provider with offices in High Wycombe Surbiton and York.

It had a customer base of 27000 subscribers of whom 85 per cent are on Vodafone.

Phones International boss Peter Jones is understood to have done the deal amid concerns it was becoming increasingly hard to compete with the networks and other service providers to retain its few large accounts which are mainly railway companies.

Vodafone would not elaborate on whether Generation Telecom would be integrated into Vodafones new business services division. A spokesperson simply said:

Its business as usual while we assess the business and the best way forward.

Former Generation Telecom managing director Keith Westcott is leaving the business to rejoin

Ericsson at the beginning of February as vice-president of wireless key accounts for Ericssons infrastructure business.

He will manage Ericssons relationships with UK operators. Vodafone director Ian Watson has taken over the reins at Generation Telecom in the interim.

Yes Telecom MD Keith Curran commented:

Generation Telecom was the last company I expected to sell out to Vodafone. Its difficult to tell whether Vodafone decided it wanted the business and made Phones International an offer it couldnt refuse. On the other hand it could have been that the business had not been performing to expectations.

He went on: I am surprised at the subscriber figures being quoted. We estimated that Generation Telecom had nearer 40000 to 50000 subscribers after acquiring customers from Global Crossing and Anglo Communications. Maybe they tell a story.

Your Communications director of mobile services Paul Lawton was more philosophical:

Six months ago I would have thought Generation Telecom was in it for the long run. The company probably found it much harder to grow the business to meet the ambitious nature of the group.

He was undismayed however: Its good to see a consolidated market. But I dont relish the thought of being one of the last SPs standing. Then again there could well be new entrants into the market. This could well be a changing of the guard rather than the end of service provision.

The 7600 will go on sale in February on the 3 network. Dealers and distributors are frustrated about the lack of handsets in the 3 range – currently limited to the Motorola A920 and A835.

The range was due to have included the NEC e616 but technical delays means it hasnt arrived (see story this page). 3 will not take the Nokia 7600 or earlier Nokia 6650 3G handsets into its own product range because they do not support video calls. But dealers and distributors are frustrated about the exclusive Carphone Warehouse deal.

MoCo Cell Link managing director Ian Robinson said:

3s Motorola handsets are not attractive. We are trying to sell handsets people dont want despite all the incentives that 3 offers us.

We have been crying out for a better handsetespecially a Nokia. Why doesnt 3 allow all the channels to sell the product?

Sprint Communications boss Paul Leonard added:

It is a logical decision for Carphone Warehouse but a sad one for the other channels which are suffering a shortage of 3 handsets.

However 3 said it had no say in the matter.

The deal was brokered between Nokia and The Carphone Warehouse. It has not involved 3 said a spokesperson.

3 UK does not sell the Nokia 7600 as it does not have video calling. We would be very pleased to have Nokia handsets but only when they meet our requirement of supporting a full range of video content services. 3 will provide customer billing and customer services for all connections. However technical problems and handset faults will be referred to The Carphone Warehouse.

To suggest that there are significant software problems is a massive overstatement said a 3 spokesperson. I have a working model on my desk. We are still tweaking the phone but thats to be expected. Theres a world of difference between a UMTS device and established GSM terminal technology.

Chairman of 3 parent company Hutchison Whampoa Li Ka-shing is reported to have recently announced that NEC would ship 2.5 million phones by the end of April. These will be shared among countries where 3s 3G networks are up and running. The UK could receive a pro-rata allocation of around 750000 units.

The network acquired Project Telecom last September. The Newark facility will become Vodafone UKs centre of excellence for providing services to its business customers.

The Newark-based centre will be run by ex-Project Telecom managing director Chris Tombs.

The new jobs range from customer service advisers and credit management managers to installation engineers.

Karan Bhatia (18) of Beeches Road Tooting Bec elected trial by jury on the charge of stealing two phones worth 579 at the shop on November 30 last year.

The villagers of Rogate surrounded the mast to prevent it being connected to the network. They are concerned about adverse health effects.

O2 Airwaves application to erect the mast at Forge Farm was rejected by Rogate Parish Council and Chichester District Council. But the operator called on emergency powers to erect the mast at 2am on January 17. An O2 Airwave spokesperson told Mobile News:

We build masts within the bounds of a planning regime at our own risk. If we fail at appeal we have to remove the mast. We have emergency powers to build masts. We win almost every appeal made on the grounds of health because science suggests TETRA is safe.

We need 3300 masts and we have planning permission for around 3000. When we come across such local opposition we remove the mast and try to find a more appropriate site.

Lisa Oldham of protest group Mast Sanity said:

O2 Airwave continues to put up TETRA masts without permission. They cite emergency powers. But what they are doing is unlawful.

Wed like all TETRA masts taken down because there are other safer alternatives.

As soon as TETRA masts are turned on people report interrupted sleep body rashes and migraines As soon as a 3G or TETRA mast goes live we receive reports of adverse effects. (see featureP22)

Marsden joined Sony in December 2000 as business unit manager from Panasonic.

He landed the role as head of marketing for Sony Ericsson when the mobile divisions of Sony and Ericsson merged in October 2001. Marsden told Mobile News he was happy to have finally landed the top job at the company.

Ive always had my eye on the MD role. Philip (Rambech) has done a good job but was always prepared to move aside if another role became available for him within the company he said.

The UK is enjoying some good growth with the success of T610 and the new Z600. It should be a good year for Sony Ericsson. We have some good products coming through which should help us to continue growing our market share in the UK.

Meanwhile Sony Ericsson has denied suggestions from analysts at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein that a shortage of components including cameras had hit the companys Q4 sales figures.

According to a Sony Ericsson spokesperson:

We sold slightly over eight million units during the period just beating our forecast. The analyst is trying to justify why his earlier prediction that we would sell 10-11 million phones didnt come to pass.

We never said we would sell that quantity. 2004 will see global shortages of components but we have robust partnerships in place that will see us through.

One.Tel has recently introducd two MMS-compatible camera phones – the Motorola E365 and Sony Ericsson T610.

One.Tel head of mobile services Asif Aziz says customers are being made aware that the network does not support MMS just yet.

Customers seem to be happy buying camera phones even though the service is not live yet he said. We are trialling the service and will launch MMS in the next couple of months. Without it we are not a cutting-edge service. MMS will strengthen our proposition.

According to Aziz it is an important time to be launching MMS because the market is more aware of it now.

Customers are looking to buy and use camera phones now. We didnt lose sales by not having MMS last year. But we could lose sales if we dont introduce MMS this year.