However an internal e-mail from

T-Mobile UK managing director Brian McBride to staff leaked to the Communications Workers Union (CWU) revealed that the number had spiralled to 795.

The figure corresponds to a Mobile News report of the cull which T-Mobile denied last month.

T-Mobile says the figure of 475 has now been amended to 535 and did not include 260 jobs that would be outsourced to other employers.

It claimed 535 losses would be part of natural turnover anyway.

A T-Mobile spokesperson said:

We are going to reduce the number by 795. However the reduction in the headcount by 535 does not necessarily equate to redundancies. If we reduce the workforce by 535 theyre not necessarily enforced redundancies. But I cant say categorically that they wont be enforced.

Nick Childs CWU lead organiser for T-Mobile workers said:

Near enough 800 jobs are going in the UK. All of its operations are currently being reviewed with the intention of cutting 800.

We dont know exactly where those job cuts will come yet but some will go from its Hatfield operation. Three hundred of the 800 jobs will be outsourced by its agencies to other companies and its final salary pension schemes will be affected.

Childs said he believed that call centre staff in Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales Greenock in Scotland and Doxford in the North East are likely to be affected.

We got hold of the information from an internal e-mail that was forwarded to all staff by Brian McBride. We have had quite a few further leaks of the same e-mail as well as further confirmation from staff within T-Mobile.

T-Mobile began consultation with staff and its workers unions on January 21. An announcement from T-Mobile about the whereabouts of the cuts is expected later this month.

But Childs said: Theyre not happy. There is a culture of fear and anger within the workforce. The mobile market has had a rocky ride of late and T-Mobile staff have suffered a lot of cuts. But the UK market is doing well now and just as things are starting to go well they have more potential redundancies hanging over their heads.

T-Mobile responded: Weve been open and fair with employees but it is a sensitive issue and it will take us time to consult with all the staff.

Adrian Foot of The Phone Shop in Welling said: Its another source of income thats been slashed from the independent dealer.

Our pre-pay SIM profits were once very healthy. A year ago we were selling 200 SIMs each week. Were probably only doing about 50 now because Orange and the others are selling them direct at nothing prices.

O2 has been doing it for about a year now. Its the same old scenario. Were getting hammered again.

Gary Bridger of Airwaves Communications in Yeovil said:

We used to sell about 20 SIM cards each month but its down to around 10 now. We sell them for about 10 each. People are cottoning on and going online to get hold of them.

Orange has devalued the product again. O2 started offering SIM cards for free online and the others now have to match it. Its another nail in the independent dealers coffin.

Manny Hussain managing director of Paignton-based Intek Communications was more sanguine however.

I understand it from the networks point of view he said. Why charge to put customers on to your network? It doesnt want obstacles. From our point of view thats the way things work.

Responding to the furore an Orange spokesman commented:

Thats just one offer. You get different deals with different dealers. It is just one thing we are trialling at the moment.

But there are a number of deals out there for independent dealers to capitalise on. Its certainly not the case that we arent offering them anything.

See Sharp End page 14

Northamptonshire police say four or five men were involved. One of the men was a white male between 30 and 35 years old with a medium build and short blond hair.

A police spokesman said: We know that the handsets taken were manufactured by Sony Ericsson but we dont know what model they were as yet.

This is the second robbery involving Sony Ericsson mobile phones in the space of a month.

More than 5000 Sony Ericsson 3G v800 handsets were stolen on January 4 in Wednesbury in the West Midlands (Mobile News January 28).

Islam 24 who worked at the Vodafone Shop in Oxford Street London stole the demo SIMS and ran up a bill of 8671 over a four-month period. He was ordered to repay Vodafone 1000 at the rate of 20 a week.

As well as the community service Islam was also placed under a one-year probation order at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court.

Islam now unemployed of Godwin Court Crowndale Road Camden London was told at an earlier hearing he could have faced jail after pleading guilty to stealing four SIM cards at the shop on October 10 October 25 November 16 and November 26 last year.

The community service work was a recognised alternative to imprisonment the court said.

The prosecutor said Islam had been working for Vodafone for two years and stole the cards which were only meant for demonstration purposes.

After a police investigation he was arrested at his home and admitted the thefts.

The court heard that first-time offender Islam had a number of job interviews lined up and had written to Vodafone to apologise for the breach of trust.

The magistrates told him the court had taken his previous good character and plea of guilty into account.

A Vodafone spokesperson said: Vodafone always takes a firm line on employees who attempt to defraud the company.

Orange reckons it can limit the damage by allowing dealers to connect Orange SIM cards with GSM handsets when it experiences supply problems in the future.

Hough said: We have an issue with stock shortages of the D500 at the moment. We realise that were missing out on connections there. Were also late to market with new handsets which again means we sometimes miss out on new connections for the period that that handset is unavailable.

If we had a SIM proposition it would enable people to get hold of GSM stock and connect it to Orange. Our SIM proposition would be available for the period until we launch the handset so that we gain in incremental business.

He added: We will never go down the O2/Vodafone SIM route. Ours will be for purely incremental connections.

Weve been trialling it with the Carphone Warehouse for a couple of months. Its worked well. CPW has been working with one handset the SL65. We have to sort out various systems issues before we can roll it out properly but this trial is helping us get over those.

(See Hugh Symons conference report on page 18)

Vodafone finally kicks off its national 3G service on Monday with a multi-million pound ad campaign for 3G live!.

Ads featuring David Beckham will blitz television posters and press in the main cities where Vodafone has achieved 3G coverage which now covers 60 per cent of the population. The initial focus is on video messaging and content. A number of advertisements in the London area will promote video calling in the capital.

Despite Beckams somewhat tarnished image Nick Read the chief commercial officer for Vodafones consumer business unit said Vodafone believes his PR as a global brand is as good now as it has ever been.

Vodafones initial batch of 3G handsets shipped this week making it the first network to throw down a challenge to incumbent 3.

Vodafone will launch six new handsets before Christmas with the first four out now. They are the Sony Ericsson V800 and Motorola V980 which will both be exclusive to Vodafone; the Motorola E1000 and the Samsung Z107 which will only be available online from the Vodafone web site; and following these soon afterwards the Nokia 6630 and the Sharp 902 the first two-megapixel 3G phone.

However the Christmas timing of the launch is coincidental according to the network. People have been focusing too much on saying that this is a Christmas launch said Read. Its nothing about a Christmas launch. It just so happens that everything has come together now.

He continued: There might be other players but they dont have Vodafones reputation. People said when Vodafone came into 3G it would be reliable high quality and different from what was already out there.

We said we wouldnt launch before we could deliver that. The fact that we are ready before Christmas is nice but its a small element of our overall strategy to become the clear market leader.

Vodafones 3G launch has the aim of moving its live! service offering to a higher level.

Live! has been totally redesigned. Vodafone has two million live! customers said Read.

We know what content they value We dont foresee any technical problems. We didnt rush out and sacrifice the user experience. Our reputation is at stake.

Nor does he anticipate any teething problems. We are not anticipating any problems. We will refine as we go forward as anyone would he said.

Read believes Vodafones reputation and vast customer base counts for more than 3s 18 months and million 3G customers. Vodafones is a different approach from that of 3 he claimed.

We waited until the quality for our network would be at the right level for launch.

We just need to focus on our game plan rather than someone elses. We are not concerned about any one operator. Its a competitive marketplace. We will drive forward on our own plan.

He insisted that Vodafone would not be drawn into a price war with 3 or other rival operators.

If customers are getting an outstanding product and service and pre- and post-sales support they will pay a certain price. Thats the overall value we offer our customers. We dont just compete on price.

Vodafone will be trying to persuade customers from rival networks to migrate over as well as persuade its existing 2.5G base to convert to 3G.

We want to offer people unimpressed with their current network operator the chance to move across to Vodafone said Read. We do have a substantial campaign for our existing customer base. Its about showing our existing two million live! customers that they can use those services at a much higher level.

Upgrade customers will not be offered free 3G phones however.

Weve used Vodafones scale and scope to negotiate an impressive range of handsets at a price that makes good economics for us. We will continue to use our current policy of subsidy retention and bonuses.

I understand Johnson bailed Unique out. But when it was unable to pay him back the administrators were called in.

Another executive who knows Uniques circumstances said funds had been exchanged between Unique and Johnson. Guy Johnson lent Unique 750000 last November. The funds were for a few days to tide them over to buy some stock. I dont know whether it was repaid or whether it rose to 1 million with interest.

Johnson who is a consultant to Fone Logistics was unavailable for comment.

The second source also revealed that financier GMB Heller which put in 500000 of seed capital got cold feet and pulled funding from the distributor.

The arrangement meant Heller was factoring invoices for Unique and advancing it 85 per cent of invoice value said the source who intimately knew Uniques situation.

Royal Bank of Scotland later offered improved terms. But soon after taking on the factoring of Uniques invoices the bank withdrew its credit line. This forced Unique to return to Heller.

A 9 million credit line with Heller was reduced by 1 million a week until Unique only had a 1 million credit line which was not enough to sustain the business said the source.

The source said the backers became nervous after they discovered Uniques assets were not what they were led to believe.

There are a couple of items on the balance sheet that look good at first glance but dont hold up to deeper probing said the source. For example Unique has inter-company loans. One was for 1.3 million to Unique Games.

That company is no longer trading so that loan is unrecoverable. Also Uniques books showed 3.75 million worth of stock. But 75 per cent of this stock was old and worthless.

Part of the remaining stock is verging on obsolete. Thus there is around 5 million listed as assets that arent worth anything. The Royal Bank of Scotland realised this and got scared.

Then when Heller was taken over by GE Capital GE discovered the same anomalies.

A spokeswoman for joint administrators Mike Rollings and Alan Hudson of Ernst and Young insisted there was still hope that Unique could be sold as a going concern.

We are in talks right now with potential buyers she said.

Smith declined to comment but a source close to the company told Mobile News: Paul has resigned because of irreconcilable differences with his boss (Ormerod). Its a real shame.

But Ormerod seemed not to realise Smith intended to leave.

Pauls staying with us. He is very valued in the business and has been with the group for a long time.

He will certainly be here through the end of the year and if he performs well and I am sure he will because he always has done then much longer.

As for differences of opinion that is a bit strong. Its news to me anyway.

We are evaluating the merger of the business and peoples performances and there are certain things that will change. But at this stage there are no issues with either of them. There are no plans for either of them to leave the business in the foreseeable future.

John Caudwell merged airtime distribution arm 4U Ltd with his accessories and handset division in January to form a single massive distribution company that provide a one-stop solution to non-specialist resellers and independent dealers.

Under the terms of the merger Smith reports to Ormerod.

There are certain well-formed allegiances which of course include 3. As long as you dont go against promises of exclusivity I think there is the possibility of broadening the profile and availability. It could be through a retailer or distributor or it could be through a virtual network operator.

LG had been courting ex-3 sales director Barton for more than a year before he signed a contract to take on UK sales for the Korean manufacturer three weeks ago.

Barton takes on the job of steering LG to the top market spot on April 7 reporting to UK president James Young.

LG made an approach to me over a year ago. But restrictive covenants with 3 meant I was proscribed from working in the industry for a while. Also for personal reasons the talks didnt go anywhere. Then circumstances changed for me and LG and the timing was then right.

He added: The LG road map is sensational. Its got some very clever products both across 2.5G and 3G. In fact everyone is saying its the best job in the industry and any fool could do it – although Id like them to come and try.

The LG brand has the capability of being brought to market in a big way.

The plan is to push the brand as far as it will go. LG went to number one in the in the US through good banding and marketing and great product.

Employees enjoying an incentive prize with T-Mobile in Malaysia were telephoned in their hotel bedroom and told to report to their managers room. There they were told that the consultation periods on their store closures had now begun.

Marco Lecca who was the union representative at T-Mobile at the time of the closures said:

Some of the staff at the Knightsbridge store were in Malaysia actually with T-Mobile when they were told. The T-Mobile management asked for the keys to their shops there and then.

Back in the UK staff arrived for work on March 15 to find their stores locked and their area managers brandishing consultation documents.

They were then sent home without prior warning that their jobs were under threat. It is said they were only given the opportunity to voice their objections after the closures had taken place.

Shilen Mehta who worked in senior sales at the Putney branch said:

I had been seconded to the Tooting branch which didnt get shut but because I was based at Putney it affected me too. I am relieved I dont have to work for T-Mobile anymore.

Nick Childs lead organiser for

T-Mobile at the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said:

Staff are unhappy with the new bonus targets and the way T-Mobile has gone about the closures. Big companies have to make big decisions but T-Mobile has behaved in an underhand way.

Childs added: The company intends to relocate employees to other stores wherever possible but this is not good enough. With record profits it is unnecessary to make any employees redundant.

Childs says 54 jobs will go from T-Mobiles direct retail chain. He also says T-Mobiles direct retail staff are outraged by the companys attempts to cut their bonuses.

Last month T-Mobile increased many store and individual targets from 750 to up to 1250 points undermining workers attempts to gain their well-deserved bonus said Childs. The first our members heard about the changes was an e-mail from head office. This is not how a modern company should be run.

A T-Mobile spokesperson said: We work closely and together with the elected employee representatives through employee councils. All employees have been fully and frequently consulted on changes and offered full support from the company.