Meanwhile LG has poached Samsung technical manager Kevin Robinson to join a new sales and support team in time for the launch of its new GSM handset range.

Samsung confirmed Robinson had left. LG simply said the company was interviewing a number of candidates.

Robinson is expected to join LG on September 4 in a role similar to the one he held at Samsung.

Relations between Virgin and T-Mobile reached an all-time low last month after a second High Court battle between Virgin and T-Mobile ended in victory for Sir Richard Bransons company. The latest court fight included arguments over (Cont P2) the definitions of when a Virgin Mobile customer should be classed as active. T-Mobile had proposed a customer was dormant after 180 days of inactivity on outbound calls.

Virgin rejected this as the formula didnt account for any inbound calls to the customer. The judge agreed and reinstated the original contractual term of 360 days of inactivity before a customer was regarded as dormant.

The judgement gave Virgin a windfall of several million pounds from marketing support contribution withheld by T-Mobile that must now be paid over.

A spokesperson for T-Mobile said: Virgin Mobile is a joint venture between T-Mobile and Virgin Group. T-Mobile is a 50 per cent owner in this venture and as such we would not entertain a change to the network agreement. It is also not possible to see a situation in the near future when that will change – therefore any view that another operator could be used as the network supplier is purely speculative highly illogical and would not receive our agreement.

The announcement was made at a conference for O2s retail partners held at Salfords Lowry Centre last Wednesday. Around 300 delegates attended the three-hour presentation followed by a VIP night of entertainment (see full report P20-22).

O2 believes the O2 Home offering will appeal to the pre-pay youth segment. Research showed a quarter of pre-pay mobile calls are made from home and around 40 per cent of these users do not have access to a fixed line. O2 hopes to boost its call traffic because users will be benefiting from an allowance of low-cost calls by paying a fixed monthly fee.

O2 general manager (channel) Ian Driver told Mobile News:

O2 Home is a true innovation. None of the other networks has anything like it. This is a bundled add-on to pre-pay that identifies the geographical area in which a customer prefers to use their phone and allows them to do so without having to worry too much about call cost.

He went on: Home will reduce the cost per call but usage will rise and so ARPU will increase.

Driver claimed that O2 Home was not a me-too offering – like so many products and services on the market.

He said: The plan gives dealers another hook to differentiate the network and provides them (Cont P2) with another tool to help close the sale.

Two O2 Home bolt-on options are available. Home 250 is 4.99 a month. It offers 250 off-peak minutes from home to O2 mobiles and UK landline numbers for 2p a minute.

Home 100 is 9.99 a month for 100 minutes of calls at any time to anyone in the UK including cross-network calls from home from 10p a minute.

In both cases a minimum 5p call charge applies based on a customer-supplied postcode.

O2 Pay & Go customers can add O2 Home by registering their postcode via text from their O2 handset or through customer services. An announcement alerts them that they will be using minutes from their O2 Home bolt-on before making a call from their postcode.

No contract is necessary. Customers can dip in and out on a monthly basis. The home postcode can be changed every 10 weeks if required. The service will be available to O2 Pay & Go customers from October 1.

Other announcements included a car-kit promotion to coincide with new legislation in Q3 a selection of new bundled business tariffs news about BlackBerry the xda2 and more. l O2 is to raise the cost of calls and text messages. From October 1 text messages sent to foreign mobile numbers will no longer be included in text or bolt-on bundles.

O2 will raise the cost of foreign texts to 16p per message. On November 1 O2 will raise its minimum call charge by 150 per cent from 2p to 5p.

The man (33) and woman (32) were arrested for money-laundering offences contrary to the Criminal Justice Act 1988. They were interviewed in Braintree Essex before being released on bail without charge pending further investigation.

A team of over 20 customs officers searched premises in Essex Sheffield Nottingham and Leeds as part of the operation.

Customs has been cracking down on missing trader or carousel fraud which it claims costs the British taxpayer 2.5 billion a year. In April this year the Chancellor introduced new legislation to target businesses that turn a blind eye to or assist missing traders. (see Comment P16)

From the start of the month Vodafone has been offering fully fitted Bury car kits to dealers for 79.99 before VAT.

The move into car kits is a shrewd one as many new handsets including the Nokia 6310i are not compatible with older car-kit cradles.

Accessory manufacturer Pama claims it has seen an enormous increase in the demand for car-kit accessories over the past couple of weeks. (Cont P2)

Pama development managerHarry Heaney commented: We have seen a huge growth in the demand for car-kit accessories over the past couple of months. This has been for both our Plug N Go devices and for our headsets.

With the Government debating what sort of legislation it wants to impose people want to make sure they have the right kit in stock.

Pama has also released its latest kit – Plug N Go 4 Bluetooth. The unit which can be fitted on to either the car windscreen or the dashboard works on voice with a Bluetooth-enabled phone.

Naveed Saleem a 32-year-old mobile phone trader was found dead in his Range Rover in Moseley Birmingham just before 8am on Tuesday August 26.

He had been visiting his fiancee. Police believe Saleems killers struck at 1am that morning after he left her flat.DI Nigel Rock of the West Midlands police said local residents heard screams for help at that time.

We believe the attack started as he approached his car said Rock.

It was not robbery or random because they didnt take his car or his expensive jewellery.

According to the police Saleem had been stabbed repeatedly.

West Midlands police are appealing for information about the driver of a blue saloon car which was seen around the area where Saleem was found.

DI Rock says police believe the car may have followed Saleem from Walsall earlier in the evening.

The incident room hotline number is 0121 626 1326

All three retailers which collectively own around 68 stores declined to comment. But it is believed that 3 has made them an offer which they must respond to by the end of the month.

3 sales director John Barton had worked with all three retailers when he managed them in his former role as One 2 One sales and distribution director.

Fonehouse managing director Clive Bailey would not confirm or deny the story.

We have a good working relationship with T-Mobile and we plan to open further stores later this year Bailey told Mobile News.

Ace Contact managing director Azlam Athos declined to comment. Chitter Chatter directors Leonard Leeson and Richard Wortley were unavailable for comment.

The acquisition of T-Mobiles top three solus dealers would increase the networks high-street presence undermining T-Mobile.

A T-Mobile spokesperson said the network was not aware of any discussions between its dealers and another network.

This is hardly surprising as the deal is said to be subject to non-disclosure agreements.

A letter sent out earlier this month by Vodafone business partner senior manager Jason Rigby tells the unnamed SPs their licences will not be renewed unless they increase their business and meet agreed connection targets.

Vodafone service provider contracts are due for renewal at the end of the year.

Vodafone will use the opportunity to consolidate its base of 32 service providers.

In his letter Rigby said:

Following a review of your account Vodafone considers that you are failing to comply with the terms of the business plan in that you are failing to meet the connection volumes to which you committed and as a result you are also failing to meet revenue targets…

Vodafone requires you remedy the situation without delay … If you have not remedied the position and are not back on line with your business plan by 31 December … Vodafone will exercise its right under clause 5.2.1 of your service provider agreement (Cont P2) not to enter into a further SP agreement with you following expiry of the current agreement on 31 December 2003.

Vodafone is considering changes to its service provider agreement to ensure SPs toe the Vodafone line with regards to virtual service providers (VSP) and GSM gateways.

Vodafone says service providers with VSPs on their customer base are in breach of their licences.

Vodafone also wants to remove all illegal public GSM gateway traffic from its network to comply with the decision of the Radiocommunications agency to ban commercial use of fixed GSM gateway equipment.

A redrafted SP agreement could give the network greater power to terminate SPs who allow GSM gateway and VSPs connections.

The Primus 650 an entry level mono-screen handset will be available across all four GSM networks and Virgin Mobile. The handset is sold SIM-free and unlocked at 89.99 and comes in a range of colours.

Primus expects to have another two handsets in the market before Christmas one of which may have a colour screen.

Initial emphasis is on the low-end talk and text segment of the market according to general manager Lisa Hazelden.

Its challenging entering a market with so many established players but we are confident that we have a strong product portfolio (Cont P2) she added. There is a gap for a robust value for money SIM-free handset. A large group of people just want to talk and text.

However Hazelden stressed the Primus brand would not be cheap and nasty.

It will be value for money but also very stylish and ideal for the fashion-conscious. There is a large market out there for upgrade and second handsets.

We are also focusing on the way the handsets are being presented. As the phones are sold unlocked and SIM-free customers can choose the network and payment method that best suits them.

The change was announced at last weeks OBS conference in Birmingham to 30 OBS members. Dealers have three months to meet the new targets or face expulsion from the programme.

The new connections target replaces the previous figure of 100 connections to Talk 120. The drop of 25 monthly connections is intended to make the programme more business-focused.

Dealers will also have to keep churn below the channel average. Orange will check figures after 12 and 18 months. A quarterly development plan will be set by an Orange business manager and the dealer will have to attend a quarterly training course.

Orange will continue to pay its value growth bonus on customers connected two years ago.

The OBS scheme was set up two years ago with 14 retailers. It now has 30 members and will continue to grow until it has business specialists to cover the country. (Cont P2)

Unique Distribution is believed to be the first UK distributor to pay 8000 a year to join a new Internet database called Secure Trader Network (STN).

Designed to protect traders from missing trader fraud STN launched at the beginning of the month and is targeted at traders who trade at least 20000 handsets a month.

Most of the 8000 annual membership fee is paid to VAT and tax specialist firm Barnard Atkins which checks audits and vets each STN member four times per year.

Once an STN member is approved they can use STNs online software to trade handsets. Stock is scanned and IMEI numbers logged.

Freight forwarder Hersh Patel who helped set up the system said:

The checks we make are far in advance of what Customs and Excise require. This is the only system that will help you check beyond your immediate supplier.