The scam involved importing phones VAT-free from Eire and other countries and selling them without paying tax to Customs and Excise.

The men from Nottingham Derbyshire Wales and London. set up a string of companies to sell the VAT-loaded phones.

They then closed down their firms without handing the VAT over. Dozens of companies were set up and closed overnight when VAT bills became due.

The trial at Merryhill Crown Court West Midlands started in September after a year-long investigation by officers of the Nottingham office of the Midlands National Investigations Service.

Eight of the men pleaded guilty. Two who pleaded not guilty were found guilty after a 28-hour deliberation by the jury. They were Anthony Pointer (50) from Cardiff and Kan Sang Tang (39) from Nottingham. Pointer was jailed for five years six months including three months for contempt.

He was also ordered to repay 18000 or face another year behind bars and was banned from being a company director for 10 years.

Kan Sang Tang was jailed for five years.

The other jailed men are Nazir Ahmed (five years) Franco Lumber (four years) Roger Cruttendon (three years and four months) Joseph Yuen Chit Woo (two years and nine months) Martin Howlett (30 months) Timothy Haywood (two years) Vernon Cosker (12 months) and Mark Lane (six months).

A statement said:

Following recent press comment Vodafone Group Plc confirms it has made an approach to AirTouch Communications regarding a possible merger. There can be no assurance that any agreement can or will be reached.

The City went into a frenzy on the news marking Vodafones shares to an all-time high of 11.20 (at time of writing).

The share price had already powered through the 10 barrier on news of Vodafones 933000 net new connections for the fourth quarter.

Rumours about Vodafone and Air- Touch getting together have been doing the rounds for years.

Earlier talks apparently broke down over how AirTouchs domestic and international business would be handled.

Thieves who forced entry into the building on December 13 stole quantities of Motorola Nokia Ericsson Bosch and Samsung phones. The warehouse is apparently under 24-hour surveillance. No-one was hurt in the robbery.

Information to the FCS Crime Prevention Inspectorate on 0181 778 3060.

Vodafone led the way with a record number of 993000 new customers of which 755000 were for Pay As You Talk. Cellnet put on 658000 new users of which 455000 opted for Easylife and U.

Orange recorded 512000 net new connections including 329000 for its JustTalk pre-pay service. One 2 One increased its subscriber base by 439000 including 350000 on Up-2-You.

Vodafones performance was particularly strong and the network starts the year with a world-wide customer base of 9.1 million subscribers an increase of 77 per cent during the year.

We confidently expect (Cont P2) to see market penetration rates of more than 50 per cent in all our major markets within the next four years said Vodafone Group chief executive Chris Gent.

Cellnet boss Peter Erskine commented:

This has been a phenomenal quarter for the UK mobile phone industry a result of intense competition providing a wide range of services.

One 2 Ones MD Tim Samples noted:

We have made excellent progress far outstripping our projections for the three months and achieving the highest ever growth rates for One 2 One.

During the year One 2 Ones customer base increased 89 per cent and is expected to exceed two million users by the end of this month.

Channing-Williams will be boss of Vodafone Distribution Vodafone Corporate Vodafone Connections and Vodafone Retail

The current Vodafone Group board will be disbanded in six months when the merger is completed. It is replaced by a new board headed by Chris Gent as worldwide chief executive of the newly-created Vodafone AirTouch plc.

The other five board directors will be Vodafones finance director Ken Hydon AirTouch president Arun Sarin Vodafone Internationals MD Julian Horn-Smith David Channing-Williams and AirTouch financial officer Mohan Gyani.

Sarin will run the USA/Pacific Asia region and technical strategy. Horn-Smith takes over Europe/Africa and Middle East and Channing-Williams gets the prize of running the UK.

Vodafone Group board director Peter Bamford who is now in charge of Vodafone Distribution will not have a seat on the new board.

The new Vodafone AirTouch will be the UKs third-biggest company and the worlds mobile telecoms leader with a combined value of around 67 billion and 23 million customers in 23 countries.

But the deal will not directly impact UK dealers and subscribers. Vodafone is still expected to trade in the UK under its current name.

The main user benefits will come in the future when Vodafone AirTouch utilises its massive clout to bring about a common telecoms standard between America and Europe based on the W-CDMA system which is widely expected to be the foundation for the next generation technology.

Vodafone last week announced the connection of its five millionth customer becoming the first UK operator to reach this figure.

It took Vodafone nine years to connect the first million customers. The last million were connected in less than four months including 755000 on Pay As You Talk.

However Realmgate boss Bob Billingham is believed to be on the point of joining JWE Telecom whose boss John Weatherill admitted we are talking.

Ian Wright who resigned as a director of Realmgate before it went under is now with another distributor Vanguard Communications.

I am naturally disappointed with the failure of Realmgate and sincerely hope that this does not impact too dramatically upon any of Realmgates loyal dealers said Wright.

Industry sources claim Vodafone Connect was carrying out an investigation of Realmgate and it is understood this precipitated the companys collapse.

However Vodafone Connect sales director Andy Smith would only say:

Bob Billingham was well-respected by Vodafone. The industry will not be the same without him.

Colin Nicholls of accountants Ernst and Young confirmed the company was in receivership. He said Realmgates bank had appointed Ernst and Young after a request from Realmgate to put the company into receivership.

Were exploring all options Its early days Nicholls said.

There may be some interest in acquiring the six or so shops. A statement of affairs will be drawn up within the next four months said Nicholls.

Danny Pritlove an account executive at One 2 One distributor Cityphone had his car rammed just off Holloway Road North London.

As he got out of his car two men put a knife to his throat and dragged him into their car.

The Cityphone vehicle was driven off and 15000 worth of goods and cash were taken. This included 5000 of One 2 One All-In-One and Up-2-You boxes 5000 in cash and around 5000 worth of vouchers and other documents.

The car was later found abandoned with the keys still in the ignition.

Cityphone head Barry Donaghy suspects Pritlove had been watched by the gang who knew exactly what they were looking for when they attacked him.

Even though half year sales were up 30 million to 11 million the companys profits were hit by a collapse in its Far East markets as well as start-up losses from its associated joint venture company Global Telematics.

The City had been given a profits warning in October and the share price remained unchanged at around 1.22 (at time of writing).

The economic meltdown in the Far East has meant less than five per cent of European Telecoms income now comes from Asia-Pacific markets. But sales to mainland Europe more than doubled and now represent more than 67 per cent of turnover.

Sales from the accessories division TAG reached 4.1 million for the period under review.

Meanwhile European Telecom chairman and chief executive Warren hardy has split his job role. Ex-Spandex managing director Edmund Bruegger will be full-time chief executive. Bruegger has been a non-executive director of European Telecom since its flotation in June 1996.

Hardy who retains the role of executive chairman denied this move had been foisted upon him by the City

This was not requested or forced on me. Any inference that his (Brueggers) involvement has been forced on me would not be factual he told Mobile News.

Hardy says he will be dealing more at manufacturer and network level while Bruegger will concentrate on the day-to-day running of European Telecoms core distribution business setting and implementing strategies.

Also ex-Motorola and Philips executive Mike McTighe will join the European Telecom board as a non-executive director. McTighe formerly president and chief executive of Philips consumer communications and director of operations and general manager of Motorola will be involved with ET for about a day a month. McTighe was most recently in charge of the Philips/Lucent joint venture which fell apart after just a year (Mobile News November 2).

Hardy is also looking to appoint a new financial director following the resignation of Max Ashton who will be leaving the company at the end of January.

The new operational board of European Telecom will then comprise of Hardy Bruegger John McFarnon (group sales and marketing director) Lord Lang of Monkton (non-executive deputy chairman) Edward Belgeonne (managing director of Global Telematics) and the to-be-appointed financial director.

Leon Fitch (22) cloned his mobile to those of other subscribers and was arrested after a raid by Scotland Yard officers investigating other computer-related crime.

They raided Fitchs home in Levenshulme Manchester and found a computer programmed to clone other mobile numbers.

Prosecutor Timothy Spencer told Southwark Crown Court Fitch was working as a computer security advisor at the time of the raid in July last year. He cloned at least 50 worth of calls.

Fitch admitted nine (Cont P2) charges of being in breach of computer data protection and telecoms laws.

Judge Bathurst-Norman told Fitch a custodial sentence had been considered because offences of this kind cause a lot of people a lot of trouble and worry.

He warned Fitch:

If you ever commit an offence like this again you will be sent to prison.

The FCS have confirmed that the three networks will not be renewing their respective memberships in 1999. Cellnet alone was paying 19000 membership as a network and 15000 as a service provider.

However all four network operators will continue to support the FCS Crime Prevention Scheme which Mobile News understands is to be spun-off as a seperate audited and funded company.

Cellnet which has invested 200000 in the Crime Prevention Scheme has transformed its trade association loyalty to the Federation of Electronics Industries.

Because we are now a member of the FEI we didnt feel the need to be a member of two trade associations said Cellnet corporate affairs manager William Ostrom.

A statement from the FCS said:

The FCS has been extremely successful in representing the UK mobile communications industry for more than 16 years and expects to continue that success through its strong membership representation of the cellular service providers including Vodafone-owned service providers mobile radio operators manufacturers handset and accessory distributors dealers and installers.

The FCS also supports other telecommunications interests.