Next year 3 is to be organised into three strategic areas – video and SMS media and entertainment and data applications. 3-watchers contend that this meant Jones mission to develop market share had reached its conclusion.

He had been tempted out of semi-retirement in June 2003 by 3 CEO Bob Fuller to re-invigorate the faltering launch of 3.

The two had worked together at Orange leading that network to its eventual flotation. Both men are highly regarded by Canning Fok managing director of 3 parent Hutchison Whampoa.

Said Fuller: Id like to thank Gareth for all his hard work over the last two and half years. Gareth has been a key part of the team that has delivered on our promise of bringing great value to UK mobile customers.

Bob Sweetlove business manager of 3 distributor Hugh Symons commented:

3s taken its foot of the gas in terms of new connections now. I dont know what value its key performance indicators are at and thats what matters if you are looking to float as 3 is next year. Gareth Jones has driven the market for 3. Its a different job to get it up for a float.

This is not a view shared by some observers. One senior figure who has dealt extensively with 3 said:

The figures are not where they need to be for flotation. The sales are in fine form but the customer service and IT systems are not. The churn is heading north of 50 per cent.

Predictably 3 does not agree with this diagnosis. The network believes it has not announced any timetable for flotation and thus cannot miss any deadline. In addition 3 says its KPIs are in good shape with average monthly revenue per user of 34 a month and industry-average churn levels of around 27 per cent.

Barnes quit his post at Avenir earlier this month to take up a similar position at 4U Distribution. However after calling in its lawyers Avenir has ensured that Barnes will first have to undertake three months gardening leave effective from the date of his resignation.

Avenir sales and marketing director Tanny Price said: We have to protect ourselves and have acted to ensure that Dominic follows his contract specifically the competition clause.

Simon Pierce who has been a dealer manager for the North West at Avenir for more than six years has now been promoted to fill the role.

Commenting on the reshuffle Avenir managing director Ishai Novick told Mobile News: We were disappointed to lose Dominic to 4U but it shows that 4U values Dominics work at Avenir and that reflects well on us.

He added: Simon is a high-calibre employee and is already working on bringing new energy and ideas to the dealer manager team.

Pierces old dealer base will be covered by new starter Kris Williams who joined Avenir last week.

The orders that we took yesterday were despatched last night so thats OK said Hugh Symons business manager Bob Sweetlove. But we are unable to process any handset orders placed today for delivery tomorrow. We miss one days full trade. Dealers will have to go elsewhere for next-day stock. Dealers ordering emergency supplies to stock up can wait until tomorrow but we will lose some of those orders too.

Sweetlove said that the number of daily stock orders that would be lost because of fire would certainly be four figures.

Hugh Symons contract connections are done externally said Sweetlove and would not be affected.

We dont expect the fire to spread and we expect to be back at work tomorrow (Wednesday) he added.

We were evacuated at about 9.30am as a safety precaution. There were canisters exploding and black smoke billowing from the scrap metal merchant. The fire service couldnt get to it because tanks containing some sort of chemical were exploding.

Mloop founded by entrepreneur Byron Rose went bust in July 2002 having plunged into 1.38 million of debt.

Jonathan Sinclair of Sinclair Harris chartered accountants has also retrieved 13247 from a company account. The funds had been contested by a third party after Mloop went bust.

Sinclair stated: I have now recovered 5000 from a former officer of the company that was an outstanding loan from the company together with a receipt of 500 plus VAT in respect of a computer retained by that person.

A sum of 13247 was also recovered from a separate euro-denominated account in the name of the company. A third party said it belonged to them.

Sinclair would not reveal the name of the Mloop director.

He added: He was not going to get away with it and he has now repaid the loan in full. It is for the creditors. He had insolvency issues himself when the company went into liquidation originally and so could not immediately pay it back.

The Inland Revenue sent in a bailiff after the company went bust and recovered funds owed. Sinclair said that the money available to creditors would have been more had the Inland Revenue not sent in the bailiff.

Reports had been submitted to the DTI concerning Mloop directors and trading prior to the winding up.

Sinclair said: These reports are confidential and I am not at liberty to disclose their contents.

Mloop was set up as an online handset broker to facilitate large-volume handset transactions between networks around the world. It was originally backed by industry veterans including Carphone Warehouse CEO Charles Dunstone and 3 COO Gareth Jones.

Mloop generated transactions of 4.4 million but only ever made a profit of 89000. It traded for barely a year before folding.

Sinclair has set a meeting for members and creditors on November 1.

The service which allows customers to move to a lower tariff or a new phone after 12 months will be extended from its exclusive relationship with 90 per cent of 600 Carphone Warehouse stores to more than 100 Virgin stores and concessions in other retailers such as WHSmith.

Virgin will continue the roll-out until it has up to 1500 points of presence plus off-the-page and online offerings according to Virgin Mobile sales and marketing director Graeme Hutchinson.

Its a lifestage development for us. We had to sort out pre-pay first. We focused on that part of the market successfully in the past five years. We had to drive the business following the IPO. Now we are looking at getting into new markets Hutchinson said. Pre-pay has about two-thirds of the user base but only one third of the revenues. Contract represents huge opportunities for us.

Accompanying the roll-out will be a new advertising campaign with the tagline Show Off or Money Off which highlights to customers that they can choose to upgrade their phone after 12 months or go to a cheaper tariff.

Virgin maintains that customers on other networks who pay the same tariff even if they dont upgrade their handset after 12 months are being hoodwinked because the cost of the handset has already been absorbed in the first 12 monthly payments.

Weve tried to give the customer an honest offer and weve learned that this is resonating with them said Hutchinson.

Those customers who are savvy will shop around but there are a lot who dont know any better. We will challenge that. We hope consumers will see that we are blowing the whistle on other networks.

The Trading Without Tears conference is now almost sold out with fewer than 25 places remaining.

Topics to be discussed and debated include the current state of law regarding Joint and Several Liability and security requirements the Proceeds of Crime Act and reporting requirements due diligence: keeping the VAT man happy how to deal with Customs queries and investigations how to minimise exposure to a VAT liability the future for legitimate traders Customs criminal prosecutions methods banking issues and the extent of personal liability.

We always knew the industry needed an event to give clarification on VAT law and Customs and Revenue methods. The rate at which the conference has nearly sold out demonstrates the massive demand for clarity on these complex issues said Mobile News editor Ian White

See the ad on page 33 to book

Henry admitted that Orange-owned distributors had suffered at times and said that starting next year Orange would put in place a benefits package to reflect their status as Orange solus dealers.

Orange dealers and distributors have nowhere to go other than Orange so if Orange lets them down were stuffed said Henry.

We have to redress that relationship. There are some tangible benefits – like stock allocation promotional activity brand spend – for them related to where they sit in the pecking order. That will be redressed early next year.

It hasnt been decided and it is still an internal programme he added. But we recognise that the Orange solus dealers are at risk and are more exposed than others when we put deals into the market place and therefore they will be protected.

Orange dealers are under immense pressure but there is still a place for them.

See interview page 24

Though it will cost punters 50p to upload a video clip to 3s new See Me TV channel each time a clip is downloaded by a 3 customer the original owner gets paid 1p. It costs 10p to view clips.

We wanted to create the ultimate reality channel commented 3 COO Gareth Jones.

The only limit to what you can earn is your talent – or the lengths youll go to make an impression.

3 has struck a deal with MobiTV to offer seven new TV channels available for 5 a month including CNN Extreme Sports ITN and Cartoon Network. 3 is also set to launch its own free-to-view mobile TV channel featuring original programming and news updates.

3 said that every audio track its customers download to mobile handsets will also be made available online at no extra charge. Tracks are 1.50 as either over-the-air or online downloads.

3 also said it had secured video exclusives with Madonna The Pussycat Dolls and James Blunt. Staines band Hard-Fi are working with 3 on a made-for-mobile music video for their track Cash Machine.

3 also said that it is set to unlock single-source advertising as a revenue stream and is looking for a partner to sell advertising space on its network.

According to 3 CEO Bob Fuller: The previous distinctions between the media technology and communications industries have all but disappeared. An entirely new type of company is emerging that blurs the boundaries between all three.

3 also confirmed the launch of four new handsets this week: the Nokia 6280 Nokia N70 LG U880 and the Motorola RAZR V3x.

That is the day when European Court advocate general Poiares Maduro will give his opinion on a case brought against HM Revenue and Customs by the Federation of Technological Industries (FTI).

Part of the legal process involves an oral submission. This was heard in the European Court on October 5. Oral submissions were made by HM Revenue & Customs the Irish government the European Commission and the FTI legal team. The latter was led by Andrew Young and Alias Dass of Dass Solicitors who are speakers at the forthcoming Mobile News VAT Legislation conference (see page 33).

The governments of Germany Cyprus Netherlands and Portugal had made written submissions but did not attend the oral hearing.

The FTI argued the Government had no authority under EU law to impose joint and several liability rules making them responsible for the VAT debts of their suppliers. UK Customs and the Government of Ireland argued there was authority.

Figueroa currently holds the same role for Latin America and the Caribbean. He will focus on driving sales and business strategies effectively across both regions for the Networks business.

It makes perfect sense to centralise customer relationships and work more closely across the two regions on account strategy he said.

He will be based at Motorolas EMEA regional headquarters in Basingstoke.

Figueroa assumes the role following the promotion of Margaret Rice-Jones to corporate vice-president and general manager of Core Networks a newly-aligned business within Motorola Networks covering communications technologies for both wired and wirefree operators.

Rice-Jones will be responsible for strategic planning development engineering third-party relationships product management and customer support.

Core network solutions must go beyond traditional legacy switching and address multiple access technologies data and video and multimedia requirements she said.