The two men offered two IDs said to be of top quality. But staff became suspicious when one of the men made a mistake on the paperwork for the new phones and contracts. The men were held in the store by World of Accessories staff who called the police who arrested the crooks.

This has happened before where people are coming in using forged documents and proofs of ID said WoA director Masharaf Ali.

It is now becoming an ongoing problem and mobile phone stores are seen as an easy target. The thieves seem to be going for dealers with multiple branches. Our staff are better trained than ever and have been through the FCS training courses. We are putting in more effective procedures including stamping all proofs of ID so they cant be used again. Over recent weeks we have had several further attempts at the same kind of fraud which we have been able to foil.

Anne Sibley of the FCS Crime Prevention Scheme told Mobile News:

Weve been working closely with WoA on problems they have had and given them some fraud prevention training.

All the big retailers are suffering from it. The whole credit-issuing industry in the UK is suffering from application fraud Sibley said.

Orange has received the award for Mobile Communications Product of the Year for its WAP services at this years Networking Industry Awards. It faced competition from Hewlett-Packard Nokia and Psion

The awards are judged by an independent panel of information technology users manufacturers and journalists.

Orange says it was the first UK network to launch a WAP service.

During this time Orange signed up 1.2 million net new customers of which 212000 were on contract. This smashes Vodafones Q2 performance of just 75000 contract customers from 572000 new users. Vodafone still has the largest installed base of 9.36 million customers.

One 2 One and BTCellnet also trounced Vodafone for Q2 connections. One 2 One put on a million net new connections with 97 per cent of these on pre-pay. BTCellnet recorded 670000 net connections but did not give a pre-pay breakdown.

VodafoneAirTouch boss Chris Gent explained the relatively poor UK net connections by saying:

In the UK we have resisted involvement in a chase for customers at any cost and have adopted a prudent approach to controlling potential prepay fraud.

Orange said its Just Talk pre-pay tariff has attracted 984000 new customers since its launch last October taking the Orange pre-pay base to more than 4.4 million from a total of 7.16 million customers. The network said its overall churn fell from 14.6 per cent to 13.2 per cent for the year to 31 March. Churn on Oranges contract base improved from 20.6 per cent to a rolling annual average of 18.0 per cent. Orange pre-pay churn moved up from 8.2 per cent last time to a rolling annual average of 9.0 per cent.

Virgin Mobile One 2 Ones joint venture has grown by over 70000 in the quarter. Virgin Mobile now has a customer base in excess of 280000.

Scapegold was a Sony Cellular and Orange distributor based in Wenders Ambo Essex. It went bust in November 1998 owing creditors more than 650000.

Kobeissi even put himself down as a creditor following an unsecured loan of 50000 to Scapegold. A jury at St Albans Crown Court heard Kobeissi (24) had used company funds to pay for his high-living lifestyle.

Kobeissi persuaded bank managers creditors and friends that his business was booming when it was in fact insolvent. The company was in financial trouble from early 1998 and its debts rose to 650000 the court heard.

Kobeissi of Leaden Roding near Dunmow was the director involved in the operational side. He dipped into the company bank accounts to live beyond his means.

The jury found him guilty of fraudulent trading and 14 deception charges. He was cleared of two deception charges. Two deception charges were left on file after the jury failed to agree verdicts on these.

During sentencing the judge told him he showed a callous disregard for other people their savings and their lives.

Sony Cellular Services and Orange were each owed respectively 115000 and 76000 by Scapegold.

Despite trading fraudulently Kobeissi tried to organise a Corporate Voluntary Arrangement which would allow the company to keep trading while it worked to repay creditors 40p in the pound. The idea was that all revenue would be paid into an accountants client account which would then disburse commission payments to connecting dealers.

However creditors rejected the idea and Kobeissi resigned. In his initial statement to creditors Kobeissi admitted that Scapegold was in a financial mess and that there had been inadequate (Cont P2) accounting and misleading management information.

Clark White Publications publishers of Mobile News had already sued Scapegold for an unpaid advertising bill after Kobeissis promises of payment and claims that he had paid the overdue account turned out to be false and cheques he had issued bounced.

Other dealers told Mobile News similar stories at the time of unfulfilled promises and bounced cheques from Kobeissi.

At least 25 dealers were owed commission payments by Scapegold. at the time the company called in the receivers.

His denial comes in the face of accusations from named dealers that Orange has been allegedly tempting small and medium-sized business customers away from their regular dealer with offers of free and cheaper equipment and accessories and reduced and free connection charges.

One of the dealers complaining about alleged poaching is Colin Runham of Pagers in Wallington

Surrey. He accused Orange Direct of stealing an account: Highway Surfacing (HWS) by offering a catalogue of free phones and fitted car kits in exchange for them signing a two-year contract.

Runham last year wrote to Orange claiming: We discov-(Cont P2) ered HWS had been approached by Mr Carmino Martucci from Orange Direct Sales.

Although being told Pagers looked after the account and were happy with Orange and were upgrading all 5.1 (handsets) to 702 (handsets with car kits and vehicle installs) he insisted on getting involved and offered all this equipment plus labour free of charge on the agreement HWS sign for a further two years. Of course they agreed. We find this not only unacceptable but irresponsible business practice. We estimate our commission equipment and labour loss to be in the region of 1680.

Jones told Runham this case involved a routine cold-calling exercise and that Orange had no prior knowledge that HWS was a Pagers customer.

Jones told Mobile News:

Theres no way that we are taking that line or that kind of thing is any part of our strategy. It would be crazy for us to act in that way. If any dealer has examples I would be delighted to take them up with the dealer and address the issue said Jones.

We generate over 500000 new customers a month by means of a vast distribution and sales structure. If I believed that I could generate that amount of business and never have a situation where a direct sales person came into conflict with a dealer or a dealer found himself at odds with one of our retail shops I would be completely naive.

Buckland says that asking the dealer to assume responsibility for usage by a customer over whom the dealer has absolutely no control is unfair trading.

In his complaint to Oftel he states:

It is unfair trading to advertise a product that states the end user has no usage responsibility but to pass that usage obligation onto a third party. We find it totally unacceptable that a product that is sold as a stand alone no ties non-contractual phone should have any form of clawback. This is simple box selling. If we buy a box containing a cordless phone or an accessory we are not asked to indemnify its destination or usage in any way. Why should we be asked to do so on a pre-pay mobile phone?

Bucklands dealership has 13 retail outlets and has been established since 1986. They have an annual turnover of around 4.5 million.

He sells around 2000 handsets per month of which more than 1000 are pre-pay across all four networks.

He further points out to Oftel:

For the past three years we have been a Virtual Service Provider offering BTCellnet and Vodafone monthly billing service. This part of the business was sold to BTLumina on 31 August 2000. We purchase pre-pay mobiles from (Cont P2) whatever source has supplies as we are not able to buy them directly at a competitive price. We have been purchasing through distributors who recently have been making us sign undertakings reflecting those imposed upon them by the networks. Copies of the documents to these distributors are enclosed.

These penalties vary between 35 and 60 for either non-activation or non-usage within 90 days of activation. Whilst we can accept some responsibility for activation we cannot ensure on-going usage. We can accept that the competition is tough and margins are low but we ask a level playing field.

The fact that the networks choose to subsidise this product is a situation over which we the dealer have no control therefore it is unfair for us to have to accept responsibility for the actions of the networks.

The network admits they offer a substitution in terms for clawback to the supermarkets. It is our belief the same no clawback alternatives should be offered to all sellers of the product. We find it hard to believe that supermarkets will accept this type of clawback situation for exactly the same reasons as the dealer channel. If these terms are not applied or indeed enforced as they are in the dealer channel then again it is our contention this is unfair trading.

The money will be used to fund acquisitions in Europe and further afield and develop the Value Telecom brand and new Viva internet portal. The minimum retail application will be 1000.

Current valuations make The Carphone Warehouse worth an astounding 1.82 billion. The company will still be owned substantially by chairman Charles Dunstone (47 per cent) chief operating officer David Ross (33 per cent) and operations director Guy Johnson (around 14 per cent).

This makes the three Carphone Warehouse directors worth respectively 844 million 600 million and 254 million.

We decided in January and February the time was right to go for an IPO (Institutional Placing Offer) Ross told Mobile News.

It is no secret that we have invested a lot of money in Europe. Our focus is going to be rolling out Europe. As we enter into this new arena of new technology it is in the businesss interest to retain maximum flexibility which comes through having cash. The growth of mobile for voice telephony is well-established and it still has a long way to go. In addition we are now at the very start of the growth of mobile for (Cont P2) data and internet services. As fast as the mobile market grows the sale of replacement upgraded and second phones is growing faster. These trends coupled with the growing consolidation of mobile network operators mean The Carphone Warehouse is well positioned to expand both its distribution chain and the services we offer Ross said.

It has taken us 10 years to build a business. Our advisors tell us we are the sort of business the market is looking for. We will still retain majority ownership and day-to-day control but will have cash resources to develop the next stage. All existing UK employees have got existing options further options will be distributed. Internally it is business as usual Ross added.

Ross said that the speed of The Carphone Warehouses growth over the last 18 months had led to a small amount of debt on the balance sheet.

But traditionally The Carphone Warehouse has been a-debt free business.

We want to make acquisitions. Having the cash adds a different dimension. Networks and phone manufacturers will have the comfort of knowing they are dealing with a highly resourced business.

Charles Dunstone added:

There is enormous potential in the mobile market. With the benefits of the proceeds to the company from the flotation The Carphone Warehouse can take full advantage of the opportunities open to us not just in distribution but also in mobile virtual network operation and in mobile data and internet services. As we come to the market we want to ensure that customers who want to share in our future as well as our employees can take part in the offer.

Shares are to be offered to institutions employees and residents of the UK Jersey and the Isle of Man.

The Carphone Warehouse currently has over 800 stores in 14 countries in Europe and has recently agreed to acquire up to a further 98 retail locations in Germany. Sales are around 698 million.

The prospectus is due at the end of June with pricing allocation and trading of shares planned for July.

Information leaflets are available now in all The Carphone Warehouses UK shops.

There is a Share Information phone line and a Share Information page on The Carphone Warehouse website.

This follows the news that the company is to pass handset production to Singapore-based manufacturer Flextronics who will take over Ericssons UK factories in Carlton-in-Lindrick and Scunthorpe.

In light of a significant change in the world market for mobile phones we have decided to fundamentally change the setup of our business said Jan Wareby executive vice president Ericsson Consumer Products Division. (Cont P2)

The alliance with Flextronics will enable us to achieve economies of scale and volume flexibility. We are committed to remain a top player in mobile phones With this new set-up we respond to a much tougher business environment and we create a sound basis for long-term profitability Wareby added.

Philips Consumer Electronics MD George McPherson said the decision by Ericsson to outsource all of its mobile phone production was logical.

The market has become more competitive and you need greater economies of scale to remain competitive and profitable.

The biggest difference with Ericsson as opposed to ourselves and the likes of Nokia who also outsource some production is that they have decide to outsource all their production said McPherson.

If you need to scale down the volumes it leaves spare capacity that cant be used for anything else and this can lose you money as the overheads are very high.

Where you outsource the production it is far easier to scale the volumes either way.

If you need extra capacity the company makes a few more lines available. When you downscale they just use the line for something else because they quite often have other things going on at the same time he added.

Peter Jones MD of Ericsson-appointed distributor Phones International and Data Select said:

We dont see a downside. It doesnt affect the brand which remains very strong as do sales. It was the right decision. In fact I think they could have done it a year earlier. Ericsson have always been sales and technology led.

Everyone else does the same thing anyway except for the fact that they do it to a lesser degree. Im quite upbeat delivery schedules will be improved due to the fact that these contract-manufacturing companies will want to deliver.

Ericsson needed to streamline the business. I congratulate them and feel chuffed that theyve done it. They have some way to go to catch up Nokia. But the business remains unaffected.

In fact the savings that they make are likely to be reinvested in increased R&D and sales and marketing and that can only improve the level of offering and extra support to the market .

An announcement that the two companies have drawn up Heads of Agreement is expected by Christmas as a prelude to a full merger sometime during the first three months of next year.

There is no plan for any cash to change hands. The merger will be a share swap exercise engineered by Ora and Kondors venture capitalist backers Granville Baird (Ora) and Friends Ivory (Kondor) who are expected to eventually float their equity in a public offering.

The two firms are now in preliminary talks to establish areas of common ground.

Ora managing director Ken Jacobson told Mobile News:

At this stage these discussions are preliminary and no conclusive and binding decisions have been made by the boards of either company regarding the form of any future co-operation or alliance.

It is understood Jacobson will be chief executive of a combined 40 million turnover Ora/Kondor operation. Ora founder Malcolm Hanson and Kondor founder Malcolm Bartlett will continue to be non-executive directors of a merged operation.

Ora and Kondor are similar accessory companies in that large quantity of shares of both companies are held by venture capitalists

Both organisations have large trade accounts. Ora supplies Orange. Kondor deals with The Link and BTCellnet. The Carphone Warehouse is a major customer of both. Such large trade customers are expanding and require a more value-added services which a merged Ora and Kondor would be better placed to support.

No detailed integration plans have yet been drawn up regarding what a merged organisation would be called.

Skinner ITVs highest-paid comedy act is the latest in a long line of major celebrities to present the Mobile News Awards. He follows Rory Bremner (1995) Lily Savage (1996) Bob Monkhouse (1997) Ruby Wax (1998) Paul Daniels (1999) and Jim Davidson (2000).