Ex-Banner managing director and co-founder Mike Sharpe has moved to a more strategic role as head of special projects.

According to chief executive Warren Hardy the reason putting McFarnon in charge of Banner is to integrate the Banner Telecom and European Telecom operations.

Sharpe continues to report in to Hardy. Although it is believed that Sharpe will eventually cut all ties with European Telecom.

The deal is an extension of Nokias existing business with BTCellnet. It means Nokia continues as the main base station supplier for their GSM mobile network which covers almost 99 per cent of the UK population. The deliveries will cover (Cont P2) Nokias GSM base stations for indoor and outdoor mobile service.

BTCellnet has bought the Nokia MetroSite base station that can be used at completely new types of sites such as billboards bus stops and lamp posts that are not feasible with traditional systems.

For the expansion of BTCellnets indoor GSM services the Nokia InSite Base Stations will be supplied. These are small enough to be installed virtually anywhere

The Nokia platforms will not only helps us to manage our network more effectively both operationally and financially but allows us to address the rapid growth in the UK mobile market and demand for high capacity and quality networks said BTCellnet MD Peter Erskine.

Vodafone is understood to be about to sign a deal with Tesco enabling the supermarket giant to become a virtual network operator.

Tesco is responding to Sainsburys announcement that it too intends to offer a new service to BTCellnet whereby users will always be offered the cheapest tariffs and refunds if they are on the wrong call rate (see full story P10).

Vodafone and Tesco declined to comment on whether or not they had signed a deal. But it is unthinkable Tesco would use any other network as ex-Tesco chairman Lord MacLaurin is also chairman of Vodafone.

Tesco is promising the cheapest calls in the business.

With a move to provide 11 million Tesco customers with direct links to all of the supermarkets services creating a mobile shopping (Cont P2) and information centre in a handset.

In addition to supplying news headlines weather forecasts and share prices as text messages the new Tesco network will eventually become an encyclopedia of national and local knowledge providing indispensable facts such as the name and number of your local taxi service.

Pushing just one button will also connect callers automatically to the Tesco service of their choice. Such as information on pensions savings and credit cards. Customers will also be able request early text message bulletins telling them what deals are available at Tesco each day and order flowers household goods and groceries.

We want Tesco to become the first point of contact for customers daily needs and we believe in the future your phone will be a popular way to shop.

Having our own mobile network will reinforce our fantastic reputation for providing top quality products at low prices and enable us to form close links with our customers.

We are preparing for the communications revolution which is just about to happen.

Staines police confirmed a lorry containing the phones was stolen in the Surrey area on October 19.

Staines police spokesperson Diane Whiting told Mobile News:

The driver of a white rigid lorry with blue curtain sides containing a high value cargo of mobile phones travelling anti-clockwise on the M25 between junctions 10 and 9 was forced to pull over onto the hard shoulder near Cobham.

The suspects were using two saloon cars – one bearing a blue flashing light which parked in the slow lane beside the lorry and the other with a red flashing light which parked in front of it.

The driver was forced to turn at junction 9 then drive back towards Heathrow along the M25 to junction 14 by one of the suspects then was kidnapped and taken in a car to Collum Green Road Hedgerley near Slough where he was released. He was shocked and suffered minor facial injuries during his ordeal.

Meanwhile the lorry and another vehicle were set alight and burnt out just off Horton Road in the Stanwell Moor area close to junction 14 after the phones – all Nokia 8210 models – were stolen.

Then on Monday in the early hours just after 2.30pm a white Mercedes Sprinter van again carrying a valuable cargo of Nokia 8210 phones was being driven in Airport Way Stanwell Moor when it was forced to stop by a car with a blue flashing light on top. The driver was punched and thrown into a ditch at the side of the road and the vehicle and contents were stolen. The van was found abandoned around 8am – just a few hours later – in Hammond Way Sunningdale.

Investigating officers would like to speak to anyone with information or who witnessed any of the above incidents. Call the incident room at Staines police station on 01784 446733.

He replaces Bob Fuller who moved to Telewest two months ago.

The job now covers the new enlarged Orange/France Telecom group. Allwood is not new to Orange having formerly been involved with Microtel Communications many years ago before it became known as Orange.

He will be responsible for all existing operations and future expansion in the UK and global co-ordination of Customer Service Management Distribution and (Cont P2)Information Systems.

Allwood reports to a new executive board of Orange under France Telecom ownership led by Michel Bon (chairman and chief executive of France Teleco) Jean Francoise Pontal (chief executive designate) and Graham Howe (deputy chief executive officer and chief financial officer) Oranges current CEO Hans Snook has been made a Special Advisor but is expected to severe his ties with Orange.

It means more than 1100 industry people will attend The Mobile News Awards black-tie gala dinner/dance which takes place on March 15 next year at the Hilton on Park Lane. An entry form for the Mobile News Awards is with this issue. Call 020 7704 7440 if your entry form is missing.

Production of the 5 vouchers ceased in July. But stocks are expected to last until the end of February. Users will still be able to top-up for 5 electronically.

But the end of the 5 voucher has caused cash flow and clawback problems for some smaller retailers.

Weve had enough trouble trying to sell pre-pay phones from July because Orange have been clawing back dealers if a phone remains unconnected or if it is not topped up within three months said Paul Hull from PSH Telecom in Loughborough.

To prevent a 55 clawback penalty weve been supplying the phones with a 5 voucher. Now well have to supply a 10 voucher which reduces our profit margin. We already have to cut prices to compete with the supermarkets. Now we are going to lose an extra 5 on every sale. It slashes our profits to 8.50 per box. I dont know how much longer we can afford to do this. Im sure Orange shops and the big retailers like Sainsburys arent being treated in this way said Hull.

We never even see them offer customers a voucher never mind registering their name and address. If it gets any worse we will have to stop selling pre-pay its as simple as that.

Id love to have a one to one with Gareth Jones (Orange director of sales). I wonder if he could run a business selling his own Orange products.

Dealer Vic Hockley from Ilford East London added:

The dealer now has even more of a cash flow problem. Orange are making dealers work harder for their business.

The Gloucester arm of the business (formerly Advanced Telecom) home to much of RSL Coms consumer base is in the final stages of being sold as a going concern.

RSL Coms European MD Barry Mowbray said personnel affected had been told and redundancies would take effect by the end of the year.

Around a month ago we announced to staff that we were moving out of our business to consumers and concentrating on business-to-business activities. They have since been appraised of the redundancies and we have put in a great deal of training and support infrastructure to help the people affected.

RSL Com and all the directors have put in a huge amount of effort over the past six months in order not to take have to take this decision. We tried everything we could think of to maintain our presence in the consumer marketplace. The fact is you cant buck the market.

So many of our consumer customers are enticed by pre-pay and there are stronger brands in the marketplace than RSL Com which is not really a consumer brand.

We owe it to the company and our remaining staff that (Cont P2) we concentrate on what we are good at. What we are good at is business-to-business fixed line mobile data and internet services. So thats where we will be concentrating all our focus and effort.

Mowbray denied the redundancy of 10 per cent of staff meant the eventual demise of RSL Com.

The workforce has grown by some 250 this year alone. Any company has to embrace change and thats what we are doing.

Our consumer base is a combination of the result of both the acquisition of Motorola TelCo and Advanced Telecom. We are close to a deal which will see our selling all of the RSL Com consumer base.

We are however retaining Advanced Communications business customers.

We have tried absolutely everything to maintain and grow the consumer side of RSL Coms business.

Weve run campaigns and cut prices;. Weve linked fixed line to mobile. There are some tremendous people in RSL Com who have tried really hard to make a go of the consumer business.

But at the end of the day you have to make some profits in this business. We were not seeing the level of return that we wanted.

Over the last year we have re-focused the business to make it into a business-to-business organisation.

Our move away from consumer business has not come as a surprise to anyone in the industry because we have been moving away from consumers for some considerable time.

All our business partner relationships are focussed on concentrating on the higher spending business customers. It has been a very tough call to make and I didnt take the decision likely.

We have put in a considerable infrastructure to support those who are affected by the decision.

The plan is for all of the changes we need to make to be implemented by the end of the year Mowbray added.

The robbers drove up to the warehouse forced an entry and grabbed a quantity of handsets activating the security alarm.

The alarm automatically summoned the police within minutes but the gang escaped. The raid was caught on video surveillance cameras.

The sale of the brand applies to the UK and all Fone Range overseas markets except Ireland Spain Germany Switzerland Austria and India. Licensing and product development subsidiary Fone Range Partnerships (and its Warner Bros. licensed character range) together with design and production subsidiary Nexus Tec (which produces the Face brand of facias) are unaffected and will now be further developed and expanded.

The Fone Range Group remains under the current ownership. It will continue to operate from its Park Royal North West London head office. The boards of both companies are unchanged.

In addition to the Fone Range brand Fone Range customers will now also be offered the Elite accessory range as well as its portfolio of handsets and vouchers.

Fone Range managing director Jay Pau described the move as benefiting the customers of both companies. (Cont P2)

Customers will not only continue to have uninterrupted access to Fone Range products they can also enjoy one-stop shopping with all their accessory requirements handsets and vouchers available from one source. Elite enjoys a similar reputation to Fone Range for product quality and customer service.

A Fone Range spokesperson added:

The sums involved are substantially higher than 500000 each for the brand and the stock). Suppliers are free to trade with Elite. All of our financial responsibilities will continue to be met. Jay Pau will ensure the smooth transition of the brand to Elite. He will then be concentrating on developing the other parts of the Group and on developing new areas. Fone Range remains in a healthy financial position.

The deal was made because it was judged to be strategically appropriate within changing market conditions allowing the Group to focus its strengths on both developing new areas in the UK and overseas. All matters relating to the brand have now been transferred to Elite and our customers have immediate and automatic continued access to the Fone Range products as before.

There will unfortunately be some inevitable redundancies but we are putting our best efforts into placing staff either externally or within the Fone Range Group.

Elite head Ajay Gokani added:

At the time of going to press the contracts were due to be signed. We cant disclose the amounts involved due to a non-disclosure agreement so youll have to go with the rumours.

We shall be responsible for supplying goods to Fone range customers from today (November 13) From today we will be responsible for all warranty claims and deliveries. Fone Range will be responsible for all warranties and credits on goods supplied before that date.

Elite and Fone Range brands will continue to run side by side. Well differentiate between the two brands by using a higher quality product to make the Fone Range brand more exclusive.

This probably wont take effect until February next year.

Fone Range will be changing the group name within three months. Fone Range operations overseas have two years to change their names.

We will be looking to push Fone Range products in European countries not covered by Fone range. The European business will be run from the UK.

Our market share is probably around the 10 per cent to 12 per cent mark today and the acquisition takes us up to the 20 per cent mark. We are looking at other acquisition opportunities as and when they become available. Well be recruiting about 15 to 20 new staff on and we have already taken on some ex-Fone Range staff.

There are no direct family connections between our family and Jay Paus except that our fathers ran businesses next door to each other about 20 years ago. Our families know each other very well and started in the accessory business about the same time said Gokani.

We wont be moving into the licensed market unless we deal with a company that has acquired the licenses already. Its not our specialty. We want to stick with what we do best and thats distribution. Its impossible to concentrate on all areas of the accessory market. We were offered the opportunity to do a deal back in August he added.

I understand Jay (Pau) wants to concentrate on the licensing opportunities. He already has a big deal with Warner Brothers and I believe they may have a new one with a major Cola company. I cant say Jay took on too much but I wouldnt try to take on licensing at the same time as trying to run a healthy distribution business said Gokani.