The network made its apologies to its dealer channel at a seminar held at Chateau Impney on October 5.

BTCellnets sales director Mark Stansfield who joined the network from One 2 One in April said:

Lets face it we havent done a lot for you over the last couple of years to make you feel that you are valued channel partners and critical to your business so before we start and get into the good news Im putting my hands up and saying sorry.

He told dealers:

I am not saying we have all the answers. But I really believe we have made a strong start. What you do have is my commitment to you all that we want to work with you to develop your business not only for BTCellnet products and services but also to help you sell more of everything in the mobile category. Your business is very important to us.

On the day the network announced a raft of price changes and promotions. Included in these were reduction of up to 22 per cent) on Business First tariffs a 10p minute peak call rate and the fact that Business First can now be offered to single purchasers.

BTCellnets Mobile Extension product will come with extra benefits. Every Mobile Extension customer connected from October 1 would also attract an extra 20 commission.

A hundred or more customers connected to one account would win a 500 bonus and 150 a 1000 bonus.

General manager Ian Driver predicted a WAPpy Christmas and announced a three-month free mobile internet access offer to both new and existing WAP customers supported by a 10 million marketing push.

A new product for Christmas 2000 called Pay Upfront was announced to capitalise on the 40 per cent of total sales that are bought as gifts.

This gift-wrapped offering comes with 12 months free line rental 200 off peak minutes or 50 anytime minutes a WAP enabled Siemens handset.

The 99.99 package will give dealers a margin of 50; a 59 per cent POR.

Pay and Go rates are coming down to 2p/minute at weekends 10p off peak and 25p peak

With a glitzy Las Vegas theme that will have to be seen to be believed the night is on course to be the best Mobile News Awards night ever hosted as usual by a top TV star.

Tables of 10 are available for 2250 (ex VAT) and include a champagne reception four-course dinner with wine cabaret and star band.

Youll also have the chance to party until dawn with more than a thousand other industry guests at the prestigious Hilton on Park Lane Hotel in the heart of Londons Mayfair.

Tables are strictly limited due to space and fire regulations. When theyre gone theyre gone. So its a case of first-come-first served. Last year tables sold out within 10 days. Avoid the waiting lists. Book now using the booking form on Page 41. Or e-mail:mobilenewsawards@mobilenewscwp.co.uk or fax (020 7704 7441) your requirements.

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.