He joins the network from Motorola where he worked in the cellular industry since 1986.

In addition Precept 100 becomes Precept 120 Precept 300 becomes Precept 360 and Precept 600 becomes Precept 720.

One 2 One had objected to Oranges TV advertisement which claimed in an independent survey commissioned by Oftel on the performance of all four UK mobile networks … Orange came top as a voice-over stated bring your mobile number to the network that performs best.

Text read source: Oftel survey.

One 2 One and three viewers said that the claim was misleading as it was based only on a snapshot survey by Oftel which gave limited information but which was intended as an incentive to the mobile networks to publish more comprehensive data.

Oftel had in fact sent the information out with a disclaimer which warned that the results of its survey must be treated with some caution and that the results should not be seen as recommended best buys.

The ITC ruled:

Given these clear warnings in the Oftel Press Information that the snapshot survey only gave limited information about performance and in the light of the subsequent advice given to Orange by Oftel the ITC considered that Orange should not have used the Oftel data to make top performance claims.

The ITC judged that the advertisement was misleading and instructed that it should not be transmitted again.

Cellnet was criticised for its Onephone commercial which gave the misleading impression that a call could be answered on the Onephone in home mode and continued outside the home in mobile mode.

Viewers claimed this was not the case as the user would have to already be in mobile mode when answered away from the home base station.

The ITC agreed with the complainants that the advertisement gave the impression that a call could be answered in home mode and continued outside the home in mobile mode.

It concluded that the advertising had been misleading and required that it should not return to air in its current form.

The ICS was set up in 1997 as an independent body dedicated to raise skills of people involved in customer service.

Becoming a member demonstrates Vodafones commitment to providing the best possible customer service to its customers said Vodafone Central Services customer services director Karen Richardson.

The trials are taking place on street pay and display parking meters in Leeds.

Up to 50 can be loaded onto the card drawn from the cardholders bank account.

Vodafone is supplying the radio-pads built into the pay and display meters. These connect to the Vodafone Packet Radio Service and remotely monitor the meters and upload parking data each night for analysis.

Visa has been trialling Visa Cash in Leeds for almost two years. Around 60000 Visa Cashcards have been issued and customers can load their cards at 60 stand-alone machines situated in the City.

Over 1400 retail outlets in the Leeds area have been equipped with terminals which can accept Visa cash.

Motorola has already produced an e-commerce StarTAC phone which contains a cash card that can download cash credits to the card over a mobile phone network.

The research claims the explosive growth in the mobile communications market has also been accompanied by increased consumer frustration.

Apparently 41 per cent of UK mobile phone users are confused by the options on the market with 34 per cent not convinced that they have bought the right package.

A quarter of those surveyed felt that the running costs of their mobile phone were more than they thought they would be and 70 per cent agreed in hindsight that it would have been better to consult an independent specialist retailer before making the final decision.

The survey also showed that 58 per cent would value a second opinion on their choice of mobile phone.

We constantly deal with customers who have bought their handset from a non specialist retailer says The Carphone Warehouse MD Charles Dunstone.

They realise that they cant get the back up service. Imagine trying to take a handset that has gone wrong back to the supermarket checkout. Customers can end up wasting a significant amount of money if they make the wrong choice.

Growth in mobile phone and internet usage continues and there is interest in the new range of advanced telecoms services such as video on demand and fast internet access Oftel notes.

One in 10 residential consumers said that they intended to get a mobile phone or the internet in the next six months.

Internet use in the residential market has more than doubled from seven per cent to 18 per cent since 1997.

Up to three in 10 consumers would consider using video on demand TV internet and fast internet access when they become available.

Oftel reckons 70 per cent of all businesses and 37 per cent of residential consumers have mobile phones and that the demand is still growing.

Larger businesses are still more likely to use advanced telecoms services than smaller businesses. For example 80 per cent of large businesses use the internet compared to 34 per cent of small businesses.

But the research revealed that small businesses are starting to catch-up with one in five claiming that they will get the internet in the next six months. The research also revealed that take-up and awareness of some of the more specialist business services was still relatively low.

David Edmonds Director General of OFTEL said:

There has already been a huge growth in telecom services and the survey shows there is no sign of it running out of steam.

Consumers are also interested in new services that are just around the corner such as fast internet access and video on demand.

OFTEL believes that there is still scope for making all customers even more aware of the benefits of new services. This is particularly true of small businesses and elderly and low income households.

The WAP-based service is called dot digifone-on-line and will enable users to access news sport weather airline information betting odds stock prices and entertainment news either in Ireland or while the subscriber is abroad.

Esat Digifone says the service will be fully interactive within months enabling customers to book flights cinema tickets and place orders for merchandise.

The customer uses a WAP-enabled handset such as the latest phones from Nokia. The phone connects to the text-based homepage which lists the services available. The customer selects the service and is linked directly to the appropriate internet site.

The WAP programming has been handled by European IT services group CMG.

Esat Digifone is one of the first mobile operators in the world to make WAP technology available to its customers said Irish Minister for Public Enterprise Mary ORourke.

Added Esat Digifone chief executive Barry Maloney:

We are one of the first mobile operators world-wide and the first in Ireland to introduce this service to our customers and it is part of our commitment to providing leading edge technology.

Also Esat Digifone is celebrating the fact that it is to be granted GSM 1800 spectrum which will allow it to more than double its capacity from next year. The network has around 370000 customers.

The Time to Talk options are Power Hour (business customers) Lunch Hour (domestic customers) Happy Hour (domestic customers who want to make calls after leaving work).

The Time to Talk offer is only available through RSL COM dealers.

So says the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) which was formed last year to promote GSM in new and existing markets.

According to the GSA the number of GSM subscribers has doubled in the last 12 months a rate that is out performing all other mobile technologies.

We are not at all surprised that GSM is way ahead of other technologies. Its success is a reflection of the many benefits that GSM technology offers to operators end-users and investors said GSA president Alan Hadden.

We expect the number of subscribers to continue to accelerate as new services are introduced which provide faster data transmission speeds and even greater benefits for the business and private user said Hadden.

Members of the GSA include Ericsson Nokia Lucent Filtronic Comtek Siemens Logica Compaq Hewlett-Packard and Texas Instruments.