An automatic phone message alerts users when their paid-for airtime is about to run out.

When their credit runs low they get an automatic top-up from a pre-set amount taken from their bank accounts by direct debit.

PreTalk combines the budgetary benefits of prep-aid telephony with the ease of postpaid services said Advanced managing director Gary Sheppard.

Advanced will handle all the laborious re-crediting. All customers have to do is tell us how much they want to top-up. Or they can wait until their credit runs out and top-up themselves.

Advanced supplies the PreTalk package for 79.99 based around the Siemens S8 handset.

Advanced will sell PreTalk through High-Street stores across the country.

The calls demonstrated the working of WCDMA prototype equipment during trials to investigate the characteristics of the WCDMA system.

Ericsson built a WCDMA test bed at its Guildford centre this year and has been carrying out live demonstrations of multimedia calls including mobile video test calls.

The Ericsson test facility has already been used by One 2 One to demonstrate real-time video conferencing involving two-way video calls between an office and a moving vehicle. The data speed achieved was around 50 times faster than current GSM mobile data rates.

Handover of the video call between different radio cells were made without any degradation of picture quality says One 2 One.

The service is expected to be available commercially in two years.

The network has linked up with Olympic WorldLink which develops business inf9ormation systems based on palmtop computers. The system will use high-speed GPRS technology to flash instant financial information such as real-time prices on 10000 contracts from 28 stock exchanges around the world to the palmtop computers.

The system uses the Microsoft CE operating system.

First year turnover of 250000 has risen to 3.5 million today according to figures released by the organisation.

The Mobile Phone Repair Company says it now handles around 23000 phones a month and says it is now the UKs largest mobile phone repair organisation.

We promise to repair phones to the highest standard and deliver it back in full working order within agreed time scales. For personal callers we offer a 30-minute service said the companys managing director Steve Cuthbert.

The GD30 has 50 phonebook memories 10 pre-defined SMS messages and 20 ringer tones. The GD50 is targeted at the business user and offers desktop handsfree speech and a multi-call function allowing up to five other callers to share a conversation.

The GD90 is Panasonics pitch at the smallest lightest claim and is certainly the companys smallest handset yet. It weighs 96gm (about a third of the weight of this copy of Mobile News). Phonebook numbers can be tagged to activate either a green or amber backlight when they are received as an incoming call.

Panasonic says it is working hard exploring W-CDMA applications to currently include photographic image transmission video images high speed data (music delivery video magazines) and automobile information.

Panasonic has been developing a Browser phone which uses the WAP protocol to allow users to send and retrieve emails access the internet directly as well as a host of additional applications.

Panasonic became a board member of the WAP Forum in June 1998 and has taken an active role in developing the new strategies and standards for web based communications of the future.

The store which opened last Saturday (June 19) is at the Freeport Outlet Mall and will offer phones and communications devices at a 30 per cent discount off recommended retail prices.

The first 100 customers were each given a free mobile phone as part of the opening day celebrations and promotions.

The store is the 83rd outlet to open since the launch of The Mobile Phone Stores in 1993. Another 60 stores are planned to be opened in the companys next financial year.

The Mobile Phone Store is 40 per cent owned by BTCellnet.

This follows a recent Welsh consumer council paper on mobile phones which indicates more phones would be sold in Wales if they were produced with a local language option.

As this research confirms 20 per cent of Welsh speakers own a mobile phone and many others would buy one if phones were available with a Welsh language option said Frank Einecke head of Boschs UK mobile phone division.

If as this research suggests there is a need for a Welsh language phone then we will definitely look very closely at incorporating the Welsh language into our handsets.

The first mobile phone base station to use wind power as an energy source is now operating at Cairnsaigh Hill in Kilmarnock.

A blade feathering device keeps the blades spinning at a constant speed regardless of wind strength.

One 2 One confirms it has plans to use the turbine technology in other remote locations in Scotland where the financial and environmental cost of installing mains power is prohibitive.

Under the right conditions a wind turbine can be considerably cheaper than using mains power said One 2 Ones health safety and environment advisor.

Added One 2 One managing director Tim Samples:

We know that our operations cause an impact on the environment and we are committed to reducing that impact wherever we can.

So says telecoms analysts group Ovum which is predicting a rebirth of the global telecoms business as it moves from the current situation where bandwidth is scarce and expensive to one where bandwidth is plentiful and extremely cheap.

Ovum says the big change will come when networks change to Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure rather than traditional circuit switched systems.

This will mean that data and voice networks will merge and voice traffic will just be treated as packets of data.

The technology will exist for networks to offer unlimited bandwidth at a fixed price with distance and geography becoming irrelevant in terms of cost.

The transport of traffic will become the least expensive component of transmitting services.

This will make bandwidth a commodity and the emphasis will move to the pricing packaging and management of services says Ovum analyst Stephen Young.

Ovum predicts all these changes will turn current telecom pricing on its head and will create new market structures with new types of players as well as transforming the way current network operators are run.

In highly competitive markets not everyone succeeds. We anticipate a degree of consolidation as some players who have overstretched their finances fail to meet thier targets Young warns.

The Phone People will sponsor the traffic and travel news as well as running a heavyweight ad campaign on the Galaxy stations.

Galaxy represented a great opportunity for us to target a younger audience in the areas that cover all of our stores said The Phone Peoples sales and marketing director Paul Diffin.