Called the GSM Global Roaming Forum the body is a collaboration between GSM operators and TDMA CDMA and iDEN operators.

The goal is to promote common mobile handsets and interoperable networks so customers can roam from country to country and across digital technologies and frequency bands. The Roaming Forum will operate as a semi-autonomous group within the structure of the GSM Association. It is open to all industry organisations.

We felt it was our responsibility to start the ball rolling said the GSM Associations CEO Robert Conway.

Our greatest contribution is creating seamless international roaming among GSM networks. Its now time for everyone to build on that.

Gregory Williams vice president of SBC Technology Resources (the company that hosted the Roaming Forums inaugural session) was named interim co-chairman. He said:

The time has come to remove the obstacles preventing interoperability among the competing wireless technologies and try to fulfil the promises of our industry.

We have a lot of details to work out. But the main thing is that we are getting a great start.

Said Terry Yen of the CDMA Development Group a consortium of more than 100 companies who promote CDMA:

Despite the past the various technology groups are now getting together to make global inter-standard roaming a reality. The CDG and its member companies look forward to the continued discussions and to further progress in the area of roaming.

Their ambition is to formulate an environment which allows mobile operators financial institutions and other service providers to facilitate secure mobile transactions.

The Big Three now realise consumers confidence to carry out trusted electronic transactions from a personal mobile device is vital if the concept of the mobile internet is ever to succeed.

Ericsson Motorola and Nokia want to develop systems where security and payment services will be built into the handset.

Integrating security and transaction applications on a common core standard will create global mass market for mobile e-business. This will benefit all participants in addition to hundreds of millions of consumers throughout the world said Nokia president Matti Alahuhta.

Said Ericsson marketing boss Jan Ahrenbring:

By 2004 there will be around one billion users of mobile telephony and some 600 million mobile internet subscribers worldwide. The most important thing is to get all these consumers to start using mobile e-commerce as a standard which makes it safe and easy to use.

Motorolas European Middle East and Africa general manager Rick Darnaby added:

Mobile devices will soon play a key role in virtually every aspect of our lives. We want to give consumers the ability to stay securely connected informed and to conduct sensitive and financial transactions anytime and wherever they are.

The campaign which includes a national radio campaign and an in-store information guide has been designed to inform people about the potential of WAP.

We commissioned independent research which showed only four per cent of the UK population understands what WAP stands for said The Carphone Warehouse MD Charles Dunstone.

Theres been a lot of hype about WAP and as with all new technology this hype has been accompanied by confusion and jargon.

Weve launched this campaign to give simple impartial advice on mobile internet services explaining what it can deliver now as well as the services and benefits it will bring in the future.

The Carphone Warehouse mobile internet guide includes information on the technology a glossary of terms examples of the types of services available now and in the future information on products and services and the costs to connect.

By the end of this year we estimate that over 500000 of our customers will be using their mobile phone to access information and services. Weve also invested a significant amount of money into training our sales advisors to ensure that they are equipped to provide the best advice and recommendations said Dunstone.

Thousands of customers will soon be using this technology on a regular basis and this guide provides the basic information they need to get started he added.

The Carphone Warehouse is to reward online customers for purchasing products on its internet site.

E-commerce customers will be given WebRewards points which can be redeemed against products and activities such a Polaroid JoyCams and rock concert tickets to helicopter lessons or even a private island.

The Carphone Warehouse loyalty programme launches in May supported by a consumer advertising campaign. Members earn WebRewards at partner sites simply by clicking on the WebRewards icon at the end of the transaction without leaving the site they are on.

They can also earn rewards for online purchases registrations recommendations completing questionnaires or similar transactions. The rewards are then redeemable at the WebRewards online shop.

WebRewards was set up in the UK last October by entrepreneurs Mark Read and Gary Morrison. It is a subsidiary of WebMiles AG which was founded in Germany in March 1999.

The WebMiles site www.web miles.de has been live since August 1999.

This partnership allows us to continue to provide the best customer service and value for money across all channels including our e-commerce site said The Carphone Warehouse managing director Charles Dunstone.

Partnering with WebRewards is part of our goal to remain at the forefront of web innovation.

The Carphone Warehouse says connections to its website have increased eight times since September.

Irish network operator Esat Digifone has ordered 10000 touch screen pre-pay card payment terminals made by ITG for distribution to Irish retailers.

Retailers enter the top-up value select the network and key in the users account number from prompts on the touch screen display. The terminal receives an authorisation number that can be tapped into the mobile phone to activate the account top-up. The terminals also support traditional credit debit functions and smart cards.

Channing-Williams was to be chief executive of Vodafone UK but bowed out after the Vodafone merger with AirTouch and left the job to Peter Bamford.

Project Telecom which is seeking a Stock Exchange listing next month sells pre-pay phones to non-specialist outlets such as Spar and Londis.

It also has around 35000 corporate and SME customers for its packaged telecoms services mainly supplied by Vodafone.

The company was set up 13 years ago by chief executive Tim Radford later joined by group finance director Richard Cunningham.

Project Telecom last year reported a turnover of 117.1 million and a pre-tax profit of 3.7 million.

The company plans to use the flotation money to develop electronic pre-pay solutions and to provide funds for acquisition of other service providers to expand its corporate customer base.

This follows the aquisition last October of Advanced by RSL.

At RSL COM Sheppards job will be to strengthen the RSL COM brand and promote the companys customer service and business practices to fixed and mobile customers.

I look forward to working on new initiatives in the year ahead and implementing successes he said.

The youngest network put on an astounding 1.08 million net new customers between January and the end of March.

This was more than twice the number of new connections managed by BTCelllnet who limped in last with just 457000 net new customers.

Even Vodafone the traditional winner in the quarterly connection league was trounced by the two GSM1800 networks.

Vodafone signed up 851000 new users 10000 less than One 2 One who had 861000 reasons to be cheerful and now has a total base of more than five million users with three million on pre-pay.

This is up 123 per cent up over a year ago. Virgin Mobile contributed 200000 more customers to the One 2 One network.

The moves we made with our standard pre-payment service in early February introducing a 5p flat rate and eliminating voucher expiry have paid dividends said One 2 One chief executive officer Kai-Uwe Ricke.

Vodafone connected 851000 net new customers an increase of over 21 percent on the same quarter in 1999. But nearly all (839000) were connected to Pay As You Talk bringing the total PAYT base to over five million. Vodafones UK base for all customers is now almost 8.8 million.

Oranges Q1 growth was three times that achieved in the same period last year. It brought the Orange customer base to over 5.97 million at the end of the quarter including 3.42 million pre pay-users. This is a growth of almost two and a half times over the past year since the end of Q1 1999. Since 31 March the customer base has grown past the six million level.

Orange said overall churn fell from 15.8 per cent to 14.6 per cent for the year to March 31. Contract churn improved slightly to 20.6 per cent while pre-pay churn was 8.2 per cent

It has lobbied MP Brian White (Milton Keynes) to table a motion in the House of Commons calling for such transparency in mobile phone retailing.

Im concerned consumers believe they are getting impartial advice. The regulator should ensure advisors calling themselves independent must be transparent about commission they receive says White.

Virgin Mobile says that rival phone dealers are pushing consumers towards unsuitable expensive deals as a result of influences behind the scenes.

The company hired telecoms mystery shoppers Taylor Nelson Sofrres to visit 210 stores. These included The Carphone Warehouse (50) The Link (50) Mobile Phone Store (50) and Martin Dawes (1O).

Virgin Mobile says the results suggest there may be a link between the type of phone deal sold to the consumer and the commission of sales payment made by networks to the retailer.

Despite different requirements of the mystery shoppers BTCellnet tariffs were the top three recommended deals in DX The Link and Mobile Phone Store where it has large share holdings says Virgin Mobiles report.

The Virgin report indicated only one in five recommendations were for pre-pay deals despite the fact they are often the best value.

This is claimed to be the first announcement of its kind in the world for GPRS inter-operator roaming. The two networks were connected across the internet using GPRS Border Gateway elements.

This important step demonstrates that we can support cross network roaming traffic. GPRS roaming will enable our customers to continue using their regular GPRS access points and services while roaming in foreign destinations said M1 engineering director Patrick Scodeller.

Cable & Wirelesss director of Mobile Networks Adam Wong added:

Roaming is an essential part of GPRS services. Many GSM users have learned to expect continuity of their services while abroad. This successful roaming verification gives us the confidence that GPRS services will meet customers expectations.

We are proud to announce this successful roaming with two front runner operators in Asia a world first for us. GPRS is an essential step for operators in their evolution towards 3rd Generation services as it provides the packet core technology for mobile internet services.