Listeners can access games and competitions current playlists and even buy music by logging on to www.wap.virginradio.com.

The service currently transmits information about the song being played a chance to purchase the record on-air schedule details of advertisers including telephone numbers and links to their own web and WAP sites.

We were the first radio station in Europe to broadcast continuously on the internet and we now have one of the most popular online radio stations in the world said Virgin Radio chief executive John Pearson.

Nearly three quarters of Virgin Radio listeners do their listening on the move and our vision is to provide them with the information they want at the right time and the right place. We expect to see increased convergence of audio and data services especially with the arrival of digital radio and third generation networks. As a broadcaster we intend to be at the leading edge of such new initiatives Pearson added.

Called Personal Roadwatch 1800 the jointly-developed Vodafone and AA system comprises an in-car signaller that picks up data from Trafficmaster beacons and informs drivers of potential delays up to 15 miles or three junctions ahead on all motorways trunk roads and A roads.

The in-car unit indicates the direction of the delay its likely duration and the distance to the traffic jam.

To get more detailed information the driver dials 1800 on a GSM phone connected to Vodafone.

The call is connected to the AA/Vodafone Personal Roadwatch service which identifies the area of the country the caller is in and delivers more comprehensive details of traffic conditions in that area.

Calls to the 1800 number cost 45p a minute for automated information and 59p a minute for operator service.

We have invested a significant amount of time and effort to ensure that the Personal Roadwatch 1800 service is helpful and intuitive to use as possible said Vodafone managing director Alan Harper.

Vodafones traffic management links with the AA go back to 1995 when it launched the AA/Vodafone Roadwatch service.

BTCellnet is also heavily involved in traffic-based promotions and has sponsored the Capital Radio Flying Eye service for years.

Cellnets Traffic Line service won the Mobile News Award for Most Innovative Service in 1998.

This is the view of Nick Ryman-Tubb of Neaural Computing which designs fraud-detection software for networks.

If as predicted the number of mobile phone users over the next few years rises from last years figure of 382 million to a billion fraud may rise relatively.

Last year fraud cost the mobile phone industry over $3 billion. So if subscriber figures were to reach a billion fraud is set to cost the industry around $7.8 billion a year. This one billion figure is likely to be realised with the introduction of the third-generation mobile and WAP phones he said.

Whichever way you look at it the perpetration of fraud whether subscriber fraud cloning or application fraud is a serious threat to profitability and shareholder value.

Network operators need to view fraud detection as an integral part of their strategic business plan and be armed with a range of technological advancements.

Visorgraph says its wapHQ service now offers a low-cost mobile phone internet access service with no registration or set-up fees and no monthly subscription charges to pay. The service is provided on an 0845 number and is charged at local call rates.

To initialise the service a user with computer access to the internet can obtain configuration information from the WAPHQ web site (www.wapHQ.co.uk) and e-mail users may subscribe on-line at the same time.

Facilities are provided entirely free-of-charge.

The new organisation called Worldzap was launched last week in London at an event hosted by world champion hurdler Colin Jackson. It is a joint-venture company between Prisma Sports & Media (a subsidiary of Germanys Kirch Group) the Fantastic Corporation and the ETF Group. Worldzap will provide a combination of news live action clips and immediate results to 3G devices.

Premium services will be developed around the worlds major sports events and the music and entertainment industry.

Initially Worldzap will offer text services using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) i-mode and SMS and will quickly evolve to offer photos and full-motion video. The use of Fantastics software and global satellite distribution system will enable Worldzap to bypass the current bottlenecks of the internet to deliver its sports content at broadband speeds to a society that is becoming increasingly mobile. The service will be sold through mobile operators many of whom are already Fantastic customers.

The largest part of Worldzaps market will be mobile phones. The user will subscribe to the Worldzap service choosing from a menu of programming options (e.g. goals follow a team follow a particular player interviews previews results).

The Fantastic Corporation technology will be used to notify the user that a clip is ready for viewing at the touch of a button often within seconds of the live event occurring and to deliver this to the handset.

Prisma is a leading international sports marketing and media company which specialises in the management of media rights to major sports events.

Its appointment to implement the distribution of the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup media rights in Europe on behalf of KirchMedia and management of the European television rights for Wimbledon are amongst its projects.

Fantastic was formed in November 1996 with its headquarters in Zug Switzerland. Shareholders include Deutsche Telekom British Telecom Intel Lucent Telecom Italia KirchGroup Reuters and Singapore Press Holdings.

The company provides software solutions for broadband data broadcasting. The ETF Group is a European venture capital company with financial interests in 20 high tech companies.

Meanwhile BTCellnet and Halifax have partnered to provide on-line banking by the summer with SMS text messaging and WAP banking followed by GPRS high-speed data services in the Autumn.

Other Natwest services will include the ability to look at the 12 most recent transactions and via the Short Message Service (SMS) be alerted to things such as when their balances reach a certain limit or that their credit card payment is due.

The service has been developed with Orange. NatWest says more than 100000 people have signed up to its Internet banking service since its introduction in November. An average of more than 1700 a day have joined since the beginning of this year.

BTCellnet will supply Halifax with mobile services.

The face of banking is rapidly changing and is being driven by technology and mobile communications said BTCellnet MD Peter

Erskine.

Asecurity guard who stole a mobile phone from the place he was supposed to be guarding was fined 200 after pleading guilty to stealing the Nokia phone from the offices in Grosvenor Place.

James Wallace was arrested at the building on January 31 and the stolen phone was found when the police searched his house.

He admitted stealing the phone from a fourth floor office while patrolling the building.

The court was told the companys security manager called in the police after the phone went missing.

His solicitor said he had been tempted in a moment of weakness and had considered returning the phone.

The cartridges are being sold for 100 each dropping to 50 each for orders over 10. Unblocker Software and leads for both c12 and Diga are being sold for 500

The web site states:

We are well aware that you may consider this to be a scam due to all the recent scams concerning mobile phones and sky hacks Our only answer is If you were thinking this way Dont jump in with both feet buy one cartridge to test (cont P2) the water. At least this way you can test us with minimum risk If you like what you get then deal with us If not then Im sure well be flamed on the newsgroups and this site will fall into oblivion.

The sellers of the device say:

If the phone becomes blocked by your service provider its not a problem just place the cartridge in the base of the phone power up the phone (with full battery) and press hot key 9 at the same time and wait for 20 seconds

This will allow the cartridge to do its job and hey presto your back on line with the same number and credit. If you wish to put extra credit on the phone this can be done as well.

Warning! each cartridge is unique to the first phone its introduced to so if you try to put the cartridge in another phone it will display contact your dealer. This is unrecoverable

The phones with their cartridges have even sent some abroad to India Pakistan Germany France and Tenerife.

All phones worked fine say the cartridge sellers.

We could make calls back to the UK but could not make Internal calls in the countries we tried. Except of course the UK where you can make as many calls to who ever and where ever you like.

Vodafone has launched a 1.5 million advertising campaign at Heathrow Airport.

It includes exterior poster sites escalator panels and sites above shops in the main buildings.

An estimated 61.5m visitors pass through Heathrow Airport each year.

The campaign features Nervous System depicting a human body.

The second advertisement Vodafone Spoken Here majors on the fact that Vodafone claims to have the most roaming agreements world-wide and claims that no mobile phone network covers more countries.

European Telecom will initially purchase 30000 Phonecell terminals to sell to African networks and distributors and give them the means of connecting fixed telephone equipment to a cellular network for emergency or temporary set-ups.

The scheme will involve a series of football development days staged at league clubs across England over the next two years to encourage disabled people to participate in football. One of the first clubs to sign up for the programme is Everton which is already sponsored by One 2 One.

Everton will now set up a disabled section to provide training.

The allcalls package offers calls from as little as 5p a minute with no service charge.

Access to the original Pay As You Talk 2p weekend local call rate is excluded.

Handset packages cost from as little as 60 including 10 worth of free calls in the box 2.50 preloaded on the phone and an additional 7.50 worth of calls for every user who registers. No time limit or use by date on TopUp cards means existing cards can now be used to spend 5 15 25 or 75 all on calls.

Vodafone Pay As You Talk allcalls offers an exciting extension to the Vodafone Pay As You Talk range to further broaden its appeal offering not only an extensive selection of handsets and TopUp vouchers in varying denominations but also greater tariff choice said Vodafone commercial manager Paul Donovan.

As pre-pay moves to the next stage in its development it is natural that networks extend the range of choice available to provide a service to suit an even wider audience.

Handsets on offer include the Siemens C25 Ericsson A1018 Motorola M3788 and Trium Astral.

Customers can now log on to the Vodafone Interactive web site at www.vodafone.net to top-up using a credit or debit card.

Vodafone says it now has more than 4.2 million customers on Pay As You Talk.