The conference which features keynote addresses from Carphone Warehouse founder Charles Dunstone and 3 CEO Bob Fuller will examine how 3G products and services will make the transition to mass-market acceptance.
Conference topics include drivers for successful 3G handset design and marketing and how to interpret customer insights and transform them into relevant service offerings.
O2 sales director and keynote speaker Mark Stansfeld who will speak about i-mode in the UK said: Understanding customer needs is imperative. And this is an ideal opportunity to look at the way customers are going to use data services and content areas.
Another conference speaker LG sales head John Barton added:
Given the current and growing emphasis on 3G products and services from both manufacturers and networks it is an ideal time to review what the customer truly wants from the 3G experience.
This Mobile News conference comes at the right time and I look forward to hearing the views of leading figures on these crucial issues.
Full agenda and booking form on page 43

Yes managing director Keith Curran told Mobile News that the Yes management team had put together a detailed business plan over the past 12 months that wouldsee the Manchester service provider align itself even more closely with Vodafone. Its relationship with its MVNO partner T-Mobile will be reviewed and possibly curtailed.
Curran said: We are not turning red. Vodafone is not going to suck us in. Vodafone wants Yes to continue doing what it is already doing and what it does well. We can look our business partners in the eyes and say that now.
According to this five-year plan we have ring-fenced their customer bases. Everything stays the way it is now in the Yes Telecom environment. Nothing gets sucked up.
He added: For T-Mobile the future of the MVNO depends very much on the management team here applying sufficient focus to it. T-Mobile has told us that if the management team s time is taken up with the new project then it will respect that but that it has to look out for its own interests. T-Mobile has said that if the right input and drive doesn t go into the MVNO project then it will look to re-evaluate the situation.
Yes Telecom sales and marketing director Simon Howitt predicted that Yes Telecom s active dealer base would rise to around 300 from the current level of 220 over the five years. Growth will be split 50:50 between traditional voice and mobile data solutions.
Curran said: The faster we grow the more investment everybody will be required to put in to sustain the growth. But the support from Vodafone isn t just about the money. It s about access to information and certain Vodafone products and services.
The five-year plan dubbed Project X was put to Yes dealers at its business partner forum in Northampton last week.
The deal with Vodafone is expected to be finalised in the next three months.
See feature page 22

The integration process will take place over the next 12 months. SpinVox intends to retain its own brand.
SpinVox CEO Christina Domecq said that SpinVox did not control SMS delivery itself and blamed aggregators for any latency issues involved in delivering voice messages to customers inboxes.
With today s standalone system we have very little control over SMS delivery said Domecq. It is because we are working with aggregators. The delivery of SMS is down to them.
SpinVox partners with aggregators mBlox Mobile 365 and WIN to deliver voicemail in SMS form.
Domecq said: Over the next year the service will be deployed so that the aggregators are cut out and the service resides on the network itself. That process will be moved to the networks in the future. The customer will get a better service. So it will make delivery more seamless.
This will require the adoption of a different business model.
SpinVox will become a service provider to the networks in the future she said. At the moment we retain and manage the customer relationship.
The Carphone Warehouse has recently taken a 17 per cent stake in the company.
SpinVox claims trials with The Carphone Warehouse the operators and across its own managed base found SpinVox increases text and call traffic. Domecq said that the uplift in voice ARPU is between 6.5 and nine per cent and the uplift in SMS ARPU is 15-20 per cent.

The Carphone Warehouse is roughly 60 per cent of the way through integrating Hugh Symons IT system into its own system. That process is expected to take up to three months.
Once that process is completed Carphone Warehouse will put its SIM-free distribution arm Mobile Phone Express and airtime distributor Hugh Symons on the same sales ledger. At present Hugh Symons is required to purchase stock from Mobile Phone Express itself and bill dealers separately.
Hugh Symons will become Carphone Warehouses distribution brand for both airtime and SIM-free in the dealer channel from July 1.
It is unclear what will happen to the Mobile Phone Express brand but Carphone Warehouse director of indirect distribution Steve Fraser said he had no plans to retire the brand and that it would continue in some capacity.
Fraser said: "We are putting the Mobile Phone Express and Hugh Symons businesses on to the same sales ledger. We are combining all the products of the two businesses. Dealers will be able to buy Carphone Warehouse SIM-free stock as well as other services such as Fresh and TalkTalk and connect airtime against those products."
He said no decision had been made on the Mobile Phone Express brand.
"I dont want the two businesses competing with each other but at the same time were not going to just kill off the Mobile Phone Express brand. We have people that work for Mobile Phone Express and they will continue to work there."
Speaking at Hugh Symons Unity seminar last week Hugh Symons business manager Bob Sweetlove said: "We are integrating our business into the Carphone Warehouse system. Were 50 to 60 per cent of the way through that. Thats when Hugh Symons and its customers will have access to all the Carphone Warehouse product set."
See feature page 28

The speed and size of the cut has wrong-footed dealers. Many have lost business or been unable to honour deals they promised in April.
Jez Harris dealer and founder of the Phone Dealer Forum lost £1345 on his expected payment on a deal because it went through on May 1 instead of at the end of April.
Harris signed 18 handsets on a Business Plan 5000 tariff. Commission on the tariff went from £2575 down to £2060. Handset commissions for each sharer handset on the tariff went down from £215 to £169.
"When it launched the Business 1 plan T-Mobile commissions were favourable now they are lower than Orange" he said. "The only logical reason is to stem the flow of connections. It has proved successful maybe too successful."
Rebal Elayan of Business Print Communications in Staffordshire said: "It is infuriating. We had one contract that would have made a big difference if it had gone through at the end of April. It leaves us way off our expected margin."
Faisal Sheikh of Fone Doctors in London said: "I had signed a customer to a Business 1 plan. He could not make it in to the store on the Friday to complete the contract and with pricing arriving so late we didnt have time to chase him up.
"It meant I couldnt offer the customer the same deal. He wasnt very happy. T-Mobile should never have gone so high with its commissions if it was going to cut back like that. A 20 per cent cut is too much and too sudden."
A T-Mobile spokesperson said: "A higher commission was offered as a promotion to the dealer to support the launch of the tariff. This period of promotion is now over and therefore the commission rates have been reduced."
See Sharp End page 18

Communications director Jason Fernyhough sales director Oliver Rowe and business development director Ian Hooper have bought a two per cent share of the company in return for full board directorships.
They each have an option to acquire 13 per cent more over the next few years.
MD Nigel Harrison who shares ownership of the company with his wife and company finance director Donna said the move was in response to outside interest.
"We were approached by a local company but the workforce was down in the mouth about the prospect of not having as much input in the business and wanted me to remain" he said.
If Fernyhough Rowe and Hooper build their combined share to 45 per cent the rest of the company can be bought through a bank loan.
Phonebox which has five stores in Redditch Solihull Tamworth Lichfield and Shrewsbury has a £5 million turnover and employs 65 staff.

"Teletext Mobile has been designed with the user in mind" said Teletext commercial text manager Jonathan Creber. "It is quick and easy to use and relatively cheap."
The service went live two weeks ago and aims to provide information for subscribers 24 hours a day.
Creber said that "early indications are promising".
Eagle Eye Technology director Ed Pippin added: "Now almost every mobile device sold has access to the Internet and old barriers such as slow access poor screen resolution and lack of colour are a thing of the past."
To get the service on a mobile phone users text the word Teletext´ to 8430. The service is free but users will have to pay for GPRS data transfer.
Teletext Mobile content will be similar to the information found on text services on ITV and Channel 4. "All the page numbers people are familiar with from the television site will also be the same on the mobile provider" said Pippin.
"Teletext has chosen now to enter the market because it is at these early stages that browsing habits get created and brands make a name for themselves" he added.
Teletext head of mobile Marcus Thornley said: "As the costs of the mobile Internet fall we hope to increase the use of rich media on Teletext with more video."

The full amount of Vodafone´s investment is undisclosed but it is expected the cash will fund the SP´s growth for the next five years.
Yes MD Keith Curran who will continue to run the company alongside his existing team insisted that Vodafone´s operational input would will be minimal.
Newly appointed Vodafone business unit sales director Mark Bond explained that the decision was dictated by the prospect of Yes going elsewhere for funding. "The directors were talking to venture capitalists to fund its growth" he said. "We have seen some distributors go to the wall and some others acquired. This was the only way to work it so that Yes would continue to be Yes."
Bond insisted the existing team would remain. However part of the deal is that Vodafone is to have a regular report on Yes financials. "We do not intend to suck them into Newbury" he said.
Curran said he was involved in the negotiation process with Vodafone over the sale for the best part of six months. The deal is a guarantee the network will pursue SME revenues through the channel he said.
DM Telecom MD Dino Maroudias typified the optimism with which Yes dealers appear to be greeting the deal.
"Yes has high ARPU and low churn. It looks after its customers and has created a real niche in the B2B space. If Vodafone bought it outright it would lose that."
Pioneer Communications Solutions MD Marshall Frieze was also optimistic. "It´s going to make us more competitive in the marketplace. Hopefully we will get access to better products as a result."
TMD UK owner Geraint George said: "It will hopefully give us access to products now only available to Vodafone´s corporate customers."
See Our Shout page 14

But experts warned that a reverse charge procedure would create VAT fraud in the dealer channel.
A reverse charge would remove VAT payments between VAT-registered firms in the UK. VAT would only be paid by the end consumer. The sole responsibility for VAT repayments to Customs would sit with retailers under the reverse charge scheme.
Bond House director Mike Cheetham said: "Dodgy online retailers will be able to generate large revenues at least 17.5 per cent of the cost price even if they sell products on at cost. Were not talking about carousel fraud on hundreds of thousands of phones. It will be on a smaller scale but much harder to track."
Alias Dass of Dass Solicitors said: "VAT fraud will move into retail channels because VAT will be collected by retailers. Fraudulent retailers will be able to accumulate lots of VAT over three-month periods put in a dodgy tax return and then either continue for another three months or shut the company right away and set up another."
The European Commission said last week that it would support the UKs application for a reverse charge backed by Germany and Austria. Once approved the plan must be accepted by all EU nations which could be a stumbling block.
"Fraudsters will register companies abroad and run the scam abroad" said Dass. "Traders that traditionally traded through Dubai will now use the UK instead because it will be a VAT-free zone. It will make carousel fraud easier because the UK VAT-free zone is closer."
The Commission wants to implement wider-ranging VAT measures to deal with fraud on a European scale but there is no agreement on what the measures will be.

The appointment coincides with the announcement from the network that it has acquired a stake in hitherto independent service provider Yes Telecom.
The initiatives come after a group-wide strategic review and are an attempt to get Vodafones business house in order following a number of high-level departures.
Bond previously marketing head at the unit will report directly to enterprise business unit director Kyle Whitehill.
Head of indirect sales Rob Sandford will continue to report to corporate sales chief Amanda Baker who has recently been caretaking the sales director role. Baker will report to Bond when he becomes sales director.
Bond has been at Vodafone for 10 years. He spent some years at Vodafone Connect and at the enterprise marketing division. Prior to that he worked at Cable & Wireless for 15 years. He has run channel marketing for three years at Vodafone UK.
Despite his long experience at Vodafone this is Bonds first sales role. However he insists he has the required experience.
"Channel marketing can entail some account management but Ive not done a formal sales role before" he said. "Its true marketing people have a different outlook from sales people. Marketing is perhaps a bit longer term whereas in sales the questions is how can I hit that target right now? But all the dealers know me so this isnt such a major change for me."
Bond was unwilling to go into details about his proposed strategy but he recognised the network has much to do to keep up with current trends in the industry.
"I see a lot happening in our business" he said. "There is a lot going on in broadband. There is a lot of talk about fixed-line. We are seeing some consolidation in the channel and service providers are up for sale."
But he is adamant that the network has not been lagging its opponents.
"Weve not come late into the market" he declared. "Vodafone has been selling fixed-line for some time. Weve been offering broadband for two years. Its true weve not put these offers in the front line. Now customers are asking about these services more we will probably bring them up to the front of the process.
"Change is required and we will be looking at what we need to do but the details havent been finalised. Weve had an internal announcement but now we need to get out and speak to the channel. There are a few businesses out there that are not sure what to think about us at the moment so I am going to get out there to them."
Yes Telecom MD Keith Curran said: "Ive known Mark for some time. I can only see his appointment as extremely positive. He understands our business inside out and Ill probably be working more closely with him than anyone else at Vodafone."