Scottish dealership Telepoint International last week contacted mobile phone dealers across the country to propose the formation of a new independent dealers association. Telepoint director James Hinchley who has employed two extra staff to canvass dealers said he had received positive responses from more than 200 mobile phone retailers in less than a week.
Hinchley said: "Many small dealers trying to influence the policies of the main networks separately is futile. We want to set up an association of independent retailers whose united voice will carry a lot more weight. We have to ask ourselves are the days of the small independent dealer numbered? The answer is yes if we dont stand together to be counted."
Hinchley believes the networks are poaching customers from independent dealers and will erode dealers customer databases to the point that they are worthless if action is not taken. 3 is now contacting customers two months before their contracts expire and upgrading them direct he said.
In a letter to retailers Hinchley said: "Loyalty is a one-way street. Sure this is a cut-throat business but avoiding paying commission and creating clawback charges by pinching customers from small retailers is immoral and despicable.
"We propose to form an Association of Independent Mobile Dealers to convey our grievances to the networks and demand an end to their dirty practices. With sufficient support the trump card we hold is the threat to boycott networks that dont play fair."

Hurring who has been at the company for more than 15 years is said to be leaving because of management differences with Kyle Whitehill Vodafone UKs enterprise business unit director according to sources close to the situation.
A Vodafone spokeswoman denied reports of strife in the department however. She said: "Richard Hurring is leaving the company because he has been offered a job with creative technical agency Marvellous Mobile."
His departure follows the surprise exit of Vodafone director of enterprise sales Chris Huggett last month who was also believed to have clashed with Whitehill.
Hurrings departure follows a long list of high-profile exits from the company over the past 12 months.
Marketing manager Peter Bamford left the company in March and finance director Ken Hydon left last year. Other notable departures include senior manager for business partnerships Jason Rigby and head of dealer sales Iain Graham.
With the retirement of Sir Julian Horn-Smith and Lord Ian MacLaurin from the board in July there are few of Sir Christopher Gents "Newbury boys" left at the company.
Gent who oversaw the firms rapid expansion in the 1980s and 1990s also symbolically severed all ties with Vodafone in March by stepping down as president for life after he reportedly disagreed with CEO Arun Sarins management policy.
Hurrings departure at Vodafone will further fuel rumours of unrest at the company as it tries to regain the confidence of its investors. This follows a rocky few months for the company that included the sale of Vodafone Japan in March.

The first three fights available will be Eubank´s match with Benn in 1990 Storey in 1994 and Godoy in 1995.
Pricing varies from £1.50 to £10. Payment solutions are powered by Activefone and processed by Bango.

Existing Vonage customers can make free calls using a WiFi phone whenever they are in within range of a hotspot including all major airports First Great Western rail stations and more than 4000 pubs and regional hotels across the country.
"Enabling users to make telephone calls while on the move is the inevitable next stage of the VoIP revolution" said Vonage UK managing director Kerry Ritz.
Calls will be included in Vonage´s standard £7.99 a month "Residential Unlimited" package which includes unlimited calls to UK and Irish landlines as well as other Vonage customers worldwide. Users will need to buy a WiFi phone.
The Cloud COO Bobby Sarin added: "We believe it will lead to a huge growth in the VoIP market."

Field´s role will involve O2´s content strategy across all platforms including O2 active i-mode and Visual Radio.
In a statement O2 said her focus would be on driving music strategy as well as taking advantage of content from The O2 music venue which is due to launch next year.
O2 marketing director Russ Shaw commented: "New content remains key for our customers and Tanya will help maintain O2´s momentum in this field."
He added: "She brings to O2 a strong and extremely diverse background in content development and her experience in television will help us to continue to develop compelling content.
"Her knowledge will ensure O2´s customers continue to have access to exciting and engaging content."

Disney Mobile will use the O2 network. The service will target eight-14 year olds and will offer Disney-branded handsets with restricted calling and Internet access within parameters set by parents.
Disney Mobile will be responsible for all aspects of the service including product development distribution marketing customer relations billing and other business operations.
"Parents are looking for a responsible service provided by a trusted brand" said Walt Disney Internet Group Europe managing director Attila Gazdag. "Disney Mobile will build on Disney´s reputation for quality in the family market to create an engaging and dependable mobile experience."
Around 64 per cent of children aged 10 to 15 in the UK now own a mobile phone.
John Carr new technology adviser for children´s charity NCH said: "This is an innovative service that will help both parents and children use mobile phones with greater confidence."
Ovum senior analyst Carrie Pawsey said: "This is a good example of a mobile operator using an MVNO as a segmentation tool."

A survey of 2000 people conducted by Phonesafe mobile phone insurance supplier CPP has revealed that 15 per cent of UK mobile phone users have even imitated the sound of going through a tunnel in order to escape from an unwanted caller.
Phonesafe head Peter Hall said: "It seems there is a double-edged sword when it comes to mobile communications. Mobile phones have made communications easier but they have also allowed us to have more control over who we choose not to communicate with."
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"The spare market is unpredictable and can often reach saturation and the retail environment doesn´t favour older handsets" explained Vodafone liquidation manager Simon Griffiths.
According to the network the decision has had unprecedented success. Sales recoup 60 to 70 per cent of a handset´s cost price as apposed to an average of 30 per cent using traditional selling channels.
"We really needed to initiate a new way to move these less fashionable handsets quickly with maximum returns" said Griffiths.
"The reserve price on eBay means we´re guaranteed to achieve a minimum price online. And subsequent use of the handset provides us with another revenue stream in airtime usage."
Logistics is being handled by Marketworks in conjunction with Royal Mail.
Marketworks international vice-president Kyle Antcliff said: "Vodafone was looking for a new and effective cost-recovery solution for its end-of-line handsets. The outsourced Marketworks/ Royal Mail solution using eBay has achieved excellent results with up to 3000 handsets a week being sold directly to consumers through this new channel."

It has also appointed Simon Button formerly of Australian consumer electronics company Voxson as chief technical officer. Voxson specialises in GSM handset design hardware and software development.
Newing and Button will focus on marketing and product delivery of Benefon´s TWIG brand. Both roles report to Benefon CEO Jonathan Bate.
Newing was responsible for BenQ´s marketing strategy throughout western Europe. He will oversee Benefon´s regional marketing activities.
"Jeremy will help us win our planned market share in each region" said Bate. "Simon will implement our product roadmap over the next two years. They will secure the success of TWIG."

The promotion is available to both pre-pay and contract users whether they are new or existing customers.
Customers who join Virgin Mobile will get a nominated allowance of 1000 free text messages a month to other Virgin Mobile users.
Existing customers will also be able to take advantage of the offer. As all their on-net SMS messages will be free their existing text bundles will be applied to cross-network messages only.
Virgin Mobile sales and marketing director Graeme Hutchinson said: "This offer rewards every customer. Our customers are going to be the most social mobile phone users in Britain this summer."
The promotion is supported by a print and outdoor advertising campaign.
Virgin Mobile currently has 4.34 million customers.