The Security Matters conference will be held in central London on June 28. It will discuss every aspect of mobile telecoms crime and fraud and its effect on the industry.
NMPCU founding officer DI Kenny McDonald will be talking about products most likely to be targeted by violent robbers and security precautions to defeat them. Delegates will also hear about weaknesses in the current GSM/3G billing infrastructure.
See more details and register at
mobilenewsconferences.co.uk or call Nicky Croke on 0207 324 3500.
See advertisement on page 47

This issue´s Mystery Shopper feature indicates that most store staff are unaware of initiatives such as the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit´s (NMPCU) Immobilise database on which consumers can register their phones so that they can be returned if stolen and recovered.
But some prefer to push their own company´s insurance offerings.
DI Kenny McDonald of the NMPCU urged retailers to exploit every opportunity to educate and advise people on how to protect themselves from theft.
He said: "We are disappointed with the standard of crime prevention advice given at the point of sale. There are clearly some individuals who have a reasonable knowledge of the Immobilise register while others have not."
We had hoped the poor results of the previous mystery shopping exercise in Bond Street were isolated as we continue to work very hard with service providers to promote the huge advantages of Immobilise. However it seems much work still needs to be done."
See Mystery Shop page 44

MoCo which has specialised in business connections on O2 and Vodafone now connects five networks. The 3 deal will help it boost consumer connections which now make up around 30 per cent of its business.
MoCo managing director Ian Robinson claimed MoCo´s reputation in the B2B dealer channel would also help 3 establish itself in the enterprise space.
"We are expanding further into the consumer side of things" said Robinson. "It also suits 3´s ambition to enter the B2B market."
MoCo is setting up a B2B dealer club which will reward its top B2B dealers with extra support.

At the same time a German court also issued two injunctions against trademark infringement and design infringement to stop exhibitors showing and selling the fake products.

Ericsson says it found a substantial amount of counterfeit accessories including batteries front panels and cases.

The company says counterfeit products such as chargers antennas and batteries often do not meet Ericssons quality and safety standards and that this can adversely affect talk and standby times.

At CeBIT it is easy to identify companies who market counterfeit products or use our trademark in an illegal way said Niclas Almgren manager of trademark and design protection at Ericsson.

Our activities are ongoing. We follow up the observations made at CeBIT to see whether we need to take legal action.

We want to ensure infringements are dealt with and the number of pirate products minimised.

Plans are in hand to make it easier for consumers to recognise fake Ericsson products.

New-generation Ericsson phones will include a verifying feature to ensure that Ericssons original battery chargers supplied with its new phones are able to sense whether the battery being charged is an Ericsson original or a third party unit.

According to Ericsson if the battery is non-Ericsson supplied and the battery is not authorised (ie not licensed by the company) then the charger will only charge the battery at half the normal rate.

Using this approach will the company says ensure that the battery operates within normal company parameters.

Ericsson carried out similar raids at last years CeBIT show.

The company says it also fights against counterfeiters with other activities such as training and education and running campaigns to warn consumers against counterfeit manufacturers.

It is the 180th Carphone Warehouse outlet in the UK.

The store cost 250000 to fit out and opened last Tuesday (March 16).

Customers can leave their mobile phones to be repaired whle they do the rest of their shopping. They are loaned a pager which alerts them when their phone is ready for collection.

Vodafone distributor Realmgate went into receivership last month (Mobile News March 8).

At present we are unable to indicate whether there will eventually be a surplus available for ordinary creditors said Ernst and Young.

We shall be preparing a report on the receivership within three months of our appointment in accordance with Section 48 of the Insolvency Act (1986).

Ernst and Young are believed to be looking for buyers for Realmgates chain of half a dozen shops.

Ex-Realmgate director Ian Wright is now with Vanguard while Realmgate boss Bob Billingham is talking to JWE Telecom.

Vodafone was apparently investigating Realmgate just before the plug was pulled.

This was one of the conclusions of the ERMES MoU Association which met last month for the first of a series of brainstorming sessions to generate ideas for the future direction of the paging industry.

E-mail forwarding was also cited as a strong potential growth area as well as the provision of value-added services.

It was agreed that the image of paging needs to be modernised and that support is needed from manufacturers to produce terminals which reflect todays design trend.

The Group Vision meeting was very productive. I hope that it has provided very tangible results for our members in the form of new ideas and focuses in order to help develop their businesses said ERMES Marketing Working Group chairman Ivan Nedvidek.

It is crucial the paging industry reviews its current position in the telecommunications market and assess areas which have the potential to develop.

We plan to hold further sessions throughout the year.

The promotion takes place until April 13. It is open to people who call in at any one of 240 Vodafone stores where they can enter the competition to win the party by ranking the features of the Nokia 9110 in order of importance.

Winners can spend up to 40000 on a party at any time during next year with the help of professional party organisers.

Ten runners up will receive a digital camera and another 200 entrants will get a bottle of champagne.

Vodafone employees are not allowed to enter.

The accessories company was formed in October 1997.

The award given by trade journal Telefonica y Comunicaciones was presented to managing director Shini Oberoi last week.

The two companies have now agreed to settle their disputes world-wide and have agreed to work together to support a single CDMA standard with three optional modes.

Under the terms of the agreement Ericsson is buying Qualcomms terrestrial CDMA infrastructure business based in San Diego and Boulder Colorado.

Qualcomm gets the rights to sublicense Ericsson patents. The two organisations have also promised the International Telecommunications Union and other standards bodies they will license their CDMA patents to the rest of the industry without discrimination.

The GSM Association which represents operators regulators and administrations from 129 countries welcomed Ericsson and Qualcomm making peace.

The agreement enables 3rd generation standards developments to proceed at full pace said GSM Association chairman Richard Midgett.