The trials start this month and involves offering Maxon phones upgraded with Cursor location software by Cambridge Position Systems to 250 business users and consumers.

The trials precede the full commercial launch of the Cursor system planned for later this year.

The trialists will call the AA over the Vodafone network to access an SMS menu of location-specific services such as where the nearest bank cinema garage tourist site etc is.

The Cursor system works with any GSM network and is claimed to be accurate to within 125 metres. This is better than the requirements of a recent directive in America which requires by 2001 all emergency calls made on a mobile to identify the callers location.

The ability to identify the location of a mobile phone user paves the way for a whole new range of services for our customers said Alan Harper newly-appointed managing director of the Vodafone network.

Participating in the Cursor trial will help us to further identify customers requirements for location-based services Harper added.

Craig Blount general manager of AA Telematics said:

Understanding the precise location of a caller enables the AA to improve the relevance of the services that it offers. A major benefit of this technology is that we can be more confident about a members location when they break down.

The Cursor system involves a minor software upgrade to any GSM phone at its production stage. It uses a system called Enhanced Observed Time Difference to calculate the phones position relative to its nearest base station.

Cambridge Positioning Systems is a venture-capital-backed organisation formed just over three years ago to develop just such a software-based positioning system.

When most customers start to understand the hidden costs of other tariffs they soon realise that Orange Talk Plans offer them better value on a best performing network said Orange chief operating officer and group director of UK operations Bob Fuller.

Fullers comments come as Orange confirmed it would be extending its OVP to cover all recently-announced competitor tariffs including the 10p/2p deal announced by One 2 One last month.

Orange launched the OVP last October as an offer to replicate all operators most popular tariffs.

The last month has seen too much attention placed on price Fuller added.

Buying a mobile is not just about the headline offers. Customers need to understand what is included with a tariff.

With the announcement that Orange is extending the OVP to include all new competitor tariffs Orange is highlighting the fact that we offer the best value on the best network.

Orange estimates its Orange Care Package given to all Talk Plan customers is worth 60 a year in free insurance three-year handset warranty 24-hour handset replacement service and free calls to customers service free conference calling free group messaging caller ID call waiting call divert and call barring.

The network says it now has over 2.6 million customers and has reached 80 per cent geographic coverage and 98 per cent population coverage with more than 5300 sites (with 10000 targeted by 2001).

he film will have its European premier today in Italy and in the rest of Europe during summer 1999.

This is the second time Nokia products have been placed in a blockbuster movie. The first was the appearance of the Nokia Communicator in The Saint two years ago.

The Matrix explores the theme of the world being a computer-modelled dream created by robots to distract human minds while using human bodies as disposable sources of energy?

Keanu Reeves plays a hacker who breaks into the parallel reality of The Matrix computer using among other things futuristic communication technology from Nokia.

Nokia is proud to see that the makers of The Matrix have chosen Nokias mobile phones to be used in their film said Heikki Norta general manager marketing services Nokia Mobile Phones Europe and Africa.

A range of promotional material and a related competition will be launched through Nokias website www.nokia.com from June 10.

Mobile phone manufacturers are increasingly seeing movies as a route to market.

Ericsson supplied a futuristic phone for use in the last James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies while Motorola co-operated in the making of the new Bond The World is Not Enough by allowing its Groundswell Swindon factory to be used as a location.

Last year Philips had its phones featured in the Tony Scott-directed thriller Enemy of the State.

Dean Richard Gent (27) of Westbury Court Park Road Beckenham Kent is charged with stealing 130 belonging to Harrods at The Carphone Warehouse on November 26 last year.

He was ordered to appear at the Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on June 4.

Due in 2002 the third-generation will provide high bandwidth multimedia services to mobile phones anywhere in the world.

KSCL says until now forum members have come from network operators network vendors and handset manufacturers.

Not only are we creating software that conforms to UMTS standards we are playing an active part in creating and shaping those standards said Kingston-SCL head of product development Richard Brand who is a regular speaker at UMTS seminars.

Kingston-SCL reckons that more than 15 million cellular subscribers worldwide have their bills processed by its software which generates more than 180 million bills a year in 30 countries.

Called the SGH-800 the phone provides push-button internet and email access through an Unwired Planet browser installed in the phone.

The SGH-8000 will be available to end users in the fourth quarter of this year.

As people become increasingly dependent on e-mail and access to internet-based services wireless telephones providing mobile access to these resources will become a vital tool according the Samsungs general manager for telecoms Jonathan Bate.

Samsung is also beefing up its dual-band range with the launch of the new SGH-2100 and SGH-2200. The SGH-2100 weighs in at just 115g and comes with voice-activated dialling. The SGH-2200 is even lighter at 95g which Samsung says makes it the lightest dual-band on the market.

The new Samsung mobile phones will be marketed in a range of metallic colours. An optional soft data modem kit allows connection to a laptop or PC without the need for a PCMCIA data card.

Korean-owned Samsung claims it is the worlds third largest electronics company and the worlds leading supplier of CDMA systems.

Nokia launched its first WAP phone the large-screen 7110 at the GSM World Con-gress in Cannes in February.

Messages cost 18p each. England captain Alex Stewart has done a welcome message for customers the first time they dial the service. Vodafone is the official sponsor of the Cricket World Cup.

Also a new business development director has been hired. he is Ross Caldwell who joins from Nortel. Ora has taken on a new operations director Duncan Sproul who has worked at Filofax.

I intend to distance Ora from the competition said Ora founder and chairman Malcolm Hanson.

My primary objective is to further develop the companys highly-successful call centre by working with our key customers on tailored promotions.

Ora says its sales are more than 50 per cent up since its new financial year started. The comany recently hired a new managing director New Zealander Ken Edmonds who moved from Nortel.

Carphone Warehouse co-founders Charles Dunstone and David Ross have bought the controlling interest of Tecno from Pizza Express chairman Luke Johnson and Richer Sounds founder Julian Richer after the four businessmen together bought Tecno in November 1997.

We already partly owned Tecno. What became increasingly apparent was the synergy between retailing mobile phones and photographic equipment said Dunstone.

Outstanding customer service and independent partial advice are as important in the photographic market. We look forward to developing Tecno alongside our existing UK and continental European operations.

Tecno has 28 stores in most major cities in the UK and employs more than 150 people.

Also The Carphone Warehouse has hired WH Smith merchandising planner Fiona Perera as its new visual merchandising manager.

Perera who has also worked in a similar role for Safeway and Wickes will be in charge of ensuring all 180 Carphone Warehouse outlets conform to a consistent identity.

As competition on the High Street intensifies and the company continues to grow it is vital we maintain a consistent identity. But we need to also be flexible enough to adapt to the range of products and services on offer while communicating our approach to the customer said group marketing director Lesley Angus.