The company says it receives all its information directly from suppliers who pay them a commission to run their service on the web site.

The free on-line mobile phone calculator allows anyone with internet access to identify the best deal by entering their expected call minutes per month whether they expect to make calls at peak or off-peak and whether their calls will be local or national.

The calculator makes buying a mobile phone and netting the best possible deal a piece of cake claims buy.co.uks managing director David Graham.

Graham also runs an independent business purchasing consultancy called The Cost Reduction Partnership which does work for companies that include Securicor Fortnum and Mason ASDA ITN and Sothebys.

Oberthur is to develop systems for MasterCard Credit and Debit Maestro Mondex and M/Chip MasterCards chip-based card.

The move follows MasterCards formation last November of its Global Mobile Commerce Team to focus on the convergence of the card payments and mobile telephony industries.

Oberthur will designate MasterCard as its preferred payment brand for mobile commerce transactions in its ad campaigns.

MasterCard has 23000 member financial institutions serving consumers in 220 countries and territories.

Nearly 700 million MasterCard Maestro Cirrus and Mondex cards are in circulation.

Creating a spectrum market would help make spectrum available more quickly for new services as business could bypass spectrum shortage bottlenecks said DTI telecoms minister Michael Wills.

Our aim is to create a strong and competitive market that provides access to radio spectrum for a broad diversity of radio users and enhances the long-term contribution of radio to competitiveness enterprise and the knowledge-driven economy.

Radio spectrum is an essential raw material for building the UKs knowledge driven economy but it is a finite resource subject to increasing and competing demands.

This growth is expected to continue at a rate of 40 to 50 per cent this year.

The introduction of high speed data and General Packet Radio Services later this year is expected to contribute massively towards this growth in text messaging.

The GSM Association has formed a Data Task Force to share operator experiences on GSM data and text services and develop standards to promote more interoperability and data roaming.

The show is Channel 4s top-rated programme. Ericsson says the Frasier audience profile closely matches its own target audience and that its audience research indicates Frasier viewers are more likely to purchase an Ericsson phone than another brand.

The sponsorship gives Ericsson four commercials around the show.

There are three new commercials which will rotate over the next 21 episodes. They feature the familiar Ericsson strap-line Make Yourself heard.

Until now text messaging has only been possible between customers restricted to one network.

Weve been calling or such an interconnect agreement between UK networks since we launched text messaging almost five years ago and I have been instrumental in making it a reality claimed Oranges chief operating office and group director of UK operations Bob Fuller.

Over the next few months Orange customers will find sending text messages to customers of other networks phones as easy as sending text messages from their own phone.

Orange expects the introduction of text messaging across all the networks to increase and usage and uptake of the service.

Like Vodafone which recently launched a series of campaigns aimed at boosting SMS usage in the youth and pre-pay markets.

Orange has been working to raise the awareness of text messaging with bill stuffers and explanations in its customer magazine.

Vodafone has been trialling SMS interconnect since April 9 and will offer cross-network SMS connection from early May.

The network says in the past six months SMS messaging on the Vodafone network has increase by more than 350 per cent.

As an introductory offer the cost of sending a message from an Orange phone will be the same regardless of the network the message is sent to. Prices depend on Talk Plan and start at 4p a minute.

The system is from Dataview Solutions and uses maps from the AA and postcode data as well as information written for Orange.

Extra information can be added such as places of interest planned coverage or known repairs scheduled on the network.

Orange says it gets up to 100000 calls a day into its customer service centres.

The new stores are on Princess Street in Edinburgh Buchanan Street in Glasgow and Union Street in Abderdeen.

The interiors will be decked out in striking interiors designed to reflect the Nokia brand image.

The stores are unlike any other type of mobile phone store in Scotland claimed DX boss Richard Emanuel.

In addition to the full range of Nokia products and accessories theyll offer connections to all four networks.

Emanuel says the Nokia stores are part of a pan-European programme and will offer Scottish consumers a completely new dimension in mobile phone retailing

Added Nokia marketing manager Alison Brolls:

The stores will service the countrys growing number of Nokia users.

As it turns out Ericsson has taken a totally different approach. One that is likely to be greatly welcomed by the small independent dealers. Unlike Nokia which teamed up with The Carphone Warehouse last year to launch a flagship store in Londons Regent Street

Ericsson has turned to existing dealers and given them the chance to have their own stores rebranded with the Ericsson name.

Vijay Anand channel marketing manager for Ericsson who explained a little bit more about the concept and the plans for the future.

Anand was proud of the fact that these new retail outlets will not be competing against dealers but that Ericsson will using them to further promote the Ericsson brand.

While others have written off the small dealers we realise just how important they are to our whole business. This concept has not only been formed to maximise customer awareness but also to develop new and innovative ways to work closer with loyal dealers.

This is something that Ericsson has always been proud of and they do not seem to want to change this.

Over 100 stores will benefit from the five-year association with Ericsson which includes bright illuminated shop signs window displays in-store promotions and point of sale.

The name of the dealership will stay the same and the individual identities and layout will still be under the control of the owner. The scheme is also nationwide with an initial roll out of 10 stores for; Scotland North West North East East Midlands West Midlands Home Counties North London South London South East and South West.

The various regional managers who regularly visited stores throughout the country chose the initial stores that were signed up. The criteria included how loyal the dealer was to Ericsson sales of Ericsson products over the last three years attendance at dealer events road shows and other in store promotions.

Although stores who are signed up must meet a certain criteria the conditions are not as tight as one might expect. While Ericsson will look at existing sales figures and loyalty to date they will also look at expansion plans and how keen a dealership is to promote Ericsson in the future.

Even Ericsson would admit that some of their more recent products have lacked the same flair as the competition. So its not unreasonable to expect some dealers may not have wanted to push their products as vigorously as the rest.

Catching up with Nokia and Motorola has however been top of the agenda and Ericsson seems to be doing a pretty good job following the massive line-up shown at CeBIT last month.

Anand stressed It is important that the dealers know about Ericsson products. Which is probably why Ericsson regularly host dealer events and set up an online web site for dealers only.

Dealers who are not associated with this scheme are still able to benefit from the online Ericsson Partner Network so all is not lost even if getting signed up may not be possible straight away.

Dealers who are lucky enough to be signed up are not committed to exclusively selling Ericsson products either. They can connect any phone on any network. Obviously Ericsson is hoping that with so many new and exciting phones being released this year from Ericsson (T18 T28 A1018 R250 R380 and the MC218 organiser) this is the perfect time to start promoting the Ericsson branding in advance.

The actual cost of rebranding each store wasnt revealed clearly as it will vary from dealer to dealer. Planning permission from local councils has also been a slight problem for some dealerships. Although it is only a matter of paperwork to get this sorted out.

Ericsson plans to operate this partnership for at least the next five years demonstrating Ericssons commitment to the independent dealer channel. Anand added: We did not want to compete with dealers but work with them. By using existing dealers we are not attacking the very people that create so many sales for us.

This is something that many feel Nokia did when they opened a store in the West End that managed to sell some products that other dealers couldnt even get.

The campaign is designed to make business travellers aware that they can use an

Orange (dual-band) phone in more than 85 countries.

The first phase of the promotion started last week and will run until the end of April. It will continue in the summer and be extended to target leisure travellers at holiday-flight airports Luton Gatwick and Stanstead. The emphasis will return to business travellers in the Autumn.

The campaign is to raise awareness of Oranges international roaming capabilities and help us change perception amongst business travellers that Orange is the best network to meet their needs around the world said Orange chief operating officer and group director of UK operations Bob Fuller.

The creative theme of the campaign uses travel images mixed with Oranges style.

So one backlit poster shows orange jet trails coming out of a black sky.

Orange claims it was the first UK digital network to enable its customers to make and receive calls with a dual-band phone on every available digital network in the European Union.

By the end of the summer Orange expects to be able to offer roaming on at least 180 networks in 93 countries and by the end of the year 200 networks in 100 countries.