The Symbian members hope to displace Microsofts Windows CE as the world standard operating system for Smart Phones and Communicators.

Motorola understands the value of partnerships to help enable the growth of industry through standards said Merle Gilmore president of Motorola Communications Enterprise.

This will be of interest to manufacturers of GSM phones who found themselves enmeshed in legal wrangles over use of Motorolas GSM patents.

The press advert which carries the tag-line The Internet wherever you are depicts someone holding a mobile and searching for the latest fashion while a fashion show is depicted in the background. Orange complained that T-Mobile only has geographical coverage of only 86 per cent of the country.
The ASA upheld the complaint on the grounds that the phrase was misleading even though T-Mobile pointed out that the ad featured a subject to coverage disclaimer.

According to reports from some of the leading distributors including MoCo Cell Link and Fone Logistics the network s most popular tariffs are being taken up in unprecedented numbers.
T-Mobile s Relax 200 was MoCo s third most successful tariff of the month while U-Fix off-peak 750 and 100 scored third and fourth respectively with Fone Logistics.
However 3 fought back with a new deal on the LG Muse UA80 which added 50 to the commission. It also scored highly with the two distributors dealers over its Video Talk and Text tariffs.
3 s VTT 700 was the top tariff in January for Fone Logistics and the fourth most popular with MoCo s customers.
A MoCo Cell Link spokesman observed that this was because it is the only VTT tariff that offers half-price line rental for six months.
3 s VTT tariff also scored as the third-highest seller with Anglia Telecom although a spokesman said that most of its dealers had scored better with business tariffs than consumer in January.
Orange was also strong scoring as the top tariff for MoCo with its Value Promise on the O2 400 tariff and coming second for Fone Logistics with its any network anytime 200 offering.
T-Mobile wouldn t have come in third six months ago noted MoCo head of communication and operations Harvey Alexander. It would have been fifth or not on the scale at all. It s got there because of a consistent price book competitive commissions and good stock allocation.

Grouptrade has been servicing the dealer market for years he said. I m looking at its overall strategy and hopefully filling some of the partnerships that may be missing with networks and manufacturers.
My role is to assist in growing its position by the introduction of strong partners new products and possible acquisitions.
He admitted the loss of Euro Cellular had hit him quite hard .
I took some time off and about a year ago started doing some consulting and waited for the right position. I ve known TAP for a long time and kept in touch.
However Donaldson said he had learned a lot from the demise of the company.
One of the big factors with Euro Cellular was content. We had things in place four years ago that in the past year have become commonplace. The industry is ready for a number of new products and content-driven services.

The firm said it had sufficient evidence to pursue the action and that it had instructed specialist counsel to draft a letter to Customs.
Customs will be given up to 14 days to respond. If HMRC doesn t concede to all the points set out in the letter the firm said it would issue it with proceedings.
Dass Solicitors said it had in its possession numerous letters from banks which are almost identical indicating that a policy against mobile telephone and CPU traders exists and that there has been co-ordination between Customs and the banks .
Dass Solicitors also claimed to have a witness statement about telephone conversations involving a senior HMRC official which confirm the policy.
A Customs spokesman said: We do talk to banks and give them a profile of the types of accounts that could be of concern and be considered for reporting under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
It is Customs view that whether commercial banks wish to continue to hold traders accounts or decide to close them is a commercial decision for the banks to make of their own accord based on their own risk analysis.
Alias Dass partner at Dass Solicitors said in a statement to traders:
We are proposing to bring an action against HMRC by way of judicial review for adopting an unlawful policy of putting pressure on the banks to close the accounts of mobile telephone and CPU traders.

A spokesperson admitted the network was planning to launch a new business tariff but declined to elaborate. However he said that Flext was part of a bigger picture and stressed that: This is a customer service war not a price war.
The move comes after favourable dealer reaction to the new Flext tariffs which will be launched through the independent channel as well as T-Mobile channels on March 1.
Flext is based on the amount spent each month rather than bundling voice minutes or texts. A customer pays a fixed tariff that they can use on whatever mix of minutes texts voicemail and picture messaging they want. Call rates start at 3.9p a minute with texts at 1.94p each.
For example Flext 35 cost 35 a month and gives 900 minutes of talk time or 1800 texts or any combination of these. Voicemail is 10p a minute and picture messages are 20p each.
Flext customers will automatically be sent a free text message each week telling them their running balance. Every six months they will also receive a BestPlan check-up to see if they would be better off moving up or down the Flext tariff scale which runs from 20 to 75 a month.
T-Mobile UK managing director Jim Hyde said T-Mobile would promote Flext via a 10 million-plus advertising and promotional campaign that kicks off next month.
We intend to grow our market share and simple fair value to customers is at the heart of this. Mobile costs are too high; tariffs are too complicated and rigid and customers often feel ripped-off when their actual bills frequently exceed what they think they d signed-up for. This is no way to encourage loyalty and usage.
Dealers reckon Flext has a lot of mileage. Sajid Abubaker of Capital Connections said: The new T-Mobile tariffs are superb. It is going for connections and targeting 3 and it will ruffle a few feathers. Flext is a fantastic concept. For 35 you get 180 credit. It s an absolute winner.
Jas Singh of west london-based chain Microline added: Flext looks good. Combining one monthly cost to spend on what users want is an attractive proposition. Lots of customers have wastage and this will be a way to counter that as well as bill shock. I think it should be good news and T-Mobile will be putting extra money in it as it will want to push it.
l This week T-Mobile announced the launch of two pink handsets. The Nokia 6111 and the LG C3300 are both exclusive to T-Mobile for a limited period.

Gary Bridger of Airwaves Communications said:
Commissions have been slashed because call centres are ringing people up offering them a 10 per cent discount to re-sign their contract and not telling them they won t get a handset with it.
He added: Call centres are being economical with the truth. Like all things Orange it was a good idea that was never properly tested out and now it s been abused. It just created confusion.
Paul Leonard of Sprint Communications commented: It s a good idea in theory but because it was an upgrade without a phone it did leave it open to abuse. In practice I don t think it has achieved what Orange wanted it to do.
He added: I think this change in commissions is its way of addressing this. Commissions are like a tap it turns things on or off.
Another dealer said: They ve taken the commissions out of no kit upgrades and it has made it impossible for dealers to sell it.
In a statement Orange responded:
Following a commercial review we have now decided to reduce the commissions on this non-handset upgrade activity. The loyalty programme is ongoing and will continue to provide dealers with innovative commission opportunities.
l Meanwhile there is a question mark over Orange s long-running Orange Value Promise (OVP) scheme. One dealer said: OVP is being slowly killed off. It s not as lucrative as it used to be and Orange is not putting a lot of money into it.
An Orange spokesman remained non-committal about the future of the longstanding tariff.
We have no plans at present to remove OVP he said but like all businesses we are constantly reviewing our offers and making adjustments where necessary for commercial reasons.

We are on a big dealer recruitment drive said European Telecom network services director Frank Masson.
Since its takeover by Israeli handset manufacturer Emblaze Mobile late last year Masson said European Telecom s armoury is much bigger now. We feel inclined to tell more dealers about it. I intend to hit the high street and everyone in it to canvass for more dealers. We are using our own UK-based call centre and we ve added an Indian call centre to take the overspill. We want to get the message across.
But Matt Chambers of The Phone Chamber in Edenbridge said:
I ve had six phone calls this week from European Telecom sales reps based in India rattling off a script and trying to sell me a dealer pack.
You ve got to be suspicious of any company that uses an offshore call centre he said. There is a lot of trust in that relationship. ET should phone from home not from abroad.
Since the Emblaze takeover European Telecom has started to flesh out its new BT account and has just begun to offer accessories via subsidiary distributor Comm Sense which it acquired in February 2005.
We are just now ready to go to market to sell accessories so that is another step forward said Masson.
We can now offer a full range of accessories including PDAs and satnav. The BT deal means we can sell broadband and DECT phones as well. That is another reason to contact dealers to tell them about it.
European Telecom has also appointed Matt Ogden as head of network business. Ogden spent 14 years at Nokia as national account manager on The Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U.
It is a big appointment for us said Masson. Matt has a lot of experience.

The store is understood to span 5000 square feet and could provide a springboard for the three to expand further into out-of-town sites together according to trade paper Retail Week.
Rent for the store thought to go under the internal code name of Electric City is understood to be shared equally between the three collaborators although each has its own store staff in separate branded areas.
A Jessops spokesman confirmed that its section will not be stocking mobile phones to avoid the danger of a clash with The Carphone Warehouse. Jessops signed a two-year deal with Dextra in August last year.
Carphone has declined to comment on the superstore project.

Hugh Symons says it is now the first distributor to offer all six networks to its dealer network. The contracts will be initially offered to Hugh Symons 75 preferred Unity Partnership dealers. Other Hugh Symons dealers will be handed the Virgin product a matter of weeks later according to business manager Bob Sweetlove.
This is clear evidence of how the Carphone Warehouse acquisition is allowing us to start to lead the market he said. We expect to roll it out quite quickly probably by March. We ll have to because everyone is going to be knocking on our door for it.
The deal is the first product since CPW bought the distributor in December. The chain is the only non-Virgin retailer to offer Virgin Mobile contracts in all its stores. The Link and Boots have only limited availability.
It s a very exciting time for Virgin Mobile to move into independent mobile retailers said Virgin Mobile sales and marketing director Graeme Hutchinson.
Following our initial contract launch with The Carphone Warehouse this next step with Hugh Symons is a natural progression he said. Our contract proposition is proving popular and we are looking to widen distribution even further over the next few months to more dealers and other outlets.
Rival distributors appear unsurprised by the announcement given the relationship between Hugh Symons and Carphone Warehouse. Indeed some welcomed the prospect of Virgin Pay Monthly contracts being made available to their own customers.
It would be something to look at said a spokesman for Fone Logistics. Virgin is a very strong brand. We d like to know what sort of deal Hugh Symons was given and how level the playing field is between them and us.