Unemployed Stephane Menuier (28) of Blackhorse Road Walthamstow East London is charged with stealing the phone at the Maroush restaurant in Edgware Road Paddington on January 31.

As he was led away District Judge Rosamond Keating asked the interpreter what mobile phone was in French and was told portable.

The system is now also available in the UK with the Lotus Domino server as well as Microsoft Exchange platforms a move which at a stroke doubles its market.

Half of the corporate sector uses Lotus. Previously BlackBerry was only available to customers in the UK using MS Exchange. The new development now means it is available to almost all businesses.

BlackBerry operates over BTCellnets GPRS network forwarding emails directly to the users BlackBerry wireless handheld.

There is no need to log on or dial in as the device enables users to be always connected to their business email account. Users are able to securely receive read and respond to messages wherever they are.

BlackBerry is now the only end-to-end wireless email solution on the market to offer businesses the choice of Lotus Domino or MS

Exchange said Pete Richardson BTCellnet director of business markets.

Nearly twice as many businesses can now use BlackBerry as the productivity tool of choice for working on the move said Richardson.

BlackBerry was developed and manufactured by Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM) and was launched in the UK through BTCellnet last September.

BTCellnet says its research has shown that office workers spend on average 20 per cent of their working day dealing with email messages.

The NCC says the justifications of the four network operators for call termination charges are

irrelevant.

In giving evidence to the Competition Commission the NCC said real competitive pressures barely exist in charges for calls to mobile phones.

Consumers hold negligible market power because they have no real choice over the network they call. When they phone a mobile on a different network consumers are captive and must pay a call termination charge to the receiving network. There is little consumers can to do avoid these charges the NCC told the commission.

BTCellnet says this will enable it to offer its GPRS customers seamless access to the data services they use in the UK when travelling abroad with an always on connection that is high-speed and secure.

The Cable & Wireless GRX deal gives BTCellnet direct access to more than 15 GPRS operators. GRX was launched last May and Cable & Wireless says it has the potential to carry GPRS traffic to more than 70 countries.

It uses a dedicated global

Internet Protocol-based network to keep calls secure.

Most of the growth comes from the US and Europe adds a 500 report from Baskerville part of the Informa Telecoms and Media Group.

Mobile music is a dynamic new market which is likely to expand significantly. At the moment the vast majority of revenues are generated though the sale of ring tones say the reports authors.

They add: This sector has grown at a phenomenal rate despite the limitations of sound quality. However the ring tone market is likely to pave the way for the eventual uptake of more elaborate mobile music.

The mobility of music has become an important part of consumers music consumption claims the report. Making a connection to the mobile phone is a natural upgrade. Cellular networks are an ideal platform in brand and user demography for record labels.

Motorola has given first supplies of its new V.70 to Orange The phone includes a keypad cover that rotates 360 degrees blue backlit display and keypad GPRS and voice activation. It will go on sale at the beginning of April.

Motorists key in details of their journey and receive information on where the jams are.

The AAs service is an industry-first for wireless PDAs and is only available on the O2 xda said Amer Hasan O2 data products manager.

The Route Planner and Roadwatch service provides regular traffic updates. Information can be stored on or e-mailed from the xda.

The travel service is part of the free myO2 portal which comes pre-installed on the xda. Users only pay for the data used in accessing the services.

Cynics might suggest that this is a consequence of the rip-off tariffs charged by the networks here. But as network chiefs have repeatedly pointed out Irish users feel its good to talk.

And with subscriber numbers no longer being an accurate guide to profitability the average revenue per user (ARPU) figures revealed Irish consumers spend the most.

On the same day that mm02 announced 1900 job cuts and 133 store closures Digifone breathed a sigh of relief with no major changes ahead for the Irish operation.

The hit was being taken squarely by Cellnet in the UK and VIAG Interkom in Germany. In the last three months of 2001 Digifone added 57000 customers with pre-pay still the most dominant. Only 5000 of the total took a contract. The company now has a user base of 1162000.

ircell Vodafones figures for the same period are better with the 90000 who joined in the last quarter giving it a total of 1701000. Figures for Meteor are expected next week when the network celebrates its first year of operations.

Meteoric year

Meteor Mobile is celebrating its first year of operations. Not just by providing additional choice to the marketplace but in ending the so-called cosy duopoly.

On February 22 last year Meteor Mobile opened for business over two years late and with the unenviable task of carving a slice out of an already saturated market.

The company had an eventful 12 months. But apart from a staff party at the companys call and operations centre at Dublins Citywest campus it will be business as usual.

MD David Sims is also expected to announce Meteors connection figures. Despite a general gloom within the industry the company appears to have hit its intended launch targets.

Meteor has still not given any indication whether it will take up the option of a 3G licence Sims says the IR 90 million licence fee was very steep and would have to be reflected in existing user bills. With six weeks left to decide time is running out.

Meteor Mobile is almost entirely owned by US interests; 81.5 per cent by Western

Wireless and 18 per cent by Soros Fund Management. The remaining 0.5 per cent is owned by an Irish businessman leaving Meteor the only network with a single native shareholder.

Doomsday for Digifone name

The countdown has begun. On February 2 it was 100 days until the Digifone brand is consigned to history. Along with networks in Germany the Netherlands and the UK May 13 was chosen for the emergence of Digifones new 02 persona. The first phase is already underway with a mailshot to its million-plus customers.

Phase 2 begins next month with a multimedia campaign aimed at promoting the metamorphosis into O2. With the prospect of Irelands general election being called the same week media buyers on all sides may find hoarding space tighter than usual.

Sigma on standby

The starting gun has sounded on the countrys 3G licence competition and analysts have been searching for the new contender.

The incumbents are all assured a licence if they want one. But space has been left for a new operator which will be given the opportunity to build a 3G system from scratch without having any pre-existing cellular infrastructure.

To help ease the pain the new player will be able to become a virtual network operator of one of the other operators until it has enough coverage to make it viable.

One company tipped to be more than just interested is Sigma Wireless the Finglas-based operation better known as Motorolas Irish partner. Sigma isnt new to the rigours of wireless competition.

As a member of the Persona consortium (along with ESB Motorola and Unisource) it was unsuccessful in its bid for Irelands second GSM licence which was eventually won by Esat Digifone.

The Tribunal is still out on whether Digifone got its licence fairly. Indications are that Sigma will not be slow to seek Government compensation if irregularities in the licence award process are confirmed.

On the retail front Sigma did well out of its disposal of 49 per cent of the Person 2 Person (P2P) retail chain to Vodafone ircell. Sigma also operates the largest cellular repair centre in the country. The company is expected to seek significant equity funding for two of its operational divisions.

Secret service

The two UK-owned Irish networks are routinely storing all billing and operational data records of their customers for a period of six years.

Irelands Data Protection agency is being drawn into the debate due to the data being retained for a period longer than is necessary for the purpose for which it is given.

At issue is whether the mobile subscriber has expressly given permission for their call records and location information to be data warehoused in this way.

This falls foul of the requirement of such data being acquired fairly and openly as required by Irish and European law. Because both networks are headquartered outwith the Republic policing of the issue will most likely be referred to the European Court. Formal complaints are expected to be lodged within the next few months.

The110000 pixel CMOS sensor module is just 7×7.6×4.9mm which makes it half the size of the previous model. A 16-bit single-chip microcontroller (the clever part) gives image adjustment features such as exposure control and image processing. Sample shipments begin in May. After which there will be no privacy for anyone in the world.

Talking about European

Telecoms award as leading Orange distributor McKinney told Mobile News:

We have always stated we are considering all options. The Orange award proves distribution is not a down-and-out business. The fact that we are number one is something we want to retain. On top of that we are seeing improving performance with One 2 One.

Our focus is to continue to supply the same level of service to our dealers. At the same time we are always looking at different aspects of the business and how we can reduce costs. The industry will go through further consolidation at all levels.

McKinney also said the recent departure of non-executive director Mike McTighe was down to increasing commitments in his day-to-day role as chief executive officer of fixed-line operator Carrier1.

Adds McKinney:

Mike simply doesnt have the time to give us anymore because his hands are full at Carrier 1.

He became CEO there about three or four months ago. He was only spending a day per month here and was involved when he needed to be.

Unfortunately he doesnt have the time any longer. It isnt any good for him or us if he cant attend board meetings because of his other commitments (see White Lines).