Cityphone marketing manager Julian Parven says the move is to allow Cityphone to concentrate on distribution:

Retail isnt our focus. The history and background of Cityphone is distribution. We only ended up with a chain of stores as many businesses went into trouble. We needed the stores to maintain our distribution said Parven.

Franchisees will be offered competitive commission on handsets and airtime. Cityphone will pay rent subsidies to the stores based on the amount of new contracts connected each month. The stores will come complete with an EPOS system that links into Cityphones distribution centre.

Franchisees will be also able to obtain licences to open stores in new locations using The WAP Store or Talk4All branding.

Cityphones Talk4All shops are based in the North East North West West Midlands and South London. The 30 WAP stores purchased in January this year are based in East Anglia Kent and Sussex. Parven claims that the franchise opportunity will offer dealers a better package than if they were to work directly with the networks.

Dealers wont get a better deal from the networks he said.

A letter was sent to Telecom South creditors last week by Woking based insolvency firm BTA Associates.

BTA consultant Michael Bowell declined to say whether the company was being wound up. However creditors have been asked to send details of any monies owed to them by Telecom South.

Telecom South is believed to owe hundreds of thousands of pounds to creditors. Dorset service provider Anglo Communications could be owed at least 200000 for airtime used by Telecom South customers.

Anglo business development director Alan Barry told Mobile News:

Telecom South had paid off around 50000 of a 250000 debt. We are not sure whether this will increase due to possible clawbacks.

Telecom South managing director Clive Thomas was unavailable for comment.

Unemployed Mark Geddis 27 of London had his bail plea rejected by District Judge Roger Davies who ordered him to appear at the Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court for a preliminary hearing.

He is charged with robbing Ryan Maher of 100 at Paddington train station at 4am on January 2.

In a similar case a Colombian chef charged with stealing credit cards and a mobile phone from a tourist has been jailed for four months while his wife who received the phone was given a hundred hours of community service.

Andreas Martinez and Ana Gutierrez of Camden London appeared at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court two days before Christmas.

Martinez had been found guilty of stealing credit cards from a tourists handbag at Ronnie Scotts nightclub in Soho London in February 2002 at a previous hearing. His wife was found guilty of dishonestly receiving a stolen Nokia phone.

Handsets have to be tailored so that they take into account the customers desires and the networks requirements. We have video on demand but there is no point in launching it if the networks arent ready said Samsung UK general manager Mark Mitchinson.

Samsung will only launch one phone this year. This will be the tri-band S100 which comes with GPRS Java colour screen and polyphonic sound. It will not be a camera phone to match those from Nokia Sharp and Sony Ericsson while MMS-capable phones will be launched next year.

Having created a wow effect with the colour screen and polyphonic sound of the T100 Samsung could have launched a new wave of handsets. But Mitchinson believes ensuring the products are tailored for the market is more important.

We dont want to rush out unreliable products like some of our competitors. It is more important to get the design right and ensure that when our product comes out it gives the best experience. Everyone is going to have colour screens polyphonic sound and MMS. Our goal is to ensure we have the best.

Everyone is trying to increase ARPU while at the same time moving away from a volume model. But sales staff still work on commissions. There is no point in manufacturers making great products and networks adding great packages if the retailer lets us down.

We need to be working with the retailers to ensure that they have all the help they need to sell the handsets.

To achieve this there will be more Samsung roadshows where dealers will learn about the products and liaise with Samsung merchandisers.

We have about 12 per cent of the UK handset market. In the independent channel this is seven per cent. So there is room to improve.

Mitchinson also said that the new handset lines would be high-end products.

It said it has yet to decide in which countries and in which sectors the redundancies will be in.

Alcatel spokesman Klaus Wustrack said:

The restructuring will take place after we have studied our various markets around the world. Once we have completed our studies we will negotiate with our individual social partners such as unions workers councils and the employees themselves.

Wustrack says the company is currently carrying out the evaluation phase.

The redundancies are part of Alcatels plan to have a total of 70000 staff by next year. Alcatel has four UK offices employing just under 1000 staff in Maidenhead Banbury Newport and Greenwich.

The survey by Guildford-based consultancy Detica reckons that more than four in 10 of the population have no interest in third-generation services which will bring the internet and multimedia to mobile phones and other portable devices.

Garmin originally announced it would launch in Q4 2001.

Garmin head of cellular sales Peter Hawkins says units could start shipping by the end of October.

Garmins NavTalk II phone has a 12-channel GPS receiver and mapping software. NavTalk users can send their GPS locations to each other and to location-based service companies which could be invaluable in emergencies.

We expect to launch the NavTalk II at the end of October subject to final testing with operators. We signed a deal to ship 10000 units to the Far East earlier this year. However there were some network issues regarding handover between cells. This delayed development of the phone by six months.

We have had to upgrade the specification add PC synchronisation and improve the navigation and route-planning software.

Garmin is in talks with three UK distributors but has not signed any distribution agreements yet. It also hopes to sell direct to the networks.

Garmin says it can succeed in selling GPS phones because it has made its products more consumer- focused.

Our phone will have lower power consumption than any other GPS phone in the market. We will also offer higher-quality maps and greater memory capacity. The phone offers route planning with turn-by-turn directions and voice prompts.

We also plan to launch a PDA with built-in GPS capabilities.

The Accessory Group was placed into administrative receivership earlier this month. But joint administrative receiver Steven Pearson said there is nothing left to buy.

When we were appointed administrative receivers TAG was already dormant. It had no employees. It didnt have a business. In terms of someone coming in to buy it there is nothing to buy; all it has is debt.

The majority of the stock has been sold to raise money for the creditors. There is nothing left said Pearson.

TAG was not placed into receivership with the rest of ET in May. This led to speculation that the company could continue.

TAG wasnt placed in receivership because there were no time-sensitive issues such as staff that required the receivers to move quickly.

The tape developed by De La Rue Tapes & Holographics contains the hologram which is secured to the outer case of the batteries.

Visible features help customers identify the real item from the fake and the addition of hidden elements helps investigations into counterfeiters.

Batteries and other mobile phone consumables are favourite targets of counterfeiters. With forecast growth in the wireless market helped by advances in 3G technology the problem is expected to increase.

According to the Anti-Counterfeiting Group across the EU companies are losing between 28 billion and 40 billion each year from counterfeit goods.

Because this problem costs the industry such vast sums and consumers are often confused by the range of low-quality cheaper counterfeit products on offer De La Rue recently teamed up with the Crimestoppers TV show the DTI and leading brand owners in a high-profile campaign to make the public more aware of the problems caused by counterfeit goods.

He is Chris Breslin who replaces interim sales and marketing director Sara Stilliard.

Breslin was most recently head of global marketing for Shell Gas.

He has also worked as a store manager at a number of Currys stores.

At Mainline Breslin will be responsible for all current sales and marketing activities as well as setting up and executing Mainlines future sales and marketing direction with particular focus on strengthening existing channels to market and developing new and alternative ones.

The appointment of Chris reflects Mainlines determination to retain its market-leading position within Orange distribution not least through the ongoing development of innovative and desirable solutions and services for the best of the UKs independent retailers said Mainline managing director Andrew Boden.