Mobilexpo has nine stores trading under the Vodafone-franchised MPC and Mobile Phone Centre brand.

Around 600000 is payable on completion with another 2 million payable in PNC shares.

The remaining 3.9 million is deferred to the end of a 12-month earnout period and is dependent on profits achieved by Mobilexpo during this period.

There are more than 80 MPC outlets in the UK. Mobilexpo owns stores in Aylesbury Bracknell London Docklands Enfield Harrow Luton Stevenage Swiss Cottage and Uxbridge.

The company made an operating profit of 85000 on a turnover of 2.52 million for the year-end September 1999.

Mobilexpo is expected to soon be appointed one of three UK territory distributors with responsibility for supporting smaller MPC franchisees in central England.

This should bring better commissions for its own sales and additional commissions for the franchisees its supports.

Mobilexpo managing director Mark Gordon will stay on in his current role (see White Lines).

The acquisition of Mobilexpo will strengthen PNCs presence in terms of geographical presence. PNC will also benefit from the expertise and experience the Mobilexpo management will bring with them said PNC Tele.com chief executive

Geremy Thomas.

Vodafone has bought a 25 per cent stake in Swisscom Mobile for 1.8 billion.

The partnership also incorporates a service agreement between Vodafone and Swisscom Mobile. Vodafones German mobile subsidiary Mannesmann D2 Mobilfunk and Swisscoms German subsidiary Debitel will sign a service provider agreement regarding UMTS.

Swisscom Mobile is the mobile telecommunications business of Swisscom. It will be separated from Swisscom prior to completion of the transaction.

Switzerland has a population of 7.3 million people and the highest GDP per capita in Europe. Swisscom Mobile has a 67 per cent market share with over three million subscribers and is a clear market leader in both the residential and corporate segments. Swisscom will use the proceeds to fund future growth including the purchase of a Swiss UMTS license the roll-out of the UMTS network the enhancement of the fixed network for broadband services expansion of e-commerce solutions as well as moving Debitel along the value chain. The remaining funds will be used to pay back debt.

Julian Horn-Smith chief executive of Vodafone Europe said:

This strategic alliance represents an exciting opportunity for us to expand further our European footprint partnering with Swisscom the leading mobile network in Switzerland.

We are able to offer Swisscom the opportunity to participate in the substantial scope and scale advantages offered by Vodafones global reach which we anticipate will make the partnership earnings attractive for both Vodafone and Swisscom.

Customers roaming in Switzerland and Swisscom Mobile customers will be able to benefit from the international operations of Vodafone Group in 25 countries.

The the equity will be paid either in cash or Vodafone shares or a combination of both at Vodafones discretion in two instalments: of 0.9 billion. The second 0.9 billion will be paid within a year of completing the deal.

Vivao will power the mViva m mail service enabling users to accessing and managing voicemail fax and e-mail messages from their WAP phone or PC.

Users of the service can already read and respond to emails from WAP devices.

They could soon be able to listen to their e-mails and respond to messages from one or more of their friends using a single online address book.

Vivaos president Simon Cordell said:

The WAP market has seen significant growth over the last six months and by offering users fully integrated add-on facilities such as messaging service providers can only reap the benefits. mVivas COO David Thatcher added:

Vivao is a market leader in messaging. By offering WAP users further benefits we in turn can strengthen our position. mVviva has more than 100 content providers such as CNN Sky News The Guardian Loot Sports.com and Abbey National offering a wide range of information e-commerce and other services. mViva last week launched its first pan-European advertising campaign on mobile internet phones with Ericsson.

The advertising campaign is initially for the 13 weeks in the run up to the Christmas period and is live across all Mviva markets including the UK France the Netherlands and Sweden with Spain and Germany coming on board in the near future.

When customers log on to the news channel of mViva an Ericsson M-ad will appear on their phone display.

The Sky Sports mobile news information and statistics service is based around an offer of a free Siemens C35i connected to Vodafone on a 12-month contract.

Calls cost 10p a minute peak (5p off-peak). The deal includes 30 days of free text message alerts and 75 free minutes a month.

Sky WAP users will be offered access to 24 hour news updates from Sky News lottery results and TV listings. In football for example users can find live scores and fixture information about every British league team premiership fixture lists team news and scores and have access to Opta statistics.

The service also provides latest news updates in rugby cricket golf motorsport boxing tennis and athletics. A text messaging service sends updates about cricket and rugby league teams in addition to goal flashes halftime scores and red card notices for football matches.

The service will even direct users to the nearest pub equipped with Sky Sports. Users enter their postcode and their location is matched to the nearest Sky-screening venue.

The Sky digital TV service in Europe has attracted around 3.8 million customers to date. Sky.com and Skysport.com have combined monthly page impressions totalling 70 million.

The trials will be conducted on a regional basis using business support systems that will be available at commercial launch and will be extended nation-wide in November.

The trials are being carried out in conjunction with Ericsson Vodafones partner in the development of its GPRS infrastructure.

This is an important step in our GPRS launch schedule. Not only does this present us with an ideal opportunity to test our GPRS offerings but also creates a forum for inter-working with key customers leading to closer working relationships that we hope will continue for many years to come Vodafone UK CEO Peter Bamford said.

ICL chief technology officer at ICL Andrew Boswell commented:

ICL feels it is important to get involved at this early stage in the development of Vodafones GPRS services as one of their major corporate customers. This will give our staff valuable first hand experience of the latest technology and ensure that we are well placed to advise our customers on how they can use the technology to their best advantage.

The trialists will be provided with a GPRS device which will allow them to make a direct comparison on the faster speeds and capabilities that GPRS brings over GSM. GPRS is always on so users dont have to re-connect each time they need to send data.

The business trials will test and validate the end-to-end service performance of the GPRS network and to verify the customer experience.

In addition to Wireless Office Applications such as e-mail scheduling task management and Intranet browsing (HTML); WAP based information and entertainment services and Service Management.

Applications will be used in order to test applications that have been developed specifically for corporate customers.

This is the latest stage of Vodafones GPRS trial programme in the run up to launch. Live network rollout commenced last month and is scheduled for completion at the end of October.

Vodafone claims it will be the first UK operator to incorporate the latest GPRS standards into its live GSM network.

Following Mobile News story on September 18 about the proposed sale JWE CEO Tony Farmer said:

Theres been no further movement Im afraid. Im hoping to be able to tell you something fairly soon.

We announced back in July that we were looking to dispose of the retail businesses and that we were hoping to do so fairly soon. That is still the case.

We are in discussions with the same parties as we have been in discussions with all along. These things take time and because we are a public company. Im afraid I cant be any more forthcoming until the deal is done. Im hopeful that we will have something more concrete to say in time for the next issue of Mobile News said Farmer.

GMC Holdings has not issued any denial of our report that it was in line to pick up the JWE shops.

The expansion into other distribution channels outside the Virgin Group is the second move outside Virgins usual channel. The first agreement was signed with JS Sainsbury last week aimed at getting Virgin Mobile to its sales target of one million customers by Spring next year.

Virgin Mobile currently has over 420000 customers and helped joint venture partner One 2 One pip Oranges network sales in Q3.

Shoppers in W.H. Smith stores will be able to pick up a Virgin Mobile Alcatel Max DB package ( 49.99) and a Nokia 3210 ( 99.99) – both including connection.

In a further 100 outlets the WAP-enabled M35i ( 129.99 incl. connection) will also be available. Agreements for wider distribution through other retailers is expected over the next few weeks.

Said Steven Day corporate affairs director at Virgin Mobile:

We have set our targets high for company growth but the wider distribution plans will mean we are well on target for one million customers by Spring 2001.

Virgin Mobile handsets are now available on the High Street at Virgin Megastores Our Price v.shops JS Sainsbury and W.H. Smith; or direct from www.virgin.com/mobile.

Virgin Mobile attracted 128393 new customers to the service in the last three months.The victual network says around half of the new sales in the quarter were first-time mobile phone buyers; the remainder were switchers from other networks.

The flagship sponsorship will reach an audience of two million every week and is initially for a 13 week period in the run up to the Christmas period with an option to renew.

The Carphone Warehouse will get top of the hour sponsor credits out of the news trails out of advertising breaks during the show and up to four promotional trails each day.

Jonathan Hook marketing director at The Carphone Warehouse said:

Were a great believer in the power of radio and thrilled to have signed a deal with the biggest breakfast show. Were always keen to join up with lively and creative partners and the Chris Evans Breakfast Show fitted the bill perfectly.

Also The Carphone Warehouse has launched three new independent information guides. They are You and Your Mobile Phone A Guide to the Mobile Internet and Mobile Phones & Health. All the guides are free and available in store and from the companys web site.

The Mint Telecom SIM card allows the user to bypass the home network and make roaming calls throughout the world at a cheaper rate of 85p a minute for outgoing calls and 42p for received calls in any one of 112 countries.

Users continue with their home network with the other SIM. In the UK the bundle will be distributed by European Telecom.

BTCellnet has also reduced the cost of the monthly subscription to Business First to 12.99 a month from 14.00.

The package also gives businesses further discounts in the costs of all their calls depending on the size of the bill and the length of commitment to BTCellnet Business First. The tariff does not include any bundled minutes. BTCellnet Business First is aimed at businesses up to 500 employees. Businesses with just one handset can now also use the BTCellnet Business First tariff.

Business First offers a range of billing and payment options including individual billing to all users with a summary bill to a central account if desired.

The service provides a dedicated account service centre.