Accountants Grant Thornton have been nominated as liquidators by the companys directors. They say 1st Line Mobile went under when it became clear no more funding would be available to restructure the business.

Some industry sources say that 1st Line was hit for millions of pounds in clawback by BTCellnet from customers who did not want phones they had been sold by cold-calling telesales people.

1st Line Mobiles service provider was Cellular Operations in Swindon.

Said sales director Chris Jones:

1st Line Mobile was very successful and grew their operation very quickly. They embarked on a major TV campaign that was very expensive but didnt really produce the results expected. One of the reasons was that the campaign started when the networks were strengthening pre-pay which was perceived as being more attractive to the consumer said Jones.

They were offering standard 14.99 rental deals that couldnt compete with pre-pay so some customers didnt stay as long as expeted. As a result 1st Line was subject to normal clawback.This puts paid to the lie about their intentional mis-selling practices because they had nothing to gain finnacially from it.

At the moment Cellular Operations is most concerned about the 200000 customers that are still connected with us through 1st Line. Our priority is to make sure they received the best service possible.

This has had an affect on our connections. But we have many more concectors and different channels to market. We are still one of the largest post-pay connectors in the industry said Jones.

It wasnt Cellular Operations who put this business under. There were other creditors involved. Any future developments about the company will become clear after the creditors meeting Jones told

Mobile News.

The company is owned by Dunstone and AOL. The Carphone Warehouse will distribute the service. MViva customers in the UK will have mobile on-line access to businesses such as Abbey National TD Waterhouse CNN Boxman Yellow Pages ebookers.com Sports.com Eurobet Loot and Lastminute.com all at the push of a button.

The MViva service will be free. Customers will only pay for the call charges.

Dunstone has also linked with AOL to enable AOL Europe customers to access AOL e-mail and AOL instant messenger. The service will be known as MViva powered by AOL and will be launched through The Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK next month with roll out to France Spain Holland and Sweden intended to follow later in the summer.

MViva will be demonstrated and set up in-store on customers internet enabled mobile phones by trained sales consultants.

Customers will receive help and advice on the services available and will be able to personalise MViva to receive information and services that are relevant to their lifestyles when they need them.

MViva MD Max Alexander said:

The Carphone Warehouse offers customers simple impartial advice about the choice of handsets and networks.

MViva will offer customers a huge choice of top name content providers in the UK and Europe.

Our customers will be able to discuss the best choice of service and how it all works with a trained sales consultant in the Carphone Warehouse stores across Europe.

MViva chairman Ian West added:

Within four years it is estimated there will be around 220 million web-enabled mobile phones in Western Europe compared to less than one million at the end of 1999. By the end of 2004 almost half of all mobile phone traffic is expected to be data and internet.

Rights/Phone has been developed by InterTrust Technologies Corporation a developer of distributed digital rights management technology. It is claimed to enable all digital content to be securely transferred from the internet to a mobile phone.

The Rights/Phone system is licensed as software installed on the ROM software of specialised mobile phones.

This initiative is very exciting because it gives content providers the confidence that their content will be delivered securely to customers and that new revenue streams can be generated said The Carphone Warehouse boss Charles Dunstone.

This has the ability to help develop the wireless market dramatically over the next few years he added.

InterTrust Europe vice chairman Ian West said: This Rights/Phone initiative is very important in the development of the wireless global market as mobile phones become mobile Internet devices. Content and new revenue streams are critical to the wireless industry.

Rights/Phone product line-up includes Rights/PD software for portable devices set-top boxes and Win-CE systems.

As wireless services and devices increase in capability and performance even more robust business models and services will be enabled.

Schwab is already in advanced testing stages with a wireless solution for the Hong Kong market that Ericsson has had a pivotal role in developing and Schwab will be developing applications for additional countries throughout the year.

Charles Schwab was the first brokerage firm to join the WAP Forum in August 1999. The brokerage serves 7.1 million active accounts and currently has 3.7 million active online accounts with $418 billion in customer assets.

A WAP Gateway must support any model of mobile phone from any manufacturer. The phone.com browser on certain mobile phones such as the Motorola Timeport does not allow a URL address to be entered. Instead the phone is automatically connected to the network providers Gateway to connect the user to the network providers portal. The home page of this portal lists a number of suggested sites predetermined by the network provider. Specific URLs cannot be entered.

WapHQ says it has solved this by linking its Gateway to its own open access portal. Its portal provides links to selected content but also allows the user to enter a URL to any world-wide website. To connect the user changes the settings so that the phone links to wapHQ when switched on.

These settings are described on its website www.wapHQ.co.uk.

The wapHQ Gateway is independent of the mobile network operators and handles over 15000 simultaneous callers. It is said to support all available WAP mobile phones including the Nokia 7110 Motorola Timeport P7389 and Trium Geo. Users can access any WAP site world-wide with no limitations by using an 0845 local call rate number via Orange BTCellnet and Vodafone networks.

The site says it has received an average of 6300 hits per day since the Euro 2000 England/Portugal match.

The site not only gives sports results for most major fixtures in the UK covering football cricket rugby golf motorsports snooker and others but it also acts as a sports diary flagging up forthcoming sports fixtures.

WAPaResult.com is linked to over 40 WAP or web-related sites world-wide and is on most of the major portals in the UK. It claims it is the only sports results service on the Vodafone WAP portal.

The site has also received other major accolades including being voted the top sports result service and the number three overall site (after the bible and the BBC) by WAP developers.

The current trend within the internet arena is to offer a multitude of services to customers from one site.

This can only lead to confusion and drive the consumer away from what is potentially the largest single technological advance in centuries empowering the consumer said MD Martin Hunt.

Called MobileMate the system analyses usage habits and travel patterns learns where the user lives works and shops for the purpose of delivering timely tailored information based on the users profile specific preferences current location and relevant events. It interfaces with the operators cellular infrastructure and internet application/content providers

M-commerce is likely to be the primary revenue generating application of the mobile internet said CT Motion CEO Raphi Katz.

Location based m-commerce solutions offers a huge business opportunity for cellular operators. The only way to reduce customer churn and stay ahead of the competition is by providing truly personalised services that adapt to the needs of the individual user.

The company will soon launch a mobile location and information service applications including personalised advertising and sales promotion virtual payment systems mobile yellow pages and travel related services safety and security services; and content and lifestyle information applications.

These services can be either accessed by mobile users or sent to the handset by the service provider according to predefined application criteria and user profiles.

The mobile handset is a trusted personal companion for delivering highly personalized services. Our application transforms the mobile handset into a true personal assistant that learns the users and knows their specific needs and preferences adds Katz.

Richard Branson wants to take Virgin Mobile to 30 carriers around the world following its launch in Britain last November.

Under the agreement Virgin Mobile Australia will invest more than $5 million over five years with Telemedia Networks International supplying pre and post-paid mobile switching infrastructure.

Telemedia CEO Chris Jones said a successful partnership with Virgin Mobile in Australia could be the first step to a global supplier link between his company and Bransons.

The launch of the first WAP recruitment site for permanent and contract telecoms positions has been launched by telecoms recruitment consultancy Close Communications whose clients include Orange Vodafone TIW and BT.

The site gives details of positions available and allows users to apply on-line. Candidates simply fill in their name telephone number and the job reference number and are promised a call from Close Communications within two hours.

The WAP site is aimed at finding and placing the right people for their clients in the shortest possible time as potential recruits will be able to monitor opportunities even while on the move.|

TIW CEO Wim Verbeek said:

The global telecom market shows no sign of slowing down and the pressures faced by operators to find the right people for the job are very real. The issuing of UMTS licenses and other technology launches will put even more pressure on an already immensely strained workforce.

Project success is now as dep-endent on recruiting people with the appropriate skill base as it is on the technology but finding the amount of quality people needed to complete key projects is increasingly difficult.

Added Close Communications director Steve Rose:

Telecom professionals are a not-oriously mobile group. WAP provides us with a flexible and interactive link that has long been needed in telecom recruitment. The WAP site will enable us to further improve our offer in quickly finding the right people.

The deal allows Interactives users to obtain a Nokia 7110 for free on a special tariff through Vodafone or BTCellnet.

Interactives WAP service currently provides investors with 15-minute delayed stock exchange prices graphsand news.

For CMC this means that the partnership will offer a direct route to the consumer who will be able to order their WAP phone for free to enjoy instant information benefits said CMC boss Geoff Walters.

Added CMC sales director Paul Walters:

We are specialists in supplying telecoms products to retailers and now we want to position ourselves as specialists to website retailers.

With our close relationships with the four networks we are able to offer bespoke tariffs and launch similar programmes with other companies as WAP technology continues to expand.