David Nichols (48) was found guilty in a London court on August 21 of sending a 13-year-old boy passenger text messages of a sexual nature.

Nichols a station supervisor at Chorleywood in Hertfordshire escaped a jail sentence and was freed under a two-year probation order after the court considered psychiatric reports which referred to a medical condition that Nichols blamed for his actions.

The court heard Nichols had used his position of authority at the station to obtain the boys mobile number by pretending he would send him text messages of train delays.

But the messages were of descriptions of a sexual nature involving disabled people.

Nichols had admitted three counts of sending the obscene text messages in July (Mobile News July 6).

When interviewed by the police Nichols had expressed his horror at what he had done.

He is to face a disciplinary hearing and is certain to be sacked after 25 years in his job.

David Nichols (48) was found guilty in a London court on August 21 of sending a 13-year-old boy passenger text messages of a sexual nature.

Nichols a station supervisor at Chorleywood in Hertfordshire escaped a jail sentence and was freed under a two-year probation order after the court considered psychiatric reports which referred to a medical condition that Nichols blamed for his actions.

The court heard Nichols had used his position of authority at the station to obtain the boys mobile number by pretending he would send him text messages of train delays.

But the messages were of descriptions of a sexual nature involving disabled people.

Nichols had admitted three counts of sending the obscene text messages in July (Mobile News July 6).

When interviewed by the police Nichols had expressed his horror at what he had done.

He is to face a disciplinary hearing and is certain to be sacked after 25 years in his job.

Fitzgerald will run Intec Distributions launch of new SIM-free phones to its UK dealer base of over 1000 outlets and oversee Intecs 14-day handset sales.

Steve Fitzgeralds impressive industry background including senior positions with NECs paging and subsequently its cellular sales operations made him an attractive candidate. As a former NEC man myself I know him well said Intec boss Harry Ramis.

So says the Taxi Newspaper (part of the licensed Taxi Drivers Association Group) and wireless security company Pointsec Mobile Technologies.

The survey of 131 taxis found that five per cent of cab drivers had also found a PDA in their cabs.

Just half of the lost mobile phones were actually reclaimed.

The service is sold only through Carphone Warehouses 411 stores website and direct call centre. The Carphone Warehouse can also offer Fresh users data fax and SMS.

Managing director Peter Oliver said Ora would continue to cut costs. It has been scouting for a new site in Aylesbury because the overheads at its current warehouse are too high.

Oliver added that Ora had also rethought its strategy and is embarking on a plan to increase sales to the dealer channel.

The company is recruiting sales and marketing staff to this end.

Ora traditionally focused on the larger retailers and the networks but Oliver says the time is right for Ora to work with the dealer channel now that some accessory companies have left the market.

We are refocusing on the dealer channel. There are fewer companies selling accessories to dealers. We think people would prefer to deal with us than some of the lesser known companies he said.

Oliver added that cost-cutting has enabled it to offer lower prices.

The old Ora focused on the larger retailers to the detriment of dealers. We want to increase business with independent dealers which currently accounts for only 15 to 20 per cent of our business. We want to build that up considerably. We have stopped the losses and turned the accounts around.

A report by receivers Kroll Buchler Phillips reveals that Orange is a substantial unsecured creditor of the company.

Although the (sales) ledger reflected a book value of 4 million at the date of receivership 3.8 million of this relates to Orange. Oranges counter-claim has been admitted in excess of the amount due from them.

The receivers say there is little chance of collecting the rest of the money owed to Dabcom. Most of this is due from dealers owed commission from Dabcom for the sale of handsets.

Orange has a retention title to more than 75 per cent of the phones held in stock by Dabcom at the date of receivership. Dabcoms bank is owed around 539000.

The receivers say there is little chance of preferential creditors getting any of there money back and highly unlikely that there will be anything left for unsecured creditors. Orange declined to comment.

On the same day Paul Donovan Vodafone UK managing director (Commercial) takes over as Eircells chief executive.

Brewer joined ircell in October 1995 from Cellnet where he launched the first consumer tariffs in 1991 called Lifetime. Before that he was marketing head of Apple Computer in the UK. Coincidentally Donovan is also an Apple old boy.

Brewer has been credited with steering Eircell from a lacklustre monopoly wireless carrier to one that was well-prepared for the onslaught of competition.

During his tenure he oversaw the creation of ircell as an independent subsidiary of Telecom ireann from its earlier incarnation as the mobile department of the Irish telco. Staff increased from 200 servicing a contract-only customer base of 100000. Prior to its acquisition by Vodafone earlier this year Eircell was one of Irelands top 10 indigenous companies. ircell currently has a 60 per cent market share.

Said Brewer: As ircell enters a new phase in its growth and development it is appropriate that I now seek new challenges. I will still be in a position to continue playing a large role in ircells development in my continuing participation as a board director.

Ironically another ex-Vodafone man David Sims is in charge of Eircells rival network Meteor. Sims was managing director of the joint Vodafone and Ericsson-owned manufacturer Orbitel (see P38).

Mobile Chat provides instant messaging between two mobile phones that support the service. Used with the Ericsson Communicam the phone becomes a digital camera allowing users to take and send digital pictures on the move either as an email attachment or through a picture album on the Web. The T65 will come in two shades of blue and yellow.

Vodafone objected to the ad saying its GPRS service allowed data to be sent at speeds of up to 48Kb/s.

Orange argued the technologies were different and said it was the only network to offer HSCSD technology. Orange also maintained the ad referred to using a Nokia Carphone that could not be used with GPRS and that GPRS was a shared resource where speed was affected by the number of people using it.

The ASA ruled that Orange should have amended its ad as soon as Vodafones GPRS service became commercially available.

Because Orange had not proved that users of its data service could send and receive data three times faster than with any other network the ASA concluded the claim was misleading.

Orange shouldnt feel too aggrieved. It has never been shy in complaining to the ASA about other networks ads.

In 1999 One 2 One had a complaint by Orange about its advertising upheld by the ASA.

Orange objected to One 2 Ones national press and magazine ads claiming it was the only network to offer Enhanced Full Rate for digitally enhanced sound.

Orange challenged the One 2 One claim that the technology was only available on One 2 Ones new Precept service.

The ASA concluded that One 2 One had not proved it was the first network to offer EFR and requested it to withdraw the claim.