John spent five years at European Telecom while they were the leading distributor in the UK.

Johns leaving European Telecom had nothing to do with lack of ability or skill. Everyone knows it was (European Telecoms chairman) Warren Hardy pulling the strings not John McFarnon.

For the majority of the time John was at ET it was number one in the industry.

We have aims to be number one not just in the UK but globally said Jones.

McFarnon has been on garden leave since he and European Telecom International MD Colin Cartwright resigned from the company in april.

Vodafone said it carried a 30 per cent increase in voice traffic last Tuesday afternoon as news of the horrific attacks on New York and Washington were first reported on TV and radio.

The network further experienced an 18 per cent increase of traffic between 4pm and 5pm and a three to 17 per cent increase in traffic during the remainder of the night.

A spokesperson also said:

International calls on Vodafone were dramatically increased. Customers may have experienced difficulty making calls to the US due to disruption to USA fixed and mobile phone networks.

A BT Cellnet spokesperson confirmed:

We experienced a surge in demand for transatlantic calls. The network suffered no congestion but like all operators we experienced congestion issues particularly in the USA.

One 2 One PR manager Neil Bent said:

We carried lots more traffic on the network. But there were no problems. We dont have any figures available.

The call centre was due to open next March. But One 2 One says it is reviewing the need for such a building.

The reasons for this are underpinned by a change in the companys call handling patterns and the increased efficiency of the companys customer service advisors. Inquiries are being resolved to a high level more quickly then ever said a One 2 One spokesperson.

The number of first time users is reaching a plateau and customers have become more sophisticated. They are more aware of how to use their phones and therefore often require less initial support when they join One 2 One.

One 2 One expects the review to be complete by the end of the year.

The campaign includes national TV press and outdoor posters.

There are seven humorous TV commercials.

These show an ashamed mobile handset covered with a brown paper bag in six comedic situations – being shot poked with a stick breaking wind sneezing left lonely in a box and dancing to an embarrassing ring-tone.

The new campaign coincides with the opening of the 200th UK Phones 4U store in the centre of Cardiff. The store adds to its eight stores across Wales.

At least 25 more stores are to open in Wales during the next two years. Phones 4U signed its one millionth airtime customer earlier this summer.

Caudwell Group boss John Caudwell said:

Now we have topped the 200-store mark we wanted an advertising campaign to connect with our target audience. The state of your mobile phone says as much about you as what you wear its vital that we keep up with such an aggressive marketplace.

We have to put the latest and the best handsets in the hands of the right owner the range of products has to be right for todays generation of mobile phone users.

In July Caudwell Group announ-ced it would invest 99 million in its service provision division Singlepoint (Mobile News July 23).

This is the view of the National Radiological Protection Boards advisory group which looked into the possible health effects of TETRA radios. They are designed to replace older analogue systems used by the emergency services and commercial clients.

In the UK TETRA networks are run by Dolphin (see story P1) and BT Airwaves which operates a service for the police and other emergency services.

TETRA operates at 400Mhz and causes a power modulation in some of the signals coming from the terminals.

There was some concern that modulated RF fields could cause the body to lose calcium. But the NRPB says no associated health risk has been found.

The deal should mean that Woolwich Open Plan customers registered to use WAP banking will be able to access their accounts in five to 10 seconds compared to the industry average of 30 seconds plus.

This growth will not be universal. Plimsoll predicts only 43 per cent of companies in the mobile industry will see sales increase. Around 30 per cent will see stagnant sales and 27 per cent are likely to see sales decline.

Plimsoll analysed 544 UK companies in the UK and put the results in a 450 report called Profit Predictor Edition 2001: Mobile Phones.

As competition intensifies profitability will be key. Companies must aim to get a better grasp of their costs to improve profits says Plimsolls managing director Don Turkington.

The report includes a 12 month future predictor as well as an individual performance analysis of each of the Top 544 UK companies in the Mobile Phones industry.

The BBC posters boast slogans such as 3… 2… 1… and 3 is the magic num3er.

Many consumers have been confused into thinking that the advertisements were for the new 3G network.

But 3 says it is unconcerned by the sudden appearance of poster advertisements for the new channel and doesnt plan to take any action against the BBC.

We dont have any concerns to be honest. It is still early days concerning the development of our brand but the market research we have carried out into tracking customers shows that people know where we are coming from and are fully aware that these arent our advertisements 3 director of external relations Matt Peacock told Mobile News.

BBC 3s advertisements have a very different style look and feel about them. The key issue is what the consumer thinks about the posters and the research tells us that the BBCs campaign isnt seen as a problem.

Ironically a BBC-owned subsidiary BBC Technology will process and edit content on behalf of 3.

Before content which includes news and entertainment can be sent to next-generation subscribers it requires processing and converting into a format that can be delivered to the handsets.

The court heard the boy then received a series of obscene text messages. Nichols of Barrow Hill Estate St Johns Wood admitted three counts of sending messages of an obscene or menacing nature on July 11 12 and 13.

Nichols was bailed for probation and psychiatric reports.