This is almost 15 years to the day since the service commenced.

The company has said the closure was due to the decrease in usage and the expense in maintaining and sourcing equipment to work with analogue.

There are 12000 subscribers still active (both contact and pre-pay) compared to 1.5m on digital. Active subscribers will be offered upgrades to GSM.

Mobile Telecom Group founders Martin Smith and Terry OConnor have left the company.

Mobile Telecom has around 100000 Vodafone customers and will now be integrated with Vodafone UK as part of its sales and distribution division.

Its customers will be migrated onto Vodafones.

Mobile Telecom is a well managed business that has operated successfully with high quality customers and well motivated staff for over 10 yearsduring which time Vodafone has had a productive and rewarding relationship with the company commented Vodafone managing director of sales and distribution at Vodafone UK David Jones.

Independent service provision has played a significant role in the development of mobile telephony in the UK. But inevitably this has meant that the identity and branding of the mobile network has often taken second place to that of the service provider in the eyes of the customer. said Jones.

Jones hinted that Vodafone UK would continue to look for opportunities to buy up other customer bases as it enables us to further develop the products and services that we can offer.

Mobile Telecom will continue to operate from its offices in Croydon Surrey alongside Vodafone UKs customer services operations also based in the town.

BTCellnet will sponsor all Big Brother programmes on Channel 4 and its sister entertainment channel E4 in a deal across TV the internet and mobile phone services.

It will also provide a raft of exclusive Big Brother products and services including text updates phone ringtones and audio feeds from the Big Brother house.

A statement from the company said the board of directors believed that a move to the AIM will enable the Company to pursue and implement its strategy in a more appropriate regulatory environment given the Companys current circumstances.

In plain English this means European Telecom needs to make its shares more liquid to enable it to raise capital where necessary.

The AIM listing will also save European Telecom from having to pay the high regulatory and advisory fees required for a full Stock Exchange listing.

The European Telecom share price dropped back from 33p to around 24p on the news as investors digested the significance of a company no longer able to cope with the demands of a full listing.

Meanwhile European Telecom is trying to recruit a new group finance director following the departure of Don Gunn.

The company has recently re-organised itself following a crushing drop in its share price and severe losses caused by its e-Vita Global Telematics and other subsidiary activities.

Ex-Motorola planning director David McKinney was last month made group managing director as part of the re-shuffle to try and turn the company around. The share price has dropped from a high of more than 7 a year ago to 21p (at time of writing).

Chatternet.net associates company Pharmaceuticals Direct Limited intends to present a petition for the winding-up of TAP for an alleged debt of 64000 owed by TAP.

But last Wednesday TAP said it obtained a High Court Order that Chatternet.net Limited be wound-up with immediate effect

A statement by TAP said:

TAP wishes to make it clear that no such petition (by Chatternet.net) has been presented and any such debt is wholly disputed. In the event that a winding-up petition is presented it will be opposed most vigorously together with a claim for damages.

TAP is owed 103644.45 by Chatternet.net Limited a company believed to be part of the same corporate group as Pharmaceuticals

Direct Limited.

TAP intends to pursue the directors of Chatternet.net Limited personally to recover the sum it is owed.

Police are still investigating an assault on Chatternet.net owner Mitesh Patel outside his Shepherds Bush shop last month.

And three quarters of 500 store managers polled believe that consumers do not even know the difference between a handset manufacturer and a network provider.

Mosaic found that over all store types consumers are less likely to have predetermined ideas of which network and tariff they wish to buy than handsets.

Sixty eight per cent of the 500 store managers researched said that consumers were not aware that they could upgrade the handset network and tariff separately.

Three quarters said that when upgrading mobile phones consumers ask for a handset upgrade rather than anything else.

Pre-pay phones were the only phones to be network driven. Ninety per cent of those asked believe that consumers know what handset and what brand they want to purchase when entering a store.

This is mainly driven by the fact that mobile phones have become a fashion accessory.

The result says Mosaic indicates the need for networks to concentrate on creating awareness of the handsets available on their network.

Although it would be more difficult to change consumers views of which handsets they wish to buy. Mosaic says consumers still like to pick up a bargain when it comes to buying mobile phones and price and special promotions were among the things most likely to influence consumers.

Brand name and sales persons recommendations were also important influences highlighting that highly-trained sales staff that have a good amount of product knowledge will be able to influence the consumer purchase decision.

The availability of specialist knowledge would influence a customers decision to buy one brand rather than another. Trained sales staff and in-store demonstrations were thought to be most beneficial to consumers. The most important mobile phone functions among consumers were free text messaging (50 per cent) games (14 per cent) ring tones (12 per cent) international coverage (10 per cent) and free voice mail retrieval (eight per cent).

This figure was revealed by Carphone Warehouse MD Charles Dunstone in a meeting to announce Carphone Warehouses full results for the year to March 31.

These showed that The Carphone Warehouse had increased turnover by 59 per cent to more than 1.1 billion put on 3.8 million connections (up 68 per cent) and made a gross profit of 280.6 million.

Dunstone also announced that The Carphone Warehouse had paid 54 million to buy French telecoms services business CMC.

CMC is one of Frances leading telecoms services businesses and provides customer management services to more than 620000 customers for network operators including France Telecom and SFR.

The aquisition is the start of Carphone Warehouses aim to develop a full pan-European telecoms services operation.

The Carphone Warehouse also revealed its insurance customer base had risen to 794500 people who had paid an average of 75 each for an insurance policy protecting them from theft loss and unauthorised use of their phone.

Dunstone also reported that 428 new Carphone Warehouse and Phone House stores were opened in the UK and Europe in the year under review.

Each UK store did an average of 4991 connections while each Phone House store in Europe clocked up an average of 2956 connections for each outlet.

Electronics giant Hitachi has developed a new GSM Sim card capable of being upgraded to 3G applications. The new Sim features 196K of ROM said by Hitachi to be the worlds largest on-chip Rom. Hitachi says it has 30 per cent of the Sim devices market

The Carphone Warehouse has kicked off its Christmas offensive with a 2.5 million pan-European ad campaign.

The campaign includes new 40-second and 30-second TV commercials radio commercials colour press ads in-store point of sale and direct marketing.

The theme of the commercials is an animated mobile phone whose unhappy life is transformed when he is taken to a Carphone

Warehouse.

Ad agency Clemmow Hornby Inge which has also carried out work for French Connection and Tesco says the idea for the latest CPW ad effort is based on the fact that all phones are created equal but those cared for by The Carphone Warehouse have happier and more productive lives.

The ad blitz also introduces a new strapline: For a better mobile life.

The campaign includes new 40-second and 30-second TV commercials radio commercials colour press ads in-store point of sale and direct marketing.

The theme of the commercials is an animated mobile phone whose unhappy life is transformed when he is taken to a Carphone Warehouse.

Ad agency Clemmow Hornby Inge which has also carried out work for French Connection and Tesco says the idea for the latest CPW ad effort is based on the fact that all phones are created equal but those cared for by The Carphone Warehouse have happier and more productive lives.

The ad blitz also introduces a new strapline: For a better mobile life.

Sendo has currently signed an agreement to build a 71000 sq ft facility at Eagle Court adjacent to Hatchford Brook Golf Course Coventry Road.

The new building will be one of three schemes to be developed on the 10-acre site brought to the market by Birmingham City Council. Hugh Brogan chief executive of Sendo said:

This brand new state-of-the-art building will allow us to expand our development facilities in the UK.

Sendo which claims to build the lightest GSM phones was founded in August 1999.

One of the companys main share holders is CCT Telecom Holdings Limited. Sendo has its Asia Pacific Operations Centre in Hong Kong.

Its mobile phones are currently manufactured in China and its European distribution centre is based in the Netherlands.