Text messaging the Survivor bandwagon

The four Survivor text messaging services allows people to sign-up for show alerts; receive news updates play Survivor trivia quizzes for prizes; guess the nextcontestant to be thrown off the show for weekly prizes.

The service is aimed at attracting younger viewers with access to the service.

Two weeks in jail for would-be mobile phone thief

AJayarat Natarajan (30) pleaded guilty to stealing the mobile phone on a train at Kings Cross station shortly before midnight on April 6 and assaulting an off-duty policeman who apprehended him.

The prosecutor told the court Natarajan had picked up a phone which a passenger forgot on a seat. But he was pulled up by another passenger who was calling the departing owner back and telling Natarajan he could not keep it.

But Natarajan refused to hand the phone over saying finders keepers. At that stage off duty policeman PC Riley intervened identified himself and demanded that Natarajan return the phone.

He refused shoved the policeman in the chest and was then arrested

When told of his two week jail sentence Natarajan turned to his lawyer and said you having a laugh?.

Deputy District Judge Rosamond Keating told him you are going to serve two weeks now leave the dock.

In another similar incident a student accused of stealing a mobile phone failed to appear at Horseferry road Court in London and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Patrick McGuinness (32) of Camden North London is charged with stealing the mobile phone and a handbag and contents from Laura Ennis at the Pitcher and Piano pub in Dean Street Soho London on March 30.

Bright future for m-Commere predicts Nokia study

The study confirms that mobile operators can expect future revenue growth from m-commerce.

The study conducted by independent market research agency MORI found that roughly eight-times as many people would use m-commerce as compared to the number of people actually using eCommerce today.

The study also showed that nearly 90 per cent of people interested in using m-commerce services will also be willing to pay extra for the convenience of making purchases with m-commerce.

MORI interviewed over 11000 people in six markets from October 2000 to January in Great Britain South Korea Italy USA Brazil and Finland

The study revealed that mobile-phone users view m-commerce as complementary to alternative remote-commerce channels such as the Internet.

Most are willing to pay extra for m-commerce services. This suggests that consumers see real value and benefit in using their mobile phones as tools for shopping.

The study demonstrated that convenience and control will play a pivot role in acceptance of m-commerce.

Participants saw m-commerce as a way of avoiding carrying cash or waiting in queues as well as a way to grain greater control over expenditures and enjoy unlimited purchasing possibilities.

Digital Phone Co. to sponsor Norwich City FCs shirts

The agreement is claimed to be one of the largest of its kind in

Nationwide League Division One and represents the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in the clubs history.

Digital Phone Company says it is s the largest independent mobile phone retailer in East Anglia.

As well as being Vodafones main business partner in the region the company is also Oranges main regional partner and has strong ties with One 2 One.

Digital Phone Company will produce Norwich City-branded mobile phones and accessories and plans to introduce a special tariff and SMS SMS service for supporters.

No chance of real competition say SPs

So says the Association of Communications Services Providers (ACSP) which represents the interests of providers of communication services. The ACSP commissioned an outside specialist to analyse the current state of the market.

It concluded neither 3G nor a fifth network operator will have an impact on the effectiveness of competition in the mobile market.

The report says four mobile networks is not sufficient to encourage price competition and that prices are higher than they need to be particularly for mobile to mobile off-net calls and for international roaming.

There is no choice of supplier for text messaging and the price per message remains inordinately high. There is potential for leverage of market power by the operators into new retail services such as mobile internet portals says the ACSP.

Competition with better deals for consumers will only come if independent service providers were also allowed to buy wholesale unbundled airtime from the network operators in order to offer their own retail tariffs.

There is continuing concern that anti-competitive behaviour by the regulated operators has and continues to take place despite investigations by Oftel concluding otherwise. Oftel asks is there effective competition and are consumers getting a good deal? We say no to both questions says the ACSP.

Two awards for Vodafone website

Vodafone won prizes for Most Informative Content for its Careers site and Best Recruitment Website for its Graduate site as well as being a finalist in the Best Usability and Use of Functionality category for the careers site.

There were over 100 entrants and Vodafone competed against other large UK companies.

Nigel Brocklehurst Vodafone human resources director said:

Almost 100 per cent of our graduate recruitment is achieved through the website and in some other parts of the business over 20 per cent of recruits come to us through the website.

Vodafones career website has a search engine to pull up jobs applicable to the candidate. If no relevant jobs are available the candidates details are stored and they are automatically contacted when an opportunity arises.

Global Telematics wins big AA South Africa order

This will provide South African AA members with ways to reduce the threat of vehicle theft or hijack by providing realtime tracking capabilities that improve the chance of recovering a stolen vehicle. Orchid will enable the AA to offer its members navigational assistance emergency support in an accident and a breakdown location facility

Hijackings and vehicle crime in our country is on an upwards spiral said Barney Mostert group managing director of the AA in South Africa.

By offering realtime vehicle location to our members we are providing them with extra peace of mind against vehicle crime.

Added Global Telematics CEO Edward Belgeonne:

Weve had a number of recent successes in locating stolen vehicles in the UK with police working with Global Telematics to find the vehicles and recovering them in as little as 20 minutes.

With the escalating levels of vehicle theft and hijack in South Africa this kind of service has the potential to prove even more beneficial than it currently is in the UK.

RSL sells rest of base to BTCellnet

In January RSL COM UK sold the 70 per cent of its consumer mobile base to BT Cellnet. The funds will be reinvested in RSL COMs UK national network and the rollout of new business services including GPRS. RSL COM will now concentrate on supplying fixed voice mobile data Internet and network services to the UK business market.

Barry Mowbray managing director of RSL COM UK said:

With the sale we can now focus on developing and marketing a stream of IP-based services.

RSL COM claims total revenues of over 200 million in 2000 and says it is the largest independent supplier of mobile telephony to the UK. It was placed in administration following financial problems which hit its parent US company.

Mowbray is currently engineering a management buy-out of the business.