The first to qualify for the new partner programme are WN1 Communications Olive Communications and BusinessMobiles.com. T-Mobile is to review and expand the program on a quarterly basis.

Meanwhile T-Mobile has struck a deal with Bedfordshire Police to deploy 1000 BlackBerry devices to 1000 officers by February 2008.

Alexander joins MoCo cofounders Maurice and Andrew Whelan and managing director Ian Robinson on the board.

MoCo has also announced two new additions to its team. Matthew Earl joins as internal dealer account manager for distribution. He has 12 years experience in the industry.

Hollie Charlton also joins from Carphone where she was sales consultant for three years and will support MoCos B2B division selling mobile data fixed line and IT packages.

TAP purchased the rights to the ET name last month and Brummitt joins the group with more than 20 years of industry experience. He has historic relationships with leading phone manufactures and was also a pioneer for service provision with his company Wavetech which was later sold to US distributor Brightpoint.

Brummitt is currently assembling a high level team to run European Telecom.

TAP group managing director Steve Isles Group said: These are exciting times for TAP and ET with Kevins track record we will reach even higher peaks.

Between September 1 and March 31 pre-pay customers will be able to make calls to friends and families in 16 countries for 5p per minute to landlines and 15p per minute to mobiles. Previously customers had been charged up to £1.49 per minute for calls to certain countries.

All pay as you go customers on Vodafones Anynet or Anytime price plans will be automatically switched to the new pricing which includes calls to China Croatia Czech Republic Hong Kong Hungary India Lithuania Latvia Nigeria Pakistan Poland Romania Russia Slovakia Thailand and Turkey.

Vodafone UK chief marketing officer Tim Yates said: This is a great value promotion for our customers. There are no catches customers will find it much easier to keep in touch with friends and family than dealing with the limitations of international calling cards.

Some customers will now save 96 per cent of their previous costs.

As it stands only networks and retailers are involved in the organisation. MICAF chairman Jack Wraith
said MICAF the Home Office and the police had all approached manufacturers to join the group but to no avail. Wraith said: It sends the wrong message to the industry. The issue of mobile phone crime starts with manufacturers.

Nokia Motorola and Sony Ericsson have all been MICAF members in the past but have all abandoned the cause.

They claim their focus is global not national said Wraith.

They claim if they supported a UK initiative they would be obliged to support other national initiatives in other markets. But they sell an awful lot of handsets in the UK and we were disappointed at their decisions to quit the organisation.

Mobile phone crime is an industry-wide problem and manufacturers have a role to play.

Wraith accepted manufacturers have made handsets more secure but said mobile phone theft was driven by handsets. Manufacturers need to get a better understanding of this problem in the UK he said.

Go Mobile has opened new stores in Matlock Derbyshire and Rugby Warwickshire. The Rugby store was formerly an EBS outlet.

It also opened its second and third franchise stores in Coalville Leicestershire and in Atherston Warwickshire. Another is set to open shortly.

Go Mobile chief Iain Humphrey said: Weve got a proposition where we can invite both existing dealers and new entrants to open franchises under the Go Mobile brand.

Go Mobile is the UKs fourth largest independent mobile retailer.

Dealers said the improved customer offer should boost sales but would likely reduce the value they deliver to Vodafone. One southern dealer said: Hopefully this will draw a bit of interest. But customers who needed a 5000- minute plan will now only need a 2000-minute one because of the free calls so we lose out there.

Intek MD Manny Hussain said: Anything that attracts more business is a good thing. But networks are always encouraging us to increase customer revenue and with all these free calls where is it supposed to come from? If the Vodafone proposition proves successful other networks will follow suit and that will hit the revenue dealers can deliver.

Average revenue per Orange business user is less than that per consumer due to the free calls on business tariffs added Hussain.

Sprint Communications managing director Paul Leonard urged the industry last week to donate old handsets for recycling to Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Middlesex to raise £1 million for cancer research.

Leonard who had a tumour removed at the centre last month has teamed up with Re:cycle Your Mobile in Norwich which will give all profits from the campaign to the centre. Yes Telecom has already agreed to distribute postage bags for handset recycling to its business partners to pass to their customers. Leonard said he would call on colleagues and acquaintances within the industry to help raise the money.

He said: The motivation is simple. I believed it wouldnt happen to me just like everyone believes that. But that is not the case. And cancer research charities do not have lots of money. They need support so they can help people with cancer.

Leonard said he was also saddened to hear that West Coast founder Derek Davey had died from cancer earlier this year and that the industry should band together to support the campaign.

To get involved contact Re:cycle Your Mobile on 0800 970 5097 or post handsets to Mount Vernon Cancer Centre Appeal Freepost ANG 20589 PO Box 137 Wymondham NR9 5BR.

Andy Davies left from Business Connect and Richard Hunt from Phones Direct (pictured with Avenir MD Tanny Price above) won diamonds worth more than £10000 at Avenirs diamond dinner incentive at the end of last month.

The dinner in association with Vodafone was attended by Avenirs 10 top-performing dealers and saw two genuine diamonds mixed with eight fakes and placed in 10 envelopes. Each guest then randomly selected an envelope giving them a 5:1 chance of winning a £10000 diamond.

US accessories distributor Strax has appointed Dan Usher as its new UK sales director.

Usher joins from Hutchison UK where he spent four years latterly as deputy general manager in its accessories business i.Tech.

Usher said: By the middle of the year we want Strax to be represented in a number of the major high street names both specialist and non-specialist.

We are building up our team here in support of that task and there is a great deal of excitement in the market place already around our product innovation.

Strax has secured a European distribution deal with BlackBerry manufacturer RIM.