Its new £12.7 million site in Hayes Middlesex will increase its warehouse resources significantly he said. Unique has purchased two warehouses side-by-side at the Hayes site.

I cant see anything that will stop us from getting involved with any distribution deal said Tow. These are exciting times for Unique. Theres just over 100 warehouse staff at the company at present and the new warehouses will be able to hold 160 workstations. That shows our long-term plan to expand the business.

Unique is expected to announce a significant handset fulfilment deal in the coming weeks following its move from its present site in Abingdon. Unique will also move its sales function headed up by Jolyon Bennett from Abingdon to Hayes.

IT and telecommunications equipment will be fitted into the new offices next month. Two weeks of testing will follow before the move is made permanent.

Designed as a showcase for its premium consumer products it will feature blue Nokia signage with floor and ceiling in silver birch. There will also be LCD screens displaying Nokia brand messages and product advertising.

Nokia said it will stock live working demo versions of all its handsets. The interactive LCD screens will also offer customer advice on each product. In addition the store will range Nokias luxury product line Vertu.

Samsung launched its new E590 prepay handset which has a threemegapixel camera in Carphone Warehouse earlier this month. The E590 candybar has a metallic finish and 70MB of internal memory.

Samsung is looking to hike its UK market share from 23 per cent to 25 per cent by the end of the year with a fuller prepay range.

This year we have been strong in prepay said Samsung UK head of channel marketing Susan Land. High end premium contract phones are still a focus but we need to make sure were strong in the prepay sector leading up to Christmas.

Meanwhile dealers reported strong sales of Samsungs U600 handset which includes a 3.2-megapixel camera. Intek managing director Manny Hussain reported demand had outrun supply. He said: Sales have been down generally but the U600 has sold well. It has been the standout handset and there have been some stock shortages.

Future Mobiles proprietor Antony Nathanson added: Its a big seller. The only other mass market handsets that compare to it for camera quality are the Nokia N73 and Sony Ericsson K810i and consumers prefer the design of the U600.

At the same time LG Mobile UK sales director John Barton said the forthcoming 5.1-megapixel cameraphone the LG KU990 Viewty will trump similarly specced handsets from rival manufacturers.

It is a touchscreen handset and introduces the worlds first 120fps video recording feature on a cameraphone.

Five-megapixel cameraphones are already available in the form of the Samsung G600 and the Sony Ericssons K850i.

But Barton said: The KU990 will defeat rival devices by virtue of all its other features.

He acknowledged the five-megapixel handset LG launched on 3 in the UK last year the LG U990 had failed to hit the mark.

It shows that as a challenger brand you cant always make [such ambitious devices] stick in peoples mind he said.

LGs new prepay devices are the KE500 KG290 KG130 and KG275. The KE500 has a 2MP camera and the KG290 a 1.3MP camera.

All will be available for less than £100.

Samsung is pitching the F210 as an affordable prepay music phone to 16-24 year-olds.

Samsung UK head of channel marketing Susan Land said the F210 was Samsungs key music device for the Christmas quarter.

The F210 builds on the old Blush handset with a stronger metallic casing. Samsung has also scrapped the old condensed keypad from the X830 in favour of a conventional keypad after complaints the X830 was cumbersome to use.

It also features a jog wheel to select music tracks FM radio 1GB internal memory memory card slot and two-megapixel camera.

It will be available from all retailers and networks in October with colour exclusives to follow.

The new features are part of Nokias expansion of its Internet services called Ovi meaning door in Finish. As part of Ovi the group will launch the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage which will enable users to download all the latest music and games.

The Nokia Music Store will allow customers to download music via their computer or directly from Nokia devices beginning with the new Nokia N81 and Nokia N95 8GB.

The Music Store will contain millions of tracks from popular artists and thousands from worldwide independent labels. Customers can download single songs for 1 EUR or albums for 10 EUR they also have the ability to stream their favourite tracks. Users can also transfer purchased songs between Nokia devices and PCs without incurring any additional costs.

Nokia head of music activities Tommi Mustonen said: The Nokia Music Store brings together a powerful combination of great music and great devices in an easy to use way. You can select from a huge range of music including local music from your country and download it directly to your Nokia device.

You can choose between purchasing tracks a la carte via your Nokia device or computer or you can stream an unlimited number of full length tracks to your computer. The unlimited streaming is a great way to discover new music and the integrated mobile and PC download service is a fantastic way to build a music collection that is always with you.

The N-Gage service allows users to buy the latest games directly to Nokia devices as well as previewing upcoming releases and download free demos. Customers can either purchase games by entering credit card details or by adding it to their monthly phone bill.

Nokia head of games business Jaakko Kaidesoja said: The N-Gage service combined with powerful devices world class titles and brands and interactive social networking features takes the mobile gaming experience beyond traditional boundaries.

It is also offering free mobile calls to 40 countries until the end of 2007 to anyone who signs up before the end of September. VoIP text messages will be free to other Truphone users and 7p to regular mobile numbers.

Truphone CEO James Tagg said: We were the first to demonstrate SMS-over-IP and weve been delighted at the feedback.

The Federation of Technological Industries (FTI) is set to lead more than 140 traders in potentially the largest judicial review in UK legal history.

The objective of the group action is to speed up HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) decision-making process over VAT repayments to traders. As it stands HMRC argues under the extended verification rule that it can withhold VAT repayments until proper verification of traders accounts has taken place. But HMRC has yet to pay out under the ruling and traders have gone out of business as a result.

Birmingham based Dass Solicitors which is handling the case reckoned the total withheld VAT will run to hundreds of millions of pounds.

Alias Dass partner at Dass Solicitors said: This is potentially the largest judicial review in UK history. The calculation hasnt been done but it is going to run to hundreds of millions of pounds.

FTI chairman Fred Howarth who took over from Anthony Elliot-Square before Christmas said he had read through 30000 documents from traders. He said: The picture it has given me is appalling.

Howarth will meet with traders individually next week and then hold a trader conference for the group action near the end of the month.
At the time of going to press the grounds for the claim were being finalised.

Expansys MD Roger Butterworth said the purchase of North Yorkshire-based website Global Positioning Systems had been completed at the beginning of August.

Butterworth said: There will be an increasing number of phones coming out equipped with GPS software.

People who bought a TomTom two years ago will be looking to replace that with something like a Nokia 6110. Were keen to expand that sort of customer base.

He said the company would be looking to purchase further websites to expand its portfolio.

Anglia Telecom has confirmed the departure of its chief executive Andy Smith.

Anglia said Smith had left the business following a period of extended compassionate leave. Anglia sales director Dave McGinn has been appointed acting managing director of Redstone Mobile which incorporates Anglia.

Redstone CEO Martin Balaam said: Andrew gave us a clear insight of the industry having had vast experience with Vodafone as well as the independent and service provision channels. He has helped Redstone develop a complete communications package under one roof.
Smith was unavailable for comment.

Smith joined Anglia in 2004. He has overseen two Anglia buy-outs first by Symphony Telecom and more recently by Redstone. Smith spent 19 years at Vodafone latterly as sales director before joining Anglia.

EU commissioner Viviane Reding said: We can either take the lead globally or allow other regions to take the lions share of the promised TV market. Wait-and-see is not an option. The time has come for Europes industry and governments to switch on to mobile TV.

As it stands mobile TV is in its infancy. Vodafone Orange and 3 are streaming TV over 3G in the UK already but usage remains low. In the long run video-on-demand services or niche streamed content can be served by 3G and its enhancements such as HSDPA and MBMS. But for broadcast TV on mobiles to take off a dedicated broadcast network is required.

The problem is the spectrum needed for mobile broadcast networks will not be available until existing television broadcast networks are converted from analogue to digital a process taking place over the next few years. In the UK the process is not expected to complete until 2012.

Switching to digital

The spectrum liberated by the greater efficiency of digital TV transmission will then be re-allocated most likely through auction. While the BBC ITV Channel 4 and Five want to retain spectrum to offer high definition over Freeview the auction will attract bids from a variety of parties that wish to take advantage of good UHF propagation.

Through the GSM Association the mobile network operators have staked their claim to a share of the digital dividend by proposing in response to an EU consultation that part of the UHF band in Europe be reserved for telecommunications.

Since radio waves refuse to observe national borders spectrum management requires international cooperation and coordination. Consequently changing the use of individual bands is a drawn-out process. But the benefits can be enormous GSM grew out of Europes decision in 1986 to reserve part of the 900 MHz band for mobile.

With digital switch-over under way and agreement yet to be reached as to how if at all the released spectrum will be divided into harmonised sub-bands it came as a surprise to many when EU commissioner Reding accused member states operators broadcasters and equipment suppliers in March of dragging their feet on the introduction of mobile TV.

Her call last week for member states to roll out DVB-H services as quickly as possible with a view to possibly mandating its use in 2008 caused consternation. It contradicted the EUs policy of technology neutrality. Her intervention is viewed as needless meddling from Brussels and in some quarters as a threat to competition and natural selection of TV standards.

Since the early part of the decade a number of competing formats has arisen including DVB-H DAB-IP DMB and MediaFLO. Each has significant backers.

Chris Khouri media and data analyst at Datamonitor said: The move is a blow to an industry-led competitive marketplace. The other standards have all been trialled across Europe and the market was expected to harmonise through technological innovation and chipset interoperability in the near term.

The Italian example

While DVB-H has been commercially launched in Italy and Finland other technologies such as T-DMB in Germany and DAB-IP in the UK are already integral to European mobile TV.

Reding is yet to explain how support for DVB-H might impact companies that have already invested and launched services on alternative technologies. Mobile Fernsehen Deutschland (MFD) is likely to be one of those interested in her response.

MFD launched its Watcha service over T-DMB in May 2006. Bertold Heil of T-Systems Media & Broadcast the company that deployed MFDs network said: For the first time in Germany a network deployment was market-driven rather than a political initiative.

Although MFD has licences for a nationwide service due to Germanys federal approach to spectrum allocation MFD is currently only available to 16 million people.

Another wholesale offering Watcha is currently retailed through three MVNOs: Debitel Mobilcom and Simply. Handsets have been released by Samsung LG and Nokia.

BT Movio is another that doesnt fit neatly into commissioner Redings vision. Movios wholesale television and radio proposition including five TV channels and 30-50 DAB radio stations was brought to market last September by Virgin Mobile.

BT Movio marketing director Dominic Strowbridge said: People love mobile TV but use radio more: there are more opportunities to use radio in the average day.

With a UK strategy centred on delivering all its services over IP irrespective of the physical bearer BT is comfortable with the idea of migrating Movio to DVB-H. However as Strowbridge points out DAB-IP offers an economic opportunity to offer a mobile TV service now.

While pointing to research from Strategy Analytics that shows consumers rated the Movio proposition well ahead of the streamed services from Orange and Vodafone he conceded the Lobster handset was not so well received.

He declined to divulge subscriber numbers but does expect four or five new devices to reach the market before Christmas.

Commissioner Redings support for a single standard is in part founded on the potential benefits of economies of scale and export opportunities for European companies.

Paradoxically Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG appear to currently dominate mobile TV handset supply. It is entirely likely however that developments elsewhere will generate scale quickly.

The mobile TV opportunity is attracting the interest of many and Redings intervention has again got peoples backs up. As MFD head of content Martin Liss put it: Were two minutes after the birth. Its unfair to ask for a driving licence.