3 severed ties with 33 independents last week in its first dealer cull of the year.

It cut off more than 200 dealers last year.

3 said that the affected dealers were under constant review in the past nine months and those affected were aware they were not meeting targets.

A 3 spokesman said: Weve decided to stop connecting through these dealers because they werent meeting our terms and conditions or delivering the right type of business. This might mean simply not following our rules the quality of their sales or the experience they were giving to the customer.

He added: These dealers knew they werent delivering the right type of customer and were aware they werent meeting our requirements. They were given the opportunity to improve but failed to so this decision wont come as a shock to them.

The larger number of affected dealers connected via Fone Logistics and European Telecom.

3 said that there are no immediate plans at this stage to terminate more dealer codes.

Meanwhile independents claimed last week that 3 was getting through dealer account managers like it was going out of fashion. One dealer said: I have had four different account managers in the past two months. Another dealer source said he did not know who his point of contact was anymore.

3 said its restructure prior to Christmas which saw its multiple and independent dealer teams come together under 3 indirect chief Bernie OBeirne had completed now. That should have settled down by February said a spokesman.

Nokia UK marketing manager Simon Lloyd has resigned to join directory services company 118118.

Nokia has not yet found a replacement.

Lloyds decision to quit was announced internally at a Nokia management meeting last month and he is working out a three-month notice period. He departs on amicable terms and joins 118 118 in a senior commercial role.

Lloyd joined Nokia just over six years ago starting as an account manager on the sales side. He has been marketing manager for the UK for three years.

Nokia refused to comment.

Dorset-based accessories distributor Kondor will launch a handset business arm later this year built around former Dextra associate sales director Simon Hassell and former Dextra national account manager Jason Bisseker.

Hassell and Bisseker have good experience from Dextra of handset customisation for non-specialist retailers said Kondor managing director Rob Haycock. They have that experience so we would be crazy not to utilise it he said.

At the same time Haycock dismissed rumours that The Carphone Warehouse is poised to acquire Kondor. There is no truth in that he said.

Kondor is looking to challenge the status quo in handset distribution by providing a handset customisation service for retailers such as Dixons Currys Comet Woolworths and Sainsburys all of which it already works with on accessories.

Haycock said: There is a better way [of doing handset distribution]. The margins are tight and there is a lot of money invested in it Im not sure all that is actually necessary. We are looking at how we can carry out that distribution service and add value with less risk to the distributor.

If you look at the way Carphone does things it buys all its own phones itself but they all need working on. We are looking at the whole market place. That kind of handset distribution is not done quite the right way at the moment.

He added: Our customers are already asking why if we pack and dispatch their accessories for them we cant do the same for handsets.

Kondor has doubled its headcount during the past 12 months to more than 90 and expanded its warehouse.

Haycock is currently recruiting for 10 new positions.

It has carried out a handset customisation and fulfilment service for networks including Vodafone and T-Mobile in the past on an ad hoc basis when they have been caught short said Haycock.

We dont quite have the skill set yet. However the recruitment of Simon [Hassell] and Jason [Bisseker] means we can grow that side of the business this year he said.

Hassell and Bisseker are on gardening leave from Dextra for six months and three months respectively. Hassell will take up his role at Kondor in August while Bisseker will do so in May.

An independent panel of judges put 20:20 Logistics and The Carphone Warehouse at the top of their categories in the Mobile News Awards.

The Carphone Warehouse won Best Retailer for the 12th year having lost out to O2 in 2006. 20:20 Logistics picked up Best Distributor (Handsets) for the 10th year in a row.

The judges described 20:20s entry as undeniably world class 20:20 continues to set the standard. Another judge said the distributors statistics were so powerful there was no choice but to put it first.

O2 notched up its second win in the year as being the best network for customer service by achieving the highest score in Mobile Newss regular Mystery Caller audit of call centres.

HTC and Research In Motion picked up their first Mobile News Awards for respectively the P3330 PDA and BlackBerry Pearl.

This year also saw Dextra Solutions win its third award as Best Distributor (Accessories).

Azzurri picked up another two Awards for Best Customer Service and Best B2B Dealer after success in these categories in previous years.

Samsung also turned in a winning performance nabbing the Best Manufacturer Award for the sheer variety of its portfolio in 2006.

The judges reckoned Motorola would have had a better shot at the title if it had submitted actual handsets with its entry.

Carphone Warehouse continued to impress despite a tough year with its TalkTalk fixed-line business and the loss of its Vodafone contract business to Phones 4U.

The Sim4Travel network-independent prepay SIM won the Innovative Service Award. Judges said it was a fabulous money-saving device that avoided the con of network roaming charges.

London-based B2B service provider Alternative Networks has extended its service provider contract with O2 until July 2009.

Vodafone renewed its SP agreement with Alternative Networks at the end of last year.

Alternative CEO James Murray said: The renewal of our O2 licence is testament to the hard work of our mobile teams. Were always looking to build a very close relationship with O2 and Vodafone and work closely with them on the data aspect of mobile. Its also great news for our shareholders.

Alternative Networks has worked with O2 since 2002. O2 UK general manager of business sales Ben Dowd said: Its service-driven approach knowledge of converged products and ability to customise applications and services are critical in todays market.

The role was initially offered to Motorola UK boss JIM Michel before he reneged last month. Henrys appointment comes two months after he quit his post at Carphone.

Henry told Mobile News: I have seen every distributor up close and 20:20 is way way ahead of the competiton.

Henry will be discussing his new role on this weeks edition of the Mobile News podcast which is available from Wednesday.

LG Mobile is set to sign a shirt sponsorship deal with Premiership football side Fulham FC believed to be worth around £4 million over a three-year period.

The deal is expected to complete within the next fortnight Mobile News understands.

LG marketing manager John Bernard said: We are close to finalising a deal with a top Premiership club but cannot comment any further at this stage.

Fulhams shirt sponsorship deal with broadband company Pipex ends this year. LG is already a handset partner of Fulham.

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

Anglia said that Smith has 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 and service provider Redstone Mobile.

Smith was unavailable for comment.

Martin Balaam CEO of Anglia parent company Redstone said:

Were really sorry to be losing Andrew as hes bought so much to the business. We wish him the very best for the future. Andrew has given us a clear insight of the industry having had vast experience with Vodafone as well as the independent and service provision channels and has helped Redstone in developing a complete communications package under one roof.

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.

Ex-Vodafone director Ken McGeorge has teamed up with Geoff Walters and his sons Paul and Marc in a phone buy-back venture called Mobile Phone Xchange (MPX).

MPX will broker sales of obsolete UK handsets to emerging markets.
McGeorge who retired from Vodafone in 2005 after 20 years will be a non-executive director of MPX. At Vodafone he had been responsible for managing all of Vodafones indirect partners and oversaw many of Vodafone UKs major acquisitions over the years.

The three members of the Walters family were the original founders of Complete Mobile Communications (CMC) which later became known as Avenir Telecom UK after they sold the company to the French Telco in 2000. CMC was the first distributor to offer all five UK networks and was Vodafones largest distributor.

MPX will source used handsets from networks and retailers and re-distribute them to countries where they can still be utilised. The logistics side of the venture will be handled by Kuehne and Nagel one of the top three worldwide contract logistics players.

Second-hand phones still have a value Walters said. In this country handsets are heavily subsidised and given away so people assume they are worthless. But the emerging networks in India and the Far East are a generation behind us and the phones have value there.

MPX will work as a facilitator sourcing retailers and networks for supplies of older handsets that have been returned or upgraded. It will run a weekly price list based on availability and demand.

Walters said: Think how many people discard their phones after they have had their annual upgrade. Well take the phones pay for them send them to our logistics company for checking and boxing and then sell them on.

Walters said networks and retailers could motivate customers to return their old kit by offering them vouchers redeemable against further purchases or airtime. Cash should not be offered though as that would encourage phone theft he said.

HM Revenue & Customs said last week that the reverse charge mechanism which zero-rates VAT between mobile phone traders will be finally introduced on June 1 even though finance ministers from EU member states have yet to ratify the plan.

The reverse charge designed to eliminate carousel fraud from the supply chain transfers the obligation to pay VAT from traders to retailers.

But trading sources had doubted whether it would be introduced so soon after three failed attempts. France Germany and Austria have all voiced their opposition in the past.

One leading trader said: I do not believe Customs has secured backing. Why is there no mention of this on any of the EU web sites? One thing is for sure the industry badly needs some form of legal guidance at present as Customs is blatantly ignoring tried and tested legal procedures.

A Customs spokesperson insisted that there was now full agreement from all member states.

All EU nations have now agreed to the reverse charge and we dont expect any intervention said the spokesperson.

Paymaster-general Dawn Primarolo MP said: This is a proportionate step to safeguard taxpayers money and means businesses can trade in these goods without the risk of getting caught up in fraud.

Trade 24/7 managing director KC Cico said: It will see the illegal traders disappear. There should also be more competitive prices on handsets creating a more open market.

But Mike Cheetham of Bond House Systems said reverse charging would simply encourage new types of fraud.

What it does is shift the full collection of the VAT from one end of the chain of supply to the other he said. It will shift from the EU importer which is where missing traders currently insert themselves to the retailer.

He argued that fraudsters would set up VAT registered companies to buy VAT-free and sell direct to the public. They will use the VAT to undercut the legitimate retailers and then they will go missing. This is just like missing trader fraud but at the other end of the chain.

The difference he said was that this time the fraudster collects all of the VAT. It is going to have a serious effect on retailers who try to compete with Internet prices much lower than their cost price.

Though the fraud would not be able to generate carousels because the phones will be bought by end users he said fraud would occur at the fat end of the wedge and will be much harder to detect by all.

Traders could end up having their reverse charge zero rating disallowed and assessed for the VAT they should have charged for these new generation of missing traders.

What the UK is really doing is saying to the other 26 EU member states we cant sort this problem out so we are going to wash our hands of it and dump the problem on you he said. Worse than that they are going to accelerate the problem in our EU neighbours.

He added: The UK will become the feeding ground for fraud in every other member state. The goods will pass from a fraud in France to a fraud in Poland all UK VAT-free.

Goods dont even need to come to the UK he said.

They can simply hop across the border 10 times a day between France and Italy with the UK brokers handling the paperwork and money and it will all be fully compliant. The UK is therefore set to become the Dubai of tomorrow. Why send the goods on round trips to Dubai when they can do 10 frauds a day in every EC country other than the UK? said Cheetham.