Aerofones sale to Icelandic network operator Siminn for an undisclosed fee will give it the clout to lead service provision in the UK according to chairman and founder Jo Marks.

As a service provider you have got to lead the way and you have got to be able to offer a complete fully-converged solution said Marks.

Aerofone was not up for sale. It has done very well up to now as an independent but as a service provider we need all the right ingredients to remain at the forefront. This guarantees us the investment and resources to stay at the cutting edge.

Marks sold Bradford-based Aerofone to Stanhope Communications in 2001 before buying it back in 2003. She was the sole Aerofone shareholder and stays on as CEO under the new owners.

It is my dream deal she said. I sold because it was right for the company and right for the staff. The money is of no consequence.

Siminn bills 400000 customers a month in Iceland and employs 1900 people. Its range of converged services and solutions include mobile fixed-line broadband and Internet products as well as television and IT network solutions. It set up a subsidiary in London last year Siminn UK to serve Icelandic businesses abroad.

Marks claimed the sale had the full backing of Aerofone network partners O2 and Vodafone. Vodafone and O2 have been tremendous. They are really excited about this deal. As a service provider you have to be able to offer something that the networks cant match she said.
Marks founded Aerofone in 1986. It won Best Service Provider at the 2000 and 2001 Mobile News Awards.

The new Aerofone board consists of S¦var Freyr Thrainsson vice president of Siminn Corporate Th³r Jes Th³risson vice president of Siminn ICT Division and smundur Tryggvason from Siminn parent Exista.

Its headquarters will remain in Bradford. It employs 70 staff whose jobs are unaffected by the sale.

Sony Pictures Television International is to launch a big-budget animated sci-fi drama in May written and produced for mobile broadcast.

It is the first mobile video production to get the full backing of a major studio. Networks are currently in discussions with Sony Pictures about broadcast rights for the series called Afterworld.

Sony Pictures senior vice-president of mobile entertainment Jason Wells said: We have spent a significant amount of money on this from a mobile perspective we have invested much more than we have ever spent to develop a property or to acquire its rights before.

He stressed that the series would have high production values. This is a Hollywood-style project its not some garage production he said. It has involved a number of writers and a number of designers. This is one of the coolest things that weve ever got behind and mobile operators share our excitement.

Afterworld is a multi-platform series. The project consists of 130 two-minute episodes for distribution across mobile as well as via television and Internet outlets.

The series was conceived by television producer Stan Rogow who was behind the Fame TV series in the 1980s and content writer Brent Friedman who has worked for sci-for series including Enterprise and The Twilight Zone.

The story follows the journey of Russell Shoemaker from New York to Seattle in the wake of a huge electromagnetic pulse that wipes out technology and 99 per cent of the worlds population. Along the way he attempts to piece together the truth behind the event.

It is like a government experiment gone wrong said Wells. It will strike a chord with international audiences because it is a heros journey a voyage of discovery that has universal themes.

The two-minute episodes which are expected to launch on mobile in the UK in June are also likely to be broadcast across Sonys own TV networks while 13 half-hour episodes of the series are also to be made available to conventional broadcasters.

The online content still at an early stage will enable viewers to dig deeper into the storyline and characters according to Wells. Elements of the mobile version that go unexplored will be fleshed out online and there will also be user-generated content.

The series is split thematically so that the main protagonist visits a new US city every five episodes. Wells said the format lent itself to gaming. He said: Every five episodes work like a new game level. So gaming can be built around it very well.

These are early days for mobile TV content and Wells stressed the need for high quality programming to help the technology take off.

If it is low quality customers are going to be turned off and that could damage the market he said. It is also what the networks are looking for. They need to present high quality video content to their users to ensure wider take-up.

I expect it to have a snowball effect and for other big media companies to get on the bandwagon. I hope they do for the good of the industry and the users.

Sony Pictures is likely to hook up with its part-owned Sony Ericsson joint-venture on promotional material. Wells said: In a Sony United effort we are seeking joint opportunities with this franchise.

Meanwhile it is still considering delivery options for mobile including ad-supported free downloads pay-per view and a flat subscription fee for all 130 episodes.

Pilot episodes of Afterworld can be viewed on video sharing site YouTube.

Hugh Symons Communications has launched a scheme to help its Unity dealers manage their Orange marketing funds and keep within its guidelines on logo usage.

Orange pays dealers £15 per contract connection on a six-monthly basis.
Hugh Symons new Canvas scheme offers its top Unity dealers free marketing and point-of-sale material with pre-approved Orange branding.
Other Hugh Symons dealers will be offered reduced rates.

Hugh Symons is charging £50 for the design of a press ad compared with up to £300 from an agency.

All costs incurred using the Canvas service are redeemable against dealers Orange marketing funds.

Hugh Symons marketing manager Theresa Williams said: This leaves dealers more time and money to spend on increased marketing to drive Orange contract sales.

Get Connected managing director Damian Cole finished second in the Wydean Forest Rally last month the first event in a 10-round rally championship.

Coles Get Connected dealership which has 33 stores throughout Wales and the Midlands sponsored the event.

Shebang Distribution sponsors Coles car for the championship. Its own Nexus accessories brand appears across the bonnet and sides of the Hyundai Accent WRC.

Shebang Distribution managing director Iain Humphrey said: Damian is a very professional guy and that is reflected in his success in the rally world.

Former Carphone Warehouse commercial director George Dymond is returning to the UK to take up the role of trading director at Carphone a post vacated by John Durkan earlier this month.

Durkan replaces Richard Walker as chief operating officer.

Dymond had been working on Carphones US joint-venture with US consumer electronics retailer BestBuy called BestBuy Mobile. Dymond opened nine BestBuy Mobile stores in New York a combination of concessions and standalone outlets in the past six months.

Walker will work within BestBuy and in a consultancy role for TalkTalk in the US.

A Carphone spokesperson said: George went to the US to bring his UK experience to them as their market is so different. He will be based in the UK but will travel to the US to check on progress.

London-based Olive Communications has won T-Mobiles business partner of the year award for the third year running.

T-Mobile rated dealers on connection volumes ARPU churn and data sales. Olive took the title ahead of 28 other businesses.

Olive managing director Mark Geraghty said: Where a lot of dealers sit back were proactive and work extremely closely with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile UK Business Partner Programme national sales manager John Fannon said: Olive brought over 20000 business customers to T-Mobile.

Olive has doubled in size each year since its inception in 2003 claimed Geraghty. It turned over £10 million last year.

European Telecom parent company Emblaze confirmed last week that it lost more than $10 million (£5.1 million) during the past year as a result of withheld VAT repayments by HM Revenue & Customs.

Emblaze said that European Telecom had also suffered from the decline in handset trading following Customs squeeze on the sector.

In a statement it said: The Group expects to incur a net loss of not more than $10 million for the year as a result of an ongoing VAT dispute that is currently affecting the UK mobile phone distribution industry.

First the group has had to make a significant provision for the potential loss of VAT refund in 2006. Second the action has led to uncertainty in mobile distribution and a significant slowdown in trading.

European Telecom chairman Nico Dervisaj told Mobile News earlier this month: The weakest part of our business now is SIM-free trading. We dont have any direct relationships with UK manufacturers and dont buy from the open market.

Emblaze will post its full-year results in the second half of April.

South-west dealership JAG Communications has lost its appeal against HM Revenue & Customs to reclaim £365000 in VAT on cashback deals stretching back to 2002.

JAG managing director John George said: It has been a long haul to get this far. Allowing VAT on line rental but not allowing it to be reclaimed on the cost of the cashback would seem a simple case of double taxation by Customs which is against European guidelines.

In 2002 Customs overturned a rule that said cashback represented a cost for which VAT could be claimed. JAG has been fighting for its money ever since.

Somerset-based dealership Uplands Mobile will open a new B2B outlet in Weston-Super-Mare on April 11.

The new Business Specialist Centre will showcase products including mobile data and satnav.

Uplands managing director Paul Hooper said: We want to offer SME customers an end-to-end solution everything from tariff analysis to data tracking.

Uplands was established in 1979. It is an O2 Advance dealer.

O2 is considering legal action against 60 dealers for mis-selling O2 products and services it said last week.

O2 has started legal proceedings in the High Court in London against Cardiff-based call centre dealer Communications Direct for trademark infringement and passing off.

It is the second Cardiff-based distance caller the network has accused of mis-selling O2 customers airtime contracts on rival networks a sales tactic known as slamming. It took Landmark Communications to court in December. Landmark eventually settled out of court for £500000.

An O2 spokesman said: The problem is widespread; we are reviewing 60 others that may be guilty of similar practices.

O2 claimed it had received up to 100 complaints a month about Communications Direct. O2 is now waiting for Communications Direct to file its defence.