Mobile phone and wireless internet testing is planned on the London Underground at Bank and Waterloo stations.

Should the trials be successful the whole network could have coverage by 2009. Transport for London also plans to investigate DAB digital radio and Wi-Fi coverage. The trials are going ahead after London Underground allayed concerns that mobile access on the tube could open opportunities for terrorist activity.

A study by Keynote Systems revealed 65 per cent of public transport users would find people talking on mobiles on the Tube irritating. But nearly 80 per cent said they would check or send emails by phone 70 per cent of who would use the internet to check location and travel information.

20:20 Logistics business development director Richard Baxendale is set to leave the business.

Baxendale will be prevented from working for competitor companies for 18 months. Baxendale has been with 20:20 for six years. 20:20 refused to comment.

Baxendales exit from the 20:20 Mobile Group follows the departure of former 20:20 Logistics MD Rod Millar HR director Maxine Brough Dextra Solutions MD Chris Jones FD Gerry OKeefe trading director Rob Hendry and commercial director Andrew Burgess.

A source said: Its the end of an era. Those that John Caudwell moulded have all gone.

O2 will launch 24-month business contracts with boosted talk time on April 28.

All the new plans include free calls to other O2 customers capped at 2000 minutes a month.

Customers on a £25 contract will receive 200 minutes a month 50 more than those on the 12-month contract. An £80 tariff gives an extra 500 minutes while £100 a month gives 2000 minutes more. Customers have one month to take up unused minutes and texts.

Not all dealers welcomed the commitment however.

One said: Eighteen months is long enough 24 months is crazy. If its not good enough for me my customers wont want it. Ill put the option out there for them but is it good to be hanging on so long in such a fast-changing industry?

The venue was packed with more than 23000 fans who were attending concerts by Barbra Streisand and Joss Stone as well as the British film premier of the Simpsons.

All three events ended at 11:00pm and resulted in visitors sitting in stationary traffic for more than an hour just to leave the venues car park. Customers who attended the Simpsons movie after party were forced to leave early after they were informed the last tube for the evening would leave at 12:16am. A further 200 people were forced to wait over an hour for a taxi.

A spokesperson for the O₂ arena played down the situation: The tubes and boat services ran like clockwork and the car park was cleared in 25 minutes. There were queues for taxis and this is something we are working on with TFL.

European Telecom parent company Emblaze confirmed last week that it has lost more than USD10 million (GBP5.1m) during the past year as a result of withheld VAT repayments by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

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

In a statement it said: The Group expects to incur a net loss of not more than USD10 million for the year as a result of an ongoing VAT dispute concerning HMRC that is currently impacting hundreds of companies within the UK mobile phone distribution industry.

This has impacted the Group in two ways. Firstly the Group has had to make a significant provision for the potential loss of VAT refund in 2006. Secondly the HMRC action has led to uncertainty in the mobile distribution market 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 as we dont have any direct relationships with manufacturers in the UK and dont buy from the open market anymore because of the HMRC situation. Handset trading is really really down.

Emblaze will post its full year results to December 31 2006 in the second half of April.

The BBC has started a trial with Orange Vodafone and 3 to syndicate content via 3G.

The 12-month trial will enable Orange Vodafone and 3 customers to watch BBC One BBC News 24 and BBC Three plus eight BBC radio stations.

BBC controller of business strategy Richard Halton said: We are looking at ways in which mobile devices will shape services of the future for licence fee payers.

BT last week denied its DAB mobile TV service was threatened by the EUs backing of DVB-H as the mobile TV broadcast standard.

BT Movio BTs wholesale mobile TV service is available to all UK networks although only Virgin Mobile has opted in so far with its Lobster handset.

Last month EU commissioner Vivien Reding said mobile TV providers should adopt a single broadcast standard and recommended DVB-H.

BT Movio marketing manager Dominic Strowbridge said:

There is very little likelihood that Lobster customers will be affected as the spectrum for DVB-H in the UK will not be released for another five to six years. We firmly believe consumers want a blend of TV and radio on their mobiles so the long-term goal is to get DAB and whatever TV specific-standard into all handsets.

Strowbridge added that chipset suppliers are already producing hardware for dual-mode DAB/DVB-H handsets.

But the WorldDMB Forum is pushing the wider implementation of the DAB/DMB standard.

President Quentin Howard said: It is vital for European industry that the market is not restricted to one specific technology.

Orange is to roll out mobile Internet advertising to all its UK subscriber base.

It said that following trials 75 per cent of its customers are interested in mobile Internet advertising but that ad slots on its Orange World portal are unobtrusive.

Orange UK third-party service manager Steve Ricketts said: There is a real appetite for mobile advertising and its not interruptive ads are clearly labelled to reduce the chance of someone clicking on them by mistake.

Ricketts said advertisers had already re-booked after the trial. He added that restrictions would ensure the delivery of age-appropriate content.

Orange began placing ads on Orange World last August. Of 1000 customers surveyed Orange claimed more than 50 per cent would be happy to see more advertising on their mobile. Seventy-five per cent said they would stop browsing a mobile Internet site and view a relevant mobile ad. Orange claimed that less than six per cent of surveyed customers said they disliked the advertising.

Brands advertising in the trial included Adidas Cadburys Xbox Jaguar Peugeot BMW and EMI.

Ricketts refused to confirm speculation that Orange is on the verge of signing an airtime deal to host MVNO Blyk which is funded by advertising revenues. We are always on the look out for MVNO partners but no contracts have been signed he said.

Ovum principal analyst Eden Zoller warned: Orange should keep in mind that advertising wont play a part in every mobile consumers life. If it resembles spam its going to switch consumers off.

Staff salaries at Jag communications have undergone a restructure with the hope of recruiting quality sales consultants and increasing its share of the mobile market.

The changes will see managers basic salaries rise from £15000 to £20000 a year and sales staff basic salaries from £10000 to £15000.
The move came into effect on April 1 following a £20000 investment in sales training in the past two months.

Jag MD John George said: We have been struggling to recruit quality personnel. Pay will be based on stores making a profit.

Sony Ericsson launched its latest Walkman-branded handset last week the slim-line slider W580i.

Sony Ericsson marketing manager Richard Dorman said: The W580i has all the credentials to be a big seller in 2007. It has a slim-slide feature which is something totally different for a Sony Ericsson handset.

The handset is 14mm thick and can store up to 470 tracks. It has a two-megapixel camera.