Kent-based MoCo has signed a deal with Cheshire-based fixed line service provider Chess that will see it bring in millions in extra revenue this year.

MoCo is the first member of the new Chess Millionaire Club which Chess group sales director Chris Morrisey describes as a multi-million pound opportunity for its partners and their dealer bases.

Morrisey said: It is a multi-million pound opportunity for MoCo and its partners. We are giving them access to all Chess products services and commissions. A Millionaire Club member can earn £1 million in 12 months based on sales volumes and revenues. Were offering enhanced commission for selling Chess products.

The deal will see MoCo sell Chess fixed-line and broadband services via both its own direct sales arm and its dealer base. The MoCo brand will appear alongside the Chess brand on customer bills for direct sales although Chess will manage all billing procedures itself. Chess has extended the co-branding offer to MoCo dealers too.

MoCo sales and marketing director Harvey Alexander said: The industry has moved away from spinning customers and this is a way for dealers to upgrade customers on the same network and to make additional sales with extra upfront commission payments and monthly ongoing revenue. Plus its an easy sale.

Morrisey added: This deal is a massive opportunity for us to build our dealer base in the South. Lots of mobile dealers are missing a trick by not selling fixed-line it brings stability to their commission payments and a recurring revenue.

As part of the deal MoCo will have a dedicated Chess account manager that will join its sales team in customer meetings.

MoCo is expanding its dealer help desk and increasing its number of account managers from six to 12 in the next three months.

Chess founded in 1993 is a wholesale service provider for BT and resells all the tier-one UK fixed-line carriers. It has its own broadband and data networks and is rolling out VoIP sales.

Its turnover has increased from £3.5 million in 2004 to £17.8 million last year. It expects to turn over £25 million this year.

Chess said it could strike similar deals in the mobile sector but described MoCo as its strategic partner in the South.

European Telecom chairman Nico Dervisaj met with 3 last week to resolve a £2 million clawback on contract connections.

Dervisaj told Mobile News ahead of the meeting on Tuesday (April 3) with 3 sales director Marc Allera that European Telecom had been landed with a multi-network clawback for £2 million which involved connections dating back to 2005.

3 said it had clawed back commission payments from European Telecom but that it was nothing out of the ordinary.

A 3 spokesman said: It is business as usual. European Telecom is a partner of ours and we continue to work with it.

Following the meeting with 3 Dervisaj told Mobile News that everything had been resolved.

He said: It was a misunderstanding. I have met with Marc and everything was very comprehensive. It has been resolved.

Meanwhile European Telecom parent company Emblaze last week reported operating losses of $45 million (£22.8 million) for the year to December.

It put the loss down to provisions and reserves taken in consideration of more than £8 million in VAT refunds withheld by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Chief executive officer of Emblaze Guy Bernstein said: We are not happy about the HMRC issues but it is truly an industry matter that is beyond our control.

ET has unveiled its direct sales arm ET Business solutions.

Motorola UK director of sales and distribution Dan Cuffley left the business suddenly last Friday (March 30).

Cuffley who has been with Motorola for more than a decade had meetings with channel customers lined up Mobile News understands.

Motorola confirmed his exit. Cuffley was unavailable for comment.

Its a surprise. Ive known Dan for a number of years. He is one of the industrys good guys and he had meetings lined up said a source.

Cuffleys exit follows six departures from Motorolas marketing department. Motorola is committed to cutting five per cent of its 70000-strong global workforce. It also comes on the heels of its appointment of Jim Michell described as a shrewd operator by rivals as general manager in March.

Its Q4 profits fell by half and its margin fell by £53 million.

Gwent-based dealership Get Connected is to open four new stores in the next fortnight following an invitation to acquire outlets by Storm Communications and Zone Cellular.

The deals take the number of stores in the chain to 37. Get Connected managing director Damian Cole is aiming for 40 outlets by the summer and 50 by the end of the year.

The three Storm stores are in Welshpool Newtown and Wellington in Shropshire. Zone Cellular is in Cardiff.

Cole said: Well speak to anyone that would like to sell their business regardless of how many stores they have or the location.

Storm managing director Alan Thorpe-Downey will continue the Storm brand as a B2B dealership. Zone Cellular chief Shaun Shah will continue to run a Nokia service centre in the city.

Vodafone will launch its full-fat mobile Internet proposition in the summer it said last week. The service will compete with 3s X-Series package.

Vodafone will open up its walled garden which demarcates its live! portal to allow users to browse the wider Internet on their handsets.

It claimed last week that it has 4.5 million active Vodafone live! customers and rising. The new service will be made available on all handsets on flat-rate tariffs.

Vodafone chief executive Nick Read said: With the exception of 3 we significantly lead the rest of the mainstream networks in terms of 3G device penetration. So we have a fantastic base [for the mobile internet] and it is now time to take down the walled garden of live! and really open up its potential.

Vodafone consumer business director Tim Yates added: The partnerships we have developed with the likes of YouTube eBay Google and MySpace will be an enhancement of this.

Mainline regional sales managers Pete Hedge and Jo McLarty have resigned.

Hedge had been with Mainline for four-and-a-half years. His role will be absorbed into the new sales regime. He has left to set up as a B2B dealer using Mainline for its Orange connections.

McLarty who had been with Mainline for just three months is understood to have quit to pursue career opportunities in other sectors. McLarty spent over seven years with Hugh Symons.

Mainline managing director Andrew Boden said: Weve known for some time that Pete wanted to leave to set up his own dealership and we are delighted to be supporting him.

He added: Jo leaves with our best wishes. The search is under way for a replacement regional sales manager.

European Telecom is looking to add another 30 sales staff to its new direct B2B sales division by the end of June.

ET Business Solutionswhich has been in operation for just a few months has more than 30 sales staff in place as it stands. European Telecom director of B2B Frank Masson said it would add around 100 staff by the end of the year.

ET Business Solutions is targeting sole traders SoHo and SME customers. It is selling mobile data fixed-line broadband and VoIP solutions.

The business unit has also been appointed to T-Mobiles business partner programme. Masson said that it was also being considered for similar schemes by its other mobile fixed-line VoIP and broadband network partners.

Masson said: Our aim is simple. We want to offer the best B2B technology and telecoms solutions. We believe in experience honesty and reliability. The management team has worked in the B2B area for over 10 years. It is a winning formula.

T-Mobile national sales manager for business partners John Fannon said: We are confident that ET Business Solutions will establish itself as one of our preferred business partners with the ability to deliver the type of managed business solutions our customers are looking for.

O2 is in discussions with all the network operators about putting in place a code of conduct on slamming to stop distance sellers cold-calling customers to mis-sell network contracts.

Vodafone and T-Mobile along with O2 have been most active in eradicating the practice from the channel. Orange and 3 still work with distance sellers that are thought to slam customers.

O2 said it is handling 100 reported instances of slamming a month. It has already taken legal action against Landmark Communications with which it settled out of court for £500000 and has started court proceedings against Communications Direct.

O2 sales and retail director Mark Stansfeld said: We have drawn up a 10-point code of conduct. We expect to receive positive support from all of the other networks within the next week. The industry has to take control.

Customers have slammed 3s performance according to the Mobile Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey.

Marketing consultancy Aura Corporations fourth annual survey polled 3049 customers this year and found the network to be the worst performer in ratings of satisfaction with network and satisfaction with retail store. O2 led in both categories.

Yes Telecom has doubled its dealer base from 350 to 700 in six months claimed managing director Keith Curran last week.

Curran is now recruiting to fill 18 more business partner vacancies and Yes is spending £1.5 million on refurbishing flagship new offices in Didsbury south of Manchester which it will occupy at the beginning of June.

Curran said: We were concerned about how our business partners would view our close relationship with Vodafone but because we are so close it means that their customer bases will go untouched.

The fact that distribution is so uncertain as well had contributed and the message from Yes has been so consistent throughout.