LG announces new 5.1 megapixel camera phone

The sleek touch screen handset contains a variety of professional-level digital camera features including a built-in image stabilizer that enables the camera to take clearer pictures. It also comes with photo editing software that allows users to write on their photos and internet access that will allow pictures to be uploaded in seconds.

The Viewty is also the first phone that enables users to record video at 120 frames per second. It also features an MP3 player FM radio and 3 inch screen.

LG Mobile CEO Dr. Skott Ahn said: The LG Viewty is a camera phone with unparalleled functions. This handset provides quality matching or exceeding that of conventional digital cameras.

With some of our earlier handsets LG emphasized great style. Now we are focused on functionality and features as well. LG is always trying to identify unspoken customer needs and create new mobile trends.

Spat leads Smith to quit Anglia

Anglia Telecom chief executive Andy Smith is to leave the company.

Smith has had a falling out with the management team at Anglia Telecom parent company Symphony Telecom Mobile News understands.
Smith refused to comment.

Prior to his appointment to Anglia Telecom in early 2004 Smith spent 19 years at Vodafone latterly as sales director.

Orange axes 150 in total dealer review

Two weeks ago it issued do not deal notices relating to around 150 dealers across its entire distribution base. Orange UK head of independent retail Steve Heald told Mobile News: These dealers have consistently failed to deliver value to Orange. We cant support them commercially and so we have ceased trading with them.

Orange has analysed three-to-six months trading figures for all its dealer base and been making steady cuts on its findings during the past weeks. But last week it summoned 10 of its distribution partners to its Hertfordshire headquarters for oneto- one briefings to inform them of the mass dealer cuts and to issue guidelines on procedures and performance.

Heald said every distributor that attended had dealers culled. Numbers would increase once the new policies are enforced next month he said.

Dealers among them a high number of call centres have been cut for mis-selling upgrades failing to honour cashback offers churning high volumes of customers and delivering poor quality business.

Orange has immediately struck off dealers with a churn rate of 50 per cent or over. It has also issued 90-day warning notices to distributors about dealers whose churn figures are running at 30-50 per cent. Around 100 dealers are on final warnings Mobile News understands. Dealer codes that remain inactive for six months will also be terminated.

Its new guidelines for call centres follow the introduction of an operator code of conduct backed by regulator Ofcom on distance sales and marketing practices earlier this month. Call centres must now clearly identify themselves to customers at the start of a call stating where they are phoning from. Call centres must clearly publish customer service numbers on their websites.

Heald said: We have received complaints for a long time about this from customers who repeatedly get calls from an organisation theyve never heard of at inconvenient times and where the offer is not clear. Weve successfully reduced the number of last years customer complaints by more than half but we have needed to do more.

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Orange Carphone press troubled ET

European Telecom has been given three months to improve the quality of business it delivers to Orange or face being axed in March.

European Telecom has also been issued with a do not trade notice by Carphone Warehouse SIM-free distribution arm Mobile Phones Express (MPE) because of unpaid bills. Sources claimed European Telecoms credit has been cancelled by several trade suppliers.

Orange director of indirect sales Steve Heald said: We are working with European Telecom to improve the quality of business that it delivers to Orange. That is our focus in 2007 as we have stated before. If the right quality business is not delivered then we will review our partnerships.

European Telecom finance director Jim Mann admitted that Orange had brought it up on the levels of distance selling it was doing but that its sales team would meet targets by March.

It is to do with distance sellers and the need to improve the quality of business delivered to Orange said Mann. There is no problem other than we have to make sure that the quality of business is good.

Meanwhile European Telecoms handset distribution business was also said to be failing last week. Sources claimed it has unpaid bills with MPE stretching back as far as November.

MPE refused to comment but a source close to MPE said: It has got European Telecom on hold and wants its money.

Mobile News understands that European Telecom has outstanding invoices from December at least.

Carphone has European on stop because it hasnt paid a bill since November said a source.

Another distribution source said: Everybodys withdrawn their credit lines from European Telecom on the handset side. That is the vast majority of what those guys do.

But Mann put the cashflow problems down to the Christmas hiatus in trading.

He said: We shut down around Christmas and it took us a few weeks to get back in gear. It is the same cashflow problem that affects any distribution business.

3 was also rumoured to be evaluating its ties with European Telecom last week but 3 director of indirect sales Bernie OBeirne said: We have a good trading relationship with European Telecom which goes back nearly four years and were not aware of any financial problems.

Phonebox and Go Mobile rail against O2 dealer cuts

Midlands dealerships Phonebox and Go Mobile have been struck off by O2 as part of a wider cull of direct dealers.

O2 has withdrawn both dealerships ongoing revenue payments worth more than £60000 a year.

Phonebox managing director Nigel Harrison said that O2s initial termination letter had said Phonebox was at liberty to manage its base via a distributor and that it would continue to receive a share of its customers ongoing revenue.

But Harrison said that having informed his O2 customers that Phonebox would continue to manage them via Fone Logistics O2 dealer manager Shaun Clarke informed them in writing that they would instead be managed by O2 Advance dealer CDM Global going forward.

Harrison said: Im aggrieved. We were told that wed retain both our base and ongoing revenues via a distributor of choice. This has subsequently been withdrawn and replaced hurriedly. To add insult to injury we have since found that our ex-O2 account manager has been actively hawking our customer base to his Advance dealers.

O2 head of indirect partners David Plumb put the mistake down to human error. Clarke had sent the wrong letter said Plumb.

Go Mobile managing director Iain Humphrey has also been instructed to hand over his O2 customer base and warned not to poach back his former customers from O2.

Phonebox and Go Mobile connect around 10000 customers a month between them. Humphrey and Harrison said their O2 numbers would have been better if O2s commissions were on a par with networks.

Plumb said that dealers that miss volume targets but maintain low churn can connect via distributors and upgrade their own customer bases. Those that fail on both counts must relinquish their base to O2.

He added: The focus is quality business connections incorporating two-year contracts and data. That is the sweet spot. They were not able to deliver on those KPIs.

But Humphrey said that he had not at any stage received minimum performance targets from O2.

Weve never sat down with O2 to discuss churn levels and data. Other networks have given us very clear guidelines on performance he said.

O2 has cut 12 direct dealers in total bringing its direct dealer base to 42. This excludes its Advance dealer partners which number 24.

The other 10 dealers to be cut off by O2 are Mobile Fun Fone Trader Phone City Fylde Telecom Mobile Phones Direct JHL Comms Spectrum Airphone Phone Land and The Phone Shop.

At the same time O2 has appointed Pure Communications and Totility as direct dealers.

Carphone adds AOL package to broadband mix

The Carphone Warehouse is selling its AOL Broadband package alongside its TalkTalk proposition in more than 725 of its stores.

AOL Broadband was acquired by Carphone at the end of 2006.

Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone said: This demonstrates clearly our ambition to grow the AOL Broadband business.
It is the perfect complement to TalkTalk free broadband.

AOL Broadband Silver offering a free wireless router plus safety and security software at a speed of 2MB a second costs £9.99 for the first three months and £14.99 thereafter.