The figures are revealed in the networks management interim statement which sets out Vodafone Key Performance Indicators.

UK churn is running higher than all other European countries where Vodafone is active. Total churn (prepay and contract) is lowest in Germany where it is 20.7 per cent.

The KPI statement also shows that 60.3 per cent of Vodafones 17.4 million customer base is on prepay. In total Vodafone sold another 2.6 million 3G devices phones in the quarter to June bringing the total 3G device base to 18.5 million.

O2 UK general manager of channel support Ian Driver said it had given CSM five weeks notice the field sales contract would end on July 25. O2 did not sack anyone by fax he claimed.

CSM managing director Kevin Morrell informed employees via a conference call. Four field sales managers employed directly by O2 were informed in person by Driver and also invited to discuss redeployment opportunities he said.

Nevertheless former staffers maintained this week O2 advised CSM on June 18 by fax that its contract with O2 would be terminated in five weeks. CSM passed the news on to staff on June 19 and informed them they could leave immediately. Former field staff put the blame at O2s door and suggested it indicated a move away from the indirect channel by O2.

O2 denied it was withdrawing from the dealer channel. In a letter to Mobile News Driver stated: This [withdrawal by O2 from the indirect sales channel] is false. O2 is investing heavily in the indirect sales channel for B2B connections via the O2 Advance programme and the O2 Centres of Excellence which are designed to raise connection levels improve ARPU and reduce churn.

Market conditions

Driver insisted O2s decision to let its field sales staff go was dictated by market conditions. He said the dealer channel is hardly engaged in consumer connections anymore and is now mainly being utilised for business connections.

At the same time Driver appeared to acknowledge O2 had played its part in altering the dealer landscape by cutting indirect contracts and reducing dealer commissions on consumer connections.

Driver told Mobile News the field sales team mainly looked after consumer outlets and as a result of a decline in O2 consumer connections from independent dealers had become redundant.

Driver said: When you look at what a field team is employed to do and look at the rapid decline for them in the market it became uneconomical. We made a decision to remove this cost and achieve what we wanted in other ways. They werent as effective as they were originally employed to be.

This is a result of a changing market place and not reflective of the work these guys did. They did very good work over the years and it was a hard decision to make.

But a former staffer said its field sales team visited every B2B dealer that sold O2. We saw them every month and talked about changes and new propositions from O2 and weve been doing that for years.

Driver claimed O2s Advance and Data Centre of Excellence programmes will provide its business partners with specialist data support going forward. Our move towards data is something our sales team would never have been able to deliver because its very specialised he said.

Again the staffer responded: We trained all Carphone Warehouse store staff on BlackBerry and XDA devices so we are a bit miffed by that claim. Thats not fair.

Reduced independent support

Driver maintained the removal of the field sales team is not an indication O2 plans to withdraw from the indirect channel altogether. But he admitted O2 has reduced its support for independent consumer connections.

Said Driver: Were investing more in the business side of indirect than ever. And our indirect partners dont do a lot of consumer connections anyway.

The majority of O2 consumer connections come via O2 retail outlets and online sales sites. Its single major indirect partner for consumer connections is The Carphone Warehouse. It dropped Phones 4U for new connections in February.

Driver also acknowledged a steady decrease in commission payments to the dealer channel has also stemmed the flow of indirect consumer business.

Independents have moved towards selling consumer contracts via networks like 3 and Orange which pay more commission.

Our direct stores became so successful that we didnt need the consumer volume from the independents so thats why we dont pay as much commission [as other networks] he said.

The network launched legal proceedings against the Cardiff-based company after rising customer complaints about cold calls claiming to be from O₂ and offering upgrades. Under the practice customers are then transferred unknowingly to another network. Communications Direct admitted liability after the first day of a High Court hearing.

An O₂ spokesman said: Were extremely pleased with the outcome. The important thing is not the money but the admission of liability.

The spokesman said the success could be largely attributed to customer feedback gathered through a customer nuisance call bureau: We have measures in place to encourage customers to come forward when approached in this way helping us gather evidence for a successful outcome.

The spokesman said four other companies are being assessed.

Communications Direct managing director Matt Burge said: The settlement will not materially affect the way we conduct our business given the quality of the systems we have in place. We also intend to work with O₂ going forward.

But the O₂ spokesman said: We dont have a trading relationship with Communications Direct and have no intention to establish one.

Communications Direct is the second provider O₂ has taken legal action against for trademark infringement following a settlement with Landmark Communications in December last year.

Traditionally fonesure has offered no minimum commitment policies payable monthly that can be cancelled at any time by the customer. The new policies take a one-off payment that covers a handset for a year after a single payment at purchase.

It provides the opportunity for independents to earn up to £18 in additional commissions when they sell the policy with a handset.

Fonesure managing director Stuart Turner said: The addition of a number of policies based on annual premiums was a natural development to our portfolio giving resellers a greater flexibility in their offering at point of sale.

Azzurri fulfilled a number of selection criteria including a quarterly target for data connections a clear data strategy with dedicated service staff and customer satisfaction strategies.

O₂ head of indirect partners and business mobilisation David Plumb said: Our senior managers are working together much more closely now. Azzurri is clearly a big player in the convergence market and a really important partner for us. O₂ is now training Azzurri sales people to sell data applications and solutions. This is a huge investment for us.

Azzurri mobile sales director Simon Price added: Having re-focused our sales team to be more data-centric we are now witnessing the results with excellent penetration of data services to new customers as well as our existing customer base.

O₂ launched the Data Centre of Excellence in January to integrate experts in mobile data with the needs of SME and corporate customers. Members will gain access to marketing support as well as training and data specialist support.

HTC executive director Paul Ghent said last week that he expects sales of touch-screen handsets to rocket in 2008. HTC recently launched its Touch handset with touch-screen functionality.

Ghent said: The device has been selling very well even though O2 decided not to take it on in the UK. However it has sold extremely well in Germany. Already were seeing exciting development in touch-screen technology and I predict 2008 could be a massive year for it.

HTC will release more touch-screen products this year.

This week Iain Graham and the team debate whether the new Carphone Warehouse upgrade policy good news for the industry.

There are also reviews for the Alcatel OT C-825 handset and Map24 Mobile software.

All the latest Mobile News headlines are also discussed so this is one edition you wont want to miss.

To listen to the latest edition of the Mobile News podcast click here.

Amer Razwan Munir who traded as Talkland Telecom Ltd from Unit 8 Broughton Trade Centre Broughton Lane Salford was convicted in December and jailed for seven years. He was also disqualified as a company director for nine years.

Munir (32) has now been issued with a confiscation order of£ 5.6 million which he must pay within 12 months to stop another seven years being added to his jail sentence.

Munir bought phones VAT free sold them on and reclaimed £6.8 million in VAT. The Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office and HMRC officers traced his numerous properties and illicit business transactions.

Assets traced included a £164000 Aston Martin £500000 in overseas account loans of more than £500000; a £6500 Rolex and a personal vehicle number plate valued at £4500 as well as numerous properties in Manchester and Dubai.

Customers who join Orange Broadband inside PC World stores will receive a free laptop worth £300. The laptops include a 40GB hard drive a Celeron processor 256MB memory and a 15.4 Widescreen display. The broadband package will cost £14.99 a month and users will receive a download speed of up to 2MB.

Higher specified laptops are also available to customers who connect to Oranges 8GB broadband service. Anyone who signs up to the £19.99 service will receive a £350 discount on any PC World laptop.

PC World marketing director Niall OKeeffe said: The chance to have a free laptop is an amazing offer that is sure to tempt thousands of customers to sign up to Orange broadband through our stores. Orange broadband is already highly competitive with one of the lowest monthly tariffs on the market. I am sure that the inclusion of a free laptop will electrify the market.

Yesterday Ofcom revealed proposals that will force mobile operators to transfer numbers within two working days by April 2008. The regulator also outlined plans for instantaneous transfers which would be in place by September 2009.

3 CEO Kevin Russell has welcomed the plans but he believes operators should implement instantaneous number transfers within 12 months. He said: This is good news for UK consumers. Letting people move their number to a new network quickly and easily will encourage competition and greater choice. These changes will bring down prices for all UK mobile users.

However we think that the proposal which gives the industry over 26 months to implement these changes when it could easily be done in 12 months is unnecessarily generous. The current porting system is letting down UK consumers and there must be a greater sense of urgency to fix it.