O2 revamps dealer help desk

O2 has overhauled its channel partner services teams to provide dealers and distributors a better quality of customer care.

Before it ran separate help desks for the independent channel retail and its Advance dealers. Now O2 has created a single partner services team and cherry picked its top 150 staff from a total 1500 in customer services who have more than a years experience and can deal with all types of enquiries.

MoCo managing director Ian Robinson said: Its guaranteeing a one-stop shop for enquiries about billing or PAC codes and discretionary discounts. It is a real step forward for dealers and distributors because O2s promising better quality service and less running around.

O2 informed its Advance dealers at a conference in Birmingham last week.

Total Mobile set to shut

Media company Future Publishing has said it will sell or close its news-stand monthly magazine Total Mobile as it shifts its development focus to online publishing.

The title is amongst a group of consumer organs ranging from cars to music that have been deemed by the company as not within the portfolio fit or unprofitable.

The company has entered into a consultation period with affected staff which will last for about a month. They will then make the decision over where the axe will fall.

Go Mobile opens two stores one franchise

Daventry dealership Go Mobile has opened up two more stores taking its total retail footprint to 37. It has also opened its first franchise store – in Alton Buckinghamshire.

Go Mobile has taken over existing dealerships in Bridlington and Scarborough North Yorkshire. The franchise store will open for a trial period of six months under the Go Mobile brand. Theyll offer the full Go Mobile price book and accessories range through sister company Shebang Distribution. Go Mobile managing director Iain Humphrey will offer franchise status to the wider dealer market following the trial.

Humphrey said: We feel that with the strength we have in the market place weve a lot to offer the independent dealer community.

Meanwhile Humphrey has rolled out the Sellfone 3G EPOS system which runs in conjunction with Shebang to Ireland. Irish dealership Kelco Communications which has 11 stores has installed Sellfone across its base.

PNC founder fights on for missing 940k

One of the former directors of PNC Telecom has repaid in full money taken from the business on his resignation from the company in 2004 according to founder Joe Case.

PNC shareholders assumed control of the company from former directors Geremy Thomas Nigel Etherington and Jeff Pack at an EGM in August 2004. Case who retains a 26 per cent share in PNC alleges that he discovered a shortfall of 940000 in the company accounts when he took control. Case is pursuing an action against all three former directors for 500000.

Case will meet with the two other former PNC directors at a mediation meeting this week. A court date has been set for July 2007.

In its latest trading statement PNC said that it had suspended export trading after HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) withheld substantial VAT repayments. Case has issued judicial review proceedings against HMRC for a full repayment and damages.

Because we trade in mobile phones we have been tarred with the same brush as everyone else. The way HMRC is going about this is unbelievable.

Meanwhile PNC has re-negotiated the leases on former KJC stores in Chichester and Aldershot after Vanguard which guaranteed the leases when it bought the chain from PNC went into administration in May. The leases have gone to jewellery businesses.

T-Mobiles million seller picks up after Orange cuts

T-Mobile has signed up one million customers to its Flext tariffs in just seven months on the back of huge sales in the first half of the year.

T-Mobile director of marketing Phil Chapman said: A million Flext customers in seven months is a phenomenal achievement proving that mobile phone users realise good value when they see it. Flext is an adaptable service that allows customers real flexibility in the way they use their phone.

T-Mobile put 30- 40 commission back into its Flext and Relax plans in the middle of September and has maintained its remuneration package for dealers this month. The stabilisation of its commissions has coincided with 50 cuts by Orange this month on consumer connections following a strong quarter.

An Orange spokesperson said: Weve been successfully supported by the channel who have quite rightly been well rewarded. We exceeded our Q3 expectations and are going to ease off the gas in the final quarter.

3 put money behind new handset connections – in place of contract connections on refurbished stock sent out again after a 14-day return – in the middle of last month. It has maintained its rates into October.

Distributors said last week that dealers would throw their weight behind T-Mobile and 3 during October and through the Christmas quarter as Orange eases up.

Hugh Symons business manager Bob Sweetlove said: The appetite is for 3 and T-Mobile again. T-Mobile saw a spike in sales early in the year and Orange has had a reasonable few months. It shows that dealers cant have favourites anymore. They have got to move with the market. If dealers want to optimize their sales they have got to be more flexible with the networks they connect to.

Vodafone launches new business tariff

The new price plan has been inspired by research that shows a third of the UK population are considering setting up a business in the next five years. These findings are in line with figures from the Department of Trade and Industrys finding that say that the amount of businesses will more than double to 10 million in the next five years.

The new small business plan includes free calls to company phones and 25% extra free minutes until May Vodafone are also offering mobile email for an extra 5.

Customers will also be able to change their price plan regularly and receive a free price check every year.

Vodafone are also refreshing its existing Sharetime price plan for larger SME business customers. Sharetime Plus combined with Vodafone Office 2 mobile now has free calls from company landlines.

Kyle Whitehall director of enterprise for Vodafone UK said: The growing entrepreneurial spirit in the UK is something to be celebrated. It is vital that companies like ourselves take a lead in helping to fuel this growth by serving the needs of this increasingly diverse sector with a focused dedicated approach.

FCIB says it cant pay or wont pay

by James Blackman
The First Curacao International Bank (FCIB) told around 200 traders last week via e-mail that it will not release their funds frozen since mid-August until auditors have cleared them of fraudulent activity and the relevant authorities have given the bank the green light to do so.

The FCIB is itself being investigated for money laundering by Dutch authorities and has had its assets suspended to secure any future claim against it. At present the FCIB has $147 (?????????? 78) million tied up in correspondent banks. It cannot pay traders even if it wished to do so.

At the same time HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is expected itself to secure freezing orders against all traders in the next fortnight which will tie up their accounts indefinitely. HMRC has had to wait until this week when UK courts return from their summer recess to get the freezing orders issued.

In its e-mail to traders of September 28 the FCIB said: The bank has no possibility to make payments until: receipt by the bank of a certificate from a reputable auditor that the subject account had not been used for illegal purposes and that a full compliance audit has been satisfactorily performed to this effect; the bank having received confirmation from the authorities that the subject client is not suspected of illegal activities.

Dass Solicitors which is currently involved in hearings with the FCIB in the Dutch Antilles said in a statement: The requirement that FCIB has placed on clients to produce a certificate from an auditor is unduly onerous and oppressive. It is unlikely that any auditor will be in a position to carry out any form of compliance audit quickly and this will no doubt prove to be extremely costly.

Most reputable auditors are unlikely to provide such a certification as to do so may place liability upon them – the likelihood of any authority providing confirmation that someone has not been involved in illegal activities is improbable.

Dass said that the best way to force the FCIBs hand is to obtain a court order to compel it to release funds.

Oranges dealer revenue share scheme kicks in

The scheme was introduced six months ago in April and dealers stand to make five per cent of the revenue from Aprils new connections. The scheme works so that next month dealers will earn a five per cent share of the total May revenue for new customers signed to Orange during both April and May. The revenue share increases from here so that in six months time dealers will earn a five per cent share of the total monthly revenue from new customers signed in the first six months of the scheme.

Its 16 key dealers have been issued with five key performance indicators (KPIs) related to issues such as 14-day returns bad debt fraud and customer lifetime value. The terms of the scheme mean that dealers lose 20 per cent for each KPI they miss.

Orange meets with its dealer federation today (September 25) to update the terms of the revenue share scheme. Mobile News understands that issues related to calculating the five per cent share will be ironed out and explained.

An Orange spokesman said: We are updating partners on our plans.

Police chief caught phoning and driving

A senior Surrey police officer has been reprimanded for talking on his mobile phone while he was driving his car. According to reports East Surrey chief superintendent Guy Darby was required to pay 30 to charity and issue a statement apologising for his error of judgement after he was spotted by another driver when he was on the phone.
The practice of using a mobile phone while driving has been banned since December 2003. Darby has also been given a formal written warning that will remain on his file for a year.

Dextra and front three broker LG dealer exclusive

Dextra sales director Angie Simpson said: The idea was to get an exclusive deal for independent dealers in the golden quarter so that they can compete with some of the exclusives that the big multiples get. It is an opportunity for LG Dextra and the independent channel to have an exclusive on entering into a key period of the year. The handset will only be available through the independent channel and not through any large multiple retailers. It is exclusive to us for Q4 and it will be the first of many such deals.

Mobile News understands that the front three retailers – the former T-Mobile-aligned independents Fonehouse Chitter Chatter and Ace – and online dealership Eurofone first brokered the deal with Dextra and LG before Dextra broadened its terms to include its entire dealer base.

The KG320 will be available to Dextra customers on contract only. It is expected to be available across Vodafone Orange T-Mobile and O2. It will be in channel by the start of October.

Simpson said that similar exclusives with LG will be brokered for the channel in the coming months and that other manufacturers could get involved in due course.