Dextra to reduce workforce by 20 per cent

Dextra will be culling 20 per cent of its workforce according to a source close to the company writes Heather Dale.

Employees will be asked to take voluntary redundancies to try and cut costs and job duplication. If staff do not leave on their own accord then redundancies will be forced upon them to meet the 20  per cent quota. The time scale for this was not revealed.

The sale of Dextra Solutions and 20-20 Logistics to Doughty Hanson has recently been finalised. Dextra has become part of the 2020 Mobile group.

The 2020 Mobile Group said: Following the completion of the sale of the business it is now looking at ways of restructuring the company in order to improve efficiency and performance. During this time the business will be conducting a full consultation and communication process with all affected staff.

Its possible that the restructure will result in a small reduction in the groups headcount although its hoped that any reduction will be achieved through voluntary redundancy.

In an earlier statement it said: Doughty hopes to increase the value of the business by merging Dextra and 20-20. It also wants to help fund the companys expansion into the US and a number of European countries where it currently has little or no presence.

European Telecom set to acquire Business Comms

Troubled Essex-based B2B telecoms provider Business Comms is set to merge with European Telecom according to a source close to the company.

Business Comms has gone into administration after a recruitment consultant allegedly defrauded the company out of  400000 our sources said. Police are investigating the matter.

Business Comms began trading earlier this year and was a T-Mobile business partner. It has up until now enjoyed rapid growth – its predicted turnover for this year was 2 million. The company began with just four employees in January 2006 and now has over 50.

Subsequent to the company going into administration director Kevin Veitch has stayed on with the company but does not expect to join ET when the deal goes through. Director Stuart London is now at ET as operations director.

The acquisition is the first for ET since Emblaze bought a 51 per cent stake in it last December. At the time the stake was reported to be worth 2.5 million.

3 another 50 dealers go

3 will be dropping a further 50 or more dealers this week for failing to abide by the networks terms and conditions.

The cull comes only days after a recently announced emphasis on connecting more quality over quantity customers from the network at its latest sales conference – a move that was applauded by the dealer community.

At time of printing the affected dealers had not been informed and 3 declined to give out their names.
3 has cut more than 200 dealers since the middle of last year according to its sales director Marc Allera.

A spokeswoman from 3 said: We are focused on attracting and we remain committed to our third-party dealers. However we will cease trading with certain dealers if they persistently breach the terms and conditions and do not fulfil our requirements. We expect a high quality of customer and also that our customers will be supported after the deal has gone through.

The move follows an announcement by 3 that its dealer community must go for more quality customers.
At the conference 3UK sales director Marc Allera said: I cant give a specific figure but we are reviewing our dealer base. Some revision is imminent and more consolidation is highly likely. Weve been talking about quality for some time. We all know what good business is – and if we have to we will take action.

NTL overtures to ITV rejected

ITV has rebuffed NTL s 4.7 billion bid for the company. ITV believes that the proposed alliance makes little strategic sense and undervalues its business. However NTL shareholder Richard Branson has accused BSkyB of queering any potential deal by purchasing nearly 20 per cent of ITV.
NTL which plans to change its name to Virgin Media following a merger with Virgin Mobile said it was considering its options.

Jag slams BenQ support

Jag communications said it is struggling to honour customer warranties on BenQ BenQ Siemens and Siemens handsets because repair centres are refusing to take warranty repairs on them. Jag already has a stockpile of faulty handsets from the manufacturer that it is finding hard to shift plus 150 new handsets that are rapidly losing value.
President of BenQ Sheaffer Lee has pledged to offer cover on BenQ/Siemens phones still in warranty at least until December 31. However Jag MD John George is unimpressed as 1500 Jag customers face a doubtful level of support next year even though they still have active warranties.
This is the first time in almost 20 years in the business that I have known a manufacturer of any size to disappear without some kind of strategy to support customers he said.
Jag has been informed by BenQ customer services that any customers with faulty BenQ/Siemens handsets should take the matter up with the retail store where they purchased the phone.
George said: In general our customers with BenQ/Siemens products connected through Orange. The equipment was purchased from them directly as Orange branded stock. I assume in the same way the customer expects our support we in turn can expect Orange to support us.

Voda cuts mobile admin costs by 90 per cent

Vodafone has launched a new range of services under the name Spend Manager to cut admin costs for large business customers.

Spend Manager comprises three solutions: Split Bill Mobile Salary Saver and Employee Discount Scheme.

Vodafone said that in a typical business with a contract of 500 phones employees waste 1000 hours per month on totting up their call spend and working out what proportion of their calls are personal and what proportion are business-related.

The administrative cost to businesses of the exercise is 642002 per year reckons Vodafone. It claims its Split Bill service can cut these admin costs by 90 per cent.

Vodafone UK head of enterprise marketing Elaine Roberts said: Businesses are frustrated by the time it takes to manage hundreds of paper bills and the time it steals from employees who must sift through the bills and highlight personal and business calls.

On average 15 per cent of the calls made each month could be personal. Many employers have agreements in place with employees where they agree how personal calls made on a work mobile are paid for but it can sometimes be a difficult process to manage. Split Bill eliminates all of the hassle.

Vodafones new Mobile Salary Saver service is a tax efficient way for companies to offer their employees a mobile phone for personal use. Vodafone said it gives employers an alternative employee offer following the Governments announcement to remove the Home Computing Initiative. Employees can sacrifice a part of their pre-tax gross salary in return for a mobile phone connected to a Vodafone Retail price plan. Phones can be on pre-pay or a contract price plan.

Dependent on their salary employees can make a saving of between 33 and 41 per cent said Vodafone on its consumer packages phones and accessories. Employers will also be able to save up to 12.8 per cent on National Insurance contributions claimed Vodafone.

Its Employee Discount Scheme lets companies offer employees an option to purchase mobile phones for their personal use as well as for their friends and family at a discounted rate. The discounted price is aligned with Vodafones online consumer rates on price plans and all users receive a 40 Vodafone credit voucher on to their account on joining.

Voda extends Alternative Networks contract

London-based B2B service provider Alternative Networks has signed a new service provider contract with Vodafone that extends its partnership until December 31 2009.

Alternative Networks has worked with Vodafone since 2002. It continues its existing mobile service provider partnership with O2.

Fone Logistics rolls fulfilment credit checks

Newcastle distributor Fone Logistics has completed the integration of its 3 online credit checking system for distance sellers and fulfilment dealers.

Fulfilment dealers can have orders automatically credit checked by 3. Results of the check are fed back to the dealer in real-time so they know whether sales calls result in a successful order. They can adjust their scripting data acquisition and closing tools to attract higher value customers that meet 3s credit scoring criteria.

Fone Logistics marketing diector Julien Parven said the integration has resulted in an increase of same-day order despatches among other efficiencies.

Parven said: Our fulfilment operation is important to us by way of establishing close and lasting relationships with our dealers. We have invested heavily in the development and ongoing advancement of the system and are constantly looking at ways we can improve our dealers experience with the system.

3 is a major part of our fulfilment offering and this is a further step to ensuring we deliver high quality high value customers to the network.

The fulfilment credit checking service comes on the back of its implementation of an CV2 and AVS checking web service.

Jones resigns from Dextra

Dextra airtime managing director Chris Jones has resigned.

Jones said he left the company on very good terms and will explore new opportunities in the New Year.

His exit follows the re-appointment of James Browning at Dextra Solutions and the departure of Rod Millar as managing director of 20:20 Logistics also part of the 20:20 Mobile Group last month.

Millars replacement will be announced before the end of the year said 20:20.