Mobile News #544 August 12th | Página 16

BEST OF THE WEB CUTTINGS FROM WWW . MOBILENEWSCWP . CO . UK FLASHBACK B2B dealer Corporate Telecom Group ( Cortel ) is suing Vodafone for damages of up to £ 5 million after being terminated for alleged fraudulent upgrades . The London-based firm received a letter from Vodafone on July 10 stating its platinum partner agreement had been cancelled after an investigation concluded it had upgraded a 1,700 connection account without the customer ’ s consent on February 29 . The account belonged to Mace Group , and Cortel had managed it for 18 years . Vodafone has now taken control of most of Cortel ’ s Vodafone base – said to be around 9,000 connections . Everything Everywhere ( EE ), the parent company of T-Mobile and Orange , has installed a new technology that allows it to intensely monitor its distributors and dealers . The move is part of a new focus to work with the “ best ” performing partners in the independent channel . All EE dealers and distributors connecting T-Mobile and Orange are now being closely monitored by its new ‘ Marketing Intelligence ’ system , which began operating last month . The system allows EE to gain a closer understanding of its partners ’ performances , providing detailed data on customer base size , spend and value of base , new and upgrading customer acquisition metrics and churn . Orange distributors Mainline and Midland Distribution are expected to be allowed to resell T-Mobile airtime products . Both Mainline and Midland are part-owned by Orange UK , whose EE JV with T-Mobile now enables the distributor pair to sell T-Mobile also . The pair are in discussions to sell T-Mobile . They will join HSC , T-Mobile ’ s only airtime distribution partner at present . T-Mobile UK sales manager for independent partners John Fannon said : “ We are in talks with both . They are well-known , well-respected distributors . They have been restricted historically to sell Orange only , but the joint venture changes that .” Orange is to ditch 22 area managers to recast its retail estate into four regions , governed by four new regional directors . Orange has instructed 22 area managers their roles will go as part of its elimination of 370 roles from its UK business in total over the next three months . Area managers have been invited to apply for the four regional director positions , to be confirmed in the coming weeks . Orange ’ s four ‘ regions ’ will cover around 100 stores each , compared with just 20 in its various retail ‘ areas ’. The move will save the network around £ 650,000 a year . Orange said it cannot confirm any proposed changes as it is currently going through a consultation process . Orange is close to signing Lycamobile as its second ethnic market MVNO . The two parties were still negotiating terms as Mobile News went to press . Neither would comment . Lycamobile , a subsidiary of calling card company Lycatel , is the richest ethnic market MVNO , winning share on the continent with aggressive pricing , marketing and commissions . Lycamobile was expected to sign with T-Mobile , with which it already works in Holland . But sources claimed its relationship with T-Mobile there has soured over SIM card allocations . A T-Mobile UK spokesman said : “ There is no intent to form a relationship with Lycamobile .” YEAR AGO YEARS AGO YEARS AGO YEARS AGO YEARS AGO Work smarter with the Nokia Completely Connected QWERTY range and up to £ 15 per device back ! See page 17 . Call Mainline on 01283 500100 Vive La France SOUVENIR DE LA TOUR EIFFEL * Become a Mainline Dealer Receive a case of French wine and a chance to win an all inclusive luxury break to Paris when you sign up with Mainline in August . Issue 494 August 1 , 2011 The newspaper for the mobile communications industry £ 3.45 Vodafone platinum partner Premier Telecom has confirmed former T-Mobile national sales manager for independent partners , John Fannon , has joined the company as its new regional sales director for the north . Fannon , who left his T-Mobile role last month after 14 years , will oversee Premier Telecom ’ s operations in the north of England . The Whitely-based B2B dealer also confirmed the appointment of former Orange divisional manager Paul Thomas as another new regional sales director . Thomas , who spent nine years with Orange , has been working for Premier since 2009 as director of sales and will run Premier ’ s Camberley office . Both will report to Premier Telecom managing director Darren Ridge . Meanwhile , Ridge has confirmed former Vodafone SME director Rob Shardlow , who joined Premier from Vodafone as its group sales director , has now left the business after just four months . Ridge refused to discuss the reasons behind his departure . Fannon said : “ Premier Telecom is Vodafone ’ s biggest dealer , which was a big attraction . “ When I met Darren , he took me through some very exciting plans in terms of the expansion of the business , especially in the north of the country . I was asked to come on board and get that moving and I ’ m delighted to do so .” Ridge added : “ The move to appoint regional sales directors rather than a group sales director enables me to stay closer to the business , so that I can ensure the culture and ethos that has made the company what it is so far continues .” Fannon in , Shardlow out at Premier Telecom By Michael Garwood Everything Everywhere ( EE ), the parent company of T-Mobile and Orange , has installed a new technology that allows it to intensely monitor its distributors and dealers . The move is part of a new focus to work with the “ best ” performing partners in the independent channel . All EE dealers and distributors connecting T-Mobile and Orange are now being closely monitored by its new ‘ Marketing Intelligence ’ system , which began operating last month . The system allows EE to gain a closer understanding of its partners ’ performances , providing detailed data on customer base size , spend and value of base , new and upgrading customer acquisition metrics and churn . Churn data will include extensive details such as customer number portability and whether it was voluntary or compulsory . T-Mobile used a similar system in 2008 , when it cut more than 500 of its dealers deemed to be connecting insufficient levels of business , as part of a ‘ less is more ’ strategy . A number of dealers and airtime distributors say the company is now reviewing its channel strategy and looking to streamline its supply channels – with those failing to meet its criteria being terminated . Selected partners Everything Everywhere head of business sales Darren Goldsmith declined to confirm whether this strategy would result in a reduction in the number of dealers and distributors it currently works with . But he told Mobile News the company is now focussed on working with only the best-performing partners in the market . Goldsmith said : “ We ’ re constantly looking to improve and evolve the way we work with our dealer and distribution partners . “ We remain totally committed to working with the indirect channel , but our focus is now on working with the best partners out there . “ With our determined focus on quality , as well as our new detailed channel performance tracking and reporting system , our vision is to become the number one partner of choice for the best dealers and distributors out there .” T-Mobile future Meanwhile , the future of T-Mobile has become clearer in recent weeks , after it took around 50 of its key ‘ business partners ’ on a team-building trip to Paris last month . Dealers in attendance said the message from T-Mobile was the brand would remain long-term . EE has also confirmed it ’ s to launch a version of Orange ’ s Pocket Landline service on T-Mobile early next year – confirming the brand will remain . EE is due to provide an update on its brand strategy on October 1 , having agreed to keep both brands separate for 18 months after the 50:50 joint venture was signed off . Everything Everywhere partners under review 40 Mystery Shopper Looks for a GPS device in Nottingham 6 Carphone Warehouse Dealers react to giant ’ s latest B2B plans • New ‘ Marketing Intelligence ’ system for extra scrutiny • T-Mobile future now looks certain 30 James Browning 20:20 Mobile premier partner report Avenir to sell T-Mobile airtime Airtime distributor Avenir Telecom also confirmed last week it is now able to process connections on T-Mobile as part of its agreement with Everything Everywhere . The company , based in Borehamwood , had originally ceased trading with T-Mobile in January 2009 . But its managing director Andy Tow confirmed last week that customers can again connect T-Mobile through Avenir Telecom . Dealers will also receive up to 40 per cent revenue share . The addition of T-Mobile increases the number of network supply dealers through Avenir to four , with just Vodafone connections unavailable . Goldsmith – focus on quality Fannon – returns to industry WE REWARD YOU MORE ! TURN TO THE BACK COVER TO SEE HOW ....... www . mainline . uk . com Mainline ’ s unique appointment setting service can create more opportunities , win more business and add more value . Adding value to your business Find out how we can grow your Orange business , visit www . mainline . uk . com / appointments Issue 444 July 27 , 2009 The newspaper for the mobile communications industry £ 3.45 Focused on Dealers 0845 373 1433 Focused on Dealers www . moco . com / distribution Orange to ditch area managers 2 News Carphone ’ s bonus pain 44 Mystery Shopper Handsfree car kits on Chester High Street • 22 area managers to be replaced by four regional heads in company-wide cuts By Devika Sen-Gupta Orange is to ditch 22 area managers to recast its retail estate into four regions , governed by four new regional directors . Orange has instructed 22 area managers their roles will go as part of its elimination of 370 roles from its UK business in total over the next three months . Area managers have been invited to apply for the four regional director positions , to be confirmed in the coming weeks . Orange ’ s four ‘ regions ’ will cover around 100 stores each , compared with just 20 in its various retail ‘ areas ’. The move will save the network around £ 650,000 a year in salaries , Mobile News understands . Orange said it cannot confirm any proposed changes as it is currently going through a consultation process . The restructure is reminiscent of Phones 4U ’ s shuffle in October last year which saw the retailer remove half of its area manager positions , increasing the number of stores in each region . Orange said in June it would remove 370 roles from its UK operation by the end of the year – with 100 jobs to be made redundant in the next three months and a further 270 roles going through the removal of unfilled vacancies , as well as natural attrition and ongoing staff reviews . An Orange spokesperson said : “ Orange last month announced that it is planning to remove 370 roles in the UK before the end of the year . “ It is proposed that 100 of those 370 roles will be redundancies made over the next three months , and a small number of these have been proposed within the sales team , impacting middle management and support functions only . Orange continues to invest in field and customer facing sales roles .” Meanwhile , Orange held an event for its top 50 sales staff in London last week at which the top three sales people , top manager and top support staff received holiday vouchers totalling £ 14,000 . Samsung sponsored the event and awarded the top five sales people a Samsung Jet handset . The incentive launched in April and will be held annually to reward the best of its 3,800 strong sales team . O2 Ireland has instructed its entire indirect channel to either sign up as franchises , at a cost of € 100,000 (£ 86,500 ), or cease selling O2 . O2 features at 670 shop venues at present , including 65 O2 stores , 65 Carphone Warehouse stores and 500 assorted independent stockists . It wants just 40 franchises , alongside its existing O2 and Carphone channels , meaning up to 500 dealers and retailers face the axe . See full story , page 18 O2 Ireland carves up channel Voice-to-text business SpinVox is cost cutting to become profitable by the end of the year . SpinVox is offering staff shares in the company instead of salary payouts in July and August and claimed over 50 per cent of its staff have agreed to the option . It said employees own a 40 per cent stake in the company . SpinVox has also cut 60 per cent of its staff in its North American office due to “ underperformance ” at the beginning of July . The company has been unprofitable since launch in 2003 . “ Everyone is finding it difficult right now ,” said founder and chief Christina Domecq . “ We are stretching supply payment time from 40 days to 90 days because the networks have had to stretch theirs as well . It ’ s a knock-on effect . As for offering shares instead of salaries , it ’ s not the first time we ’ ve offered this , and it ’ s not the last time it will be offered .” Domecq said : “ We aim to be profitable by the fourth quarter of the year with revenue of £ 60 million .” In its last filed accounts , for 2007 , SpinVox reported a loss of £ 27.47 million , from £ 9.23 million in 2006 . Domecq said SpinVox will report a five-fold increase in revenue for 2008 ( to £ 10 million ) and another five-fold increase for this year ( to £ 50 million ). SpinVox has 70 million active customers , up from 30 million in 2008 . It aims to bring another 10 million on board through its Latin America Telefónica roll out . Said Domecq : “ Everyone is in the storm and is experiencing difficulties , but we ’ re crossing the profitability line right now . There are always funds available if we need them ; we ’ re not experiencing shortages .” She denied its technology platform was being heavily supplemented with manpower , by staff manually transcribing voicemail . Loss-making SpinVox shrugs off troubles O2 – franchise ultimatum Domecq – on the defensive Managers – part of mass cull MORE RETAIL NEWS INSIDE p2 Carphone bonus anger p4 Phones 4U targets p6 O2 slows acquisition 32 Micro-P Boss O ’ Keefe on sales convergence for flexible commercials and a competitive edge with Abzorbplus + SIP 19 PAGE Abzorbplus SIP Banner ( MN )_ Layout 1 27 / 07 / 2010 16:17 Page 1 01283 497777 Option 1 www . mainline . uk . com follow us @ mainlinetalk ... it ’ s all music to your ears Just for the record ... up to 27 % revenue share reliable and robust payment systems datashare and retention solutions accurate weekly payments Issue 469 August 2 , 2010 The newspaper for the mobile communications industry £ 3.45 2 O2 retail Job freeze lifted but staff under-resourced 30 OneNet Shardlow on key Vodafone launch 40 Mystery Shopper Prepay smartphones in Croydon centre • Everything Everywhere JV opens up new portfolio to solus distributors By Paul Withers Orange solus distributors Mainline Digital Communications and Midland Distribution are expected to be allowed to resell T-Mobile airtime products . Both Mainline and Midland are part-owned by Orange UK , whose Everything Everywhere joint venture with T-Mobile now enables the distributor pair to sell T-Mobile also . The pair are in discussions to sell T-Mobile . They will join HSC , T-Mobile ’ s only airtime distribution partner at present . T-Mobile UK sales manager for independent partners John Fannon said : “ We are in talks with both . They are well-known and well-respected distributors . They have been restricted historically to sell Orange only , but the joint venture changes that , and it makes sense for us to bring them in if they can add sales . It is the same approach for any firm that has traditionally sold just one of the brands to consider opportunities for them to sell the other .” Mainline managing director Andrew Boden said : “ This is an incremental opportunity for us . We don ’ t want our Orange sales to be replaced by T-Mobile sales . We ’ re looking to grow the size of the business , and add T-Mobile sales on top of the Orange sales we ’ re already doing .” Midland Distribution sales manager Peter Liley said : “ It will give us the opportunity for incremental business ; we do not intend for it to affect our Orange sales .” Orange has a 35 per cent stake in both Mainline and Midland , Mobile News understands . Meanwhile , Mainline has appointed Nigel Garnham into the newly created role of business development director . The role has been established to shape and deliver on the company ’ s strategy to explore and exploit new business opportunities . Garnham spent 13 years at Fujitsu Telecommunications where he held the positions of director of multimedia products and services and more recently head of proposition development . Mainline managing director Andrew Boden said : “ We ’ re beefing up the top team here because we are aware of a number of significant and strategic opportunities for the business . These opportunities need specific focus . “ Nigel brings a wealth of experience from the technology and telecoms sectors which can be put to very good use , helping us to take Mainline into new parts of the market and to develop new product sets . We anticipate that as soon as later this year we will have a number of new propositions which will present substantial margin-making opportunities to our existing dealers and new resellers alike .” See pages 6 and 38 O2 Centre of Excellence telecom provider Barclay Communications has signed a corporate account from Vodafone worth around 350 connections . The Belfast-based B2B dealer , and Northern Ireland ’ s only O2 COE partner , signed up crisp and snack manufacturer Tayto Golden Wonder , the third largest in the UK , last month after a series of meetings to manage its 350-plus mobile base . Barclay , one of the leading O2 connectors in the UK , said it secured the deal due to its close working relationship with O2 , who attended the meetings with Barclay . Barclay also hopes to include other products and services it manages in to the deal including fixed line , IT management and website hosting . Its managing director Britt Megahey also said the Continued on page 2 Mainline and Midland to sell T-Mobile airtime Shebang Distribution said last week it expects a fuller and more productive relationship with Asda , as it underpins its trial of in-store ‘ Phone Shops ’ in two Asda superstores and sets about construction of its mobile sales website . Shebang , which has just walked away from a £ 20 million supply contract with Tesco , said Asda can make a bigger success of mobile phone retail than its supermarket rival . Managing director Iain Humphrey said : “ There is no doubt for me that Asda , with its scale and approach to retailing and partnerships , and Shebang , with long experience in the industry and two-and-a-half years ’ working in the supermarket sector itself , can work to create a better proposition than anyone else in the market . “ Our sense is that , where everyone thought it would be difficult for mass retailers to get to grips with mobile , we believe in fact the profile of shoppers in Asda stores means they do have time to browse and take advice on mobile products . We do believe there is an expansive sales and partnership opportunity with Asda in contract , prepay and accessories .” Shebang recently won around 50 per cent of accessories supply into Asda stores , including a number of lines from its own Nexus portfolio . It has followed the deal with a contract to manage fulfilment of its new-concept Phone Shops , expected to roll out to more than 30 Asda superstores late in the year . Continued on page 2 O2 dealer wins big from Voda Shebang swaps Tesco for expansive Asda gig Asda – Shebang systems Liley – Orange priority Boden – advanced talks MN 020810 News p1 . indd 1 28 / 07 / 2010 20:26 CASE COLLECTION THE SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII Introducing : CONTACT US NOW ! www . aegis . uk . com www . uunique . uk . com * Terms and conditions apply BlackBerry ® , RIM ® , Research In Motion ® and related trademarks , names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and / or used in the U . S . and countries around the world . Used under license from Research In Motion Limited . 01283 500 100 From 1 August , connect a BlackBerry ® handset and see if you ’ re an instant winner . New staff incentive from Mainline BrightPoint UK is expected to cut up to 10 per cent of its staff as part of a recent review to cut costs across the business , Mobile News understands . The hardware distributor and supply chain services provider employs between 50 and 60 staff in the UK , with the majority based at its Poole head office in Dorset . It is understood BrightPoint has conducted a staff consultation over the past few months to determine where cuts can be made . The consultation process is said to have concluded in June , and staff were due to be informed of the results as Mobile News went to press . Sources claim cuts have already been made to BrightPoint ’ s field sales team after several of its members agreed voluntary redundancy packages . The cuts are part of a UK restructure in response to the current economic conditions and are not related to its proposed £ 535 million acquisition by IT firm Ingram Micro , which was announced at the start of the month . The deal between the two firms is expected to be completed during Q4 of this year . Ingram has yet to discuss any potential reductions to Bright- Point ’ s 4,000 plus headcount across 75 countries . BrightPoint declined to comment on the story . Issue 519 , July 30 , 2012 The newspaper for the mobile communications industry £ 3.45 By Jasper Jackson B2B dealer Corporate Telecom Group ( Cortel ) is suing Vodafone for damages of up to £ 5 million after being terminated for alleged fraudulent upgrades . The London-based firm received a letter from Vodafone on July 10 stating its platinum partner agreement had been cancelled after an investigation concluded it had upgraded a 1,700 connection account without the customer ’ s consent on February 29 . The account belonged to Mace Group , and Cortel had managed it for 18 years . Vodafone has now taken control of most of Cortel ’ s Vodafone base – said to be around 9,000 connections . Mace Group has since been signed up by Vodafone platinum partner Olive Communications . Cortel managing director Neville Sheen rejects the decision , which could cost his firm up to £ 5 million . He claims members of the Vodafone team have been working against him and the relationship has “ deteriorated ” dramatically over the past year . Sheen said : “ Vodafone has done everything it can to damage us . “ There should be a full investigation into how companies like Vodafone can simply tear up the rule books and act in any way they want to just add a couple of extra percentage points on their value .” Rule breach Vodafone sited a breach of rules for the termination in a letter sent on July 10 , which included Ofcom ’ s General Condition 23 ( GC23 ) designed to prohibit mobile service providers and their resellers from engaging in dishonest , misleading or deceptive conduct . An extract from the letter , signed by Vodafone lead counsel for enterprise Douglas Birrell , included this passage : “ Cortel ’ s actions in this regard contravened the terms of GC23 . As such those actions represent a material breach of the Agreement which is not capable of remedy . The purpose of this letter is therefore to give you written notice that Vodafone is terminating its Agreement with Cortel with immediate effect .” Sheen argues he had been in discussions with Mace for six months over a mid-term upgrade , and a decision about proceeding was expected on March 2 – two days after they were processed . He says he took the decision to upgrade Mace on February 29 after receiving “ two hours ” notice from Vodafone that mid-term upgrades were to be abolished at 5pm that day and it would not be honouring any imminent agreements . Sheen said Cortel left a message for Mace after calls went unanswered , explaining the Vodafone changes and saying he was putting the upgrades through that day – but he says he stated they could still be cancelled . He also claims to have had a long-standing agreement with Mace to carry out any changes to the account on their behalf . “ We felt we had to give them that option given the sudden changes from Vodafone ,” he said . However , Mace Group head of IT operations Alan Webb contacted Vodafone on March 4 , requesting they cancel the upgrade as consent was not given . Sheen wrote to Vodafone explaining his actions on June 11 . Vodafone director of small enterprise Tim Stone replied , rejecting his claims , on June 22 . New start Cortel has now become an O2 Centre of Excellence partner and plans to churn customers lost to Vodafone on to O2 . Sheen said : “ A huge number of our existing base are moving to O2 as they have been with us , in some cases 20 years , and are furious at the way Vodafone has treated us .” Vodafone dealer seeks £ 5m damages after termination • Vodafone terminates platinum partner Cortel over accusations of fraudulent upgrades BrightPoint set to axe up to 10pc of UK team in restructuring move 02 News Nokia targets unsettled BlackBerry customers 14 News O2 seeks upcoming entrepreneurs Sheen – ‘ two hours ’ notice Xxx Termination letter Bundles for S3 in stock now 01923 852916 Xqisit for S3 in stock now 01923 852916 Shebang accessories swoop BrightPoint UK is also understood to be on the verge of taking ownership of Shebang Technologies Group ’ s accessories business . Shebang Technologies has supply deals with a number of high street retailers and mobile dealers including ASDA , Co-op Electrical , Maplin , Get Connected , Digital Phone Company and Go Mobile stores , which were recently sold by Shebang to A1 Comms . No details about the deal were known as Mobile News went to press . Shebang and BrightPoint declined to comment . MN 2012-0730 News p1 . indd 1 19 / 07 / 2013 10:19 Issue 419 July 28 2008 The newspaper for the mobile communications industry £ 3.45 By James Blackman Orange is close to signing Lycamobile as its second ethnic market MVNO . The two parties were still negotiating terms as Mobile News went to press . Neither would comment . Lycamobile , a subsidiary of calling card company Lycatel , is the richest ethnic market MVNO , winning share on the continent with aggressive pricing , marketing and commissions . Lycamobile was expected to sign with T-Mobile , with which it already works in Holland . But sources claimed its relationship with T-Mobile there has soured over SIM card allocations . A T-Mobile UK spokesman said : “ There is no intent to form a relationship with Lycamobile ”. It has also held discussions with O2 about a UK venture , but O2 is understood to be reticent about new wholesale ventures . The UK ethnic market for mobile is considered to be around eight million . Lycamobile chief Milind Kangle reckons it can take a 60 per cent share and sign 750,000 customers within a year . It has signed Dextra to distribute its SIMs in the UK and claims to have a distribution channel of 150,000 for calling cards already . The total UK wholesale market is estimated to be worth £ 1 billion , and is predicted to jump to £ 2 billion by 2012 . T-Mobile takes around 60 per cent of the market via its Virgin Mobile MVNO deal . Vodafone has 17 per cent via BT Mobile , Asda Mobile , Talk Mobile , Lyca rival Lebara Mobile and TomTom . It also takes incremental revenue from Nomi Mobile , which runs off BT Mobile . O2 has around 17 per cent too , via its Tesco Mobile MVNO . Orange lags behind . Its management team , led by Virgin Mobile co-founder Tom Alexander , is understood to be keen on wholesale . It works with IDT Mobile and ad-funded MVNO Blyk . Negotiations with Orange are likely to put Lycamobile ’ s scheduled August launch back . Meanwhile Nowtel , the UK ’ s number two calling card business , is preparing its own UK MVNO bid . Avenir has signed a joint venture with Reading-based IT distributor WestCoast to facilitate airtime connections for WestCoast ’ s IT reseller base and provide IT kit and managed services tools to its own mobile customers . Avenir managing director Tanny Price ( pictured ) said : “ These are high calibre resellers , working with a high quality customer base that ’ s helping us achieve our own converged targets and delivering us incremental revenue .” It is the second such deal Avenir has struck in the IT space . In May , it signed a deal with the reseller division of SCC , part of Specialist Computer Holdings . It said it will likely sign one more major IT partnership . Westcoast managing director Duncan Forsyth said : “ Merging our capabilities with Avenir ’ s in the mobile channel will give our resellers the tools to build complete mobile data solutions .” Avenir is running a series of workshops to bring IT resellers and mobile dealers together to provide them with contacts for collaboration on business leads . Price said : “ We want to encourage existing dealers to partner with IT resellers so they can go into customers to service accounts together .” Avenir says it is taking more than 100 connections per month from some IT resellers already . WestCoast signs IT deal with Avenir Lyca closes on Orange MVNO • Two parties negotiating terms • Lyca aiming for 750,00 subs 2 News EU downs VAT tactics 36 Mystery Shop Our man is sent to Coventry 22-26 Harrison Carphone on retail and trends 3 is close to 500,000 UK mobile broadband customers . It said last week it had one million customers signed to mobile broadband contracts , equipped with USB dongles , across Europe . Half of its mobile broadband base is in the UK . 3 UK chief executive Kevin Russell said voice traffic had fallen on its network 20 per cent as a result of high termination rates , but that data traffic is through the roof . “ We pay out £ 190 million per year to subsidise the other network operators as a result of the new termination rates , which have had the effect of increasing our payments to other networks ,” said Russell . “ Therefore , we have had to put our prices up . As a consequence of putting prices up , we have seen a 20 per cent fall in voice minutes on our network . However , our data usage is up 600 per cent .” 3 broadband reaches 1m Close to a deal – Lycamobile ’ s Kangle and Orange ’ s Alexander REDUCE RETURNS ! Call Jon Lobb on 07788 767 076 www . tmti . net INCREASE REVENUE ! Call Jon Lobb on 07788 767 076 gadget helpline . com REDUCE RETURNS ! Call Jon Lobb on 07788 767 076 www . tmti . net INCREASE REVENUE ! Call Jon Lobb on 07788 767 076 gadget helpline . com Experience the sights , sounds , and ... Turn your Orange connections into points and win a luxury trip to India ’ s Golden Triangle . Start earning points for this fantastic promotion , call 01283 497777 option 1 or visit www . mainline . uk . com today . Are you interested in selling new innovative products ? Call us now on 0845 644 8490 . MN 280708 News p1 . indd 1 24 / 7 / 08 10:00:53 Music track ‘ Wake Me Up ’ by Swedish DJ Avicii last week topped the iTunes download music chart thanks in part to an MMS marketing campaign . Record label Virgin EMI partnered with EE , Vodafone and O2 joint venture firm Weve , to send out 100,000 animated MMS messages to music fans . Customers were selected based on their Weve profile – indicating they would like to receive marketing about dance music . Messages were sent out at 8am on Sunday , which when opened activated the song as part of a ‘ wake me up ’ campaign .’ Weve said the campaign received its highest ever ‘ clickthrough rate ’ with 9.8 per cent of people receiving the message going on to listen to the track . Customers can then click on a link to be directed to the iTunes store where they can download the track . A second campaign to promote the same track will kick off at 8am this Saturday . Weve marketing director Tony Moretta said : “ It ’ s fantastic to see a major entertainment company like Virgin EMI recognise mobile as the first screen for marketing engagement with key demographics , and that the immediacy and relevance of mobile messaging can really drive consumer behaviour in a big way .” Telefónica has agreed to buy German mobile operator E-Plus from its Dutch rival KPN for € 5 billion (£ 4.3 billion ). The deal would create Germany ’ s biggest mobile network by market share and customer numbers . The deal is subject to approval by European antitrust officials , as well as the boards of both companies . It would leave Germany with three mobile operators , alongside T-Mobile and Vodafone . KPN has agreed to sell E-Plus for € 3.7 billion (£ 3.1 billion ) in cash and will also initially receive a 24.9 per cent stake in the company . Telefónica has said it will buy a 7.3 per cent stake in Telefónica Deutschland from KPN for € 1.3 billion (£ 1.1 billion ). ‘ Wake Me Up ’ tops chart thanks to MMS campaign Telefónica buys E-Plus in £ 4.3 billion acquisition Huawei launches new MediaPad tablet O2 partners with Virgin in run-up to 4G launch By Michael Garwood O2 has signed a 10-year deal with Virgin Media Business to access its ‘ superfast ’ fibre network . The deal will see Virgin Media connect its fibre network with its own base stations , which O2 says will help reduce network congestion and boost data speeds for customers . The deal will provide O2 with additional capacity ahead of its 4G launch this summer , as demand for mobile data from customers , such as bandwidthheavy services like gaming apps and HD video streaming , become more popular . Each one of the high-speed links will deliver speeds of 1Gbps between cell site and their aggregation network . Virgin Media Business has now secured backhaul contracts with all four UK operators , with EE , Vodafone , Three and now O2 offering what it calls ‘ the UK ’ s only synchronous Ethernet mobile backhaul service .’ Telefónica UK chief technology officer Adrian Di Meo said : “ With our 4G network launching this summer , data growth will only continue to rise and this new fibre agreement with Virgin Media Business will give us the rock solid foundation we need .” Virgin Media director of mobile and broadcast George Wareing added : “ Backhauling data is critical to ensuring operators are able to provide customers with fast and reliable data services . “ We ’ re able to arm networks with the extra capacity needed to make sure that customers don ’ t experience slow speeds because of data bottlenecks , and that they ’ re prepared for the future of 4G services and beyond .” Huawei has unveiled the latest addition to its tablet line-up , the MediaPad 7 Youth . The seveninch touchscreen device , which is being advertised as “ a tablet for the connected generation ”, is the sixth tablet device to be launched by the manufacturer . Features on the device include Android 4.1 , an unspecified camera , 1080p full HD video playback , dual-core 1.6GHz processor and a GPU graphics card for improved gaming capabilities . The device is built from alum- inium , weighs 350g and is 9.9mm thick . It has a 4100mAh Li-Polymer battery which Huawei claims provides up to two weeks of power on standby . Huawei vice president of home connected device product line Wang Yinfeng said the MediaPad 7 Youth is a “ versatile tablet ” which is “ ideal for young people who are always on the move ”. The MediaPad 7 Youth will be available in Russia , China , Asia Pacific , Middle East and Europe in Q3 , 2013 . 16 news www . mobilenewscwp . co . uk @ mobilenewsmag MobileNewsMagazine MN 2013-0730 Web Flashback . indd 16 24 / 07 / 2013 16:54