Fone Logs wins Qualitel deal

Fone Logistics has secured a deal with business telecoms specialist Qualitel to be its sole distributor of O2 products.

The distributor won the two-year contract after beating off competition to win exclusive ownership of Qualitel’s entire O2 distribution.

It becomes Fone Logistics’ fourth deal in the last two months. Last month it announced a deal with Vodafone to deliver its fixed line products as well as landing an exclusive contract with Virgin Media to distribute its range of home broadband, telephone and TV bundles. It has also agreed to distribute the new Samsung B2700 handset to the construction market.

Fone Logistics managing director Ian Gillespie said: "We have reached a deal to guarantee Qualitel's O2 business for the next two years in the face of stiff competition, O2 Direct included, and with the requirement to demonstrate an improvement on admitted drops in service levels mid last year.

"Qualitel has been one of our premier partners for the past 18 months and is one of the most successful dealers in the country across a number of networks. We continue to be very pleased to work with them."

B2B dealer Qualitel has a direct relationship with Vodafone and is an Orange Business Partner via Mainline. It also claims to be one of the top 20 B2B independents in the UK.

Qualitel managing director Mike Ridgway said: "Fone Logistics has won this account based upon an imaginative and commercially attractive offer and off the back of a demonstrable improvement in service levels and expertise.

"I am looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship between our two companies and am confident that we have made the right choice in Fone Logistics."

O2 revenues up 10 per cent

O2’s revenues are up 10 per cent year on year to £6.26 million, naming the iPhone, BlackBerry and Simplicity as leading products. Traditional ARPU is down two per cent while data ARPU has risen nine per cent.

Net mobile additions in the year reached 1.1 million, up 45 per cent year on year and ending December 2008 with a total mobile base of 19.5 million lines, excluding Tesco Mobile. Contract customers make up 39.1 per cent of the total base, up two per cent from last year. The company attributed this growth to propositions such as Simplicity SIM only packages, the 3G iPhone and mobile broadband. The network said it sold one million iPhones last year.

Prepay customer numbers grew 82.7 per cent to reach 11.9 million, drawn by offers such as prepay mobile broadband and the prepay iPhone. O2 recorded total churn of 2.7 per cent, down from 2.9 per cent in 2007.

Total ARPU last year was £26.66, recording a 1.4 per cent year-on-year growth, however, Q4 saw a decline of 1.7 per cent

Contract ARPU showed a year-on-year decline of 2.1 per cent as, ironically, customers are more frequently choosing value deals such as Simplicity and scrutinising their usage. Prepay ARPU for the year declined 0.6 per cent from 2007, reflecting the increased uptake of prepay tariffs such as Unlimited.

However, this was compensated for by the 9.2 per cent rise in data to £10.17, driven by mobile broadband and data bolt-ons.

The network’s DSL broadband service added 270,157 lines in 2008, with its total broadband customer base at 340,866 lines at the end of December.

Telefonica Europe chief executive Matthew Key said: “While our results appear to be bucking economic trends, we remain concerned about the current trading environment which has resulted in an overall smaller market. In times like these, execution becomes even more critical in offering customers services and propositions that they value.”

Telstra chief to return to USA

Chief executive of Australian incumbent network Telstra is to leave the company on June 30 to return to his native USA.

The company will begin a search for a suitable successor and expects to make an appointment by the time of Trujillo’s departure.

Telstra chairman Donald McGauchie said Trujillo and the Telstra board agreed that now was a suitable time for a transition to a new chief executive in light of the company’s performance.

McGauchie said: “Sol’s vision, strategic direction and commitment to execution have positioned Telstra as a media communications company with a wide range of options for ongoing growth.

“Under Sol’s leadership, Telstra has significantly outperformed the market and its global peers, producing world-leading results within the telecommunications sector.

“The Next G network is undeniably the world’s best national mobile broadband network and stands as Sol’s crowning achievement.”

Trujillo joined Telstra in July 2005. He will continue to drive the business until his departure at the end of June and work with the board and senior management to ensure a smooth transition.

He said: “Telstra is outperforming domestic and global peers in virtually every category. We are well positioned to hit the key transformation targets we set in November 2005 and I have every confidence that Telstra will continue to deliver world-leading results for shareholders.”

Trujillo’s achievements include the integrated Next G and Next IP networks, the successful completion of Telstra’s privatisation, migration of seven million customers to Telstra’s new IT platforms, the rollout of ADSL2+ to exchanges covering 82 per cent of the population, the launch and rollout of the T[life] stores and expansion into mainland China with successful new acquisitions.

The announcement of Trujillo’s departure comes as the company announced strong first half results with free cash flow growing by 44 per cent to $1.9 billion (£865 million) while also continuing to outperform domestic and global peers in key products and segments. Total revenue grew 2.7 per cent to $12,710 million.

O2 launches laptop deals

O2 has today become the final network to begin selling mobile broadband with laptop packages.

The network, which has also refurbished a large number of stores in the week building to the launch, began selling three different laptops on two separate tariffs, as part of its 'Connected World,' strategy.

Customers can choose for a Samsung NC10 or Samsung R510 laptop, which are free on 24 month mobile broadband plans costing £30 per month with 3GB of download, or £40 per month for 10GB download.

Also available is a ‘multimedia’ version of the Samsung R510 with extra memory and entertainment features, which is available on either tariff for a one-off fee of £80.

Customers will also receive unlimited free Wi-Fi using O2 Cloud hotspots.

One O2 staffer said: “We have been at a disadvantage regarding sales of mobile broadband for a long time, but we can now finally compete with the rest of the highstreet.”

Carphone to 'streamline' business

The Carphone Warehouse will not be cutting stores as its seeks to streamline its business, it said this morning following the announcement that it it is to cut up to 450 office-based roles in the UK.

However Carphone UK chief executive Andrew Harrison said many of the people whose jobs may go could be redeployed in other areas of the business.

For example, the arrival of US electronics chain Best Buy to the UK as a 50 per cent shareholder of Carphone’s retail business will create 1,000 new jobs over the next 15 months.

Harrison also told Mobile News that there were no plans to reduce the retail head count or close any more stores than would be reviewed in the normal course of business, which at the moment stands at up to 30.

Harrison said: “We’ve announced robust figures and the business is in good shape. But as we look forward, the next 18 months are going to be difficult in retail and in mobile. Only the businesses that take action now and who are the leanest and fittest will be the ones that survive."

Harrison said that prices were under pressure so rather than wait, the company was looking at growing in different ways.

"We have grown over the last 10 years and never had the chance to reflect on how we are structured. It’s not just about a people cost-reduction strategy. It’s about changing how we do things."

Harrison said most of the planned cost savings would come from streamlining back office systems and call centres by making better use of the internet and encouraging more self-help from staff and customers.

"We’d like to do things simpler – using systems to solve problems rather than people. We have tended to overcomplicate things. For example we stock 340 products but only a small proportion make up a significant part of the profit. So we will start looking at our core range. We could make our supply chain more efficient and carry less stock in store."