US warranty company Allstate Protection Plans has acquired smart device lifecycle company Kingfisher-mx for an undisclosed amount. Allstate Protection Plans, formerly known as SquareTrade, offers extended warranties and protection plans for consumer electronics, appliances, furniture, and more. The company is a subsidiary of Allstate, one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S. Kingfisher was

The UK will miss out on £11bn of infrastructure investment to deliver 5G Standalone to 95 percent of the population by 2030 and 99 percent of the UK population by 2034 unless the Vodafone Three merger goes ahead. So says Vodafone UK’s Chief Network Officer, Andrea Donà, citing findings from research that indicate nationwide 5G

Tesco Mobile Chief Customer Officer Rachel Swift has joined Virgin Media O2 as Brand and Advertising Director to lead brand strategy, loyalty, sponsorship and partnerships, and advertising, Her appointment marks a return to O2 where she was brand and creative Director for two years.. She has also held similar positions at John Lewis and Marks

The average age of used devices at the time of trade-in or upgrade has increased to 3.71 years, up from 3.64 years in Q1 2024. This is according to Assurant’s report on emerging trends in the secondary mobile device market and the trade-in and upgrade patterns among consumers. The increase in upgrade times is primarily

Leading MVNO Lebara has been sold to the European private equity firm Waterland Private Equity by its main existing owners, Alchemy and Triton Partners, who acquired the MVNO in 2020. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. Waterland specializes in a “buy-and-build” strategy, acquiring and consolidating businesses. It was established in 1999 and has its

Eurostar Global Electrnics’ logistics arm, Eurostar Logistics, has rebranded as Tech3PL to reflect its three-pronged strategy of being technology-driven and handling third-party logistics and fulfilment. The service covers logistics and supply chain management, including transportation, warehousing, freight forwarding. The rebrand comes a year after Eurostar commissioned a new 43,000 sq ft distribution and logistics centre

and Virgin Media O2 have entered a long-term network-sharing agreement to enhance rural connectivity  The agreement builds on the existing collaboration between Vodafone UK and Virgin Media O2, including the Shared Rural Network initiative, to deliver quality mobile coverage in hard-to-reach areas across the UK. “With this agreement and our merger with Three, we will

Motorola is launching a new £299 5G Moto g85 5G in August and added two new devices to the Razr family The Moto g85 5G will be sold through Amazon, Argos, John Lewis & Partners, Vodafone, and EE, from August 2nd. Carphone Warehouse and Currys will offer the phone on a plan costing £14.99 per

HONOR has brought out a new 200 Series line-up with an emphasis on photography and prices ranging from £279.99 to £699.99. The new line was developed with Studio Harcourt, a Parisian portrait photography house that helped develop AI capabilities to manipulate light and shadow based on analyzing thousands of photographs. The HONOR 200 Pro is

As Apple this week announces its AI strategy, OPPO has confirmed it has partnered with Google, Mircosoft and MediaTek to equip all of its devices with AI and .sell them to 50 million users this year. OPPO says AI should not remain exclusive to just flagship phones and selected users but should instead be accessible

Virgin Media O2 has overhauled its O2 refurbished phone Like New programme and is offering savings of up to £439 across a select range of refurbished phones. The network is also offering a limited-time discount of £360 on selected mobiles for all customers, as well as an additional £70 upfront saving on some phones, including

GSMA director general  Mats Granryd, Director General will depart the role after MWC Barcelona 2025 following nine years in the post, and having twice agreed a contract extension. A successor will be chosen in due course. Granryd has declined further extensions. He will remain as the DG until the end of March 2025 and then

Gadget insurance giant Assurant has bought repair chain iSmash and its 38 retail locations. iSmash had been looking for a sale for several months after its auditors put up a red flag over its future prospects as losses mounted to nearly £6 million, mainly due to the effects of Covid lockdowns and the new culture

TalkTalk Wholesale Services has rebranded as PlatformX Communications (PXC) and combined its Virtual1 and TalkTalk’s Wholesale Services and national network into the UK’s largest independent wholesale telecoms platform. PXC has been operating as an independent company within TalkTalk Group since March 1st. CEO Tom O’Hagan (main pic )commented: “The launch of our new company and

Ex-Mobi Market co-founder and Twig executive Emeka Nwadike has joined Mazuma Mobile as head of commercial. His new role at Mazuma is to support the business both domestically and to lead expansion into Europe said managing director, Craig Smith. He moves from Twig which is being wound down after its latest finance round failed to

A third of UK businesses are still ignorant abut the discontinuation of the pubic switched network and chage to VoIP scheduled to take place by December 2025.

Telefonica MVNO, giffgaff is providing street newspaper the Big Issue with 250 refurbished smart phones which will be given to new sellers to enable them to generate cashless sales.  This is Big Issue’s first partnership with a mobile network, and the first time that Big Issue sellers have smartphones with NFC technology, The Giff Gaff supplied-phones

Cellhire is to offer connectivity to more than 220 destinations with 700 network operators, following its latest partnership with the wholesale arm of Orange. Global telecoms provider Cellhire has worked with Orange since 1997 and is an MVNO on the Orange Wholesale France network, It will now introduce a “light MVNO” for voice and data

Apple’s new iPhone 15 range will cost more or less the same as the iPhone 14 range a year ago. The ’15’ prices range as high as £1,599 for the top-spec Pro Max with 1TB storage down to £799 for the base 15 with 128BGB. Apple is offering £600 trade-in for a 128GB iPhone Pro

Vodafone has started removing legacy Huawei equipment at 2,500 sites across Wales and the South-West in line with Government timelines to remove high-risk vendor technology and replacing it with new OoenRAN tech. Huawei’s links to the Chinese Communist Party British led to it being deemed as unsafe to be used as critical telecom infrastructure by

Secondary market logistics and services company BlankIT has appointed Dan Jackson as Operations Director. Jackson joins from his current role at Adapt Global. Jackson has held positions at Assurant, LikeWize, and AO. His move to BlankIT reunites him with BlankIT’s founder, Paul Schofield, as the two had worked together in other organizations. Schofield commented, “Dan

The iPhone 14 range dominated global smartphone demand for the first half of the year. according to Informa’s research arm Omdia.

Telecom software solutions provider PiPcall has appointed former Orange senior VP Duncan Ward, as its new CEO.

It’s more important than ever that brands can develop new mobile apps quickly and cost-effectively writes Perry Krug , Head of Developer Experience at Couchbase 

If you go down to Marble Arch today (or any time in the next four weeks) you’re in for a big surprise. The iconic Arch has been covered in Vodafone-branded hoarding while a month-long conservation project of the 200-year-old Arch place. The six arches and four panels of Marble Arch now feature Vodafone’s red branding,

Worrying about whether you can afford to use a phone while away is ‘bonkers’ writes Virgin Media O2 COO Gareth Turpin A year and a half ago Virgin Media O2 proudly became the odd one out by not following the other major mobile networks in reintroducing EU roaming fees All O2 and Virgin Mobile customers

New Zealand mobile and broadband provider Spark is facing calls for a boycott by people who say they are appalled with the network’s support of Fijian-New Zealand trans-activist Shaneel Lal demand that ‘TERFS’ be banned from Facebook/Meta’s new Threads social media platform.   ‘TERF’ (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) refers to women who dispute that trans-gender women are biological

“The launch of Cloud Market seemed an appropriate time to bring our three organisations together under one brand” Digital Wholesale Solutions (DWS) and Union Street brands have been harmonised under the ‘Giacom’ brand and the group’s four ordering portals have been unified into a single portal called Cloud Market.

Exertis is the new distributor for JCB Toughphone products, the brand that started the rugged mobile phones sector 16 years ago. Exertis will be ranging two new rugged Android smartphones, the JCB Toughphone TP231 and JCB Toughphone MAX and supplying JCB products to its specialist retailer and mobile channels. “The partnership will enable customers to

Currys will now be selling Vodafone broadband in its 300-plus stores in addition to Vodafone’s mobile products.

Bare bones BT Group MVNO Plusnet Mobile is shutting down over the coming months with customers being offered a 30-day SIM for £8 a month to switch to EE. Pusnet’s fixed broadband customers are unaffected. Plusnet Mobile sold just SIM-only plans. It is closing down so that BT’s mobile offerings are all consolidated with EE.

TalkTalk and CityFibre have agreed a strategic partnership to accelerate their B2B Ethernet offering to wholesale partners.

Former Assurant Europe CEO Andy Morris has joined Likewize to run its global strategy and develop new markets in device protection, repair, warranty and related solutions

Former Assurant CEO Andy Morris has joined Likewize to run its global strategy and develop new markets in device protection, repair, warranty and related solutions

HMD Global, has brought out a new Nokia rugged smartphone as a successor to the original Nokia 3310 rugged phone.  The new XR21 will come with four years of monthly security updates, three years of OS upgrades, three years of warranty and a one-year screen replacement guarantee The XR21 is claimed to withstand a soaking

Misplaced loyalty means many consumers are willing to pay more to be on a top-tier mobile network rather than a lesser-known MVNO.

Dhirendra Prasad stole parts faked invoices and took bribes from crooked Apple vendors. Must repay $19 million to Apple and IRS

Three is offering free connections worth a total of £150,000 to small and medium businesses with 20 to 150 employees in Manchester and Birmingham who can best demonstrate how their businesses can grow using the Three network. Successful applicants will get free SIM packages as well as free Business Broadband for two years. Businesses must

Octopus will plant a tree for every phone purchased

 Revamped lenses and sensors claimed to offer DSLR image quality

New lease of life for ethical  MVNO operator which ceased trading four years ago Uplands Mobiles has acquired the name of defunct MVNO The People’s Operator (TPO) which specialised in refurbished mobiles before it crashed in February 2019 and entered administration seven years after its 2012 launch. The People’s Operator was a Three MVNO. It

The scheme is being handled through Euan Blair’s  skills training organisation

The network goes all out to get customers to pull the trigger on Samsung’s flagship range

Money and vouchers to encourage trade-ins Tesco Mobile has partnered with Assurant to launch a trade-in service, allowing Tesco Mobile users to donate their old devices in exchange for money or a Tesco voucher.  Customers can visit the Assurant Tesco Mobile trade-in website to receive an instant valuation for their mobile phone or device. Customers who

Recently voted Gamma ‘New Partner Of The Year’.

The deployment marks the first time in Europe that OpenRAN has been deployed in an urban environment, as it usually focuses on more rural areas

The ‘Faces of Disconnection’ photo series is released as Vodafone reach the milestone of donating connectivity to one million people living in digital exclusion

The new refurbished range helps promote a circular economy and cut down on electronic waste

There was a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in money returned to customers

By Marc Overton, Managing Director of Division X, Enterprise at BT

Bastion to administrate complimentary policy included with every phone sale

BT has collaborated with ServiceNow and Dynatrace for a better management of services, with the latter now being BT’s sole provider of full stack observability across its entire estate

The iPad 15 10th Gen can be purchased at £15 per month with 100MB SIM at no extra cost

Assurant has also opened a Device Care Centre in Tunstall, Staffordshire

This year’s race weekend takes place November 17 to 20 at the Yas Marina Circuit

Initiative aimed at helping customers reduce costs.

Franchise stores to be taken over by O2 The majority of O2 independent franchised business stores are to be taken over by O2 following a decision to cease its store franchise operation which has been running since 2005.      Most franchise stores will be taken over by O2 and the staff working in them

Customers can use Virgin Media’s revamped Connect app so users can check the WiFi strength in each room with a ‘home scan’ functionality

The name 5 Eleven was chosen because the company started in an office space called 511, and now it has moved to a larger space in line with its growth ambitions

New mobile brand Nothing has turned heads in the industry with its quirky name and marketing, launching its first phone globally in July. But will the firm be able to sustain this buzz in the long term?

Customers can also access O2 perks such as free Disney+ or Audible for the first six months as well as access to O2 Priority

It comes with a rear triple-camera and is runs on a Snapdragon 695 processor 

Lack of investment made acquisition unattractive

Holman has over 40 years’ experience across the insurer, broker and MGA insurance markets

The mobile and gadget insurance market have been hit during the pandemic with lockdowns and as people stopped travelling, but an upturn is being seen amid the recovery, with more growth expected ahead

The deal was confirmed by the chipset manufacturer today (June 13)

Clients of Aviva will have access to insurance, repair, upgrade and premium tech support services from Likewize

It comes with a quad-camera set-up and 5,000mAh battery

Amran will report directly to Jo Bertram, managing director at Virgin Media O2 Business

The Reconnected programme will provide connectivity to the 1.9 million UK households without internet access

Simon Segars recently stepped down as CEO at Arm, while Delphine Ernotte Cunci was deputy CEO at Orange in 2010

The partnership will help drive BT’s digital transformation

Gary Pennington joins BlackBelt, boasting 30-years industry experience

The acquisition is built off an existing partnership between Twig Group and Mobi Market

The Chinese vendor needs to stand out in tough market 

BT will also add new products and services to evolve relationships with customers

The partnership expands Genuine Case Company’s vendor portfolio 

Ex-Vodafone chief strategy officer Lloyd has specialist experience across the wireless and technology sectors spanning 20-years

In recent years, mobile insurance provider Assurant has turned its attention to device lifecycle management. With the ethos of offering a full service, it is also ramping up its operations with a robot fleet and new tech

The trio will feature MediaTek processors 

Staffordshire distributor is 32 out of 100 top fastest-growing firms in the region

BT will use Google Cloud’s suite of services, including AI and data analytics 

Users won’t need to remove their phone from the case to charge it as the case is fully QI wireless

The S22 Ultra will be available in the UK from February 25, with the S22 and S22+ available from March 11

BT has launched 5G across the UK via its EE network, which will cover more than half the UK population by 2023.

Vodafone has supported the OpenRAN ecosystem since its conception in 2016 and actively uses OpenRAN across the UK.

TechTeam serves the small to mid-sized market

Mobile News was lucky enough to get a golden ticket to last month’s opening of the Mobile Phone Museum, a 17-year dream of Ben Wood that has finally come to fruition. We got the low-down

Over 100 positions have been created with more roles to be added in 2022.

The app is available to download on Apple, Android and Huawei devices

Vodafone MVNO VOXI debuts range of refurbished devices and partnership with Cool Earth

With Brightstar rebranding as Likewize this August, Mobile News travelled up to the firm’s European HQ in Crewe to find out how this fits into its transformation from a distributor to a more service-based model

Customers can also buy the accessories from Amazon or Atom Studios website

At least 110 customers were ‘slammed’ by the two firms according to Ofcom investigation

But this has also raised concerns around security, reveals study 

Forest project plants trees for partners

Plans are available for 150Mbps, 300Mbps, 500Mbps and 900Mbps

Almost as sure as night follows day, Apple has held its latest annual launch. We gathered views on the line-up

The accessories brand was founded in 2017 by entrepreneur Asad Hamir