Mobile dealers sentenced for £1.6 million clawback fraud

Mobile phone dealers Jonathan Shulton and James Cahill have been convicted of fraud at Southwark Crown Court for their parts in a £1.6 million abuse of commission schemes. They'd claimed commission for connecting new customers and then liquidated their companies before networks had the opportunity to realise that the connections were fraudulent. Following a Serious Fraud Office investigation, Jonathan Shulton has been sentenced to a total of 27 months imprisonment, with James Cahill sentenced to a 240 hours community punishment order. [Press release]

Mobile News podcast now online

The new edition of the Mobile News podcast is now available to download. Iain Graham talks to John Fannon about T-Mobile's recent channel review and its plans to change dealer commission payments. Mark Bridge and James Rosewell join Iain to discuss the latest mobile industry headlines - and there's a quick preview of the Samsung M8800 Pixon cameraphone. As usual, you can download or listen free at TheFonecast.com and on the Mobile News website... and you'll find us on iTunes and via RSS too.

The Mobile News podcast is presented and produced by Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge at TheFonecast.com

O2 reviewing dealer commission

O2 is changing the way it pays commission to its business dealers next month, paying them a monthly share of revenue instead of commission when the customer connects. The move could see dealers earning more in the long term, although the lack of an initial subsidy may affect handset prices and connection incentives. [Source: Mobile News]

Carphone Warehouse considering new commission plan

Carphone Warehouse staff may swap commission for a profit-sharing scheme, depending on the results of a trial in the London area. [Source: Mobile News]

Vodafone top-up boycott ends

The organiser of a campaign to boycott Vodafone after the network cut the amount of commission it paid for top-ups has ended his protest. Kevin Hunt said he was disappointed he hadn't managed to change Vodafone's opinion but he didn't want to continue inconveniencing his customers. He said some retailers were considering a surcharge for Vodafone top-ups but his business wouldn't be charging any extra. [Source: Mobile News]

Clawback protection from T-Mobile?

Here's a topic we touched on in our podcast this week. T-Mobile is said to be considering a trial of a new clawback protection procedure for dealers. It would reduce the risk of dealers having to repay commission when a customer defaults on the mobile phone bill. T-Mobile will apparently require participating dealers to take a deposit from the customer or to match their address with their payment details. [Source: Mobile News]

Top-up commission cuts expected from all UK networks

The National Federation of Retail Newsagents says Vodafone's decision to cut prepay TopUp commission by 1% will probably lead other UK networks to do the same - much as we'd predicted in this week's podcast. [Source: Mobile News]

New edition of 'The Fonecast' now online

This week's free edition of The Fonecast, a weekly downloadable podcast about the mobile industry (in partnership with Mobile News), is now available to download from TheFonecast.com. Our main feature is an interview with Jez Harris about the new Orange commission clawback changes that'll affect dealers. There's a quick look at the new Sony Ericsson C902 Cyber-shot camera phone - and you'll also discover the latest mobile industry news and gossip. Each broadcast can be downloaded by including us in your RSS reader, by using iTunes, by visiting TheFonecast.com or by visiting the Mobile News website.