Mobile subscribers fall for the first time in UK

NEWS Subscribers to one of the UK's four mobile phone operators have fallen for the very first time following BT Cellnet's admission that its numbers were down from 11.2 million for the three months to March to 10.6 million for the three months to June. A change in subscriber definition contributed to BT's poor showing. The biggest winners following the announcement are Vodafone, which consolidated its position as the country's leading operator, and Orange - now owned by France Telecom - which moved into second place at the expense of Cellnet. One2One brings up the rear. Around half a million phone owners were wiped off Cellnet's numbers when the operator decided that pre-pay customers who haven't used their phone for the past three months should count as 'inactive' users. While this method of accounting is more stringent than Vodafone - which promises to adopt a similar method soon - it is less conservative than at least one of its rivals. Orange stipulates that pre-pay customers must make at least four calls per quarter to qualify as 'active' users.