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129-568: Lyca Mobile is a British mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) operating in 23 countries. The chairman is Subaskaran Allirajah and the CEO is Richard Schafer. The company sells international pay-as-you-go SIMs. As an MVNO, Lyca Mobile leases radio frequencies from mobile phone network operators and forms partnerships with the operators in each country it serves. Lyca Mobile has also developed distinct business structures such as MVNA aggregator arrangements in various countries. The Lyca Mobile brand

258-509: A "particularly advanced and reprehensible" tax evasion scheme in connection with the sale of calling cards for Lycatel and Lycamobile in Norway in the period 2010–2016. According to the statement released by Okokrim, the convicts established a system in their work for Lycamobile, where they arranged for retailers of calling cards to be able to buy these from Lycatel and Lycamobile in cash, without being invoiced. The invoices were instead issued to

387-463: A cell phone, while driving a motor vehicle. Two additional laws dealing with the use of wireless telephones while driving went into effect July 1, 2008. The first law prohibits all drivers from using a handheld wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle. The law allows a driver to use a wireless telephone to make emergency calls to a law enforcement agency, a medical provider, the fire department, or other emergency services agency. The base fine for

516-425: A few meters to function properly. When the mobile phone or data device is turned on, it registers with the mobile telephone exchange , or switch, with its unique identifiers, and can then be alerted by the mobile switch when there is an incoming telephone call. The handset constantly listens for the strongest signal being received from the surrounding base stations, and is able to switch seamlessly between sites. As

645-658: A fine of €10 million. In August 2024, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) filed winding-up petitions for three Lycamobile companies in the United Kingdom. A tax tribunal had ruled in favour of HMRC in July on a long running dispute over a £15 million value-added tax (VAT) claim, though this appears not to be related to the winding-up petitions. The company auditors had not been able to sign-off company accounts in June because of insufficient audit evidence being available to them. In

774-434: A great number of callers to use the comparatively few available frequencies simultaneously and allowing users to seamlessly move from one area to another without having their calls dropped. Both problems were solved by Bell Labs employee Amos Joel who, in 1970 applied for a patent for a mobile communications system. However, a business consulting firm calculated the entire U.S. market for mobile telephones at 100,000 units and

903-452: A low-power transceiver that transmits voice and data to the nearest cell sites, normally not more than 8 to 13 km (approximately 5 to 8 miles) away. In areas of low coverage , a cellular repeater may be used, which uses a long-distance high-gain dish antenna or yagi antenna to communicate with a cell tower far outside of normal range, and a repeater to rebroadcast on a small short-range local antenna that allows any cellphone within

1032-516: A maximum transmission power of 0.6 watts ERP. Regardless of the potential biological effects, the reduced transmission range of modern handheld phones limits their usefulness in rural locations as compared to car/bag phones, and handhelds require that cell towers are spaced much closer together to compensate for their lack of transmission power. An increasing number of countries, particularly in Europe, now have more mobile phones than people. According to

1161-477: A missing person in their area. However, most mobile phone networks operate close to capacity during normal times, and spikes in call volumes caused by widespread emergencies often overload the system just when it is needed the most. Examples reported in the media where this has occurred include the September 11, 2001 attacks , the 2003 Northeast blackouts , the 2005 London Tube bombings , Hurricane Katrina ,

1290-403: A network implementation operating essentially the same technology as a mobile network operator. Full MVNOs only lack their own radio networks. As of June 2014, 943 MVNOs and 255 MNO sub-brands were active worldwide. This represents a total of almost 1,200 mobile service providers worldwide hosted by MNOs, up from 1,036 in 2012, According to GSMA Intelligence, between June 2010 and June 2015,

1419-482: A network of shell companies. In this way, they contributed to the fact that the dealers failed to disclose commission income of a total of NOK 57.3 million to the tax authorities. Lycamobile settled the claim for NOK 3.5 million, stating that the company did not have the necessary controls in place to prevent the activities committed by the convicts. In May 2023, the Lyca Productions offices were raided by

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1548-399: A number of different ways. Evidence about the physical location of an individual at a given time can be obtained by triangulating the individual's cellphone between several cellphone towers. This triangulation technique can be used to show that an individual's cellphone was at a certain location at a certain time. The concerns over terrorism and terrorist use of technology prompted an inquiry by

1677-401: A numerical basis, India is the largest growth market, adding about 6 million mobile phones every month. It currently has a mobile subscriber base of 937.06 million mobile phones. Since the world is operating quickly to 3G and 4G networks, mobile traffic through video is heading high. It is expected that by the end of 2018, the global traffic will reach an annual rate of 190 exabytes/year. This

1806-405: A recommendation from the national telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India , to permit VNOs in the country, and announced the grant of a unified license for Virtual Network Operators on 31 May 2016. VNOs have formed an association to represent current regulatory issues impacting their MVNO business viability. In Nigeria, the licensing of telecommunications operators is overseen by

1935-499: A subsequent jump in wireless subscriber numbers. Though the new 2G networks more efficiently managed the limited frequency bands allocated to wireless service, new mobile entrants were still limited by their ability to access frequency bands in a restricted spectrum . In 1997 Vodafone Australia and TotalTel launched FastFone, the world's first true prepaid MVNO utilising the worlds first fully MNO integrated MVNE platform supplied by Isoton (formerly Steadycom). FastFone's MVNO model

2064-571: A subsidiary of the Lyca Group, filed their 2022 accounts in March 2024. Despite making a loss of approximately £30 million, the company saw fit to offer a zero interest, unsecured loan of £16 million to Prema Subaskaran, the wife of Subaskaran Allirajah. Mr Allirajah is also one of the directors of the company. According to the filed accounts, the continuity of Thames Quay is dependent on loans from WWW Holding Company Limited, another related entity with

2193-512: A three-year sentence. Lyca was also fined €10m. Lycamobile appealed the decision, stating that "The money laundering accusations concern the activities of two salespeople who were fired upon discovery of this parallel activity". In January 2023 Okokrim , the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, sentenced two people to over two years in prison for complicity in

2322-510: A total of £45.240m and £24m respectively in loans issued at below market rates. In addition to these loans, three senior employees have also received zero interest loans from WWW Holding Company Limited. A S Premananthan (Deputy Chairman) has received £3.329m, M A Malique received £3.329m and C Tooley (former CEO) received £3.329m. These amounts are as reflected in the audited accounts for the 2020 financial year. As of 4 June 2024, no further accounts have been filed. Thames Quay Properties Holdings,

2451-482: A wider country-by-country spread than the Lycamobile operations, although Lycamobile has begun operations in countries where Lycatel does not currently have a presence, such as Poland. Although the calling card market is generally considered to be in decline with the arrival of mobile telephony , Lycatel as a whole remains a dominant and significant competitor in the calling card market in Europe. The Lycatalk brand

2580-560: Is a voice over IP (voIP) offering available to consumers. Lycachat benefits from the Lycamobile infrastructure and should be able to provide connection to traditional telephone networks at virtually no cost to the consumer. Aside from telecommunications, there are a variety of Lyca-branded business ventures. Services range from financial products and insurance services, as well as ventures into logistics and even an airline business Lyca Airways, based in West Africa. Ventures of note include

2709-408: Is aimed at those who wish to make national and international phone calls on a pay-as-you-go basis. The GT Mobile brand offers alternative pricing structures and packages focusing more on national bundles from the Lycamobile brand. Lycatel is focused on the sale of calling cards to wholesalers to then sell on to the public. Lycatel offers online sales of calling cards and direct customer sales through

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2838-472: Is also in part because of regulatory requirements imposed by Ofcom. DilSe radio (now Lyca Gold) took over the 1035 AM radio band used by Sunrise's Kismat Radio . Programming includes Bollywood music, and special programming for ramadan . On 19 May 2023, Lyca Radio was found to be in breach of Ofcom regulations as it failed to deliver local news. According to Lyca, this was due to the departure of its local news journalist and that it had been "very hard to fill

2967-547: Is also part of the Lyca family of brands and operates in the same jurisdictions as the calling card brands with the exception of Portugal. Lycatalk has less prominence than the Lycatel and Lycamobile brands but has a simply structured product with no set up fees or other maintenance charges. Lycatalk tariff rates are more settled and rarely vary wildly, unlike more aggressively price structured products such as calling cards. Lycachat

3096-553: Is at odds with legislation in over 30 countries that prohibit hand-held phone use but allow hands-free. Scientific literature is mixed on the dangers of talking on a phone versus those of talking with a passenger, with the Accident Research Unit at the University of Nottingham finding that the number of utterances was usually higher for mobile calls when compared to blindfolded and non-blindfolded passengers, but

3225-545: Is determined by how "thick" or "thin" a technological layer an MVNO adds over its access to its host MNO's network. Sometimes referred to as a "Skinny MVNO", as the reseller almost totally relies on the MNO's facilities. They do not own any network elements, but may own and operate their own customer care, marketing, and sales operations. Sometimes referred to as a "Light MVNO". The service provider operates its own customer support, marketing, sales and distribution operations, and has

3354-831: Is due to possible interference with aircraft radio communications. Shut-off mobile phones do not interfere with aircraft avionics. The recommendation why phones should not be used during take-off and landing, even on planes that allow calls or messaging, is so that passengers pay attention to the crew for any possible accident situations, as most aircraft accidents happen on take-off and landing. Mobile phone use can be an important matter of social discourtesy: phones ringing during funerals or weddings; in toilets, cinemas and theatres. Some book shops , libraries, bathrooms, cinemas, doctors' offices and places of worship prohibit their use, so that other patrons will not be disturbed by conversations. Some facilities install signal-jamming equipment to prevent their use, although in many countries, including

3483-680: Is found to be higher in areas that are located away from mobile phone towers. According to Reuters , The British Association of Dermatologists is warning of a rash occurring on people's ears or cheeks caused by an allergic reaction from the nickel surface commonly found on mobile devices’ exteriors. There is also a theory it could even occur on the fingers if someone spends a lot of time text messaging on metal menu buttons. In 2008, Lionel Bercovitch of Brown University in Providence , Rhode Island, and his colleagues tested 22 popular handsets from eight different manufacturers and found nickel on 10 of

3612-409: Is much different from computer access, featuring alerts, weather data, e-mail, search engines, instant messages, and game and music downloading; most mobile internet access is hurried and short. Because mobile phones are often used publicly, social norms have been shown to play a major role in the usage of mobile phones. Furthermore, the mobile phone can be a fashion totem custom-decorated to reflect

3741-584: Is the initial location and ultimate identification of the terrorists of the 2004 Madrid train bombings . In the attacks, mobile phones had been used to detonate the bombs. However, one of the bombs failed to detonate, and the SIM card in the corresponding mobile phone gave the first serious lead about the terrorists to investigators. By tracking the whereabouts of the SIM card and correlating other mobile phones that had been registered in those areas, police were able to locate

3870-435: Is the provision of telephone services to mobile phones rather than fixed-location phones ( landline phones ). Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the line may blur. Modern mobile phones connect to a terrestrial cellular network of base stations ( cell sites ), whereas satellite phones connect to orbiting satellites . Both networks are interconnected to

3999-476: Is the result of people shifting to smartphones. It is predicted by 2018, mobile traffic will reach by 10 billion connections with 94% traffic comes from smartphones, laptops and tablets. Also 69% of mobile traffic will be from videos since we have high definition screens available in smart phones and 176.9 wearable devices to be at use. Apparently, 4G will be dominating the traffic by 51% of total mobile data by 2018. Law enforcement have used mobile phone evidence in

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4128-610: The 2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake , and the 2007 Minnesota bridge collapse . Under FCC regulations, all mobile telephones must be capable of dialing emergency telephone numbers , regardless of the presence of a SIM card or the payment status of the account. Since the introduction of mobile phones, concerns (both scientific and public) have been raised about the potential health impacts from regular use. But by 2008, American mobile phones transmitted and received more text messages than phone calls. Numerous studies have reported no significant relationship between mobile phone use and health, but

4257-474: The British House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee into the use of evidence from mobile phone devices, prompting leading mobile telephone forensic specialists to identify forensic techniques available in this area. NIST have published guidelines and procedures for the preservation, acquisition, examination, analysis, and reporting of digital information present on mobile phones can be found under

4386-420: The University of Illinois meta-analysis concluding that passenger conversations were just as costly to driving performance as cell phone ones. As of 2007, several airlines are experimenting with base station and antenna systems installed on the airplane, allowing low power, short-range connection of any phones aboard to remain connected to the aircraft's base station. Thus, they would not attempt connection to

4515-470: The University of Utah Professor David Strayer compared drivers with a blood alcohol content of 0.08% to those conversing on a cell phone, and after controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, the study concluded that cell phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than intoxicated drivers. Meta-analysis by The Canadian Automobile Association and The University of Illinois found that response time while using both hands-free and hand-held phones

4644-661: The Vodafone Network , was found to have not paid over €70m in sales taxes by the Federal Finance Court in Germany. This came after a lengthy investigation and despite an external audit in 2016 stating that they had indeed not paid taxes that were due. Lycamobile unsuccessfully argued that by the use of a sister company in Ireland which provided services for commission, they were able to legally avoid paying

4773-627: The mobile phone operator has adopted. The technologies are grouped by generation. The first-generation systems started in 1979 with Japan, are all analog and include AMPS and NMT. Second-generation systems, started in 1991 in Finland, are all digital and include GSM , CDMA and TDMA . The GSM standard is a European initiative expressed at the CEPT ("Conférence Européenne des Postes et Telecommunications", European Postal and Telecommunications conference). The Franco-German R&D cooperation demonstrated

4902-403: The public switched telephone network (PSTN) to allow any phone in the world to be dialed. In 2010 there were estimated to be five billion mobile cellular subscriptions in the world . According to internal memos, American Telephone & Telegraph discussed developing a wireless phone in 1915, but were afraid that deployment of the technology could undermine its monopoly on wired service in

5031-414: The public telephone network , which includes the networks of other wireless carriers. Many of these sites are camouflaged to blend with existing environments, particularly in scenic areas. The dialogue between the handset and the cell site is a stream of digital data that includes digitised audio (except for the first generation analog networks). The technology that achieves this depends on the system which

5160-652: The "big five" banks in South Africa , FNB , created an MVNO named FNB Connect providing voice, SMS and data services. As of 31 December 2019, FNB Connect had around 670,000 subscribers. The service makes use of Cell C network infrastructure. The move came not necessarily to compete in the telecommunications market, but to offer a greater value to customers of the banking division. There have been several banks in South Africa making this move, like Standard Bank 's SB Mobile established in 2019. MVNOs target both

5289-718: The 2100 MHz 3G network of state telecom service TOT Public Company Limited (TOT) in 2009. As of January 2017, two of the original five MVNOs are still in service. As of December 2018, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) had issued 58 MVNO licenses in Thailand, a total of nine have launched, four remain active. In India , the Telecom Department under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, accepted

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5418-539: The AeroMobile system when they first switched their phones on. The approval by EASA has established that GSM phones are safe to use on airplanes, as the AeroMobile system does not require the modification of aircraft components deemed "sensitive," nor does it require the use of modified phones. In any case, there are inconsistencies between practices allowed by different airlines and even on the same airline in different countries. For example, Delta Air Lines may allow

5547-490: The Chairman and his wife totalling £45 million and £8.325 million respectively. Whilst the interest rate is not disclosed on these loans, the document states that they were offered at a rate "less than market value". The Director's report again states that the loans will not be called in despite the fact that this could significantly reduce operational cash headroom. As a result of these loans, the company's lack of liquidity and

5676-596: The Companies House website states that the company is in dispute with HM Revenue and Customs, in relation to treatment of VAT on certain classes of transactions. A provision has been recorded of £105.5m to reflect the Company's current best estimate of the potential exposure as at 31 December 2021, including penalties and interest. The auditor, PKF Littlejohn LLP, qualifies their audit opinion by stating that they have been unable to obtain sufficient audit evidence over

5805-556: The FIRST offense is $ 20 and $ 50 for subsequent convictions. With penalty assessments, the fine can be more than triple the base fine amount. According to California Vehicle Code [VC] §23123, Motorists 18 and over may use a “hands-free device". The second law effective July 1, 2008, prohibits drivers under the age of 18 from using a wireless telephone or hands-free device while operating a motor vehicle (VC §23124). The consistency of increased crash risk between hands-free and hand-held phone use

5934-467: The French authorities began an investigation into the group which led to 19 arrests in June 2016. The police stated that "The charges relate to money laundering of at least €17m and VAT fraud of several million euros". In addition to the arrests, the police also seized €1m in raids on Lycamobile's Paris headquarters and a series of residential and business addresses across the city. The French court ruling

6063-595: The GSM was used by over 5 billion people in over 220 countries. The GSM (2G) has evolved into 3G, 4G and 5G. The standardisation body for GSM started at the CEPT Working Group GSM (Group Special Mobile) in 1982 under the umbrella of CEPT. In 1988, ETSI was established and all CEPT standardization activities were transferred to ETSI. Working Group GSM became Technical Committee GSM. In 1991, it became Technical Committee SMG (Special Mobile Group) when ETSI tasked

6192-708: The Indian Enforcement Directorate. The raid resulted in the discovery of "incriminating" evidence reflecting loans and investments made without any due diligence or rationale into the Kallal Group by Pettigo Commercio Internacional LDA, a Portuguese subsidiary of Lycamobile. The investigation is ongoing but the Enforcement Directorate provisionally attached Rs70 Crore, with the total proceeds from crime estimated at Rs300 Crore. In February 2021 Lycamobile Germany, operating on

6321-506: The LycaFly brand name. At present LycaFly operates only in the UK. Lycaremit, launched in 2015 by Lycagroup, is a money transfer service which allows users to send money abroad. Lyca TV is an online over-the-top (OTT) ethnic entertainment provider, currently available in 20 countries and in nine languages. The service, launched in 2015, is mainly targeted at major expat communities spread across

6450-496: The Lycateleshop.The Lycatel brand is not itself used as a calling card brand name, but acts as a parent brand name used on various branded calling cards. The most popular brands of Lycatel calling cards include Africa Tel, Cobra, Eurocity, One+One, Spicy Tel, Supertel, Unitel, Viper and World Call. Each calling card brand features different calling rates to different destinations with some being more suited to single use (known in

6579-622: The NIST Publication SP800-101. In the UK in 2000 it was claimed that recordings of mobile phone conversations made on the day of the Omagh bombing were crucial to the police investigation. In particular, calls made on two mobile phones which were tracked from south of the Irish border to Omagh and back on the day of the bombing, were considered of vital importance. Further example of criminal investigations using mobile phones

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6708-558: The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). As part of its regulatory framework, the NCC reclassified telecommunications licences into class and individual licences. This regulatory structure ensures that all telecom service providers, including MVNOs, comply with national guidelines and operate within the appropriate legal framework for their respective services. Mobile telephony Mobile telephony

6837-727: The U.S. Public mobile phone systems were first introduced in the years after the Second World War and made use of technology developed before and during the conflict. The first system opened in St. Louis, Missouri , United States in 1946 whilst other countries followed in the succeeding decades. The UK introduced its 'System 1' manual radiotelephone service as the South Lancashire Radiophone Service in 1958. Calls were made via an operator using handsets identical to ordinary phone handsets. The phone itself

6966-706: The U.S., at petrol stations prohibiting the use of mobile phones, due to possible safety issues. However, it is unlikely that mobile phone use can cause any problems, and in fact "petrol station employees have themselves spread the rumour about alleged incidents." Like all high structures, cellular antenna masts pose a hazard to low flying aircraft. Towers over a certain height or towers that are close to airports or heliports are normally required to have warning lights . There have been reports that warning lights on cellular masts, TV-towers and other high structures can attract and confuse birds. US authorities estimate that millions of birds are killed near communication towers in

7095-569: The US, such equipment is illegal. Many US cities with subway transit systems underground are studying or have implemented mobile phone reception in their tunnels for their riders, and trains, particularly those involving long-distance services, often offer a "quiet carriage" where phone use is prohibited, much like the designated non-smoking carriage of the past. Most schools in the United States and Europe and Canada have prohibited mobile phones in

7224-588: The United Arab Emirates-based General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) granted full approval for the AeroMobile system to be used on Emirates. Passengers were able to make and receive voice calls as well as use text messaging. The system automatically came into operation as the Airbus A340-300 reached cruise altitude. Passengers wanting to use the service received a text message welcoming them to

7353-428: The United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, USA and Canada. The Company also carries out its airtime trading activities primarily within the United Kingdom, providing low-cost international calls which are marketed to residents originally from other countries through national advertising campaigns". Subsequent to the release of the 2022 Lycamobile UK accounts, several articles were written about the company. Lyca responded to

7482-728: The United Kingdom, consisting of a zero-tolerance system operated in Scotland and a warning system operated in England, Wales , and Northern Ireland . Officials from these jurisdictions argue that using a mobile phone while driving is an impediment to vehicle operation that can increase the risk of road traffic accidents. Studies have found vastly different relative risks (RR). Two separate studies using case-crossover analysis each calculated RR at 4, while an epidemiological cohort study found RR, when adjusted for crash-risk exposure, of 1.11 for men and 1.21 for women. A simulation study from

7611-546: The United States, the Better Business Bureau stated in July 2015 that due to Lycamobile's failure to respond to 28 of 47 complaints, Lycamobile's rating with the BBB is an F (on a scale of A+ to F). In the United Kingdom, Which? gave Lycamobile a 65% customer service score, placing them 15th out of 16 other networks. Lycamobile received a rating of 3.0 stars out of 5 on Trustpilot . While Lycamobile represents

7740-613: The Western European average penetration rate was 110% in 2007 (source Informa 2007). There are over five hundred million active mobile phone accounts in China, as of 2007, but the total penetration rate there still stands below 50%. The total number of mobile phone subscribers in the world was estimated at 2.14 billion in 2005. The subscriber count reached 2.7 billion by end of 2006 according to Information , and 3.3 billion by November, 2007, thus reaching an equivalent of over half

7869-478: The ability to set its tariffs independently from the retail prices set by the MNO. Sometimes referred to as a "Thick MVNO". The MVNO manages a more complete technical implementation with its own infrastructure which allows the MVNO more control over its offerings. These MVNOs have a heavier focus on branding, customer-ownership, and differentiation through added services like data and SIM applications. These MVNOs have

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7998-415: The article written by ISP Review stating “Lyca has a number of successful private businesses and entities under common control, but it is not a ‘group’. There is no obligation to produce consolidated group accounts, nor to have these audited. As a result, no single auditor has a remit to audit or review related party transactions, which is noted by the auditor of Lycamobile UK as a reason for the disclaimer in

8127-508: The audit report.” This appears to go against what Lyca has stated in their 2022 Director's report which states on page 8 "Lycamobile UK Limited and its related parties (Lycamobile Group) operates in the same premises in London Headquarters and share office space spaces for its centralised employees". Across two UK entities, Lycamobile UK Limited and Thames Quay Properties Holdings Limited, Mr Allirajah and his wife have taken

8256-498: The calling card industry as 'throw-away cards'). Others are more suited to occasional use but will feature a higher standard rate for each call placed. Whilst there is a fair level of confusion between pricing, Lycatel's underlying charges are significantly less than connecting international calls in a conventional sense. The Lycatel (or as previously used "Lyca Tel") brand has been in existence since 2001 although its early ownership and operational structure were significantly distinct in

8385-461: The case of delivery drivers who are calling a client, or socially as for commuters who are chatting with a friend. While many drivers have embraced the convenience of using their cellphone while driving, some jurisdictions have made the practice against the law, such as Australia, the Canadian provinces of British Columbia , Quebec , Ontario, Nova Scotia , and Newfoundland and Labrador as well as

8514-416: The cash flows associated with investing and financing activities are ultimately either discretionary and/or with related parties under the control of Mr A Subaskaran". Mr Subaskaran is reflected as the only person with significant control over Lycamobile UK Limited as well as WWW Holding Company, the holding company of Lycatel Services which "provides administrative support services to its related parties within

8643-576: The classroom, or in school in an effort to limit class disruptions. A working group made up of Finnish telephone companies, public transport operators and communications authorities has launched a campaign to remind mobile phone users of courtesy, especially when using mass transit—what to talk about on the phone, and how to. In particular, the campaign wants to impact loud mobile phone usage as well as calls regarding sensitive matters. The use of mobile phones by people who are driving has become increasingly common, for example as part of their job, as in

8772-417: The committee with UMTS (3G). The nature of cellular technology renders many phones vulnerable to 'cloning': anytime a cell phone moves out of coverage (for example, in a road tunnel), when the signal is re-established, the phone sends out a 're-connect' signal to the nearest cell-tower, identifying itself and signalling that it is again ready to transmit. With the proper equipment, it is possible to intercept

8901-466: The consumer and enterprise markets. The majority of MVNOs are consumer-focused and most have a focus on price as their selling point; on average, customers of major carriers spend about 3.4 times as much on their service as MVNO customers. At the end of year 2022, there were 1,986 active MVNOs globally, more than double the amount of traditional telecom network operators. Europe lead in terms of most active MVNOs in operation with 1,012, representing half of

9030-628: The core business of Lyca, namely the offering of a MVNO telecommunications services, Lyca has other telecommunication services provided to consumers: GT Mobile (also known as "Gnanam Telecom") is a MNVO sub-brand of Lycamobile that operates in Denmark , Germany , The Netherlands , Sweden , Australia , Spain , Italy , France , Belgium and Switzerland (the United Kingdom arm has been merged in Lycamobile). The brand, like its parent,

9159-589: The creation of the first MVNO in the Arab world in 2010. The Saudi government is making preparations to permit MVNO services in the country. In Brazil , MVNOs are regulated by Anatel , the Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications , in November 2010. As of September 2014 the combined market share of all Brazilian MVNOs was just 0.04%. In Thailand , five MVNOs were given a Type II license to operate on

9288-531: The development of a pan-European cellular technology to rival those of the US and Japan. This resulted in the GSM system, the initials originally from the Groupe Spécial Mobile that was charged with the specification and development tasks but latterly as the 'Global System for Mobile Communications'. The GSM standard eventually spread outside Europe and is now the most widely used cellular technology in

9417-619: The development of affordable mobile communications . The first call on a handheld mobile phone was made on April 3, 1973, by Martin Cooper, then of Motorola to his opposite number in Bell Labs who were also racing to be first. Bell Labs went on to install the first trial cellular network in Chicago in 1978. This trial system was licensed by the FCC to ATT for commercial use in 1982 and, as part of

9546-513: The devices. Between the 1980s and the 2000s, the mobile phone has gone from being an expensive item used by the business elite to a pervasive, personal communications tool for the general population. In most countries, mobile phones outnumber land-line phones, with fixed landlines numbering 1.3 billion but mobile subscriptions 3.3 billion at the end of 2007. In many markets from Japan and South Korea, to Europe, to Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, most children age 8-9 have mobile phones and

9675-639: The divestiture arrangements for the breakup of ATT, the AMPS technology was distributed to local telcos. The first commercial system opened in Chicago in October 1983. A system designed by Motorola also operated in the Washington D.C./Baltimore area from summer 1982 and became a full public service later the following year. Japan's first commercial radiotelephony service was launched by NTT in 1979. The first fully automatic first generation cellular system

9804-779: The early 2000s from the present day. The present-day Lycatel brand owners and licensees form a larger organisation although the operational focus of Lycatel remains the sale of a variety of differently branded calling cards to wholesalers. Wholesalers in turn sell onto retailers who then sell primarily to expatriate customers who want to make low-cost international calls. Lycatel primarily operates via its own national reselling companies or through its service providers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, India (an outsourcing operation), Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Tunisia. Lycatel currently holds

9933-642: The effect of mobile phone usage on health continues to be an area of public concern. For example, at the request of some of their customers, Verizon created usage controls that meter service and can switch phones off, so that children could get some sleep. There have also been attempts to limit use by persons operating moving trains or automobiles, coaches when writing to potential players on their teams, and movie theater audiences. By one measure, nearly 40% of automobile drivers aged 16 to 30 years old text while driving, and by another, 40% of teenagers said they could text blindfolded. 18 studies have been conducted on

10062-404: The end of 2006 had increased by 1.6 million over the previous year. MVNOs are distinguished by their commitment to owning and managing the operational components of the MVNO business model, consisting of: Because MVNOs are effectively defined by their lack of spectrum licenses, an MVNO necessarily will need to have agreements in place to access the network of at least one MNO. The type of MVNO

10191-622: The entire worldwide market at no more than 200,000 units based on the ready availability of pay telephones and the high cost of constructing cell towers. As a consequence, Bell Labs concluded that the invention was "of little or no consequence," leading it not to attempt to commercialize the invention. The invention earned Joel induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008. The development of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) large-scale integration (LSI) technology, information theory and cellular networking led to

10320-473: The figures from Eurostat, the European Union's in-house statistical office, Luxembourg had the highest mobile phone penetration rate at 158 mobile subscriptions per 100 people, closely followed by Lithuania and Italy. In Hong Kong the penetration rate reached 139.8% of the population in July 2007. Over 50 countries have mobile phone subscription penetration rates higher than that of the population and

10449-455: The following: Lycamoney is a pre-paid debit card offering, enabling mainly new migrants to European countries to have access to payment schemes such as MasterCard. Launched in 2013, Lyca Radio was born after the acquisition by Lyca of radio frequencies previously operated by Sunrise Radio . Lyca offers two stations, Lyca Radio and Lyca Gold. Both stations have retained the previous format of Sunrise Radio, targeting South Asian communities. This

10578-459: The ground base stations as during takeoff and landing. Simultaneously, airlines may offer phone services to their travelling passengers either as full voice and data services, or initially only as SMS text messaging and similar services. The Australian airline Qantas is the first airline to run a test aeroplane in this configuration in the autumn of 2007. Emirates has announced plans to allow limited mobile phone usage on some flights. However, in

10707-460: The group came under scrutiny in April 2017 when KPMG resigned as auditors for Lycamobile UK Limited, stating that they had difficulties in obtaining sufficient audit evidence at this company and for related audits of its related UK companies as a result of the governance structure and oversight of the companies' system of internal control over financial reporting. The 2021 audited report published on

10836-523: The insolvency, Lycamobile continued to operate uninterrupted as it had moved the assets from the insolvent company into Lycamobile Europe Limited, a company registered in the United Kingdom. Lycamobile donated over £2m to the Conservative Party between 2011 and 2016, with Subaskaran enjoying a close relationship with both David Cameron and Boris Johnson . In addition to its tax affairs and money laundering investigations, Lycamobile has been

10965-465: The internet or equivalent mobile internet services such as WAP and i-Mode at least occasionally using a mobile phone rather than a personal computer. Mobile phones receive and send radio signals with any number of cell site base stations fitted with microwave antennas . These sites are usually mounted on a tower, pole or building, located throughout populated areas, then connected to a cabled communication network and switching system. The phones have

11094-518: The lack of sufficient appropriate audit evidence provided to the auditors, PKF Littlejohn LLP, expressed a disclaimer of opinion on the audited accounts. A disclaimer of opinion is only given in instances where: Mobile virtual network operator MVNO agreements with network operators date back to the 1990s, when the European and Australian telecom markets saw market liberalization, new regulatory frameworks, better 2G network technology, and

11223-413: The land-line phone. Mobile phone usage is banned in some countries, such as North Korea and restricted in some other countries such as Burma. Given the high levels of societal mobile phone service penetration, it is a key means for people to communicate with each other. The SMS feature spawned the " texting " sub-culture amongst younger users. In December 1993, the first person-to-person SMS text message

11352-517: The latter of which had been requested by (and denied to) Sense Communications. With the new regulations in place, MVNOs in Scandinavia eventually grew to a market share of above 10%. By 2008, US wireless subscribers had a choice between around 40 MVNOs. According to the FCC, approximately 7% of all U.S. mobile subscribers were served by resellers, including MVNOs, and analysts found that the 15.1 million wireless subscribers served by resellers by

11481-408: The link between cell phones and brain cancer; A review of these studies found that cell phone use of 10 years or more "give a consistent pattern of an increased risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma". The tumors are found mostly on the side of the head that the mobile phone is in contact with. In July 2008, Dr. Ronald Herberman , director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute , warned about

11610-760: The market share of MVNOs in 2022 is 13.4%. Vietnam currently has 5 MVNO providers as May 2024, mostly operating and relying on 2 main providers: VinaPhone and MobiFone. Thsese includes: Local,FPT Retail,Wintel,iTel,VNSKY. In 2003, the European Commission issued a recommendation to national telecom regulators to examine the competitiveness of the market for wholesale access and call origination on public mobile telephone networks. The study resulted in new regulations from regulators in several countries, including Ireland and France forcing operators to open up their networks to MVNOs. Jordan 's top watchdog issued its first MVNO regulations in 2008, facilitating

11739-522: The market share of MVNOs is 12.2% in 2019. The total number of contractors is 22.3 million. The three US national carriers have partial or full ownership of several large MVNO brands, such as Cricket Wireless (AT&T), TracFone Wireless (Verizon) and Metro by T-Mobile (T-Mobile). The UK had 77 active MVNOs as of December 2018. The MVNOs combined market share was 15.9% of the total UK mobile market, representing 15.3 million connections. Ireland has seven active MVNO brands as of February 2021, and

11868-522: The most common electronic device in the world. The first mobile phone to enable internet connectivity and wireless email, the Nokia Communicator , was released in 1996, creating a new category of multi-use devices called smartphones. In 1999 the first mobile internet service was launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan under the i-Mode service. By 2007 over 798 million people around the world accessed

11997-497: The new accounts are now opened for customers aged 6 and 7. Where mostly parents tend to give hand-me-down used phones to their youngest children, in Japan already new cameraphones are on the market whose target age group is under 10 years of age, introduced by KDDI in February 2007. The USA also lags on this measure, as in the US so far, about half of all children have mobile phones. In many young adults ' households it has supplanted

12126-887: The number of MVNOs worldwide increased by 70 percent, reaching 1,017 in June 2015. As of December 2018, there were 1,300 active MVNOs operating in 80 countries, representing more than 220 million mobile connections—approximately 2.46% of the total 8.9 billion mobile connections in the world. The eight countries with the largest number of active MVNOs in 2018 were: the US with 139 MVNOs (4.7% market share), Germany with 135 (19.5% market share), Japan 83 (10.6%), UK 77 (15.9%), Australia 66 (13.1%), Spain 63 (11.5%), France 53 (11.2%) and Denmark 49 (34.6%). In addition to traditional cellular voice and messaging services, in 2014, 120 MVNOs also were offering mobile broadband services. In Africa, Uganda has registered three MVNOs so far, some having their own network infrastructure within major cities, but acting as an MVNO out of these cities. In 2015, one of

12255-473: The owner's personality and may be a part of their self-identity. This aspect of the mobile telephony business is, in itself, an industry, e.g. ringtone sales amounted to $ 3.5 billion in 2005. Mobile phone use on aircraft is starting to be allowed with several airlines already offering the ability to use phones during flights. Mobile phone use during flights used to be prohibited and many airlines still claim in their in-plane announcements that this prohibition

12384-494: The past, commercial airlines have prevented the use of cell phones and laptops, due to the assertion that the frequencies emitted from these devices may disturb the radio waves contact of the airplane. On March 20, 2008, an Emirates flight was the first time voice calls have been allowed in-flight on commercial airline flights. The breakthrough came after the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and

12513-505: The phone's Internet browser notifies the company if the user is safe or in distress. In Finland rescue services suggest hikers carry mobile phones in case of emergency even when deep in the forests beyond cellular coverage , as the radio signal of a cellphone attempting to connect to a base station can be detected by overflying rescue aircraft with special detection gear. Also, users in the United States can sign up through their provider for free text messages when an AMBER Alert goes out for

12642-440: The planet's population. Around 80% of the world's population has access to mobile phone coverage, as of 2006. This figure is expected to increase to 90% by 2010. In some developing countries with little "landline" telephone infrastructure , mobile phone use has quadrupled in the last decade. The rise of mobile phone technology in developing countries is often cited as an example of the leapfrog effect . Many remote regions in

12771-401: The potential harm from having a transmitter close to the user's body, the first fixed/mobile cellular phones that had a separate transmitter, vehicle-mounted antenna, and handset (known as car phones and bag phones ) were limited to a maximum 3 watts Effective Radiated Power . Modern handheld cellphones which must have the transmission antenna held inches from the user's skull are limited to

12900-417: The radiation from mobile phones. He stated that there was no definitive proof of the link between mobile phones and brain tumors but there was enough studies that mobile phone usage should be reduced as a precaution. To reduce the amount of radiation being absorbed hands free devices can be used or texting could supplement calls. Calls could also be shortened or limit mobile phone usage in rural areas. Radiation

13029-433: The re-connect signal and encode the data it contains into a 'blank' phone—in all respects, the 'blank' is then an exact duplicate of the real phone and any calls made on the 'clone' will be charged to the original account. This problem was widespread with the first generation analogue technology, however the modern digital standards such as GSM greatly improve security and make cloning hard to achieve. In an effort to limit

13158-541: The recoverability of a balance of £168,839,000 due from related parties (entities under common control) and balance of £18,083,000 due from directors and parties associated with directors, which is included in debtors on the statement of financial position as at 31 December 2021. Whilst the Group CEO is listed as Richard Schafer, the most recent annual report published by Companies House for the year ended 31 December 2021 for Lycamobile UK Limited states that "The majority of

13287-641: The regulator in Denmark saw the promise in the MVNO model as a cost-effective route for telecom companies to enter the market and in May 2000, legislation passed that required network operators with significant market power to open up access to their infrastructure. By August of that same year, the MNO SONOFON had solidified the first viable MVNO agreement with Tele2 . This agreement provided Tele2 with access to SONOFON's network for both mobile and roaming services,

13416-400: The role." Lyca Productions is an India-based film production venture. Lyca produced India's most expensive film, 2.0 , with a budget of US$ 75 million; it was scheduled for release in November 2018. Whilst filming Indian 2 , three people died and ten were injured when a crane collapsed during filming. The crane operator, Rajan, fled the scene immediately after the accident. LycaFly is

13545-554: The same Directors. In the Thames Quay filing disclosures, the Directors state that the Directors of WWW Holding Company (same people) are willing to continue to provide this support to Thames Quay and that they will not call in loans such as the one given to Mrs Subaskaran. The auditors issued a qualified opinion on the audit stating that there was "material uncertainty relating to going concern". The auditor also states that it

13674-427: The subject of multiple regulatory actions. These primarily relate to failures to collect, verify, or provide customer identity information to the regulatory authorities. This behaviour is widespread across the group with regulators taking similar action against the group in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Norway and Spain. These regulatory actions have resulted in significant financial penalties. The corporate structure of

13803-426: The tax. Shortly after this ruling, in May 2021, Lycamobile Germany was renamed Amalasandan Dienstleistungen GmbH and soon afterward filed for insolvency, leaving very little for the authorities to recover. According to the insolvency practitioner, Jan Roth, the company did not have a business address, the only employee was the then Group CEO, Chris Tooley, and he was unable to obtain any corporate documents. Despite

13932-400: The technical feasibility, and in 1987 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between 13 European countries who agreed to launch a commercial service by 1991. The first version of the GSM (=2G) standard had 6,000 pages. The IEEE/RSE awarded to Thomas Haug and Philippe Dupuis the 2018 James Clerk Maxwell medal for their contributions to the first digital mobile telephone standard. In 2018,

14061-464: The terrorists. The Finnish government decided in 2005 that the fastest way to warn citizens of disasters was the mobile phone network. In Japan, mobile phone companies provide immediate notification of earthquakes and other natural disasters to their customers free of charge. In the event of an emergency, disaster response crews can locate trapped or injured people using the signals from their mobile phones. An interactive menu accessible through

14190-519: The third world went from having no telecommunications infrastructure to having satellite based communications systems. At present, Africa has the largest growth rate of cellular subscribers in the world, its markets expanding nearly twice as fast as Asian markets. The availability of prepaid or 'pay-as-you-go' services, where the subscriber is not committed to a long-term contract, has helped fuel this growth in Africa as well as in other continents. On

14319-708: The total global MVNO market. It is followed by Americas with 379 MVNOs, Asia with 322, International with 131, Oceania with 84, Africa with 54 and Middle East with 5. Some MVNOs have a presence in multiple countries, either as subsidiaries, joint ventures, or through brand licensing agreements with local partners, including Lycamobile in 60 countries, Virgin Mobile in 14 countries, Lebara in 10 countries, CMLink in five countries, Tesco Mobile in four countries, Line Mobile in three countries, Aldi Talk in six countries, Kogan.com Mobile in two countries, and L-Mobi Mobile in two countries. Japan has about 80 MVNO brands, and

14448-533: The travel arm of the Lyca business, and specialises in offering cheap flights and holidays to predominantly Asian destinations such as India and Sri Lanka as well Nigeria. LycaFly was launched in 2007 as part of an acquisition of an existing travel agency business. The UK LycaFly business, U Can Fly Limited, is owned by Pettigo Comércio Internacional, Limitada, a Portuguese holding company located in Madeira , Portugal. Pettigo Comércio Internacional, Limitada also owns

14577-561: The use of mobile phones immediately after landing on a domestic flight within the US, whereas they may state "not until the doors are open" on an international flight arriving in the Netherlands. In April 2007 the US Federal Communications Commission officially prohibited passengers' use of cell phones during a flight. In a similar vein, signs are put up in many countries, such as Canada, the UK and

14706-427: The user moves around the network, the " handoffs " are performed to allow the device to switch sites without interrupting the call. Cell sites have relatively low-power (often only one or two watts) radio transmitters which broadcast their presence and relay communications between the mobile handsets and the switch. The switch in turn connects the call to another subscriber of the same wireless service provider or to

14835-482: The world and the de facto standard. The industry association, the GSMA, now represents 219 countries and nearly 800 mobile network operators. There are now estimated to be over 5 billion phone subscriptions according to the " List of countries by number of mobile phones in use " (although some users have multiple subscriptions, or inactive subscriptions), which also makes the mobile phone the most widely spread technology and

14964-496: The world. Lycalotto, launched in March 2017, is a lottery syndicate platform available in the UK and Ireland. Lycalotto offers access to lottery draws from around the world, including those not normally accessible in the region such as the US Powerball. In 2019, EAP Broadcasting Company, one of Sri Lanka's largest entertainment companies, was acquired for $ 72 million by Lyca Group. After a lengthy expose by Buzzfeed in 2015,

15093-474: Was a large box located in the boot (trunk) of the vehicle containing valves and other early electronic components. Although an uprated manual service ('System 3') was extended to cover most of the UK, automation did not arrive until 1981 with 'System 4'. Although this non-cellular service, based on German B-Netz technology, was expanded rapidly throughout the UK between 1982 and 1985 and continued in operation for several years before finally closing in Scotland, it

15222-402: Was a rapid growth of wireless telecommunications towards the end of the 20th century, primarily due to the introduction of digital signal processing in wireless communications , driven by the development of low-cost, very large-scale integration (VLSI) RF CMOS (radio-frequency complementary MOS ) technology. The advent of cellular technology encouraged European countries to co-operate in

15351-624: Was able to establish an MVNO agreement with Sonera in Finland, but it failed to persuade MNOs in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Sense then appealed to EU regulators, citing provisions that required certain MNOs to allow new entrants interconnection. While Sense's claim was denied, in November 1999, the company signed a service provider agreement with Telia/Telenor Mobile for GSM network capacity access, allowing Sense to offer services to its own customers in Sweden and Norway. Despite Sense's initial failure,

15480-645: Was approximately 0.5 standard deviations higher than normal driving (i.e., an average driver, while talking on a cell phone, has response times of a driver in roughly the 40th percentile). Driving while using a hands-free device is not safer than driving while using a hand-held phone, as concluded by case-crossover studies. epidemiological studies, simulation studies, and meta-analysis. Even with this information, California initiated new Wireless Communications Device Law (effective January 1, 2009) makes it an infraction to write, send, or read text-based communication on an electronic wireless communications device, such as

15609-891: Was given a suspended prison sentence in 2023 for his involvement in an "elaborate money laundering system" in France. Lyca Mobile has local national private companies branded under licence as Lyca Mobile, operating exclusively in the particular country as either a MVNO provider or as the principal wholesaler of Lyca Mobile-branded products. Lycatel, also a part of Lyca Group, targets customers within expatriate and ethnic markets that want to make international calls. The company operates in 23 countries. Lycamobile offered services in Hong Kong from April 2015, but its services were suspended from 6 April 2018. In October 2023, Lycamobile’s French companies were convicted of committing value-added tax (VAT) and money laundering fraud, subject to appeal, with

15738-411: Was launched in 2006, with the first trading using the brand taking place in 2006. By 2016, the company had more than 15   million customers. In 2016, nearly twenty Lyca Mobile employees were arrested in France, and about half of them charged with money laundering. As of 2020, Lyca Mobile is involved in three major tax disputes with HM Revenue and Customs in the UK. The previous CEO, Chris Tooley ,

15867-486: Was not possible for "management" to provide them with evidence to support the net wealth of a related party associated with one of the directors and as a result, were unable to obtain sufficient audit evidence with respect of the recoverability of the £16 million loan to Mrs Subaskaran as well as an amount of £5.9 million for S455 tax that will be due when the amount due from related parties is repaid in full. Lycamobile UK Limited, another UK subsidiary also reflects loans to

15996-592: Was overtaken by the introduction in January 1985 of two cellular systems - the British Telecom / Securicor ' Cellnet ' service and the Racal/ Millicom / Barclays ' Vodafone ' (from voice + data + phone) service. These cellular systems were based on US Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) technology, the modified technology being named Total Access Communication System (TACS). In 1947, Bell Labs

16125-456: Was released on 26 October 2023, stating that the company had "knowingly participated in an elaborate money laundering system". The "opaque" system involved the use of shell companies and was also used by businesses who needed cash to illegally pay employees. In addition to the three-year suspended prison sentence given to Chris Tooley , the head of the French business, Alain Jochimek received

16254-528: Was the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system, simultaneously launched in 1981 in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. NMT was the first mobile phone network featuring international roaming . The Swedish electrical engineer Östen Mäkitalo started to work on this vision in 1966, and is considered as the father of the NMT system and some also consider him the father of the cellular phone. There

16383-510: Was the first to propose a cellular radio telephone network. The primary innovation was the development of a network of small overlapping cell sites supported by a call switching infrastructure that tracks users as they move through a network and passes their calls from one site to another without dropping the connection. In 1956, the MTA system was launched in Sweden. The early efforts to develop mobile telephony faced two significant challenges: allowing

16512-402: Was transmitted in Finland. Currently, texting is the most widely used data service; 1.8 billion users generated $ 80 billion of revenue in 2006 (source ITU). Many phones offer Instant Messenger services for simple, easy texting. Mobile phones have Internet service (e.g. NTT DoCoMo 's i-mode ), offering text messaging via e-mail in Japan, South Korea, China, and India. Most mobile internet access

16641-490: Was very successful, attracting more than 300,000 subscribers in 18 months. Vodafone purchased the business in 1999. With European markets newly open to competition and new technology enabling better service and cheaper handsets, there was a massive surge in demand for cellular phones. In the midst of this swell, Sense Communications fought for access to mobile network operator (MNO) spectrum in Scandinavia in 1997. Sense

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