Harris Jones: 'The revolution is this year'

While the One2One name became a highly recognisable brand, the network has also had an image as the UK's least reliable network - a factor some people have suggested is behind the renaming.

"Certainly that entered into our thinking, but we prefer to focus on the positives," Mr Jones said.

These positives include being able to promote an international product to customers under one name.

Deutsche Telekom will also be bringing the T-Mobile name to operations in Austria, the Czech Republic, and the US.

"To be able to take a consistent suite of services, voice services and data services, to all these markets under a consistent brand is a very, very powerful element in the market place."

'Revolution' imminent

Mr Jones also said the introduction of the new generation of mobile handsets offered exciting opportunities for growth.

The new GPRS phones would enable customers to enjoy new a range of services, including the ability to send pictures to other users, he said.

GPRS, which stands for general packet radio service, is also known as 2.5G.

The technology seen as being half-way between the second-generation (2G) services most UK mobile callers use at the moment, and the forthcoming third-generation (3G) technology.

Mr Jones said wide take-up of GPRS phones was vital if the more advanced 3G mobiles were to be a success.

"The revolution is this year," he said.

"3G is merely a much faster evolution of the (GPRS) service."