THE ANNUAL mobile telephone customer satisfaction study carried out by J.D Power has put Tesco Mobile into first place amongst UK pre-pay customers. It's green credentials helped greatly.

"Being 'green' is an increasingly important requirement of today's mobile telephone service providers," said J.D. Power's Caspar Tearle. "It will be interesting to track how customer expectations for greater environmental friendliness will shape the industry within the coming years."

Tesco's greenness comes from efficiency in recycling handsets; reducing packaging waste; and conserving paper through alternative methods such as e-billing.

Call coverage and quality are two of the six factors which the study takes into account, so it's no surprise to find that O2 came second behind Tesco since it provides the network for Tesco.

Conversely, T-Mobile didn't make the Top Three amongst contract phone users even though it provides the network for the winner, Virgin Mobile. 3 came third. What a co-incidence.

The J.D. Powers study used to be a very boring affair because Orange kept winning it but in 2008, the French operator is nowhere to be seen. How the mighty have fallen. µ