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Title: Tesco launches assault on Carphone Post by: mobaholic on April 20, 2009, 03:28:45 PM The retailer is doubling its number of in-store phone shops and will rebrand them as ‘Phone Shop’ Tesco is doubling its number of in-store phone shops to 100, as it gears up to overtake Carphone and become the number one in prepay. Tesco, which is expected to reveal bumper profits of £3bn tomorrow (21 April), will open more than 100 shops selling mobile and landline packages in its largest stores by March 2010. It plans to rebrand them as ‘Phone Shop’. The move is part of Tesco’s strategy to stretch beyond groceries and will put pressure on Carphone’s lead. The retailer will also expand its contract phones business. It already has a 13% share of the UK pay-as-you-go phone market. Lance Batchelor, head of Tesco Telecoms, told The Times that Tesco was neck and neck with Argos in the prepay market but some way behind Charles Dunstone’s Carphone. Tesco has an own-brand mobile phone joint venture with O2 that has two million customers. Batchelor is aiming to catch up with closest rivals Virgin Mobile and 3 to become the fifth largest in the market. See:- here (http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/Tesco_launches_assault_on_Carphone.html). |