UK supermarket chain, Tesco and O2 UK are to create a new 50:50 joint venture, Tesco Mobile. The joint venture agreement is open ended with a five-year lock in period during which time neither shareholder may sell its stake. The new company will sell exclusively Tesco branded mobile services in Tesco stores across the UK, over O2's network. Tesco Mobile aims to launch MVNO service later in 2003, with the objective of having branded prepaid phones on sale in stores and through tesco.com in time for Christmas. Later in 2004 contract subscriptions will be launched by tesco.com.
Over the first two years of operation each shareholder will invest GBP 8 million in the joint venture. The new service will give Tesco customers access to supermarket style offers and the chance to earn Club card points when buying handsets and airtime. Tesco Mobile will market to consumers only.
This is an extract from the June 2003 edition of EMC's European Mobile Communications Report. This report is published monthly detailing current and past subscriber growth, licence awards, infrastructure contracts and market analysis from cellular activity in Eastern and Western Europe. For further information on this report, please see:
http://www.emc-database.com/redir.nsf/index/apmcr?OpenDocument&source=dz122
